Step 1. Wake up! I have a very lazy pony...she is almost always sleeping when I go to her stall to get her.....I like to wake her with a song, but you should tailor your wake up routine to your pony's own personal preference.
Step 2. Introduce the harness. This only took a few repetitions until I was comfortable that she was comfortable with all the dangly things and doohickes associated with a driving harness. I am not a professional, so if you want technical terms this is not the place to look!
Step 3. Ground Driving...or as I like to call it: 'getting my dust jockey on'! I ate a lot of dirt during this task as I worked on this for a significant amount of time. Me goal was to get a solid walk, jog, and extended trot with a consistently level topline before we moved on...I also wanted to ensure I had a good handle on her for turning, stopping, and backing. I figured it would be easier to correct her clearly and quickly in this phase than down the road with the cart between us.
Step 4. Pulling Pipes. To simulate the awkward feel of the shafts against her body, I slid PVC pipes into her tugs (unsecured) and had a friend lead her as I walked behind. I had the ends of the PVC pipes tied together at my position for easy handling. In this position, I could easily pull the pipes out of the tugs in the event of an emergency. I also allowed the pipes to drag behind her a bit to simulate the scary pony eating noises that carts are known to make! She took to this rather quickly. I also pulled these around when I was riding her for extra exposure, which helped!
Step 5. Push it. "Look at me...if I can do it you can do it!" In this step, I literally push the cart around while tugging my pony behind me....she got to see and hear and even occasionally taste the cart in action....she's a little mouthy, so pony teeth marks on all things that come within chomping distance are inevitable....fortunately for me, my pony didn't care too much about the cart rolling around her....my arms and legs were spared from doing this more than 2 or 3 times...I did do it enough for my appreciation of the effort it takes to move that thing around to multiply tenfold tho!
Step 6. Hitch it...ALMOST. In this step I simply slid the shafts thru the harness tugs to let my pony feel the weight of the cart on her...My handy helper took the lead while I kept my hands on the shafts in the event I needed to pull them out...these carts don't grow on trees, ya know?...and I am kinda fond of this one. A few times around the pen without incident an we were ready for step 7!
Step 7. Hitch it...FOR REALS. OK, perhaps I am being over cautious here...but it is my life at stake when I hop in the cart! ...and I love my life! Sooooo, I hitch her up...and lead her around in all her driving glory! There's no turning back now! No simple escape maneuver to get her unattached from this contraption at this point....just me, my pony, and a couple hundred pounds of wood, metal, and leather.....deep breathe, and we ready for step 8.
Step 8. Drive it! This was a little scary....I had thoughts like, "Have I ground driven enough?" "Have I exposed her to the cart enough" "Am I going to faint in this heat and fall off the cart and be trampled to my death?"...but in the end, WE DID IT! I hitched her up and a dear friend stood in as my 'header' (person handling the horse from the front while the driver is in the cart) and led us around the arena.....
When we determined that my precious little cart pulling princess of a pony was ready for some more Independence, we switched up from the leadrope at the head to a lungeline....my 'header' stood at the center of the arena and I drove her in a circle around her....this is what you will see on this clip below.....I think I will do this 1-2 more times before unclipping and driving independently....she seems to be taking it all in stride, but I'd rather be safe than sorry!
Stay tuned for more footage next month when we are driving solo!
Happy Trails,
Leah
PS...Thank you Ms. Beth for your assistance! Also, thank you to my dear hubby for his excellent video taping! xoxo
PS...Thank you Ms. Beth for your assistance! Also, thank you to my dear hubby for his excellent video taping! xoxo
2 comments:
Sarah and I watched your video and we WANT TO COME VISIT AND RIDE IN THE CART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We miss you terribly when we watch your videos.
Sarah said "they can take the cart to town or church". Just like the Ingalls family.
You are so awesome and we are very impressed.
Love you, Kate and Sarah
Nice video. I have started my own in much the same way. I specially like your comment about fixing it in the beginning......I have shared this as many Gypsy owners are at least thinking of driving and this will show them the process. Thanks again, nice job.
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