Pot O' Gold- ring classes

Last weekend I had several opportunities to get the photos for the next post of putting a horse to a cart, but since we were in a constant state of Hurry Up & Wait, they didn't happen. They will come, I promise. Just not yet for now.

Since the pony at the barn that I have been working with has been on a bit of a hiatus in her training, I dusted off the harness and worked on bringing my ponyman back into work. I mean, Pine Hill is in May again and who knows? We might be able to go..... At least this time I would be giving him a better chance at being in shape before we did it instead of 2 weeks to throw things together.

Kat is admittedly getting up there in years and after being asked by my man what the ratio of horse to human years is, we kind of agreed it is somewhere around 3 years to our 1. When you think about it, horses live to around 20-30 years and we humans live to around 70-80. If you multiply 20-30 years by 3 you get 60-90 years so we're somewhere in the ballpark.

With the little man aging, I keep thinking that at some point he is going to eventually slow down and is not going to be AS competitive as he has been. (I'm trying to be realistic people. Stick with me here.)  So we found an upcoming show and sent our entries in. Our number for the event? 19 just like his age. I didn't even make that connection until well into Sunday.... Doh!

Saturday we were entered in Turnout, Working, Reinsmanship and Ladies to drive. Turnout has never been our strong suit, just like dressage hasn't been in the CDE's or ADT's. It's important to know your limitations. We ribboned in Turnout, though the class was small. It was for modern carriages (metal) or traditional (wooden) and competition for either one was pretty tough. On to Working Pony and we did our best but did not pin in that or Ladies to Drive. Ribbons were only thru 4th and Ladies to drive had 12 entries. They split the class with mini and long ears going seperately from the ponies, horses and multiples (pairs or 4 up).

One of the judges comments to me in the lineup of the Turnout class was to watch the curb chain of the bit, that it doesn't pinch his lip when I use my reins and engage it. I had put him in the butterfly and used the curb setting for the reins since I thought he might be a bit fresh and I would need a little something more. Instead, during our break between Working and Ladies to Drive, I switched him back to the plain ring snaffle. With Reinsmanship being after the lunchbreak, we got to take about a 2 hour break.

Reinsmanship Pony was a pretty good sized class and after our rail work, we were given the instructions for our pattern. The judge likes to use simple patterns that focus on the basics. I have shown under her before and like she said, "It seperates the men from the boys. It might be simple, but if you haven't done your basics it will show now."

We were to come forward out of the line and go to the left to the rail, then follow it around behind the line up across the short side of the arena.  Coming down the long side, there was a pair of cones set up parallel with the rail on both sides of the arena and one pair set up in front of the judge. We were to make a small, two loop serpentine- left and go straight thru the first set of cones and across the arena, make a right coming thru the next set of cones, another right coming up the center line and stop with the ponies nose at the cones. We were to stand for a few seconds and establish the halt, then back 4 steps, halt, come forward the same 4 steps and halt and salute.

We did everything correctly until the reining back part. We did our 4 steps and halted and I saluted. As soon as I did it, I thought "Whooooops. Shit!" We did our 4 steps forward, halted and saluted again.  Yep, I blew that one! Hahahaha   Since there was plenty of time, the judge came thru the lineup and explained to each of us, things she seen where we could improve. "Part of the rein back, is to walk forward." Ummm, yeah....

When she had come to us, Kat decided he needed her attention. The moment she started speaking to us, he backed up so he could be near her and hear what she had to say. I asked him where he was going? The judge asked him where he was going? When I explained to her what he was doing, we all had a good laugh. Kat wanted the judge to explain things to Him. Because in his mind- "I've got this. Her back there in the cart? Yeah, I have no idea what's going on with that." As he rolls his eyes and shakes his head...

She placed us 4th in a good size class so I have no complaints.

In the works

I have a new post I'm working on with plenty of pictures, but it has been giving me issues. As soon as I get things worked out, it will be up.

Harnessing up

I was discussing driving with a good friend of mine, actuallly a blogger friend many of you may know- MiKael of Rising Rainbow. We were discussing the whole process of harnessing the horse and putting them to the cart. Obviously this gave me an idea for a blog post or a small series of them.

We were also discussing how at the first Darby I entered with Katman, I drove down the hill to find Gary G. and have him look over things for our safety check. That. poor. poor. man! I'm sure he had seen a lot of things up to that point, but I doubt he had any idea what he was about to see that day. There were only 3 things he didn't 'adjust' or reconfigure on my turnout. The first one being my bridle and reins and the second being the traces on the singletree and the third being the girth and tug straps. Every other buckle on that harness got undone and redone. This one taken up, that one let down. This strap unwrapped and rewrapped...

We had been driving since March and this was mid to late August so apparently we did it horribly wrong for a few months. Gary asked if Kat would be ok with him changing things up? Sure! Stupid me I sat there on the cart for a minute before jumping down to see what Gary was doing and How he was doing it. I mean what good was it for him to fix everything if I wasn't going to pay attention enough now to look at what was going on?
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Let's start with the harness parts and putting them on. With harnessing up and putting the horse to a cart or carriage, it is always good to establish and have a routine. Harness parts go on and come off in order, straps and buckles are done and undone in order, that way nothing is 'missed'. I keep my harness in a footlocker. These are available for around $20 and the first one lasted about 5 years. As I take the harness parts off the pony and put it in, next time it comes out in the order needed to go on.





Yes I need to clean My harness and the box. That is getting done this week.

My reins and bridle are always in on top. Last to go in, first to come out. The $1 store has some over the door hooks that come with either 1 or 2 hooks. These are great because they are portable and don't cost a lot. I have extras for bridlles, long lines, halters, etc. and they don't break the bank. The single hook style is good for the bridle, the two hooks good for the reins. I hang these up while I put the rest of the harness on.

The part that goes around the girth area is actually called the harness saddle. The tugs are attached to this and the shafts of the cart go thru the tugs. I used pads to keep things clean so the saddle pad goes on followed by the saddle and crupper. I buckle the girth snug, but not tight. It doesn't need to be tight while I'm still putting everything else on. Then we need to fasten the crupper in place.


Yes Little Man has a lot of dapples going on.

Many of these have buckles on both sides, some have only one buckle and if yours doesn't have a buckle at all, it might be time for an upgrade. I do body wok with my horses and one of the things in this is pressure points under the tail. I do this and as they lift their tail, I can slip the crupper into place and let them relax as I buckle it.



Next out of the box is the breastcollar and traces. Before removing the breastcollar, I wrap my traces around the neck and tuck the ends in by the buckles. This keeps everything neat and makes putting it all on and taking it off, much quicker and easier. Holding the breastcollar with the actual breastcollar towards their side with the mane, I unsnap the lead where they are tied, slip the breastcollar and traces over their head, replace the snap tying them and slide everything down into place. As I turn the breastcollar, the mane will lay flat underneath. Hair rubbing the wrong way under tack is annoying to the horse.  




The next piece to go on is the breeching. This is fairly easy because it is rather lightweight. Set it up over the rump, slipping the backstrap thru the keepers to hold it in place. Pull the tail thru, over the breeching strap.

Your reins come next. Slide the bit ends thru the turrets, leaving enough to reach the bit. Then slip the very end under the backstrap. Take the rest of the reins and slip them thru the end of the rein under the loop. Pulling the end snug, holds it all in place. Last comes the bridle and buckling the reins to the bit. Now you're ready to put your horse/pony to the cart.