Wednesday night, we had to cancel our Wee House Worship.
So we switched gears...and made the best of it.
Since our dear friend Ellen was already planning her evening with us,
we decided to go with Plan B.
Training Traveler.
So after an outdoor picnic supper, we began.
Ellen took the reins first.
We were told Traveler had been driven in his past.
And when he came to us the first time,
we saw evidence of such with markings on his back legs.
They were worn by the harness rubbing against his hair and skin.
Did you know a horse's skin is 7 times more sensitive than a humans?
Raz, the overseer, is no stranger to the harness...
He watched intently, as if to glean some information from the exercise.
Or just watch his favorite human, Russ, in the round pen.
It was wonderful having Ellen share her skill of horsemanship.
She's no stranger to driving horses, or dogs, for that matter.
She has a beautiful Haflinger, Bob, who she uses for field work at her Farm.
Traveler responded well to Gee (right)
and Haw (left).
He's quick on his turns.
And has a fast "giddy up" trot.
I'm not sure who worked harder that night.
But it sure was a great start toward our final goal ~
Traveler as a buggy horse.
I thought you might like to see what the excitement is all about.
This video features a Standardbred who just came from the race track to an Amish Farm.
A young couple is along for the ride, impressed with the speed!
You'll see how fast they trot!
And how much the horse enjoys it!
Be sure and turn off the soothing music on Playlist so you can hear the dialog and clip-clops!
Until tomorrow, God willing.
8 comments:
What a pretty shiny horse. It is so good to see that Russ is doing so well, I bet you are so relieved.
I can't watch the video, well I can watch but I don't have speakers on this computer. I didn't know about the horses skin being so sensitive, very interesting.
awesome! my kids say gee and haw when playing horses :)
beautiful horses, makes me miss mountain life so much!
God bless~
Nice post maybe I will learn a thing or two about driving, we have two ponies that I am going to have to teach to drive, but there is a small problem, I have never driven before or been shown how, oh well I am sure I’ll pick it up. Great video it looks like a lot of fun, but it does make me wonder why we have two ponies for driving, he sure does look fast. How long do you thing it will take to get Traveler going? And will he go on roads or just be worked around your farm?
Regards
Edward
Beautiful horses. I trained my own just to ride when I was about seventeen, but it's been many years since I even rode.
The first horse I got that I paid for myself was broken to drive before I ever sat on her... she was a wonderul little thing. I've driven once or twice, and wish we had a driving horses here now that my back is too bad to ride!
Thanks everyone. The plan is to get Traveler road ready, which he may already be. (Don't you wish your horses came to you with a video of their life up to that point...?) We will keep working with him, and then progress him to a cart on our dirt drives, then test him on the dirt roads around our place. He's fine on trail rides, doesn't even flinch when dogs run out from houses at him. That's a good sign...
Thanks for stopping by and 'following' my blog. I've been poking around your blog and love it. Traveller looks fabulous in his harness and the ground driving looks like a lot of fun. I ground drove Doc today - he's not as good with Gee and Haw as Pippin. But... if they are harnessed together, Doc will get the picture when Pippin begins to move - LOL!
That 'road ready' thing is tough because there are so many variables. Who knows what will come, when, etc. My boys are harness trained and have worked for the Amish. But... I haven't driven them for a year, so I'm going back to square one with each one.
Looking forward to reading more about Russ-Stick Acres!
Thanks "Dreaming"...your Haflingers are a nice looking team. And, you've touched on the perfect way to train...have the other horse help. That's what we do with our sled dogs. This fall we have 3 younger dogs who will be trained as leaders...trained by, you guessed it, excellent seasoned leaders we already have in our kennel. Thanks for coming aboard~!
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