Re: Saga of the cart jumping Morgan
This message is from: Cynthia_Madden/OAA/UNO/[EMAIL PROTECTED] Catching up from weekend posts: From Bill: Perhaps if someone else had been steading the horse, it would not have bolted? Response: That is only one of the many lessons I finally learned that day! And I think it was the main one! To Diane about cellphone: I do go out alone and I do carry a cellphone that is on my person not attached to my cart or saddle. The main time not to be alone is in a training situation especially when you introducing the horse to something new or if you are really a green horse person with a green horse. I do prefer company when riding or driving - just more fun but it hard to find people at 7 am in the morning during the summer when I try to condition my horse. I have learned to have help when I am training. RE: Kissing Well, I confess to being a horse and dog kisser! However, Tank is not the best to do this to - his nose is so gritty! I think it has something to do with his constant search for food. He is kind of like the Corgi - always with his nose to the ground snuffling for something to eat. Steve's Morgan, Pferd, has the best nose - we call it the velveteen nose! But he gets so insulted! Cynthia Madden email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Saga of the cart jumping Morgan
This message is from: Turcotte, Dianne [EMAIL PROTECTED] Not riding alone is not much of a realistic option for some people. However I do carry a cell phone whenever I have to ride alone. Just my 2 cents, :)
Re: Saga of the cart jumping Morgan
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] One of the things that occured to me when hearing the sory about the Morgan, was that it is really not a good idea to go riding OR driving alone. Perhaps if someone else had been steading the horse, it would not have bolted?
Re: Saga of the cart jumping Morgan
This message is from: Jean Gayle [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cynthia, I took lessons from Doris Ganton some years ago and drove one of her beautiful horses. But I am one who does not like taking chances anymore. When you fall at my age there is no bounce At times I am ready to try something wild and then back off in favor of being in one piece. So, unless it was a horse who thoroughly enjoys his work I would not try driving again.Jean Jean Gayle Aberdeen, WA [Authoress of The Colonel's Daughter Occupied Germany 1946 TO 1949 ] http://www.techline.com/~jgayle Barnes Noble Book Stores
Re: Saga of the cart jumping Morgan
This message is from: Cynthia Madden [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jean, I surely didn't mean to discourage anyone from driving with my story. It ultimately didn't discourage me. I just want to underscore some of my lessons - that experienced help and a lot of common sense are needed to drive. It requires adherence to the standard rules of safety for driving without exception - most of which I broke in ignorance and over eagerness. I always had the support of our driving club people and found a great trainer whose emphasis is always on safety and having fun with your horse. I hope you can find someone like this to help you learn to drive. Find your local driving club and talk to people. I have found driving folks very much like Fjord folks. I have never (knock of wood and my time will come, I know) had an injury or accident while driving my Tank. However, he did slam dunk me off his back one day and I broke my collar bone and two ribs. I felt the liner in my helmet compress, my head hit the ground so hard. Now are you going to quit riding Gunnar? I think not. This happened in early June and I could not ride all summer. However, I could drive and did after two weeks. I even showed at Blue Earth that year, neck collar and all. Another view point. When little Nick had his accident at Blue Earth this year and was bucked off his horse while in trail class, my granddaughter turned to me and said, I'm sure glad I drive instead of ride. It is so much safer! Needless to say, we had a little talk. You must always be ready for the unexpected while driving and things happen. But you hone your skill and train your horse constantly - and this is the real fun about driving! I hope you will reconsider because you will find driving a blast! Cynthia Madden mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Omaha, Nebraska USA
Re: The Saga of the Cart Jumping Morgan (long)
This message is from: Bushnell's [EMAIL PROTECTED] At 10:13 AM 12/2/99 -0600, you wrote: This message is from: Cynthia_Madden/OAA/UNO/[EMAIL PROTECTED] or ... all the dumb things a person new to driving can do and still manage not to kill their horse: Cynthia, that was very entertaining! thank you for sharing with us, you have a nice story telling style. Ruthie
Re: The Saga of the Cart Jumping Morgan (long)
This message is from: Jean Gayle [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cynthia, I know it won't happen but you should do a movie! Your descriptions had my heart in my throat as Keyah headed for the gate and then the barbed wire fence. Amazingly good luck, except for Steve's misfortune. Thanks for your honesty in describing your boo-boos. I have been thinking that I would take up driving at my increased age rather than riding. I also shared the view that is was easier on the horse and safer. Wrong!! Obviously. Think I will just keep riding my little Gunnar. Jean Gayle Aberdeen, WA [Authoress of The Colonel's Daughter Occupied Germany 1946 TO 1949 ] http://www.techline.com/~jgayle Barnes Noble Book Stores
The Saga of the Cart Jumping Morgan (long)
This message is from: Cynthia_Madden/OAA/UNO/[EMAIL PROTECTED] or ... all the dumb things a person new to driving can do and still manage not to kill their horse: I have been requested to share my early experiences teaching a horse to drive (an oxymoron since I didn't know how to drive). I decided I wanted to drive and Steve bought me a used harness and training cart for my birthday. I ground drove Keyah, my Morgan, and did all the things books tell you to do and we finally hitched him and he did wonderfully. He was such a cute driving horse! One day, I decided to put a new bit on Keyah. It had a chain chinstrap which he was not used to. I put it on the bridle, harnessed him and hitched him up. The chain and it noise spooked him. Before I even got into the cart, he bolted, escaped from me and took himself and his cart through a gate. The welder straightened out the cart. Steve and I decided to try rehitching Keyah after a suitable time, which resulted in Steve getting a broken arm. I decided I needed help (finally!) and took Keyah to Lyle Peterson (ADS people will know who he is - past ADS president will hopefully be back in Nebraska soon). Lyle hitched him with a Belgian to a farm wagon and took him down the road - no bolting possible now! In fact, by the time they came back, Keyah was pulling the wagon by himself while the Belgian just laughed at him. I have a picture of this and don't tell me that horses don't have expressions. They are particularly good at expressing disgust. Lyle kept Keyah for a couple of weeks and then told me to come get him. I drove him before I left and I was so delighted with him! Since Steve was still recovering from his broken arm, I went out alone the next day to hitch Keyah up in the arena and drive him. There was no one there but me - the place was deserted, but I was eager to drive my rehabilitated guy. Now one of Keyah's traits is that he likes to scare himself (this and my ignorant mistakes are what make him NOT a driving horse today). Under saddle, this trait is not so bad - in harness this is one disaster after another waiting to happen. I hitched him up in the rodeo size arena with his face to the fence. I turned him around preparatory to getting into the cart. As soon as I turned him, Keyah decided to play bolt - it was obviously just a little test for me. I hung on to the reins. He did a circle around me which was tight enough to turn over the cart. At this point, he has finally really scared himself and truly bolts. Down the arena he flies. The lite little cart rights itself and is bouncing merrily behind him. I am standing there heart in mouth watching him. He heads straight for the fence at the end - this is a high rodeo arena type fence. Surely, he will turn. Nope, he does not turn - he leaps over the fence! I can't tell the millions of thoughts flashing through my head - mainly, I've killed my horse!. The horse and cart clear the fence! Now he is in the pasture but headed towards the road where the fence is barbed wire. He has amazingly survived one hazard only now to be headed straight towards another. I know he will die. I am running towards the end of the arena, but there is absolutely nothing I can do. This horse is terror struck and totally out of his mind. Suddenly, sanity seems to return. Instead of going through (or over ) the fence, he turns. He runs to a corner of the pasture and stops himself. Luckily, he not too far from me. I leap the rodeo arena fence - actually I scramble through it but adrenalin keeps me from getting stuck. I get to him. He is ready to be rescued -even if it is me - and lets me get him unhitched and out of he harness. He has suffered absolutely no physical harm - not so the cart. Now how many stupid things did I do with this horse? They are almost unncountable - but so typical of the neophyte training the neophyte. It was several years before I tried driving again. One more halfhearted attempt years later to see if Keyah would drive proved that this was not for him.- he just doesn't have the mind for it. I think it was the trauma of my own stupidity more than fear of driving that kept me from it. But the the desire never died and one day, I brought home Tank the wonder horse. By that time, I had been to clinics, worked with a trainer with our other Morgan (who is a great driving horse) and this trainer guided us in training Tank. I learned a lot of lessons from this phase. Today, Keyah is a twenty years old and a great riding horse but he is not a driving horse - although for a while we did consider that maybe he should have a career in jumping!. Cynthia Madden email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
