Weekend drive and update on my tiny girl's training(long)

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Some of you may recall that earlier this summer I asked for opinions on starting my 28" filly in harness. I was concerned she was too small too drive but everyone assured me she was 'big enough' and I said I would give her a chance and see how she did. Well from the very first lesson she took to it like the proverbial 'duck to water'. She absolutely loves to be driven. She has been hitched and driven 7 or 8 times in the arena and is always very forward, ears up and happy to work, tail swinging happily as she walks and trots, standing calm and patient on whoa. I am I admit surprised at not only how much she enjoys being driven but how much I enjoy driving her. When I started her I said I would probably never drive her outside the arena, that I'd train her but she'd likely get very little use because I have bigger more powerful horses to drive.

Well... this weekend my BIL and his wife and my husband and myself got together to go for a drive. The plan was for me to drive my mare who is always my first choice and Cliff picked Red, one of his matched set of geldings that we started a few years back. He hasn't found time to do more than ground drive them a couple of times in the last 2 years and he thought a nice trail drive would be a good chance to refresh some training. It seems Red had other ideas.

. I will post about that on a different thread, lets just say when all was said and done Cliff had Reds harness hanging on a post and was eyeing up my trusty mare lol. So it was decided that I would choose another horse and he would drive mine. The horse I decided to take was Dyna, our tiny little 4yr old. I hurried off to collect her harness and hitched her to the cart Red had been put to. Dyna has not yet graduated to a closed bridle, has never gone out of the arena and is the youngest horse we own but I was confidant that she would handle the new experience well and I was right. We drove on a gravel road that is well packed and has a surface the horses are comfortable on. We drove out for about an hour, we later clocked the distance on our vehicle odometer at 2.8 km one way. Dyna led most of the way, this little 28" dynamo out walked the much taller horses with ease. She looked around with interest at all the new sites but only showed a slight concern at a large white boulder hidden under some willow in the ditch at one point and a culvert at another spot. In both cases, she eyed up the worrisome object and sidled away a bit but relaxed when her herd mate (my mare) walked on by calmly and never looked at it again. My BIL's gelding is one of those horses that loves to trot and he went ahead often and then came back past us at a trot only to turn and come again from behind. Dyna didn't miss a beat, she was steadfast and alert, calm and willing for the entire 2 hr. drive, up long low hills and down the same she never broke a sweat or had to breath hard once. I trotted her lightly but was conscious of her lack of fitness and experience so didn't want to push her too hard. We were passed a couple of times by pickup trucks and she acted like that was an every day occurrence, standing calmly on the shoulder for the first one (I asked her to stop because I wasn't sure how she would respond to it) and continuing on with out so much as changing her head position for the next. When we got home after nearly 2 hours of driving she was still as willing as when we started. So to those of you who encouraged me to train her and assured me she was 'big enough' I just have to say YOU WERE RIGHT. I am so glad to have given her the chance and to have had her prove she is as capable a driving horse as any of the taller horses here.

Now I know you are all going to say.."where are the pictures?" and we did have a camera along so we could get some but when we went to use it the batteries were dead

so I just don't have any. I'll try to get some next time, and there will definitely be a next time.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Congratulations! I still want that t-shirt that says "It's not the size of the horse, it's the size of his (her) heart."

Leia

 

[ksoomekh]

What a success story!!!!!

Karen

 

[susanne]

What a huge heart that little girl has! Every horse needs a job, and she obviously loves hers. I really enjoyed your account -- you made me feel as if Mingus and I were right there with your group.

I think you and Dyna would have a blast in a HyperBike!

 

[Knottymare]

How GREAT! I got my first mare driving this year. It's been an experience. Mine also LOVES to drive but I think I left some holes in her foundation so we have stepped back a bit and are back on the ground, but happily so and making progress. So, what I'm trying to say is YAY! I understand your excitement!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I would absolutely love to have a hyperbike for her. I think she would convince some drivers of full sized horses around here that tiny can be great. I have had her out 3 times on long road drives now and she never fails to impress me. Our longest was this past weekend when we were out for nearly 4 hours. Dyna and I led the way for most of the drive, I did ask her to drop back behind other carts occasionally for the experience of following rather than always leading and I had her stand while everyone else drove off. She did everything I asked with out fuss. She is so bold and confident that when we reached a point in the road where the trees were unexpectedly full of crows and a raven or 2 she was the horse that walked calmly past the large dark mound in the trees that had attracted them as well as the slightly smaller black thing that crashed through the brush at our passing. I didn't go into the trees to investigate but I believe it was a bear eating on a dead moose there. Dyna hesitated some as we drew near but when I asked her to walk on she accepted my direction and relaxed as she continued on her way. The other horses followed her lead it was the other drivers who were frightened and asked their horses to hurry and trot past us. LOL, whatever was there was already gone by the time Dyna and I were passed so they rushed for nothing. I was very proud of how Dyna took her cue from me and just continued to walk forward calmly because I said she should. I think if she can pass that with out incident she is a pretty solid driving horse. We drove on for another 1/2 hour or so and then stopped for lunch, unhitched and unbridled the horses and let them graze for 15 - 20 minutes while we enjoyed sandwiches and cookies and the perfect fall weather. It was a pretty warm day and Dyna did break a bit of a sweat in her thickening coat but the other horse were wet behind the front legs and between the back legs too. When we got home I gave her a well deserved massage, working over her shoulders, back whithers and rump which she made clear she enjoyed immensely. She just amazes me. We nearly gave her away as a pet earlier this year and it was only the fact that I raised her on the bottle and am attached to her that prevented that. Sure glad we didn't let her go now.