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About 15 minutes ground driving Peanut Wednesday, I think that was the 31st.
15 minutes ground driving him yesterday.
Mindy, how long is your track? I wish I could do this around the perimeter of my property but we have close neighbors on two side and I like to keep the ponies somewhat away from them. Just because :).

Looking at a easy entry cart this weekend. The shafts are 50 inches according to the seller (I will measure them, too) My carts are 48 and about 47. Do you guys think the extra length will be a problem?

Oh, and about the Easy boots, they seem to fit Peanut so I am keeping them for him.
 
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2.65 miles for Dapper Dan this morning. It was overcast and lower humidity so a very pleasant drive. My odometer said 42 minutes. It only records when the wheels are turning, so it isn't completely accurate. We stopped a few times for Midnight to look at cows.
 
Cayuse said:
Looking at a easy entry cart this weekend. The shafts are 50 inches according to the seller (I will measure them, too) My carts are 48 and about 47. Do you guys think the extra length will be a problem?
Click to expand...

I don't think there will be a problem. I would rather drive with shafts that are a bit too long than ones that are too short. Hopefully the seat adjusts because most likely you will want to push it back as far as it can go to help balance the vehicle. Having the horse further forward will put more weight on the horse end of the shafts.

You may need a little longer traces or a trace extender :)
 
Cayuse said:
Mindy, how long is your track? I wish I could do this around the perimeter of my property but we have close neighbors on two side and I like to keep the ponies somewhat away from them. Just because :).
Click to expand...

I forgot to answer this question! My driving track is a 1/2 mile long. That's on the south side of our house and is around and in a 10 acre pasture. The other track is also about 1/2 mile long but is only on 5 acres. I made more turns and circles and loop-de-loops in that track! But that one needs to be filled with dirt still. It's way too rough to drive on much. Hopefully I'll get to that this week!
 
Mindy, good though about the weight distribution! Thanks! My traces "should" be long enough as I have an extra slot to go on both sets. But you never know.
For some reason I thought you were putting in a pasture track. One of those long, skinny.meandering paddocks that encourage the horses to move when grazing! A driving track sounds like more fun :)

Marsha, how did Midnight behave with the cows this time?
 
Cayuse said:
Mindy, good though about the weight distribution! Thanks! My traces "should" be long enough as I have an extra slot to go on both sets. But you never know.
For some reason I thought you were putting in a pasture track. One of those long, skinny.meandering paddocks that encourage the horses to move when grazing! A driving track sounds like more fun :)
Click to expand...

I do keep my ponies a track system as well, but I don't have very good grass for horses so they have a dirt track. It's not very big at all. My last track was about 1/4 of an acre and the new one is half that size. The trick is to put the food as far away from the water as you can so they have to walk to drink and then put things that are interesting around the track so they want to walk around and DO things. I also have wide spots that encourage lounging around or eating, and narrow places that encourage them to just walk on through.

This is one way my track was set up: https://theessentialhorse.com/2017/06/24/my-tiny-horse-track/

And here was the last track: https://theessentialhorse.com/2018/06/11/my-tiny-track-in-the-summer-time/
 
30 minutes driving Peanut today followed by 15 minutes driving Cappy. I drove with Dan. When he was done!with Cappy I took over for a few minutes.

We picked up the cart to see if it fits. It sort of did, but I wasn't happy with it. Cappy just barely fit between the shafts and I was sitting up so high my feet barely touched. I could only touch the floor with my toes! It had blocks I could take out to lower it but I just wasn't happy with the cart in general and neither was Cappy. It did seem to weigh on his back more than my other cart. My Kingston cart fits him better. I felt kinda bad putting him through that, he was such a good boy earlier when Dan and I drove him and then he felt completely miserable in the new cart :-(.
I am not going to bother trying it on Peanut.
 
80m driving Clementine tonight. She was so good for me. She did her usual crooked body so she can turn her head and drive me batty but she drove really nicely. Mom rode with me and we drove along with my husband, son, and dad. They had Ferb the fjord hooked to the wagonette. I was a little nervous and thought she'd be a handful after not driving for so long but it seems our ground driving is paying off.

Times all caught up for July and moving into August. Not long now till we get beautiful fall driving weather. Here's to hoping for a mild and temperate fall.
 
I don't want to think about Fall! It is my favorite "month" though ;). But it seems like we havn't had summer here for very long and then this morning it was 56. Fingers crossed for a LONG Fall when it get here. One that lasts until Mid December!

About 20 minutes give or take driving Peanut yesterday. I forgot to time it. We practiced obstacles.
 
Yay! FINALLY! I had the chance to drive Zorro tonight. We squeezed a drive in between dinner and a big thunder storm that is coming over the mountains. We drove for 30 minutes on our driving track here at home. Zorro was VERY fresh since I haven't hitched him since July. We ground drove on the 1st of this month but that was the last time I've had him out. He did a good job of coming down and listening and we were able to pepper in cantering, safely. He is such a good boy and so much fun!

IMG_2865.JPG
 
Beautiful picture, it looks like it should be in a calendar. And "dog" on Zorro's head is perfect :)!

20 minutes driving Peanut Friday, I think that was 8/10
We went to a show today and I probably drove an hour and a half, I forgot to time it as I drove him twice. We had fun.
 
Cayuse said:
Beautiful picture, it looks like it should be in a calendar. And "dog" on Zorro's head is perfect :)!

20 minutes driving Peanut Friday, I think that was 8/10
We went to a show today and I probably drove an hour and a half, I forgot to time it as I drove him twice. We had fun.
Click to expand...
Remember when you were unsure about driving in a show? So glad you are able to go to shows! The ones in my area are too far away.
 
I remember! I am still unsure every time we go. Dan is great, he always starts off leading Peanut for a couple of minutes until we are sure he is going to remember his manners. He is at his head when we head to the ring too, as it is always congested with people warming up the saddle horses (sometimes reiners!). Yesterday, we got half way to the ring and he had a "moment" and I was glad Dan was there to steady him. Once we got to the ring, he settled down.
Yesterday it was very windy. The people who parked in front of us didn't anchor their tent and a huge gust blew the tent loose and it landed on Peanut :eek:. Didn't bother him much, lol. We unsnarled him and he went back to eating :).
Marsha Cassada said:
Remember when you were unsure about driving in a show? So glad you are able to go to shows! The ones in my area are too far away.
Click to expand...
 
Drove Zorro for 60 minutes tonight. We finally had a chance to head back out on our road drive that is 4 miles. It was a beautiful evening, feeling more like fall than summer for sure! We stopped a lot so I could take pictures. Gave Zorro a chance to practice his stand!

zorroineveninglightsmall.jpg
 
I almost forgot to post about our drive last night. Zorro was feeling quite pokey and had his druthers to NOT go driving so was being quite obstinate about heading out on our drive. So I had to be firm and very direct in my ask and we had a lovely very fast gallop for about 1/4 of a mile and alternated fast trotting and cantering for 1/2 a mile. Zorro was surprised that he could go that fast and I had a BLAST!

Don't get me wrong. I much prefer to walk and trot nicely down the road but if he isn't going to cooperate then we will mix things up, sometimes drastically, to prove to him that he absolutely CAN do things he doesn't always want to do.

We drove for about 60 minutes (4 miles) and ended up having a wonderful calm drive. And the evening was absolutely perfect!
IMG_2983.jpg
IMG_2948.jpg
 
For the week I ground drove Cappy 35 minutes and Peanut 15.
Today Dan and I drove together then I drove Cappy for 15 minutes after Dan was finished with him. I also drove Peanut 25 minutes. The bugs remain awful so we stayed near the barn in the short grass and practiced obstacles and backing up. Also "fan turns".
Good to hear Midnight likes the bit, I may try one like it for Cappy.
 
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