This is why I drive

[red_mares]

I found out, or maybe confirmed, that I tore up my right ankle again. That was Wednesday afternoon. Thursday night I was at a show, with 2 ponies going in the ring. I showed the pleasure pony with the walking boot on, no problem. I swapped out the walking boot for a brace & regular boot for the road pony class. That one was a little .

The really amazing thing was that both of them stood for me to get in. Standing is no big deal for the pleasure pony, but she usually hops & skips for a minute or two when first starts out. Nothing. She was perfect.

The road pony is a road pony. He can be a pistol. Trainer is a little more agile than I am, so he usually hops in (key word is hops) in for a quick trip then we swap. Little guy stood like a statue when we hooked. Trainer & I looked at each other - huh? I quietly took the lines and threw my leg in, then the other. Then pony casually walks off. WTF?

I finished the weekend with 2 blues, a red and a yellow. I can’t post pictures yet. We are at the mercy of the show photographer. Three of us were showing 3 horses in the same session. None of us got pictures, none of us had time to get pictures. Yesterday there was one class between the pleasure pony and the road pony stake. Pictures were not a priority.

I did wimp out yesterday and Trainer showed the road pony. I need to wear the boot and I didn’t have time to figure out how to wedge it in the corner of the bike. I’ll be in this thing for weeks, we’ll figure it out, but not yesterday.

[goodhors]

Congratultions! Sounds like a good show despite no photos yet! Sorry to hear about your ankle.

[Rallycairn]

Fantastic! Congratulations! Road ponies look like so much fun. I’ll never forget the 2 road ponies at the stable where I was a barn rat in my youth: Ah So and Tiny Bubbles.

[Zu_Zu]

Midwest ?

[2DogsFarm]

My Faux Grandson had a Hackney Pony he showed Halter, Pleasure & Roadster.
Nearly always won the Halter classes (& Champion) did well in the other classes, but not enough action for Roadster. Speed, but not enough flash in front.
He’d harness pony to work at home, where aisle faced a big, sliding door, wide open to the unfenced field they worked in, right on a very busy road.
He’d walk harnessed pony up, bring the cart up…
Pony - attached to nothing - would stand facing that open door, until he got in & asked him to walk off.
I drove pony once, getting in his bike was easier than I’d imagined
Pony obviously knew he wasn’t at the lines, still gave me a very sedate W/T, with minimal speed😊
Going in to sweep a Halter class:

Here he is at a friend’s indoor, standing to be hitched:

FG switched to Belgians, has 5 now- drives a 4 & spare.
Pony is now an Amish School pony, not a bad life. We know the family that bought him.
If I’d had the werewithall, I’d have wanted him for myself.

[RMJacobs]

I had lead ropes attached to posts in my saddling/harnessing area. I would start out with a halter on the horse, attached to the rope, and when I got to bridling, the halter would get buckled around the neck while I was putting the cart to and fastening everything. My large pony, Salt, was class clown. I had panic snaps on all the ropes attached to the posts. He would mouth the panic snap until it opened, and he’d just stand there laughing. He never tried to go anywhere, he just wanted to show me he could if he wanted to.

I started doing a second lead rope tied around the post with a quick release knot. He knew how to untie those, but generally he gave in. However, he couldn’t be trusted anywhere near another horse that was tied with a quick release knot. He would untie my mare and lead her around. I don’t know why she put up with it; she ruled the boys with an iron hoof. She let him take fly masks off her, too.

Rebecca

[2DogsFarm]

Salt sounds like he was a real character!

I halter Bugs & tie him to a fencepost (6" round) while I harness.
Bridle goes on last & I do the same Halter-on-Neck. Once bridle is on & lines run through rings & coiled on the cart’s seat, holding lines by the saddle, I unbuckle & drop the halter.
Since Bugs is facing the fence he can only step back (no bolting forward) & is good at standing until I’m seated & tell him “Back”.
Ideally I’d have a Header, but it’s Just Me here, so if I want to drive, this has to work.
Going on 7yrs & so far, so good.

[RMJacobs]

I never had a header. Once I was done putting to, I’d gather up the lines in my hand, then unbuckle the halter. Sounds like you have the same routine. Neither of my ponies ever suggested they would leave before they were told. We always had to start by backing a couple of steps, then I’d tell the pony to sidepass to clear the side of the garage. It’s funny–with Crackers being so hot in harness, he never acted up at all when I was harnessing him. Often he would fall asleep until I woke him and told him it was time to go. And sometimes I wouldn’t even be in the cart at that point anyway–often I ground drove down the driveway because it was so steep. It depended on how fit they were, and what the footing was like that day. There were also days I didn’t drive them up when I got home. If we’d been trotting a lot, I would ground drive back up the driveway. With Salt, I could drive him up the other side of the house into the backyard, because he was stocky. Then we would canter across three yards, with the alpacas next door running along with us as far as they could go. That slope was too much for Crackers, and I never did get him to canter in harness when he wasn’t bolting.

Ahhh, I miss my ponies!

Rebecca

[red_mares]

Virginia.

The ponies are polar opposites personality wise. The Hackney thinks he’s a golden retriever. The other one could not care less…about anything. OK, if you really want me to…

This is road pony last year. Road pony pictures don’t change much from show to show. I didn’t see any from this show that I wanted to spend money on.

The Lady Margret - It was funny as the ringmaster & announcer were talking about getting her ears up for pictures. Trainer & I just laughed. The harder you try to get her ears up, the further back they go. The level of cuteness was nauseating as it was, I don’t think lunch would have stayed down if her ears were up.

[MunchingonHay]

I am glad you had a great show!!

George Bowman said it best decades ago while being interviewed for Horse in Sport PBS series.

“you can only ride for so long, … but you can drive until the day you die.”

[red_mares]

Yep! 81 yro Mom drives the black pony when she’s in town. For whatever reason, she refuses to drive the Hackney, who is much more agreeable and easier to handle. (He gets used for beginner driving lessons.)

Then again, she loved my first mare, who would kill you if given the chance, but was scared of the sweet but 17H second mare. Her sense of self-preservation is bit skewed.

[Zu_Zu]

@red_mares

I like the North Carolina State Fair Blue Ribbon ~ 2023 • Jacobs pic best !

Shenandoah Classic • Virginia Horse Center • starts tonight ~ promises to be a great show ~

[RMJacobs]

My trainer refused to get in the cart when my Hackney pony, Crackers, was hitched. She fitted his harness and cart, ground drove him just to get a feel for him, and then did the rest of her instructing from the ground while I drove him. I’d already had five lessons driving her bombproof Arabian by then. We started off in my corral, which was just big enough once I shooed my other horses out into the pasture and closed the gate. Then I graduated to driving him in my front pasture, with the other horses locked out. The first time I took him out on the road, she came along riding her bombproof Arabian that I’d first learned to drive with. It was pretty much a disaster, and her advice was to sell the pony immediately. I was stubborn and kept taking him out, and did much better. What I didn’t know when she went out with me that first time is that Crackers was very aggressive with other geldings (and OMG he was ballistic with stallions). So having the other horse nearby probably was counterproductive. She thought it would help Crackers to be calm. Ha!

In spite of how hot Crackers was and how prone to bolting, neither of us ever got hurt somehow.

Rebecca

[red_mares]

I’m partial to Rockbridge. I do miss it being part of the county fair; I’m probably the only who does. It’s just a nice show. It’s pretty laid back and we usually do pretty well. The going is pretty deep at Shenandoah and it costs a lot more.

Rebecca,
Your Crackers sounds like my Pinky, the evil mare. When I bought her, she was being used as a school horse. If she was ridden all the time, she was fine. If she wasn’t, well, she wasn’t. I had a trainer (not the current one) who was scared of her & wouldn’t get on her so she got ridden once a week w/me. She ended up breaking my arm one day. I’d had her for 3 year prior without injury.

Margie was a trip when we got her from Mom. She was spoiled & balky - just what you expect from an Amish pony! She had 2 gears - stop & fast; reverse wasn’t great. One of our early drives, we tried driving her until she gave up. Fat chance. Maybe 30 minutes, we started laughing and realized we’d been trying to drive a road horse into the ground. She’s still tough, she can go through 3 pairs of arms and still be ready to go. The joke is she’s my practice road pony. Some overprivileged people have a practice equitation horse, I have a practice pony. If you can drive her, you can drive anything! The trick is to not let her get fast; if you do, you’re done.

[red_mares]

Zippy had a busy weekend while I lounged on the couch. Trainer’s niece made her debut in the bike. She’s been showing another pony under saddle for a couple seasons now. He’s harder to drive than Zipper. It was 50-50 on whether they showed in harness or if Zip made his under saddle debut. Deciding factor - the trailer was still loaded with the harness from last weekend! Since Kiddo couldn’t make the show on Sunday, Mr. Trainer decided to have some fun himself. You have to love a pony that a green kid can show and is still nice enough for a pro to show.