Your Drive Day

[MajorClementine]

Got up early to feed the horses so I had time to take Clementine out before my husband work today. I took her three miles and she was full of it trotted out from the very beginning. however she did have her head on straight and we had a great drive took us about 30 minutes to do 3 mi and then we walked the last half mile.

Mr Walter Walnut also known as Wallyhas got to be the smartest horse I've ever driven. we ground drove some hills to work on strengthening a stifle and I also stretch both of his legs. his right leg is less stiff today than it was yesterday. I'll keep working with him and see if I can't get it to improve. The cool thing about Wally is he slows down when he gets nervous rather than spookingtspooking the side or jumping he walks very slowly by something and takes a look at it. today we walked around construction barrels next to a giant articulated loader that was driving around and did circles around manhole covers and mailboxes. I think I'll team him up with Perry those two ought to be a fearless team.

 

[Willow Flats]

We have had a major heat wave and it finally cooled down today. Drove Annie for an hour this morning. My friend came over and rode with us which was nice as I had Annie at the stand for quite a while and had someone to chat with. I think she is ready to chill tomorow as she waits for her turn at each event at the play day. We have really been working on it.

 

[MajorClementine]

We have had a major heat wave and it finally cooled down today. Drove Annie for an hour this morning. My friend came over and rode with us which was nice as I had Annie at the stand for quite a while and had someone to chat with. I think she is ready to chill tomorow as she waits for her turn at each event at the play day. We have really been working on it.

We'd love to see pictures of the play day!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yes! Hope someone can get some pictures of the play day.
We are very hot and humid here right now. I don't feel like driving. Storm and rain last night and you'd think today would be cooler, but not.

 

[Cayuse]

Hot here today too. I did drive Cappy, he was pretty good until I got after him for trying to eat leaves off the trees. Then he pouted. I think he has the ability to hold a grudge, lol. Dan took some pictures of him, I did not have any recent ones.
MC, Cappy has stiff stifles too.

 

[MajorClementine]

Yes! Hope someone can get some pictures of the play day.
We are very hot and humid here right now. I don't feel like driving. Storm and rain last night and you'd think today would be cooler, but not.

I know that here (we are pretty dry usually) after a storm, if the clouds hang in it is soooo humid and hot and muggy the next day. I can't blame you for not feeling like driving. That humidity can be brutal.

Hot here today too. I did drive Cappy, he was pretty good until I got after him for trying to eat leaves off the trees. Then he pouted. I think he has the ability to hold a grudge, lol. Dan took some pictures of him, I did not have any recent ones.
MC, Cappy has stiff stifles too.

What do you do for his stifles? I think his recent growth spurt has something to do with it. I stretched him out last night then ground drove him at a walk only today for 25 minutes. We did hills and lots of big circles and serpentines. Then I stretched him out again after he was warmed up from our drive. I'll gently stretch him again tonight when I grain him. I did start him on the magnesium as well. He did look better today than yesterday so I'm hoping it's just tightness and can be worked out. He's never been lame and he trots out just fine. It's only noticeable at the walk.

 

[Cayuse]

I take about ten minutes of marching walk to warm up Cappy and since he is out of shape I have been doing alot of cones and serpantines to try and work both sides equally. He has a little arthritis in his stifle, so I give him a Hyaluronic supplement and Adequan. Exercise helps him alot. The more he moves the better he is. I tried stretches, but that seemed to make things more sore. Peanut, on the other hand, has stiff stifles and stretching does wonders for him and he enjoys it. I think the magnesium has helped Peanut alot, Cappy is on it for his diposition but I'm not sure if it helps his body soreness, it probably helps.

 

[Willow Flats]

The playday was interesting! Annie was a little nervous at first but she did pretty good being green still. She had been standing around in the heat until I worked her yesterday, and now it has dropped 30 degrees with some wind so she was pretty fresh. They had an extremely challenging course set up. It was a pick your own line course. Not follow the numbers and make your best time. You had to go through every cone but only once and some you could go in any direction and some you could only go in one direction. Everyone was trying different routes based on what turns could be made! Annie balked at one set of cones each time we did the course near the tree where she spooked that one time while she was there for training when the cows stampeded next to this arena. She went through the cones but only after she either jumped sideways trying to avoid it or actually slammed on the brakes when it was my husbands turn.

The really good part though was that Annie was able to stand calmly with the other horses while waiting her turns. So that was really good. This was only her second play day and she couldn't do that the last time, so we are making progress!

All of us were so busy agonizing over the course to think about taking pictures! More like a "work day" than a "play day!" lol

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Got up early to feed the horses so I had time to take Clementine out before my husband work today. I took her three miles and she was full of it trotted out from the very beginning. however she did have her head on straight and we had a great drive took us about 30 minutes to do 3 mi and then we walked the last half mile.
View attachment 41525
Mr Walter Walnut also known as Wallyhas got to be the smartest horse I've ever driven. we ground drove some hills to work on strengthening a stifle and I also stretch both of his legs. his right leg is less stiff today than it was yesterday. I'll keep working with him and see if I can't get it to improve. The cool thing about Wally is he slows down when he gets nervous rather than spookingtspooking the side or jumping he walks very slowly by something and takes a look at it. today we walked around construction barrels next to a giant articulated loader that was driving around and did circles around manhole covers and mailboxes. I think I'll team him up with Perry those two ought to be a fearless team.

Your reins are interesting. How do you like using the wider ones?

 

[MajorClementine]

Marsha, I like them because I have the soft bumpy grip stuff on the ends I hold on to. Tammy Rose made these for me. My hands are bad from so many years of grooming so the wider lines combined with the soft grip makes it a lot easier on my hands.

 

[Cayuse]

Willow, glad your play day was productive. One or two more and Annie will be an old pro at it. The weather does make a difference doesn't it? Had my own cool weather shenanigans here today!

 

[Minidreamz0581]

So I ground drove Coady this evening. My little dude didn’t look thrilled when I harnessed him, but he quickly got over it and we were having a nice drive. Poor guy...he was doing so well for me, but he’s been a little touchy about his mouth since the accident (the right side of his mouth was injured). I brought him around a tight right turn and either something hurt his mouth or something took him back to the accident because he completely lost it. He reared, shot backwards, then shot forward. He mentally checked out. I was able to calm him down a little, but it was a crazy spook fest back up the driveway. He was such a wreck that he wouldn’t even calm down to eat a little grass after I unharnessed him. He would grab a bite, then fly around me like a crazy pony. (I wasn’t trying to lunge him) It was disappointing after the amazing ground drive we had a few weeks ago and it was awful seeing my little man so upset. I wish I knew exactly what triggered him. I know it was something to do with the bit but I’m not exactly sure what. I’d try driving him bitless but I’ve tried several times with a halter before and it did NOT go well. Not to mention that he’s a very forward guy so I’m not sure how I would feel about driving him hitched without a bit. To be honest I’m not sure how safe he would be to hitch anymore. He’ll be ground driving beautifully, then suddenly something will set him off and he does a huge spook. There’s a lot of days that I won’t even ground drive him because he’s especially spooky that day. I just don’t know. I don’t want him or I to get hurt. At the very least I’d like to ground drive him some, even if I don’t hook him again. It’s a nice way to get some exercise for the both of us. I hate to give up on hitching him again; especially since he’s such a wonderful pony to drive, but I have to put our safety first. I’ll wait and see I guess. Thankfully I have Little Joe to drive for the time being to get my driving fix in!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I have been in that spook situation more than once and it isn't anywhere I want to be again!
The bitless bridle works off pressure, like a hackamore. It isn't anything like driving with a halter. If you could find someone to borrow one and try him out it would be good. Not sure investing in one as an experiment would be ideal right now.
Is Little Joe a reliable driver? You might consider ponying Coady behind the cart for exercise.

 

[Cayuse]

Minidreamz, I think you can try a bitless bridle with just a small fee at Yonies Harness. If you decide it's not for you they refund you.
I had a pony with a damaged jaw that I rode bitless for a little while and he was very responsive to it.
One thing I thought of is Coady's vision. Have you had it checked? I may have asked you this before, if I did I forgot! I'm sorry that he is having a hard time.
Another thing I just thought of was maybe he has a pinched nerve and when he turns "just right" it hurts. I really wish that they could tell us what is bothering them when they are upset.

 

[MindySchroder]

@Minidreamz0581 it's so hard to try to guess what their triggers are. And sometimes I think we will just never know. I'm sorry that his drive didn't go better. I was hoping that he was moving forward for you

 

[Cayuse]

Well, I bought an egg butt french link snaffle for Cappy. It will be interesting to see what he thinks of it. He has a very fussy mouth and the best I've been able to do for him is a regular half-cheek snaffle with a good curve to the mouth peice. A jointed snaffle with less curve was a fail as was a mullen (epic fail). I got the eggbutt because I am tired of the half cheeks getting caught on everthing and being poked by them (i know they shoudn't rub their faces on humans, but it happens) If this does not work, I'm not sure what to do, it's a problem beyond my ability to sort out. He is current on his dental. He likes the bit to hang low with less than one wrinkle and he is happy when he can chomp. If you guys have any suggestions, let me know. I also thought of a rubber bit, but I'm afraid he'd shred it! Chomp chomp!

 

[Cayuse]

Tried the new bit with some positive results. I was ground driving in the pouring rain so it's too soon to get excited. He did seem to chomp less. His mouth was still very active, but more moderate in it's activity. He did seem "lighter" laterally. More free in the jaw maybe. Turning was an adjustment as he kept dropping contact, but I think that is just a matter of the both of us finding his happy place.
I may have gotten the bit a little large, but maybe I can put bit gaurds on it to take up the room. The picture is from the last weekend.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

He looks content with the new bit, though do I see a little swish of the tail?

 

[Cayuse]

That picture is with the old bit. It caught him bewteen chomps! You do see a tail swish but it is a good swish. It's hard to explain but his tail gets moving in time with his bum and his hoof beats like a pendulum. It's cute to see when your sitting behind him. I don't think he moves it, it just has a life of it's own.
He really was a good boy today, I had him out in the pouring rain and he tolerated it well. The sky opened up as soon as I got out and I really wanted to see how he'd be with the bit so I just toughed it out. We were soaked. While my harness was wet I cleaned it. It was a productive afternoon.

 

[Minidreamz0581]

Tried the new bit with some positive results. I was ground driving in the pouring rain so it's too soon to get excited. He did seem to chomp less. His mouth was still very active, but more moderate in it's activity. He did seem "lighter" laterally. More free in the jaw maybe. Turning was an adjustment as he kept dropping contact, but I think that is just a matter of the both of us finding his happy place.
I may have gotten the bit a little large, but maybe I can put bit gaurds on it to take up the room. The picture is from the last weekend.
View attachment 41554

Oh my goodness! I hadn’t seen a picture of Cappy yet! Referring back to the discussion of having a soft spot for bays...wow! What a handsome little guy!