Progress towards making a driving pony

Oct 192009
 

I found that the girth on Paisano’s harness finally fits Vinnie. He must have filled out. In fact, I measured him today and he is 13.1 hands. He HAS grown! I moved the harness over to the new barn and tried it all on Vin, then ground drove him yesterday. Pam came by just as we were finishing up, so she snapped a few photos and took a short video in his paddock.



I also spent a bit of time sanding down the cart. I removed the seat and backrest. That took some use of a small sledge (one of my favorite tools) and a hacksaw, along with drilling out rusted screws. My wonderful husband was able to remove the bolt holding on the singletree too, so now the frame is entirely stripped down. The only downside to the day was that the rust treatment I had saved from painting my trailer would not come out of the can, despite much shaking, swapping out spray tips, soaking them in mineral spirits and anything else I could think of. I might have to use something else. It’s too bad, as this stuff worked really well.

I also stopped in at a local bicycle shop to see about new wheels. All they had were ultralight, single thickness, alloy rim wheels. I think that I need something a bit more sturdy than that. And less expensive! I guess it’s back to the web to search for heavy duty, inexpensive 26″ wheels.

I'll have to make new seat and backrest. These are destroyed.

I'll have to make new seat and backrest. These are destroyed. I want to make the back taller and the seat a little deeper anyway.

And lastly, in preparation, Vinnie had his teeth done today. He had a few points, but otherwise a good bite. I asked how many caps he has left to loose. When Dr. C counted, he found that Vinne has one less tooth than normal in each row! It’s consistent on both sides top and bottom. It does not hurt his mouth or chewing at all. He was just born that way. Paisano’s teeth were done as well, but we didn’t think to count them. I’ll definitely ask about Lily’s when she has them done in December. Spanish Mustangs sometimes have one less rib and a missing or fused lumbar vertebrae. I wonder how many have four less teeth!

Fun!

Sep 282009
 

Okay, this is just fun! It made me laugh and even cry.. talented little pony, with an opinion to boot!

A new project and a contest

Sep 272009
 
The Cart

The Cart

I ran into a friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time at the Ann Armour lunging demo a couple of Fridays ago. Afterward, I was lunging Paisano to practice some of what I had learned. We were also chatting. I mentioned that I though he would make a great driving pony. My friend says, “I’ve got a cart that’s been sitting around. Do you want it?” Do I?? Well, YES! I’ve been looking around for an affordable training cart for a few years now. I didn’t want to pay $500 for a cart that I would have to upgrade to do CDEs and entry level carts that would work were anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000. I picked it up on Friday. Yea!! Thank you Candee!

After stripping the wheels and seat

After stripping the wheels and seat

It is really pony size, so I will be looking for larger wheels. There are several inches of room in the frame for that. I think that I can go to almost 26″ in diameter, though that may not be needed. I would love to get wooden wheels, but a short search of google didn’t turn up much. I’m also not sure that I want to invest that much in it. Bicycle or motorcycle wheels will work just fine.

I think that I'll get a new singletree to be safe. I just have to get this one off.

I think that I'll get a new singletree to be safe. I just have to get this one off.

The bolt holding the singletree is rusted on, so that may be more of a project to replace. I’ve soaked it in WD40 and will try again in a couple of days.


I will also be reupholstering the seat and may make the back a little taller. I have some birch plywood that will look nice stained and showing in back. I might even consider adding a dash and a spares box under the seat. But before all that, it will be treated for rust and repainted. What color though?? I would love to hear opinions. If you post a color suggestion, please also consider the upholstery color. I welcome ideas!

Future carriage dog?

Future carriage dog?

It will likely be driven most with Vinnie, a dun sabino, who looks like a strawberry roan in the summer. If the shafts fit, I might try Lily some day too. Black, of course, is safe and would fit with anything. My harness is black with stainless hardware. I might also consider a dark mahogany or maybe dark green. Please comment and let me know what you think…


Candee sent along a couple of sacks of harness that she got with it. There were parts of two leather harnesses and two nylon. The leather was too far gone to salvage, but I washed the nylon parts in the washer. Yes, the husband asked what was making all the noise… I had put them in pillow cases, but didn’t tie them shut, so it all came out loose anyway. I tried! It looks like I have everything except the saddle, with doubles of some pieces. Even if I don’t end up using it, at least it’s now free of mold, dirt and cobwebs.

Harness parts that came with it. Some may fit Vinnie for training. My harness may be a tad large for him for now.

Harness parts that came with it. Some may fit Vinnie for training. My harness may be a tad large for him for now.

It was serendipitous to have this just fall into my lap. I guess that the time was not right, when I was looking so hard before. And with Vinnie soon coming down the hill for more work, it’s great timing. I may not get it done in time to try hitching Paisano, but I think that Vinnie will likely do well driving. And I’ll be ready for him! I wonder how he will like my strap of rump bells? Paisano carries them without a care. They are loud and quite fun! Though most of the horses in the stalls next to the arena at my new barn didn’t care too much for them. I might have to save them for road driving. Come to think of it, thy are loud enough to be a good safety warning that we are coming. And they would be very fun for parades!


Can you tell that I am excited about what we can do with this new addition?


Dream State #14 from a Twitter #MailART project

Dream State #14 from a Twitter #MailART project

The CONTEST


If I end up picking a color combination suggest here in the comments, I will send the winner an original piece of artwork, likely a monoprint with hand additions, similar to some pieces that I did recently for a mailArt project, but larger…

It won’t be the image posted here. I’m showing as an example only. This one was mailed out to a member of my twitter group. If you are interested in knowing more about that, here is a link to the Flickr group of pieces received.

AR Cirro comes of age

Sep 162009
 

Father & Son

Father & Son

Amanda posted her photos from last weekend on Flickr here. I took this one and photoshopped the horses a bit closer to have a nice picture of Paisano and his first born, both as riding horses. What a treat! Vinnie is just over three years old, having been an August baby (22nd). After Paisano ships to Amanda for lease, Vinnie will come down the hill for some light riding through December.


I think that Vinnie has turned out to be an improvement over his sire and dam. He has nice traits from both of them. He has Lily’s beautifully shaped Spanish head, four beat amble, and dun coloring. From Paisano he has a nice uphill build, suspended gaits and flashy sabino roaning. I’ll really enjoy watching him mature over the next two to three years.


I think that we are getting a nice group of horses up here in Oregon to do parades and Expos with. We plan to take part in a spring parade in Oakride next April as our debut. Then I’ll be looking for more opportunities in the area. I think that Vinnie could stand in as either an Indian pony or a classic cow pony.


Here are a couple more photos from last weekend…

Vin in his period looking gear. I wish that the saddle had a bit larger seat for me though...

Vin in his period looking gear. I wish that the saddle had a bit larger seat for me though...

Walking out nicely in his second ride ever and the first time ridden in a saddle.

Walking out nicely in his second ride ever and the first time ridden in a saddle.

I'll leave you with this photo of him sleeping in my lap on his first day of life.

I'll leave you with this photo of him sleeping in my lap on his first day of life.



More from that day may be found here.

Respect

Sep 052009
 

I was reading Mugwump’s latest post and I realized that Paisano needed a bit of a tune up on this front. So last night we worked on it. After a short bit of chatting with other boarders, I took him straight to the round pen, still dusty from rolling.

Paisano tried to snatch bites at his favorite weeds on the way over, then when I let him loose, he meandered over to a spot where he could reach more weeds. Instead, I sent him out at a trot. All he gave me was a little jog. I had my lunge whip that gives a nice pop and he got it laid over his rump. “NO, I want you to MOVE!” was the message. At first, I had to step into his space half way across the round pen. At one point, he kicked out twords me and that got him a response that really woke him up! I reversed him repeatedly for a few minutes.

By the end, he was responsive to all voice commands and would canter energetically until I asked him to do something else. He’s gotten into a pattern of just quitting and even slowing to a stop recently. I had slipped into the habit of always asking him to keep going, rather than expecting him to stay at any gait/speed until asked for something else. I am not going to do that anymore. My expectations are changing. I just don’t want to work that hard! Today was the beginning of that.

At a good whoa with him parallel to the fence, I asked him to come into the center. Then I gave him a good once over with my hands and some stretching and a little massage. That was his reward for the good work he gave me at the end.

On whoa in the round pen … I do not want a seasoned horse to turn to face me. This is just my preference. I know that many people always want their horse to ‘face up’ to them. Since my basis is in dressage, lunging, long lining, etc., I want a horse to stop where I ask them and not move their feet any more. If that means facing perpendicular to me, that’s what I want them to do. If I am driving, it means facing away from me. Whoa means “Whoa right where your feet are now,” not “stop and face me.” It’s hard to retrain them not to face you, when they are on the lunge line. In long lines, there is more control. Still, it can be frustrating during the transition time, where they think that is what you want. So I likely differ there from most of the NH world. So be it.

The jaquima on Lily. I've since put it on a Zilco trail headstall.

The jaquima on Lily. I've since put it on a Zilco trail headstall.

We went on to have a nice ride in the arena, where we worked again, on maintaining speed and responding to the first cue. I’ve decided to ride him primarily bitless, as he has a scar on his tongue. He’s just much more comfortable that way. I rode in my rawhide jaquima, that I’ve been using on the trail. On trail rides, I ride on a loose rein. In the ring, I experimented with contact and he worked well, giving me some ‘on the bit’ moments.

I worked in hand some on stepping under with the near hind foot. He has a harder time with this on the right. That flowed well into some lateral work. He tends to offer more sideways and less forward that I want. Or maybe that is me not getting my cues correct. Either way, we had some improvement there.

It’s supposed to rain all weekend, so I am not sure that I will be able to get any of the long rides at Pisgah done that I wanted to. I had laid out a training plan for the next six weeks until the Foothills ride. This three day weekend was going to be a great opportunity for some long slow miles. I guess I will have to get used to the rain… Today I am wimping out and working in the studio instead. Well, after I’m done with this blog post anyway!

I'll leave you with this photo of Lily being a good mom and telling Vinie to keep away from her baby. Isn't little Rita a pretty thing?

I'll leave you with this photo of Lily being a good mom. She's telling Vinie to keep away from her baby.

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