Drove my horse!

Sat Aug 4, 2007

Didn't plan to but gosh, last evening was SO pretty and calm and lovely, and the barn was just bustling with helpful horsepeople, and the Barn Owner even hiked out into the pasture to catch Quzqo for me (he couldn't, but Quz came trotting down to the gate on his own, lol), I figured why the heck not!

It went quite well, considering he hadn't been driven in weeks, and hadn't been "worked" in nearly 3 months, lol! My biggest mistake was attempting this at dinner time, although he did get to eat his grain & a few mouthfuls of hay before I dragged him out into the aisleway for work. Turns out my boy has turned quite barn sour these past few months, which is a little trickier to deal with when you're sitting in a cart behind the horse in question! No, no rearing, no spinning, just a few discussions between horse and driver (he discovered he can't spin when he's between a pair of metal shafts, HA HA HA)

End result was he earned himself a nice trot along the road UPhill for about half a mile, and Mr. FattyFatFat was workin', ha, even though the tires were fully inflated & it was good firm footing. I'm very pleased with him (I did drive him a few times around an empty pasture w/lots of hills before taking him out on the road), because he was totally oblivious to the cars that went by (not too many since it was nearly 8 p.m. on a Friday evening). He did look closely at the rumble strips on the pavement, but didn't even flinch when a car went over those same rumble strips as we were near them!

We turned around a hundred yards before the intersection with a major US highway & headed back downhill, and even though I was expecting SOME sort of display, he plodded on nicely as we walked past the barn and on down the road in the other direction (spooking the horses in the front pasture, heh heh). LOTS of cars going by, but they all gave us plenty of clearance, which says something for doing something "unusual" like driving a cart instead of just riding along the road. Plus the bright tropical print shirt I was wearing gave us plenty of visibility along w/the SMV triangle on the back of the cart.

Quz did SO well, & even had some sweaty marks when we finally got back. It wasn't as relaxing as I thought it'd be, what w/the higher-than-expected traffic and the horse in a pissy tail-cranking mood (can't think how many times he caught a rein under his tail, arrgh...need a taller cart!) but all's well that ends well!

LOL...when I came back from my drive and Bob was (VERY inexpertly) helping me unhitch the horse from the cart (I was surprised, because Bob does drive, but 4-wheeled carriages, not shafted carts...so he starts unhooking everything on the horse's right side and THEN the left side, and wanted to lead the horse out of the shafts w/the traces still hooked to the singletree, yikes!), this new Boarder and her daughter were walking from the front pasture (where their horse is), and the mom said:

"We want to know ONE thing....can Maddie (their horse) do that?"

Bob said "Any horse can do it, just some go faster than others!" lol!

Maybe I should start running driving-training clinics, make some moolah!

Thanks to the power of Motrin, I might just go out there this afternoon & put Himself in the round pen and work on a little ground manners & the like. I ordered myself some nice riding sneakers (okay, "endurance and trail riding shoes") and once those come in I'll see about actually getting on his back & doing some easy walking in the indoor arena. I can't wear boots because my ankle swells so darned much, I probably would have to cut them off again, lol!

The barn owner's little granddaughter was riding yesterday, and she commented that I had a cane! I told her I'd broke my leg, and she matter-of-factly asked "Then why are you HERE?" LOL...excuuuuse me, child! "Why even come here if you can't ride??" Ah, children...from the mouths of babes. So much for them to learn.