This message is from: "Norsk Wood Works" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
This message is in response to Kate from Phillip Odden currently enjoying winter weather in Northwestern Wisconsin. I like driving fjords hitched single and in pairs as well. There are things about driving singles that are fun. First you only have to harness one horse so it takes less time to get hitched. Teaching one horse to do all the things a good comfortable driving horse needs to do to be safe and fun is less than half the work it takes to get two of them doing things right. When you get two or more singles straightened up it is still fun but can get a little on the normal side of life. Hitching pairs is more than double the fun. The trick with pairs is to get two of them to work together like one horse. This means they need to start together, stop together and stand quietly together. The upward and downward transitions are supposed to be together and you need to balance two of them in the turns. A pair of fjords have lots more power than a single. If one horse needs to look at something and shows concern about it, chances are the other one will ignore it. But then if both of them are concerned you may have more than double the trouble. I drive or ride and train fjord horses nearly every day. Driving pairs is my favorite. When you get a pair that can really work together and are light and responsive, the music the harness and hooves make together with the added motion and power is a pretty exhilarating way to travel across the landscape. Here we have enough snow to pull the sleighs on our fields but not enough snow to be real comfortable on the forest trails. Maybe by week's end there will be enough snow cover to drive in the woods with the larger bob-sled. I hope so. Phil The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
