Quzqo Gets The Shaft

Sun Mar 4, 2007

Or Two of them to be precise!

Yep, yesterday evening, for the first time EVAH, Coos got hisself hooked up to a cart! I got that annoying pre-teen to help out (she's a good kid when she's got something to do and some focus), and I harnessed Himself up, and ground drove him around the arena for about 15 minutes (after he'd been ridden & tuckered out previously...I could only ride for 15 minutes, but it was all trotting and cantering, until the pain in my chest got too much to bear). We got Bob's cart out, and with the kid holding Quzqo's head (rope halter over the bridle), I wheeled the cart up, raised the shafts up over his back, and gently lowered them, where they promptly GOT STUCK ON HIS BIG FAT BARREL!

BWAHAHAHAAA! Quzqo was too WIDE for the shafts, LOL!!! Couldn't even get them mid-point on his fat ole sides, LOL!! They were wedged there, but better still, he didn't care. Nope, he was fine, just standing still with the kid petting his nose, didn't care what was going on with his sides, LOL! With some squidging I managed to get the shafts a couple of inches lower, and they were pretty much just held in place by his gut, didn't need straps or traces or anything, ha!!

But, put the straps on the shaft anyway, the traces were too long for the cart (I guess it was a pony cart after all), but I hooked 'em up anyway, didn't matter that they were slack, since the shafts were held in place by somebody's previously-mentioned fat gut!

I started leading him forward, and after a split second's hesitation, he started walking, and the cart rolled easily behind him, and he didn't seem to know or care, and was doing just great!! We made two big circles around the arena before calling it quits. I wanted to drive him (walking beside the cart, not IN it), but not with a cart being held up by somebody's fat gut, so that'll have to wait. (just to clarify, I DID attach the required straps as well, it wasn't just balancing on his ample girth) He did SO well, especially considering I totally skipped the stage of training that consists of the horse dragging a pair of dummy poles to get used to the feel of the cart shafts...kind of figured I didn't need that, and I was right!

Yep...next step...a cart that'll fit him, HA! Time to start shopping! Bob has a big 4-person carriage, but I don't think that'd fit Coos either, plus he'd look ridiculous hitched up to that big thing. Luckily next weekend I'm heading down to the Michigan Horse Expo, and maybe they'll have something there, if not, there's quite a few online dealers with decent prices on 2-wheel jog carts. Tsk, there goes the $$ I've got saved up for Breyerfest!

I was also thrilled that I COULD ride him, even if it was for 15 minutes...took 10 minutes before my chest started to ache, so that's an improvement!

Found out that one of the Teen Girls was riding one of Bob's new horses yesterday, the thing took off bucking, and she got bucked off and broke her arm as a result! Yikes!! Thank goodness for the Michigan Equine Liability Law (i.e. if you get hurt while being around a horse, it's your own damned fault), but still...well, she's got plenty of time to heal up before horse show season!

Poor Coos got FIVE new chomps to himself yesterday...+ a new hematoma on the opposite shoulder of the first one (which is almost disappeared and healed up). Today he's wearing his new winter blanket, for protection if nothing else! GRRRRGH! When the snow melts, the herd will disperse and hopefully he won't be thrashed upon!

I was thinking when/if he ever cripples me for good, I can still enjoy horsey activities by driving him, LOL! And when gas gets to $5/gallon, I can drive him to the grocery store (will need a bigger cart)

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SOMEhow he got out of his blanket today...I found him in his stall, and his blanket hanging on a rail in the aisleway...looks like he did some serious rolling in the snow and when velcro gets filled with snow and ice, it doesn't stick, and the velcros came undone, so the helpful(?) barn person (whichever teen girl it was) just removed it from him, rather than brushing the snow off and putting it back to rights. Got it all stuck back on, and added the leg straps (since he doesn't give a damn, whereas Tezlu did the high-steppin' hoochie-koo when I tried using leg straps on his blanket, lol!). See if it stays on tomorrow...at least it apparently IS protecting his torso from bites, which is the point. And the wind chill today was around -5, so that was a bonus. He's been shedding for a month, so the ole' winter fur isn't quite as thick as it was in January.

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Got my driving bits from eBay last week, so he had his Real Official Driving Bit too, which at least LOOKED appropriate (2 NEW driving bits for $9.95...didn't NEED two, but oh well).