This message is from: "Foxfire Farm" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ooooooo! Ahhhhhh!.... even tho' they were not fjords... Yesterday I attended my first meeting of the Thumb Draft Horse Association... an educational clinic. The demo horses were Percherons, many many Percherons, all ages, and all huge. I was hoisted into the driver's seat of a big wagon, handed the reins and laughing a lot off I went....driving the pair.
Now, before you panic, after reading Lisa's important novella.... seated next to me was a very knowlegeable young man, Shane Benner, who had with his Dad, Les, helped break and train this 6-7 year old pair, bred on their farm. We worked in a large indoor arena, everything had been checked and rechecked, and we kept it to a walk. They are huge and powerful horses, but even at the walk waht a nice feel! No dogging it for these boys... Everyone was very kind and encouraging.....kept saying go for it....the pair are used regularly for weddings, wagon rides, and Christmas Tree farm work. We had also just spent a couple of hours going over the harnessing process for pairs, driving safety, equipment safety etc... Shane said keep an eye on the leveller bar to help keep them even...."I can't even SEE the leveller bar..." I am short so my feet didn't reach the floor...I had to stand up to look over the front of the wagon to see it... had to sit forward on the very front edge to plant my feet to drive the wagon and could not keep an eye on the leveller, so had to use feel We laughed a lot about that, but once that was handled, it was sheer joy! Walk on.... Never thought I'd even consider thinking about pairs, (all that harness) but it was so much fun.... but first I have to get going better with my fjords as singles... Part of the reason I joined this group was to look for and meet folks with a different perspective and find some more horse buddies. I think the average age of the members must be about 70... with a lot of horse experience, breeding, training, driving and farming with drafts. I felt right at home. They also do a lot with teams of 4 and big hitches... lots of knowledge and good help available. You can bully those big guys... so they are handled with subltey and finesse and safety first, which is what I have looking for in learning help. One woman I spoke with for a long time has and ancient pair of Belgians she would like to replace with a pair of fjords... she knows a pair from the west side.... Gary and ?.... I think I know who they are. The whole group was very open and welcoming to the "fjord lady!" In spite of being a really cold and damp day it gave me lots of warm fuzzies! Ooooooo, driving that pair was fun! Now I can just picture a couple of little fjords butts in front of me, trotting down the road... If we are ready by the end of May, we can participate in their annual Wagon Train.... and I am also now freelancing for one one of the local papers....and covering things like this for them! Can life get any better? Yeah, maybe.... driving my own little fjordies! BTW.... a number of these folks are going to the Waverly Sale and were aware of all the Fjords for sale and asked about it... They haven't seen that many listed in the catalog very often. Still savoring yesterday... what a high! Betsy in Michigan
