Re: Fjord driving "wrecks"
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 11/2/99 11:24:23 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: << Hubby's saddle was loose so he got off to tighten it - as he started to get back on the QH started to turn in a circle and hubby got off balance and fell to the ground - QH (in typical fashion) leaps off and runs a distance. Well, Sven heard him running and thought - YIPEE, here we go!!! - and started to follow him. >> Hi Linda- I have a similar situation where I ride. there are many ranches along the country road with horses and cattle. Today, several of my Fjords' "neighbors" as I call them decided to gallop around their huge pasture. I could just feel Tommes wanting to join them, it just seems so natural for horses to want to move together as a group. Luckily, he just trotted a little and slowed down when told. Brigid in CA
Re: Fjord driving "wrecks"
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Another solution to traces popping off. Take a bungee cord and lay it across the single tree and hook the ends into the trace slots on both sides so that it holds the traces on the single tree.It should be snug enough that there is some tension, enough to hold the traces on, but not so snug that it is an effort to attach. My daughter drove her 11H Welsh pony in a CDE when she was 11 years old. Maureen van Bon, Bob's daughter rode with her as groom. They were driving a tiny pipe cart that had been purchased for $50. It had leather pieces to hold the traces on. Wes and Maureen and myself put sufficient mileage on this demon cart conditioning the pony for the event and had never had a mishap, however in the second hazard Wes scraped a post and the traces popped off. Maureen thinking fast grabbed the traces and while leaning forward and pumping her arms back in forth in time to the pony's movement got her through the rest of the hazard. It took about two minutes for them to jerry rig the traces with Maureen's hair barrettes. Now however they were two minutes behind in time for the section. So in the woods Wes just let the pony trot as fast as he could go. They made their time with 2 secs. to spare and my daughter exclaimed that it was the most fun she'd ever had driving that fast. I have a picture of them going through the water with Maureen holding on to the traces and smiling. She told me later she was awfully glad that it was Mushroom and not one of the Fjords as she didn't think she could have held on to the traces if the pony had been too much bigger. Vivian Creigh
Re: Fjord driving "wrecks"
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] good idea, Marsha Jo, and I will make a trip to the hardware store soon. It was not my cart - mine is new and the traces and leather pieces are very tight but why wait for them to wear-out. Thanks!! Another thing that happen over the weekend -- teaches one to be "aware" all the time when dealing with horses. My husband was riding my QH - I was driving Sven. Hubby's saddle was loose so he got off to tighten it - as he started to get back on the QH started to turn in a circle and hubby got off balance and fell to the ground - QH (in typical fashion) leaps off and runs a distance. Well, Sven heard him running and thought - YIPEE, here we go!!! - and started to follow him. THANK GOODNESS I had the reins in my hands and was relatively balanced - I think we would have had a wild ride had I not been "ready"!!! Wake-up calls for us - thankfully we were not hurt nor were the horses. Linda in MN
Fjord driving "wrecks"
This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > last week during my driving lesson with Sven [...] the traces > popped off both sides - and suddenly cart and horse were going every > which way!! My trainer jumped off [...] I unhooked the harness so we > could get the cart out from under him. We hitched Sven back up and > off we went. Throughout this whole ordeal, Sven calmly waited for us > to "fix" everything [...] > > So, what was the problem?? The leathers that keep the trace > connected were old and worn and too thin to keep the traces connected. > [...] a metal easy entry cart I never did like using the little pieces of leather to retain the traces on the singletree. I've seen more than one of my friends come back from a drive with a stick or some such poked in the hole in the singletree, as an emergency trace-retainer! Years ago, I acquired a couple of "tractor pins" at the local hardware store. They come in all sizes---I got the ones with "pins" about the same diameter as the holes in the singletree, and rings wide enough to go over the ends of the singletree. (The ring is attached to the pin in a way that makes it spring-loaded---you have to hold it up to put the pin in the hole, then the ring automatically snaps down next to the pin, to hold it in place.) I also got an extra one, to go into my "spares kit"---the tools and fix-it stuff that lives with the cart. However, these stories brought to mind one that Nancy Clow/Lehnert told on herself about my Nansy mare. When I expressed interest in the mare, I mentioned that I drove, so Nancy thought she'd enhance Nansy's marketability by checking out her driving training, using their pipe cart and an older harness. Put the harness on Nansy---she didn't care. Ground drove her around a little---Nansy figured that was unusual, but ho-hum. Pulled the cart around her by hand---mild interest. Hooked her up to it and had her pull it around (still ground driven)---Nansy merely gave them the old-mare look about the peculiar things horses have to put up with. So, they got in the cart and drove her around in their yard a bit---fine. Then they hit a bump, and the saddle on the old harness just broke in half, dropping the shafts at Nansy's feet. Everything came to a disorganized halt, with Nansy just standing there, giving them the "will you get your act together" look, while they untacked her. They proclaimed her broke to drive. (The friend who went with me to look at Nansy ground drove her a bit, and later expressed the opinion that the horse had probably never been trained to drive.) Love them Fjords Marsha Jo HannahMurphy must have been a horseman-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will! 30 mi SSE of San Francisco, Calif. ---
