Ha ha now sassy GELDING…opinions?

[Thecowboysgirl]

So I was ground-driving Duke today dragging two plastic milk jugs with gravel in them. We have done this before. I tie them to his surcingle with baling twine so they drag behind his back feet. Th twine and even the jugs themselves touch his back legs while he works and he has been very sensible about this.

When I longe him he has given me a couple of rodeos- buck & fart and taking off and so on. It has not happened while ground driving, probably because we walk a lot and only trot as much as I can keep up. I also think I have better stopping power behind him with two lines to the bit as opposed to the one longe line and I think he knows it. this bucking is just a bunch of nonsense from him and he will always work out of it. I suspect he needs drastically more exercise than he is getting..

Today he gave me a little buck and start on the lines and broke off one of the jugs in the process. I designed them to break off easily in case anything went wrong, so I was glad they did. i was able to stop him promptly and I did holler at him for acting like a fool, then I just turned him around, drove right back tot he jug and tied it on again and went on as if nothing had happened except I dropped my whip. Normally i have to carry the whip or else he gets too wiggly and I can’t get him to straighten up and just go, especially away from wherever Daisy is tied.

Long story short he went well for another 5 or 10 mins then did it again, once again breaking off a jug. Again I just went right back to it, tied it on him and carried on. He went calm and sensible for as long as I could keep going in the sun lol then we quit. I don’t think the bucking etc had anything to do with the jugs since he has done plenty of it before I ever introduced the jugs and did not kick at them when I started driving him in them.

I have not been riding him regularly because the saddle I have for him doesn’t fit great (it’s okay) and I am harboring a secret worry that I am too heavy for him. He is about 13.1 but drafty and I am 5’7″ or 8 and 155. The saddle is western and altogether it’s a weight of about 185 he carries when I ride. Yes, I got on the scale holding the saddle because I am such a fusser lol. Now you can make fun of me for it 🙂

should I forget the weight thing and just ride him to get the ants out of his pants?

Anything I ought to have done differently when he kicked off the jugs? I thought perhaps I ought to have trotted him a full pass around the arena before I stopped to tie it back on because I didn’t want him to equate kicking with getting to stand still for a minute, though this horse is not lazy (Daisy is) and I am not sure standing is really a reward for him. He likes to go.

Daisy overcame her fear of the jugs today. I tied her up under a tree and made her watch Duke with them and then when I put them on her she was like, um…okay. And went around like a champ.

[mink]

i dont know why you him or her trot when your behind ground driving…..just my idea of a bad habit starting.

[Thecowboysgirl]

Why trot them? I guess mainly to get them some exercise.

To get the jugs to make a different noise for them to hear

To practice voice commands

But mainly it was to try and get them a little cardio. But if I shouldn’t trot them, we can just walk. Then I just have to get back on the halfinger diet so I can ride the buggers.

[Thecowboysgirl]

To be clear though, I did tell him to trot. They don’t just trot off whenever they feel like it.

[Andy Carson]

Juliana,
I can’t tell for sure if he is ready for this over the ‘net, but if he’s quiet to drive and seems to tolerate noises behind him, I think it’s probably time to hook him up to something more substantial. Like I say, this is a judgement call based on his behavior, which I don’t know, and your experience and risk tolerance. If you want to go ahead, a tire is often a good starting point, as they tend to cause less damage than some things if things go wrong. I have little doubt you can ride him too, but if you want to drive him, I would drive him. I would still ground drive behind or next to the tire, in case this wasn’t clear. I would stay away from anything with wheels for a while, or anything expensive, or anything that might act like a loose cannon if he bolts or freaks out.
Good luck whatever you decide.

[Simple Living]

Juliana ,

My son is 5’8″ and weighs in at right around 200lbs. He rides his 13.2 Haflinger mare all day long. They do contesting and trail, as well as driving. Your size is not an issue. Saddle fit can be tricky for a Haflinger though. If I can get Picture trail to work, I’ll tack on a couple of pics too!

Gordon

Let’s see if this works.

[Thecowboysgirl]

Andy- I had the thought while driving him with the milk jugs, “if he doesn’t care about this, surely he would pull a tire if I asked him to”. If I had a harness, I probably would just do it. If I only walk him while driving he is fairly unshakable. It is only when I ask him to trot that he will ocassionally be a turd.

I have the “no wheels” rule in my head. My plan was tire and then sled of some sort. Hubby has agreed to build it. Hubby is a very good builder of nearly anything. He looked at a picture of a milking staunchion on the internet and scaled it down to my nigerian dwarf’s size and built me a lovely staunchion in a day.

Gordon- thank you for reassuring me that riding these ponies is not cruel and unusual lol. I think perhaps the next time I drive Duke I will ride him first and let him move some. I would like him to go quiet with the milk jugs. I really couldn’t have asked Daisy to go any better than she already did. Btw the pony your son is on is like the spitting image of Daisy.

So I am thinking I will ride Duke, then drive him when he’s less fresh. But should I still try to get him to trot quietly while ground driving or should I just walk only?

My one only other concern about Duke is that he is a bit creaky in his joints. I can see him take a funny step every once in awhile when he has to make a sharp turn. He has fluid puffs at and right above his fetlock joint on all four legs- this is old, like windpuffs. At any rate, he is not the most sound horse I have ever seen, but he is clearly not too lame to do some work either. Does that effect anyone’s opinion of me riding him? Daisy is quite sound and sturdy, she actually looks just like the pony in Gordon’s pics.

I have ridden him and did not see him being any worse for wear afterward, and he does not feel like he struggles. (did I just answer my own question lol?)

[Andy Carson]

I didn’t realize you don’t have a harness. Obviously, you are going to need one before you can really make much more progress driving. The jugs are a good sign, but there is no way to guarantee that everything will go well before you actually put the harness on a try it. Even then, there are still no guarantees. Keep your eyes open and use your horse sense.

My gut reaction to this riding your horse before you hitch him thing is that I don’t think it should be necessary. If you can’t trust your horse to behave in the harness unless he/she is tired, there is likely some basic ground work that could be done to get to that point before you hitch something up. It’s a judgement call, of course, whether he’s ready for this. Personally, I wouldn’t trot them when ground driving either, because I don’t see why you would ever want to trot while ground driving in a real-world situation and so I don’t see any need to introduce this as an option.

As far as the effort put out when riding vs driving, prepare to be suprized at how much work dragging things without wheels can be and how in shape they will get when working regularly. When your horses are in good shape for work, riding will likely not touch them from a physical stand point. That is, unless you cantor a while, or gallop, or do something highly technical. That’s been my experience at least. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with riding them, and it’s probably nice to get them a different type of experience and variety from time to time. It’s work too, but nothing else I know of drains a horse like a long walk with a heavy sled.

[dominiquer60]

If I had been more aware of it earlier I could have brought down an old pair of Halflinger sized D-Ring harnesses. They would not be good for much other than training and pulling light loads, but it would have been something. I started a Halflinger in harness with this set years ago and have not had a use for them since. Well if you know of anyone driving down from the northeast this spring you are welcome to them.

[Lanny Collins]

If you have a saddle it can be used as a harness. Just put a breast strap on pretty tight and tie off to the horn. You mentioned you tied to a surcingle which is ok for light loads but you still need to use a breast strap with it to keep it in place. You can also take light poles and run thru the stirrups to make a sled like the indians used to use (travois). Go slow when adding the poles thru the stirrups until the horse is acclimated. Maybe want to start off with pvc pipe to keep from getting someone or something hurt.

[Big Horses]

@Thecowboysgirl 33006 wrote:

I have the “no wheels” rule in my head.

Huh??? What’s the “No wheels” rule? If you aren’t supposed to break a horse with wheels, NOBODY around this area would have any good horses….. Personally, I’ve never used a stoneboat…. a feed sled, yes. They pull as easy and in fact easier than wheels most of the time. Not that there’s anything wrong with the stone boat…but there’s certainly nothing wrong with wheels either!
John

[Rod44]

I don’t think you could ground drive or ride a haflinger far enough to keep weight off of them.:) I have to have mine on limit feed to have any chance at all to keep them at the right weight. They are as good a keeper as me!!:mad:

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