which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2019-01-27 12:44 pm
which_chick) wrote2019-01-27 12:44 pm
Driving clinic #1 yesterday, Bird for a spin today
I went to a driving clinic (part 1 of 3) yesterday for Genie the Pon-pon.
Pon-pon is smaller than I am really happy riding. I mean, I can and will ride her, but she's not really a size I feel comfortable on. Also, she's got the right sort of mind for driving, not super-reactive, sensible as hell. And I think she'd be cute. She has fantastic gaits for a mutt pony. Driving is a thing I don't know shit-all about but the cost of entry (given that I already have a reasonably-suitable pony) is pretty low, so why not?
Clinic was given by a local lady who drives competitively, including combined training (dressage, cones, and xc). She's got a fairly competitive pair and does, more or less, the midatlantic. She's very knowledgeable and quite enthusiastic, a good ambassador for the sport. Anyway, it being the intro, she went over parts of harness, how they should fit, carts, and the importance of fitting the cart to the horse. There's a lot of stuff to get sorted.
Interestingly, a lot of the harness is now biothane, which is 4H/DHA legal and super easy to keep looking good. Should we get that far along, I will have to look into it.
But for now, my homework is to get a surcingle to fit the Genie and, I guess, start driving her around while I'm holding the lines and walking along behind her. The clinician (she's local, like I said) has a couple of pony-sized surcingles and is willing to loan me one as long as I get a size from the pony. That, I did today. The Genie is 63 1/4" around at surcingle location. I've friended clinician on fb and will update her as to size of Genie when she accepts friend request.
Took Bird for a spin with Trys today. The ground is all frost-heaved and uneven, plus frozen solid, so we walked. We did a lot of walking. We marched hills and we leg yielded and we worked on our postion and so forth. I also finally restacked my jump poles after horrible Tessa used them last fall and then just left them lay on the ground like an asshat.
I should have done it sooner... instead of expecting her to magically come back and be responsible about things. I mean, I'm not an idiot or anything and I really should know better.
Pon-pon is smaller than I am really happy riding. I mean, I can and will ride her, but she's not really a size I feel comfortable on. Also, she's got the right sort of mind for driving, not super-reactive, sensible as hell. And I think she'd be cute. She has fantastic gaits for a mutt pony. Driving is a thing I don't know shit-all about but the cost of entry (given that I already have a reasonably-suitable pony) is pretty low, so why not?
Clinic was given by a local lady who drives competitively, including combined training (dressage, cones, and xc). She's got a fairly competitive pair and does, more or less, the midatlantic. She's very knowledgeable and quite enthusiastic, a good ambassador for the sport. Anyway, it being the intro, she went over parts of harness, how they should fit, carts, and the importance of fitting the cart to the horse. There's a lot of stuff to get sorted.
Interestingly, a lot of the harness is now biothane, which is 4H/DHA legal and super easy to keep looking good. Should we get that far along, I will have to look into it.
But for now, my homework is to get a surcingle to fit the Genie and, I guess, start driving her around while I'm holding the lines and walking along behind her. The clinician (she's local, like I said) has a couple of pony-sized surcingles and is willing to loan me one as long as I get a size from the pony. That, I did today. The Genie is 63 1/4" around at surcingle location. I've friended clinician on fb and will update her as to size of Genie when she accepts friend request.
Took Bird for a spin with Trys today. The ground is all frost-heaved and uneven, plus frozen solid, so we walked. We did a lot of walking. We marched hills and we leg yielded and we worked on our postion and so forth. I also finally restacked my jump poles after horrible Tessa used them last fall and then just left them lay on the ground like an asshat.
I should have done it sooner... instead of expecting her to magically come back and be responsible about things. I mean, I'm not an idiot or anything and I really should know better.