[drivingpairs] biiig truck, green horses

Today I took my moderately green pair, Flygill and Mosa, out for a nice quiet 
drive.  The temperature was wonderful and the horses were enjoying themselves. 
After a couple of miles we had turned around and were coming back down a long 
but not too steep hill.  A big big truck pulling a long, empty trailer came 
over 
the hill behind us going quite fast.  Jen, on the road side, waved her whip and 
yelled at the driver to slow down, which he did with a big swoosh of air 
brakes. 
  Well Flygill lost it.  he was scrambling and banging against the pole with 
his 
eyes rolling.  I brought them down to a walk and we got over on the edge of the 
road - two wheels on the pavement and two on the grass verge.  I kept the 
horses 
walking along and waved the truck to come on.  He came on past and I thought we 
were home free.  But when the trailer came abreast of us and was banging and 
jumping into the air, Flea (on the truck side) went nuts.  He reared, he 
bucked, 
he plunged.  Gradually Mosa also sped up and there wasn't a thing I could do 
about it.  Now we are at full gallop.  I had the brake on, but only partly 
because I was trying not to lock the wheels.  We had a couple of truly 
hair-raising moments as the carriage tilted as I edged it back on the road, but 
we didn't tip over and now we are hurtling past the truck at the gallop.  My 
only plan was to stay straight and stay on the road.  when the driver saw what 
was happening, he pulled off the road and turned off his engine, bless his 
heart.  Once we got out of sight I was able to slow the horses by actually 
sawing on the reins - only the second time in my life I have ever done that - 
never while driving.  I actually wouldn't have thought of it, I was taking and 
releasing, but Jen told me to try sawing gently.  I got the horses back to the 
trot, but could hear the truck starting up again behind us.  Wildly I looked 
for 
a spot where we could get off the road, and when a nice field came up I turned 
in, drove the horses up a ways and we both jumped down and got a hold of them. 
The truck drove on by and tooted his horn (a nice man, but reeeeeally 
clueless). 
  We drove on home, having to get off the road and get down to hold the horses 
one other time when a large truck came by that I would have expected Flea to 
absolutely ignore on a better day.

So questions: Should I switch sides with the pair to put Mosa on the inside? 
Since they were riding horses first, might they do better without blinkers? 
Should I have halted the horses to let the truck go by instead of letting them 
walk (I thought it might make them calmer to be able to move).  Once we were in 
full gallop was there something different I should have done?  Both horse 
ignore 
trucks when ridden, and both have seen many trucks when driven either single or 
in the pair and never worried beyond raising their head.
Stephanie
Blasted Rock Farm

_________________________________________________________
To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: 
http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Other related posts: