no to wheels

Shyloh has been doing fantasically well in her open bridle line driving. Seriously, it has been awesome. I have even taught her to side pass from the long lines, not that it would ever be useful in a cart, but we like doing things like that. 

We also like taking braids out and having curly hair-do's!

The first couple attempts warranted evil glares back at me. She knew what I was asking, but she also knew her dinner was waiting. Shy gave me some very sad excuses for stepping sideways, which included a lot of forward motion.  Eventually, I was able to get some good side stepping out of her and Shy got her dinner. It is so hard to move both the front and back legs sideways at the same time (according to Shy)!

The next few tries went much, much better. I'll have to get some video. But there you have it for another useless skill!

Since she has been doing really great with the line drive again, we decided to give it a try while Terry was driving Reba. We figured, with the open bridle Shy should be much more relaxed.

Well. . .when I pulled her out of the pasture and she saw the cart, from a distance, she locked in on it and wouldn't move. I got her moving again, but she was doing her best to impersonate an Arab with her flared nostrils and short, quick breathing. We didn't even have to walk by the cart to get to our spot!

I helped get Terry and Reba hooked, then tacked Shy in her gear and away we went. Reba and Terry went out ahead of us and we waited for them to pass us near an opening. And Shy tried to turn around and get the hell out of dodge. Fail. 

She was able to look at it without spinning around by the fifth attempt.

I started walking behind Terry and Reba, Shy could handle that. But when I had them trot a lap and come up behind us at a walk, Shy wanted to take off again. This was not the light, easy, one handed line driving I had grown accustomed to. . .this was a two hand-er, pulling back to keep my horse from taking off. Fail again.

I tried having Terry and Reba stand on one spot while we passed them. Again, this was a two handed operation while also not letting Shy circle out 20 feet from the cart. Fail.

This was the only acceptable way to be around the cart, even so, she still had one ear on it and one ear on me.

My conclusion is that Shy hates carts and things with wheels. Beth told me not to give up quite yet, so I might give it a few more tries to see if she relaxes at all. I also plan on trying a sled again, since I had much better luck with that the one year. Sleds do not have wheels, so they must be okay, right?

I admit, I was a little disappointed. With as great as Shy had been doing, I thought she should have been able to handle the cart better, especially since she could see it and it was not attached to her. It wasn't totally terrible, but I really thought it could have been much better. Am I expecting too much? Ponies. . .

it's back. . .

When your Haflinger has gotten too fat. . .

Desperate measures must be taken, even if it makes for an unhappy pony. 

And not only is Shyloh fat, she is in heat and had to be separated from Isaac. She just would not stop throwing her whorse self at him until Isaac finally could not resist the temptation. . . aaaand Shy's lady parts are now raw. It's gross. 

Apart from Shy getting her groove on, she had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad driving day. I'll write about it later, as I am still trying to process everything. Let's just say, it is now known that I am not over reacting when I say certain things about how she can be. . .

Enjoy a couple baby Gypsies that I went to visit today. Baby horses make everything better!

Baby F loves to be scratched!! 

Spartacus, the youngest and biggest of the babies! 

Ms. Molly. . .it is hard work being a baby

hay baby

Holy fatness, batman. . .Shyloh is growing a hay baby! Her belly is rapidly expanding between the grass and the round bale. Shy even gets night night hay, which she has not been eating so we are going to cut out completely. I hope her harness girth fits because as it was, it was on the last hole and a tight fit. . .

Her sides stick out so far!

Other than her growing hay baby belly, Shy is adjusting very well. She knows which stall is hers, she comes in with no problem at night, and she has not destroyed anything. She is a good pony. 

Belly almost touches the ground. . .

And Shy is making friends. Between hanging with Isaac and Shady, and Notch, Shy now has been hanging with Reba. I am not sure if grumpy Clutch will ever let Shy hang with him, but as long as he isn't biting her or running her off (running her off too much, some running would probably help the giant belly situation), I am sure Shy is fitting in just fine. 

Shy and Reba

I finally got bearings for my cart and I had fully intended on putting them in and putting the wheels back on today. But I forgot my tool that puts the thing on the thing that holds the wheel on. . .so technical. By Friday, I hope to have my cart up and running soon so I can start working Shy and work that belly off (hopefully off of both of us). I think Shady was trying to tell me something about that when she snuggled up to me and them bit my chunky side. 

Shady's favorite spot

As for Shy, we really need to get that hay baby down, so until the cart is in driving shape, we may have to utilize the round pen. I am sure Shy will be thrilled about that. . .

I can see the round pen being a problem for me though. . .

Shy, totally okay with her hay baby

monday musings by shyloh #93

It's gonna be a scorcher this week! Stay safe ponies!

Apparently Allie went to a big Haflinger show this weekend (without me, thank goodness!) and has got a bug up her butt about really working on finally fixing the cart.

I even stopped eating to stare at her and question why she was doing this

I was not pleased. Not pleased at all. 

Go away cart, you are dirty

Really, I don't mind driving and all that, but I think I am not a fan of that cart. Not sure why. No other cart bothers me so. I am not afraid of this cart, I just really don't want to be near it. Maybe because I have bad memories with it?

Anyway, I was kinda glad to see Allie after her long absence. . .not nicker to her happy, but happy enough. As we went back to the front, I had a posse of Koda and Tony follow us out. 

And, I even decided to show Allie where the blackberry bushes are. She never would have found them herself. She is under the misguided impression that berries grow on shrub type bushes. I took a bite of a berry. . .not ripe yet. 

I got to graze on some good grass then I was sent back to my buddies to nap. It is just too hot to move, so better thing to do than nap? I have a feeling I will be napping a lot this week.

Gotta love shade and a nice breeze

~Shyloh

curly!

We have had rain and more rain lately. Cloudy skies and no sun seem to be the new norm. But, just a mere hour away, in Ohio, the weather has been much nicer! So I went down to help Beth get her four year old, Curly, started with driving. He has only been hooked a few times in a team and never to a cart.

Meet Curly!

We hooked Curly to the sled with Art.

Skylar is a sled dog

Curly was pretty amazing! Beth put a great foundation on him and he was not bothered by anything. Curly had to concentrate a lot more with the sled because it was much harder to pull and he had to be told to keep up with Art, but overall he was great! After a couple laps we let them rest in the shade.

Then we hooked Curly and Art up to some wheels. He was expecting it to be much harder to pull, but it was pretty easy for him. Curly thought he was on a sightseeing tour around the property. His ears were forward and he was looking at everything. So different from Shy, whose ears are almost always back on the driver, listening for what is wanted next.

Curly still has a lot to learn, but it seems that he has a good head on his shoulders. See his turns. . .too funny! We didn't work him long because we could see that his young brain was getting tired. And Art was getting a bit frustrated with the him, too.

Good ponies

A couple days later, I went down to Ohio again. We hooked Curly and Art together on the forecart and away we went. Once we started trotting, we could tell Curly was much more focused on Beth and less on the scenery. All was good until Curly decided to get a little spunky. . . I am pretty sure the horse conversation between Art and Curly went like this:

Curly: Weeeee! We are going fast! I'm a rabbit!

Art: Get your feet on the ground.

Curly: No! I can leap so high! Let's go faster now!

Art: Stop it. You are acting childish. I am not letting you go anywhere and since we are hooked you are stuck.

Curly: But leaps. . . (one more time with all four off the floor). Fine.

Art: Good, now get back to work. This is serious business. 

Gotta love those blonde butts

I admit, it was a little scary, but definitely not heart pounding scary. Beth and Art held it together while Curly was leaping around. He really did have all hooves off the ground about three times. But after that, he was back to business. 

We ran into one more hairy situation in the woods. We couldn't decide which way we wanted to go, which gave Curly too much time to think of which way he did not want to go. He was doing one thing and Art was doing what was being asked of him, but then got frustrated because Curly was doing what he wanted. Curly ended up with a back leg over the tongue. That did not bother him at all. Just like it doesn't bother him to bang into the tongue when he turns gee. I got out and help the horses while Beth fixed them, then we went on our way. No more troubles. 

Bless Art's Haflinger heart for putting up with green drivers and green horses. He is such a good horse. And Curly was quite amazing for his first couple drives out. Beth should be really proud of all the work she put in on him. 

Two tired ponies!

After we got done, Beth put the cart on Curly so he could feel the shafts on his sides. He could have cared less, even when he was wiggling around. He was also a very tired pony!

I braided his forelock. 

I had a really fun long weekend helping ponies, boating, and hanging with friends. I am wishing I didn't have to go to work. . . what did you do this weekend?

I had to share this, too! This is Leah and Rambo. Leah is using Haflinger acrobatics to get blades of grass. 

fun show

Today we had the draft club's fun show. It is different from the circuit shows; it required no washing of ponies, no mane rolls or tail bows, and no show clothes. It was just a day to hang with friends, show ponies and mules low key, and have fun.

One of my new friend that helps out with all the shows, Lisa, and Becky came up to take Shyloh down to Ohio. Shy was going to have a sleepover at Beth's house!

Yeah. . .Shy is the only horse in that bad boy

In the morning, me and Beth loaded up the ponies and headed to the show, a mere 10 minutes away! We got there early and got a coveted under the tree parking spot. Ahhh. . .shade. It was much needed for the 90 degrees and humid day that was ahead of us.

Can you see Shy and Art?

First up, halter class. We never place in halter or showmanship. So when it was out turn and Shy drug ass up to the judge, then decided to speed trot away from the judge, then half trot back to the judge, I figured we were just doing halter just because. . .  imagine my surprise when the judge called us out for second! Second place!! I was shocked!

Happy pony with her ribbon

Showmanship was our usual blah. I get so bored standing in line and so does Shy. But next up was line driving obstacle course. . .which we rocked! We took third place and I think that was because She refused to trot around the cones. But she did go over the bridge without a problem!

Next was the scary part. Hooking Shy to the cart. She had not been hooked since the last show she was at, which was in May. But Shy was a superstar! Beth rode with me, just to be safe and we ended up taking fourth in the class. 

Go Shy!

Nevermind the hair-fro. . .it was so hot and humid!

Then Shy was used for youth cart class. The little girl who drove Shy did an excellent job and Shy was great for her. I think they took second place. 

Becky took a spin on Shy and I convinced her to do the obstacle class with Shy. I rode with her. Shy was doing good until we had to back in a U shape, then pull out. She did a major scoot coming out of the U. A major scoot. Becky got after her and made her do it again so she could do it right. After Shy got herself together, Becky had me drive her back to the trailer. 

Now it was time to hook Shy and Art together. They did an obstacle course and I think they took either first or second with Beth driving. Then they did a farm team open class. Beth said that the way they drove together was amazing, they were so good! And they took first place!

Teamsters

The last team class was on a wooden sled, where the driver stands. A water bucket was filled to the top and placed on the back of the sled. The driver had to take the team around three cones and back around the cones. The winner was the person who spilled the least amount of water. Beth went first with Art and Shy. Then it was my turn. Let me tell you, driving two horses is hard! I don't know how people drive those hitches with six and eight! And since Shy and Art aren't technically a team, they both have different words to go. So I had a bit of a difficult time getting started. . .but Beth helped. Then I took over. It was fun, but I have a difficult enough time with just one horse, I am not sure I am ready for two! And turning them is much easier than making them go straight. But when we crossed the finish line, I had more water in the bucket! Me and the team took first place!!

After that, Shy and Art got hooked back up to the cart and gave pony rides to Lisa and her husband Ed.  And by the time Shy was unhooked, she was exhausted and sweaty! Pony doesn't know what it is like to work! She took a little snooze at the trailer, then resumed her eating. We loaded up and Lisa and Ed took us home. How awesome are they for coming to get us and bring us home for the show? Super awesome!!

That's the sign of some hard work!

The rains when we got home probably felt so good!

I am so proud of how Shy did today!! I wish I would have gotten way more photos, but I was so busy all day! If anyone at the show took some, I will share them on Shy's Facebook page.

show success

I would most definitely call our first show as the Northwest Ohio Driving Circuit a success! We had a great turnout and everyone had a good time. 

And best of all. . .

I drove Shyloh in the Draft Working Cart class and she did awesome! Beth rode in the cart with me, just in case. Shy was listening great and was very calm. And she was being lazy. She was walking like she had no place to go! And when it came time to trot, she was inconsistent in keeping it up, but that is okay. For our first time in an actual cart class, I could not have been happier! And we got fifth place!

That was our first ribbon ever! 

We also did halter, showmanship, trail-in-hand, and line driven reinsmanship (where Shy refused to enter the arena and our circles looked like ameobas). And even though we did not place in any of those classes, we had so much fun.

We also got the Most Improved award for the show, because we drove in the cart class. A whole winter of hard work and tons of help from Jaime, Becky, and Beth, got us to this point. I will be forever grateful for them.

I didn't take nearly as many photos as I wanted, but here are some from our fantastic day!

Line driving Shy

She looks sleepy

Practicing in the cart!

Pleasure driving class, Becky driving Allie

Pleasure driving class, Flo with Nick

Youth cart class, Beth and Regina with Art

Youth cart class, Chelsea and Cody in his three piece suit

Kyle and Clutch

Becky and Maddie driving Allie, getting ready for youth cart class

Shady the donkey!

Pretty Gypsy pony

Another pretty Gypsy Pony

Skylar the cart dog. He had so much fun, he finally passed out from exhaustion.

Shy

On our way to the show!

Grand Reserve Champion in halter! Go Jaime and Notch!

Little Shady

Youth showmanship class. Great turnout!

Haley rode Notch and Kyle on Clutch