Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Jogging in place

Ever feel like you're doing that? You're running but not really getting anywhere..  Well we have sort of come to that spot.


The harness showed up last week. Just in time to have it for the weekend!!!  I am excited, it is incredibly well made and just gorgeous by the way. So we put it all together and tried it on the little man.













The only problem is- the traces are a bit long.  Since the shafts are a tad short and a touch narrow, I figure we will address this first, then figure out the best course of action on the harness. 













We have been trying to contact a few people in the area associated with the cart. No luck, no returned phone calls, no problem. I will just go somewhere else.  So yesterday the neighbor is driving by and we flagged them down. They do welding and gave us a quote. A fair price for their work and when they get a chance to do it, they will pick up the cart and do their magic.














In the meanwhile, I hooked him again last night for a brief drive to keep him going and still hoping about the driving event up north this weekend...  Seems the neighbors were irrigating, the ditch had a leak and the back corner of the pasture was wet.  Two choices on this one. Steer clear and just get the workout in or plow through it and get him started with his feet wet for the upcoming water obstacle on the marathon course in the CDE's. 















He wasn't thrilled about the wet parts, but he motored on through. The neighbor was also having a barbecue, complete with a yard full of cars and guests in their back yard filling and surrounding the pool.  At one point they were making noise, there was some yelling of encouragement of some kind and the little man just kept working like it was all no big deal.  Perfect amounts of noise, unexpected yelling and a bit of water to make him understand that conditions are not always prefect or quiet. Not at home, not at the shows or anywhere else we may go. 













He also got to experience the neighbor power spraying his car and the dog running along the fence line the night before. Blasts of water, the noise it comes with, seeing the water then it's gone... May not be anything we will come close to in the show ring, but he has seen it, dealt with it and processed the thoughts of how he is to react.  So far he is steady as we go again...

**Blogger is being incredibly weird and won't let me edit parts of the post. If there is extra spaces or something- I have tried to fix it with no result. Yay blogger. Not!**


6 comments:

phaedra96 said...

There is always the unexpected. It sounds like you are doing everything to give him a taste of what is to come. (You could have a couple children through firecrackers under his belly-happened to us at the circus parade one year), take a radio out by the rail and have someone randomly turn it up and lower the volume at randon intervals, like when he is jogging by.

phaedra96 said...

Wow. Looks like I need a proof reader!!!!

Sherry Sikstrom said...

Go Kat! A handsome and dashing fella he is too! Editing posts , blogger has been pushing my buttons too. When you wnat to make changes to a post , go to "edit HTML" and make changes in spacing there. It started that all of a sudden running all the lines in my poetry together, I finally figured it out. Should have said something , but I thought it was only my blog that was screwy at that time

Cut-N-Jump said...

Phaedra- good idea on the radio. Although he has been to shows and done all of the in hand, the radio is another way of getting him used to intermitent noise. We have car going by on the road too, so another good thing for him to be used to.

FV- not just yours being screwy... Mine and plenty of others, too. I'm not so hot with the HTML yet. Something tells me I am soon to get a crash course.

cattypex said...

LOOK - AT - THAT - WHITE -SPOT - ON - HIS - BUTT.

He's a charismatic little guy! A well-put-together pony is just so awesome. When you are all decked out in your show rig & clothes, you must share a video of him trotting along!!!!

Nuisance training is awesome. I should bug the local Mounted Patrol to open their sessions for interested parties, or even run some sessions for civilians.

Cut-N-Jump said...

CP- funny you should mention that. I rinsed him after his workout yesterday, he finally broke a sweat you know, and it seems like his white spot is getting smaller. He has contantly changed over the years. One thing that keeps me in awe of him.