Gathering necessary equipment

[Shortpig]

I'm excited yesterday my daughter got each of us helmets. I set down the law and told her no driving on the road without them. To convince her to wear one I asked her if she wanted to go thru life with a brain like my dog Diego. You can be talking to him and suddenly he gets this faraway look in his eyes like "Look at the pretty Butterfly". She decided she wants to wear a helmet.

So I have the horse, I have the cart, I have the harness. I have the helmet Now I just need sunshine!

I am tired of the rain and the cold. I just want nice sunny days. I want to join the ranks of those who hitch up and go for a nice drive with my horse. Just not in the blowing wind and rain.

So I'm asking everyone in the Pacific NW to please do the Sun Dance. Please, Please, Please.

 

[Minxiesmom]

Or...you can do like I am doing and only drive when I am actually going into the ring!

The weather has been so bad that my horses have been lucky to be lunged a few times per week. The first show, a month ago, really showed that Max hadn't been worked much. He had a bit of a "tude".

This weekend we are going to our second Pinto show and hopefully things will go a bit better.

We'll see if the boy is in the mood to be a show horse!

Doin' the Sun Dance in So. Oregon!!!

 

[Sue_C.]

We have had some nice days, but the black flies are so thick it is next to impossible to drive. I am seriously considering renting area time twice a week an hour from here just so I can get some quality driving time in.

 

[Shortpig]

Right now they are saying we will have dry days this weekend. Yep! Thats what I'm looking forward to.

So I am hoping this will be the weekend when I hitch up Ariel and drive her out on the road. I'm very excited. Almost forgot I still have to get that slow moving vehicle sign for the back of the cart. I'm also going to look into the battery operated strobe lights. Anything that will help cars see me meandering along.

Seriously it's only Wednesday. So looking forward to the three day weekend ahead.

 

[Sue_C.]

Almost forgot I still have to get that slow moving vehicle sign for the back of the cart. I'm also going to look into the battery operated strobe lights. Anything that will help cars see me meandering along.

I have relectors on the back of my cart, a fabric orange triangle, and wear a bright orange vest when I have to go on our little dirt road. I also have one of the orange triangle flags on a long nylon/plastic rod, that I attach to the axel of the cart. (They are made for bicycles.) It sticks up about two feet above my head, which gives the moterists even more warning that I am there. Even with all that, I am wary of going on the road in the summer. Out road doesn't get much traffic until all the "cottage folks" are out and about, and they are not at all cautious like the regular neighbours.

I am extra cautious now, as just last fall, an aquaintence of mine was drving his team of ponies down his road one evening...like he had for a dozen years or more...when he was rear-ended by a car. He was kiilled instantly, and one of the ponies sustained some terrible injuries.

 

[RhineStone]

ADS sells some fabric SMV signs that won't scratch paint like the metal tractor ones can.

I just did a presentation for our driving horse club on recreational driving safety, so this is fresh in my mind.

Be careful with the bicycle flag, that you train your horse to hear the noise of it flapping before you take off down the road. A friend of mine told me that she duct taped one on her horse's cart, and they were fine while in the woods. But once they got out into an open field with the wind, the flag "crackled" and made her horse try to "turn around" to see what was making that noise. In the process, they put themselves into the ditch. Luckily they didn't roll the vehicle.

Another idea is to get some of those horrid (color) yellow/green bicyclist shirts, or I guess they make something similar in a t-shirt for road construction workers.

Myrna