Have you ever seen that T-shirt .. If you are not the lead horse, the view never changes ? I had the camera at this point... and shot the butt end of our beginning work.
There were a few ways to attack this project.. and I decided over all - the best method was to have Zoe work with me to get the girls accustomed to walking side by side, equal strides. and practice their turns. This avoids a mess with one driver with the team lines - and I'd have to tie the horses together... which I wanted to avoid at first.
Walk on Fiona, walk on Nimue ! Getting them used to voice commands using their names. They are not a perfect match, so they need additional support from their handlers to stay in sync.
They are doing very well, so we are headed down the road. I LOVE a beautiful bay team :)
Down the road to the left -- staying on the tarred road. We will practice a lot of gee's and haw's down here too. We had a mid-winter thaw today, so the tar road is clear of ice - although around the barn is still slick footing.
Head back up after some truly successful team-work.
As we pass Kelli. Fiona has to glance at the camera - she loves Kelli (and maybe she loves being the
star on film ? )
Nimue on the other hand -- is all work when the harness is on.
All done -- two beautiful girls posing together.
We'll practice this a few more times, then hitch to the sled. I MIGHT try one hitch using a pole... but my harnesses are not set up for that so it will take a bit of ingenuity. I have a beautiful restored antique pole for a light team. We'll see how the first hitch goes :)
Kelli took a little video of the two girls walking out and doing some turns up by the barn. When haw-ing... the horse on the outside has to walk faster (today that would be Fiona) , while the inside horse has to mostly step over. For gee -- just the opposite.. so Zoe and I worked on that with these two girls -- they did well for their first time. I am happy :)
This effort is mainly just to please myself.. Nimue is for sale - so hopefully she'll find her working home soon. She's quite experienced and has a LOT of miles. Fiona will always stay with me.
Enjoy ~
The video of the turns was great!! Boy, those turns sure requires a lot of teamwork and effort for them to learn to stay together. I never really thought about it much, only having seen "been there, done that" teams at local fairs. Please keep us posted on their progress. It will be fun to watch! I love the picture of the two girls head to head; it is very sweet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Susan the picture of Nimue and Fiona posing together is lovely!
ReplyDeleteGreat goal to have them working as a team and as soon as Fiona knows it all she can be the experienced horse for any other horse to learn to walk next to her!
The teamwork and cool memories you are making with the horses and with your daughter are great!!! How did you get started in hitching...Is that the same as cart??
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when you guys would hitch double! Awesome to see and can't wait to read about the process continuing!
ReplyDeleteLynn -- I have driven a team back when I had drafts (Suffolk Punch) and also trained one almost perfectly matched team of Curlies (they went as a team to NY) - bay - actually each out of Keri's Mom !! it's been awhile - but I think about it a lot. it's a lot more work and of course double the equipment.. but a satisfying accomplishment. As I said- these girls are not a very good match - but in the end who cares ?
ReplyDeleteKrissy - the main difference in hitching a team over a single horse - is that you use a pole between the horses instead of putting one horse between shafts. There are a few differences in the harnessing -- because of the pole mostly. Also-- you are harnessing double the "horsepower" so you need well trained.. maybe with a single horse you can get away with "green' -- not so with a team usually.
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