Saturday, April 25, 2009

If the first best view in the world is from the back of a horse....

This must be the second best.

So I have been driving a lot lately. Like every day it isn't wayyyy to wet or raining. Indigo enjoys driving even though she never was a cart horse before I got her. She is the only horse I have trained that didn't try and speed ahead when the cart would hit big bumps and make loud noises randomly wile going down the lane.
She is a good VERY BAD GIRL!!!
But it was my fault. I didn't listen to her all last year when she was acting like a total nut. She randomly will do this half small rear half crow hop in the cart and I always growl and usually smack her in the butt with my reins and she would stop. She would do it when she got scared by the tree line with the evil, horse hitting birds in them, the birds are a whole nother story in themselves. But I finally figured out what it was. The crupper was too low and when she gathered up and tucked her butt in to spook at the birds it would ride the wrong way up her...ahem you know.
POOOR GIRLY!! I am soo sorry I should have listened!!!

I get cookies now right?
When I do carriage drives for events and such sometimes I start to ask the passengers questions, like parts of the harness. We usually go through reins and blinkers and breast collars before we get to the part under the horses tail. I always ask "Do you know what the crupper is?" and they reply "It's the part under the horses tail" I laugh and say "Every horses ass knows that" hahahhaha, I crack myself up. Funny, too funny.

Anyway back on topic. Indigo was so good when I drove her in the other work harness and thats because that crupper isn't adjustable like the one in the photo. I can't use that harness right now. Why you ask? Well we almost had a could have been death for Sydney experience.
I was driving down the neighbors very nice grass laneway across the road and we were going at a nice brisk trot. All of a sudden the shaft holder (the little loops on either side of the harness that hold the shafts up on the side of the horse) FALLS RIGHT OFF. My jaw just drops as I imagine myself doing the same superman impression out of the carriage that Murdo did last spring. I holler WOOOOOOAAHHHH!!!! and wadda ya know, Indigo plants her feet and WOOOOAAHHHS. I just about head butted her right in the butt. Oh Indigo you good, good piggy girl.
The bolt that heald the what was once a team harness now made into a single had stripped and came out of the saddle of the harness. I screwed it back in but it was slowly working it's way back out by the time I got back home.

I have a video but alas it's a .MOV file and I can't convert it yet...darn. It's cute.

Today we have the vets. I gotta go out and clean up Indigo before I trailer her to where I work. No vet fee that way ;P Indigo is always a good girl. She never blinks when she gets shots and doesn't need to be sedated for anything, even teeth, which also come today.

Oh and with the drive yesterday afternoon I learned a valuable lesson. Don't yawn when you are driving a shedding horse at the trot. I was picking hair out of my teeth for the rest of the evening.

1 comment:

Mellimaus said...

Ok, I know I'm reading old posts...but haha, love this one! How funny! I'm sorry the cart *almost* broke!

I went to a draft horse show last weekend and watched drafts pull carts...while in the line-up one cart just suddendly fell apart, the shafts went up and the cart seat went down! The driver almost fell out! Must have been embaressing in a show ring...

I wish I could drive a cart! I have a feeling my mare wouldn't like me too much for it, though...plus I'd have no idea where to begin! :-P lol

Indigo is BEAUTIFUL btw! :D

Blog Widget by LinkWithin