labor day fun!

What a fun Labor Day! I was not ready to go back to work today. After some much needed sleeping in, I headed out to the barn, I had no plans, but when I got there Jaime and Kyle were hitching up Notch and Clutch.

So I went with them for a drive into town. 

Down the road

Into town. Nothing bothers these guys. Except giant beach balls.

On the way back, we made a couple stops. . .

Fill 'em up!

Had to get some groceries for later

Those are some great horses!

Shady was in a silly mood all day, too.  She was zipping around the pasture like a nut and bossing the big horses around. Donkey is soo funny! Later in the day, she was in the back trails running around and just having so much fun. And Notch and Shy groomed each other for about ten minutes. . .that might explain the thinning mane section.

Eventually I got Shyloh out and took her to the round pen. I think that is her comfortable spot and she seems to like it much better than the hitching post. We did some clicker training and I think Shy is finally getting the first part of this trick I am trying to teach her. 

Then, I decided, hey, I'll get on her bareback again. . .Shy had other thoughts which included continually knocking over the bucket, standing over the bucket, and stepping on my foot. 

What's in the bucket?

Fall down bucket!

I even tried to get on her from afar. . .

If I had ever tried this with Shy before, she would have been so nervous. Now, it doesn't faze her.

But that didn't work. So I had to get reinforcements in the form on Kyle. Then it was no problem. I sat for a minutes then I asked Shyloh to walk on. She cocked a back leg, which threw me into a tilt. I got her squared and squeezed for her to walk on. Nothing. So I asked her to disengage her hind end. Nothing. She was falling asleep. At least she felt comfortable!

Kyle had an idea to entice her to walk to him with a peppermint. It worked! Then she tried to fall back asleep. Crazy pony. Kyle walked us around the round pen with a peppermint to get Shy moving. Wow is my balance terrible, but Shy is pretty comfy. I should probably use the saddle. I didn't stay on long. After that I spent some more time with her just doing nothing.

Later, we all decided to take some horses around the back property. Jaime was going to try Isaac, someone was going to ride Reba, and I was going to drive Dexter, the driving pony. Much, much later, I finally caught him. I thought those days were over! Dexter does not like to be caught or harnessed. He is very well trained, but I think he has had some bad experiences with people. Once he has the cart on, he is all business. Dexter has a cute four wheel cart.

Dexter is so fun to drive! We cruised along the trail that is cut around the soybeans, leaving the others behind. Turns out, no one made it due to various issues. When we got back, we tried to make a turn and almost flipped the cart! Oops! I hopped out quick and Dexter was so calm about the whole thing. Looks like the front spring thing has snapped in the middle at some point and fell down, which caused the cart to be unable to make the turn. It was not a problem during my drive because we never made sharp turns. 

See Shy watching as me and Dexter return? Could it be that she was jealous that I took another horse driving? Ha!

After a day filled with horsey fun, we had a bonfire and some s'mores. Why can't every day be like this?

great lakes haflinger association show 2013

I spent the weekend down in Ohio (is that really a surprise by now?) camping out for the Great Lakes Haflinger Association's show. It is mostly a hitch show, that shows all kinds of Haflinger hitches: single, team, tandem, unicorn, and all the way to eight! It is super cool!

We roughed it all weekend in an awesome RV with Becky and her niece and nephew, Cody and Maddie. Those are some great kids. Cody had very unique ideas about the essential items that need to be brought to a horse show including, but not limited to: 5 tennis rackets, a lamp, a surge protector, fishing hooks, 2 tractor seats, a tent, and all the belt buckles that he owns. They showed their horses and Beth came up for one day and showed Art. Everyone and their ponies did wonderful. I had so much fun, we got ponies ready to show, watched some amazing horses, and even had a water balloon fight. Good times!

I also learned a ton at this show. The hitch people are so nice. They are really family oriented and so willing to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Cody got to hang out with one of the teams and help them harness, get lines ready, and just absorb all kinds of information. Very cool. 

The hitch Haflingers are huge! Much larger than Shy (well most horses are, hell, even the donkey is bigger than Shy), much larger than most Haflingers that I am around. And they are gorgeous! They know their job and they seem to love it. 

On to the best part. . .the photos! I have more at Shyloh's Facebook page. Enjoy!

Alliecat's beautiful mane!

How to keep the mane beautiful overnight!

Becky and Alliecat

Maddie and her Grandpa, his first time driving Allie for the Jack Benny class, where the combined age of the horse and driver has to be over 60. 

Jasi and Allie in team

Jasi and Allie pulling the wagon. They were such good ponies!

Harness boxes! How neat. I wonder if my dad will build me something similar. . .

Opening ceremonies. This was a thick Haffie!

This hitch was getting ready to show

Single

Team, look how in sync the legs are!

Tandem, very cool!

Unicorn, so sweet!

Baby Faith. She is a spunky girl! And so cute. 

There were also a few other ponies that showed in the draft/pony classes. 

Six hitch!

More six hitch

The big eight! So amazing to watch!

me vs the mini

I have never handled mini horses before. But I agreed to walk Pancake, the mini, in a local parade with Jaime and Kyle. Pancake was a pro, she did the parade last year. Should be easy. . .right?

Wrong. Pancake made it difficult for me from the get-go. I went to catch her in her little mini field with her mini buddies. She was worse than Shyloh at her worst! Pancake had all the horses tearing ass around the mini field.

zoom!

Funny thing about minis is that they are so small and funny, everything they do is cute. . .at first. Jaime  got some grain and we (she) finally managed to catch the little rascal. I walked her to the trailer and little Pancake refused to get in. She reared, holding the rear and sitting back on her legs. Cute and funny. Kyle said one time he just picked her up and put her in the trailer. Silly mini. We did not have to result to that and Pancake got in the trailer. 

Kyle was pulling the trailer with two minis and a horse. Me and Jaime would be driving Notch and Clutch to the parade in this:

Her brand new hitch wagon! It was awesome! And scary. It was the first time the boys were hooked to it. It was high (and I'm a bit afraid of heights). It was big. But Jaime and I climbed all the way up and off we went. 

So high!

After a while I relaxed way up there. The boys were amazing! I really can't say enough how great of a job Jaime did training Notch. We trotted pretty much the entire way. And we showed up to the parade in style!

At the parade start point, I put some antlers, bells, and a bow on Pancake. She was far from thrilled about the whole decorating thing. I began to wonder just how much it would hurt to get kicked by a mini, because I was sure that was going to happen. It didn't though. When I went to brush her front legs, she ripped my hat off my head and almost bit my head in the process. I was less than pleased. Jaime and Kyle out lights on the hitch wagon. It was so cool!

She sure is cute!

Itty bitty!

Poor Pancake acted like she had never been in a parade before. She spooked at everything. The eight shiny reindeer (mules) terrified her as they went past. 

They all had "anters" and pulled Santa!

And once the parade started, Pancake wanted to run like someone lit a firecracker under her! She was pulling me this way and that way. I held on tight right up at her halter and she pulled like she wanted to remove my arm from its' socket. I gave her slack on the lead rope and she was running back and forth in front of me. Little Pancake was literally dragging me down the street. Eventually, I got smart and let her run circles around me. At least this way I could guarantee that my arms would stay attached to my body. And she was screaming! Calling for other minis, since there were mostly big horses around. We were fighting the whole time and I think I was losing.

Of course, once the parade was over Pancake was a little better-ish. I would take a draft horse over a mini any day!

Sorry for the grainy photo