[drivingpairs] Re: drivingpairs Digest V1 #20

Hi Laurie,

I think Hardy gave you some good advice, because you gave him an accurate
picture of what happened. I speak from the vantage point of the turnout that
was in front of Laurie's, and heard the clatter of hooves and her asking for
help with the reins when I turned around to see what was going on;  and saw
the pony sliding down the road. I stopped my unicorn (3 ponies, not a pony
with a horn) as I figured if Laurie's didn't see the turnout in front of
them going away, they might not be so worried about catching up.

I think her problem was caused more by lack of fitness of the ponies
compared to the demands of the drive, which had the ponies working harder
than they were used to, and a little bit of "stuff happens" with horses and
poor timing.It is always hard to have a line drive with horses and ponies
mixed. We had the constraint of tryiing to keep fairly together, as we had a
battlefield historian giving us a tour of the battlefield at several
stopping points. Consider the drive leader, did you really think she would
be content to keep a leisurely pace  with her snappy Morgan ?   :)  We had 2
single Morgans in the lead, then a QH, then the pony multiples. The terrain
was undulating, with several up and down roller coaster stretches, very
tiring if you are pulling a carriage with 3 passengers for little pony butts
to hold back. From what I saw, I think her harness is fairly well adjusted,
and she had  knowlegeable help on the carriage  when putting to. Length of
the pole seems  reasonnable to me, for a pleasure carriage as opposed to a
marathon vehicle. Height of the pole was ok for the ponies, but due to their
size, pole attaches at carriage low to ground, so with a little bit of
effort, a pony could get a leg over. I did not see the coupling rein
adjustments closely, but when I saw the ponies going , they were both
straight and relaxed at the trot.

As far as your comment on only driving straight for a while. . .
I start all my young ones, pairs and singles out hacking as soon as
possible. There is nothing better to teach them to be forward and pull
together, going cross country and down the road. You can practice
transitions, and turns as well.You can practice strong trot going up a hill,
steadying to a slow trot going down, and sneak  these concepts to them in a
way that makes more sense to them  than in a flat arena, out of context.
Plus the animals get to a fitness level where more intensive dressage work
is easier for them. (Here I don't mean 2 hrs of work vs 15 min, but several
figures and changes of bend in succession, as opposed to one left turn down
a lane, then straight, then a right turn a few 100 yds later.)

If I understand your comment on time of response for a multiple vs a single,
did you mean that they don't both trot off, or turn, or slow down as a pair
as well as they do as singles ? That will come with practice ! One day, I
was having a slightly frustrating school with my pair just not working
together in the schooling area, so I told my navigator, we're going down the
road, and I want you to count when I've done 100 transitions. Well, we went
about a mile, and we'd only done 50. . . . . so we kept on going. Ponies
learnt a lesson in submission that day !
(You need a navigator who can count past 20. . .  )
So yes, I am here, will come help if you want. Ready to go to the apple
farms during Christmas Break !
In fact, I'm taking advantage of daughter being home from college, with an
admirer who is "horse friendly", so we are taking the unicorn out today !
(But waiting for the deer hunters to take a lunch break !)

Dana
----- Original Message -----
From: "FreeLists Mailing List Manager" <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "drivingpairs digest users" <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2002 2:08 AM
Subject: drivingpairs Digest V1 #20


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

Other related posts: