Hi Leia,
Thanks, we are good. It was a long wet and COLD winter without much training. The boys were SOOOO hairy! So we aren't as far along in the driving as I'd hoped. But Billy is jogging around in the Hyperbike real good. I have even done the dirt road loop behind my house which is quite challenging (to us). We have a lot of work to do to get him using himself correctly, but it is getting better and he is finally getting a work ethic and trying.
I have hooked Hondo to the EZ entry cart 6 times and led him and ground drove him around pulling the cart with absolutely no spooks or issues. Just yesterday, and the day before, I sat in the cart and drove him. A couple laps of the arena, a figure 8 and several walk, whoa, walk transitions and we called it good. I'm very proud of him!
I finally bought a second harness. I couldn't get the Sport to fit Bills short chunky round body. Plus it was so time consuming to have to fit one harness for two boys that are shaped so different. Everything had to be re-adjusted from one horse to another. So I'd get so I could harness in less than an hour :~O.....then I'd have to re-adjust for the other horse. Totally frustrating! So I bought Bill the Beta pleasure harness from Chimacum and added breeching. The treeless back piece and thinner breast piece seems to fit him great (with added fluffy red pads :~). The Sport fits Hondo good with his longer bigger body and more of a girth groove. Maybe some day I will be able to harness and hitch in less than 30 minutes like I can saddle and bridle my riding horse. But Boy OH! It is a learning process!!
I was really bummed I didn't make it to the Inavale CDE this year. But I had to work. I want to get the boys Myler bits now. They don't give this stuff away, so have to work for a living. Drat! Sure would be nice if I could just stay home and play with horses!
