:encouragement:
The work you’re doing now is going to be invaluable when you get your cart & start driving. :yes:
Voice is all you have when you drive, besides your connection through the bit/hands.
I did a cllnic yesterday where a lot of the drivers were Road & Trail, little formal training or show experience.
Clinician stressed how important maintaining the feel is - her example: when you drop contact, horse feels like you have abandoned ship, noone in the cart. :eek:
Getting Star obeying voice w/o question is going to be a real asset.
As for losing time as whip… :uhoh:
I have driven exactly once since October - too cold, then too hot for me :o - yesterday was the 1st time since that 1st drive (all of 20min tootling around my acreage) Bugs had to work over an hour.
He was A Rockstar :love-struck:
Went out to the barn with the intent of ground driving today. Seems the bugs were especially vicious yesterday evening. He rubbed out a chunk of mane and his legs were worse than normal. (His legs are always chewed up, but not normally this chewed up.) So instead of working he got a medicated bath, SWAT on all his bites and an extra heavy spritzing of fly spray. It’s 107 today, so I don’t want to have to bundle him up in fly sheets/boots/mask. I also took off the rest of his mane (I left the forelock intact). He looks pretty cute with a roached mane, if you ignore the middle part where he rubbed himself bald. He is going to look adorable with a little shaped mohawk.
Can we just skip August? Go straight to September and cooler weather.
I don’t do heat well, so I really feel bad for him. 107F! I would never get anything done. Your cattle flies bite viciously, poor guy!
Manes grow back in short order, or you can continue keeping it short. Doing a search for grooming ideas to shape it will turn up strange things! Ha ha I have seen upright scallops, dagged edges (squared like castle walls tops), pointed manes. Fjord styled taper with the center taller than sides.
Oooooh! @Twisting I have been considering roaching Bugs’ trolldoll mane for some time.
Saw a mini with roached mane at my Driving clinic this weekend & now I think you have sealed the deal for me : D
No shows this Summer, so no worries about presentation.
I imagine by October’s Ntl Drive he will be sporting at least 4" of Mohawk ; }
Now I need to get roaching shears or borrow clippers to replace the kitchen shears I use to clip a bridle path…
My last equine was a fjord. We didn’t see eye to eye on what constituted a full days workload, but I sure did have fun with that mane. It was part of the motivation for roaching Starpony. It’s just so easy to take care of. I had been contemplating it for a while, he just made the choice for me with the rubbing.
@goodhors He isn’t overly fond of the heat, but he’s lived in the area all his life and tolerates it well enough. He doesn’t like being turned out in the heat, and will trot to the gate everytime you walk by if you try to leave him out. So he gets 30-40 minutes in the tiny “recovery paddock” while I do my chores in the morning and that is enough for him. Other than that he is in his stall under his fan and misting system.
@2DogsFarm Go for it!!! It’s so much cooler for them, and think of how cute it will be if you taper the ends of that mohawk into an adorable little arch. The cuteness factor might be illegal when it goes that high.
Oh, and I need you all to tell me that I don’t need the adorable Highland pony weanling I keep seeing in my facebook feed. Sure, I am finally in a position to easliy afford two horses, but that doesn’t mean I need a baby, and certainly not a big stocky baby that probably hates this heat as much as I do. Even if it does currently live in Arizona and manages just fine… TELL ME NO!!!
No Highland pony! Does that help? Breeds developed in cool climates just take more care to manage heat. Long manes and feathers are not good in heat and humidity.
We may body clip ours if the 90Fs continue. They are in all day, no sun for burns and cool easier when clipped. The change in color is holding us back. Being bright bay, they may turn orange like a previous bright bay horse did! Ha ha Sure surprised us, and his 3 team mates were all dark, dappled seal bay which changed to brown lace after body clipping. He REALLY stood out when driving! Ha ha But they all were cooler, much more comfortable roached and body clipped in the hot months.
My biggest problem is that I like my ponies on the chunky side, and none of the chunkier horses do well in the heat. There are tons of quarter horses and arabs round here in Texas that would do great, but show me a think boned beast and I’m head over heals. Luckily, I could care less about hair, long manes and feathers are handled quite nicely by a pair of clippers. I will probably end up with something chunky someday, and it will nap through the summers under a fan just as I spend my summers inside. I don’t do heat very well either. Texas luckily stays pretty dry, and still gets into the 70’s at night. The mister and fan does a fair job of keeping the stall quite cool.
Twisting, I don’t have ponies, don’t drive horses or ponies, don’t own a cart or anything remotely related to driving, but…I love reading your thread.
I hope all goes well with your upcoming surgery and that you and pony survive the searing Texas heat.
@Sue B Thank you! I’m glad my ramblings are fun for folks to read.
I had an amazing free lunging session with Star Pony today. We worked on “Easy trot”, “Trot on” and “Canter on”, “Easy Canter”. Trotting and Canter on were pretty straight forward, and he performed nicely. We had some struggles with easy canter. He broke a few times as he was figuring out what I was asking for. In the end though, we got a quiet, sitting on the knife edge of trotting, canter with nothing but my voice. He was just so lazer focused on me and on what I was saying. A single “kiss” was all it took to keep him from breaking, and my voice was quiet and low. It gave me goosebumps. If Star Pony were 5 hands taller, he would’ve been an absolute blast to ride. Responsive but not reactive. Of course if he were 5 hands taller I would not have been able to afford him. I can see so clearly how he failed as a little kids riding pony. He is happiest with adult conversations.
I did have an argument with my mother over Star Pony. See a few weeks back she wanted to buy him a cute little set of red polo wraps. I told her he didn’t need them and then bought them myself the next day. Well, she saw them in a picture on Facebook and wanted to know why I was denying her the chance to spoil her Grandpony. I had to let her get him a new buckle-nose leather halter before she would forgive me.
Oh, and one of the ladies commented (from a safe distance) that Star was looking so much trimmer than before. I guess the diet and exercise are paying off.
I’ll enable you, I know plenty of fjords (chunky horses) doing CDEs in Florida, which is not as hot as, let’s say, Dallas. But then again, Dallas has nothing on Florida for humidity (Houston on the other hand…) And you can cool down a hot horse faster if you remove humidity (all other things being mostly equal).
In the mean time Star has found himself with a new job. One of the ladies at the barn just bought a weanling. He’s adorable, and so tiny. Baby is a reining bred QH and might make 14.2 when all grown up. Star pony was selected as the best possible turnout buddy for him for now, when he gets into the rambunctious teenage years he’ll probably move on to a slightly larger crochety pony as a companion. Star has proven to be very tolerant, until he isn’t, and then correction is swift and decisive. This isn’t his first time teaching a baby how to be a solid equine citizen. Baby’s big lesson yesterday was that Star is not a source of food.
I’m not entirely certain what Star’s opinion on the situation is, but I imagine there is a lot of eye rolling going on. It’s good for him, gets him more turn out time, even if he would rather be standing under his fan and mister.
I finally got a chance to hook him up to it today, just for a short drive. It was super muddy at the barn, but I wanted to see how everything fit and make any needed adjustments. And adjustments were needed! My breeching definitely did not sit right with the new footman’s loops. So that needed to be corrected. Going to try again tomorrow to make sure the adjustments to the harness are working.
This pony though. Between COVID, cancer, cartlessness and these lovely south Texas summers he has basically had 5 months off. Today was overcast and cool (well, cool for Texas). My sweet little guy hitched up and stepped off like he’d been working all summer. Quiet as a lamb and no fuss whatsoever. The vet was there dealing with another horse and I am pretty sure she wanted to stuff him in the back of her truck and take him home with her.
Speaking of cancer, I had the mastectomy 3 weeks ago. It went well and I am healing nicely. Bad news is the cancer was more advanced than they had first suspected. I’m officially Stage 2A. I find out more about the way forward next week. Radiation, maybe chemo. We will see.
Now all I need is for this Texas weather to cut me some slack and let me get out and drive!!!
I was wondering if your cart ever arrived. Glad to hear you finally got it and have put it to use. I’ve not driven much this summer, just did not feel much like it. Too hot and my goals were put on hold so I lost motivation. Started doing horse agility instead. Hope you continue to heal and the treatment will go smoothly.
Slow replying. Glad surgery went well and recovery too! That is great news! Fingers crossed for you on continued treatments being successful in stopping the cancer.
Nice to hear the cart has arrived and pony can now be driven among his othe duties! Ha ha Always nice when they act so well, even with a long time off. We always expect to need modifications when we get a new vehicle. Yours sound like pretty minor fix-ups. Hope you have been able to get in more driving since you posted.
Good news on Star’s BTDT return to driving :applause:
Sorry, I missed/was oblivious to your CA news.
2X survivor - I prefer Vanquisher - here.
My mastectomy required no radiation, but 5yrs of AI drug, going into Year 5 now.
I also had a 2nd surgery, just months after the 1st, to make sure All Gone.
Once surgical site was healed & surgeon approved, I was back to riding & driving.
3 months, IIRC.
Mainly due to a latflap reconstruction & implant I had at the same time as 1st surgery.
I have gotten to drive several more times since my last update! He was a little rough at the trot at first. Stiff and bracey, but he is relearning to soften and relax. We have had a few nice trips around the big field, even with the distraction of the military working dogs sharing the field with us. I did get my first real in harness spook. The hiss of the wheels on some pea gravel that was recently laid down in one of the drainage areas scared him. He sat down on his butt to run but I firmed up my feel on the lines and Whoa’ed. He just stood up out of the “bolt crouch” and stopped. I gave him a moment to breath and we walked on nice and quiet. He got lots of cookies for being brave, (and because he is good at begging.)
I have my harness mostly good, but I don’t like how much pressure is being put on the neck strap. The Bellcrown has a much lower line of draft, and it makes sense that the angle would increase the pressure on the neckstrap. I am thinking that the breast collar might not be the best option for this configuration? He may need a collar? One of those flex collars?
I have surgery on Friday to have a port placed, I start Chemo as soon as that is healed, or maybe sooner, who knows. Not sure how that is going to complicate things. My barn is self care, and I have been super lucky that it is an amazing group of folks. They have all bent over backwards to help me out during my surgeries, I have no doubt they will be able to help out now if/when I need it, but I feel bad having to ask for help. They all have their own horses to take care of too.
Tell Star he just won the Nuthin’ Scares ME! Award created in honor of my mini Bugs.
What you call “bolt crouch”, I call Assuming Beachball Shape :winkgrin:
And I correct it just as you describe :encouragement:
Works for me every time.
The extra treats are considered an obligation, not necessary to earn, as far as Bugs feels.
Re: asking for help.
As a single it’s hard for me to ask too.
But it is a valuable skill & most people who offer honestly do want to help.
Wishing you a swift recovery & many fun Fall drives!
@Twisting, 2DogsFarm is right. As you have seen, most people are happy to help when times are tough. Don’t feel bad about asking. You can have fun thinking of creative ways to return their kindness. I hope your surgery went well. Do check in and let us know.
- here.
