snowplow

I am thinking I can make some extra money with Shyloh as a snowplow. 

Back up. . .I haven't been to the barn in a week. A week! Christmas and family things then sickness have kept me away. Shy must have thought she was wild and free pony. I let her finish eating with her herd, then tried to wrangle her in.

See the difference in these Haflingers!

nom nom nom

Sharing!

She sure gave me a hard time catching her today. That was the first in a long time. And she was doing her head toss. I haven't seen that since we moved to this barn.

But I did finally catch her, with the help of a candy cane. Once I brought Shy over to the grooming area, she kept trying to leave. And when she saw her harness, she tried to walk away again. Then she saw the tire I brought out. . . .If you remember the rules of the tire, I was not supposed to use it without a header. But I got permission earlier in the week to hook it up to Shy and I would head her. No line driving. And because she has been a line driving super star, I wanted to take the next step. But Shy's initial reaction was not promising. Great, I thought. . .my plans with the tire are going to fail. Shy was a little jumpy and acted like she had never seen a tire in her life!

Say what?

Just great, I thought again. The tire, which Shy has seen a million times gets wide eyes and thinking noises, but parades are no big deal. I considered scratching my plans. I had a pony out of any kind of work for a week who thought she was wild. And she was jumpy. But I figured, I'll take the safe route and ask someone to hold her while I attach the tire. I really wanted to take this next step!

What is this monstrosity?

I don't think I like it. . .

Brenda agreed to hold her head and Shy stood still like a champ. Did I ever mention standing still is one of her strong suits? Except that one time. . .and I didn't need another bad experience with the tire! I admit, I was nervous when I took hold of the lead line. I took a few deep breaths and off we went.

Shock! Shy stepped off with that tire like she always walked with a tire. No scoots. No trying to run off. Nothing. Naturally, I stopped her then asked her to walk on again. Perfect. What is this pony? Shy pulled that tire all through the snow. Hence. . .my snowplow! 

In motion photo. . .

What a good pony!

There was one moment where Shy did her unusual scoot thing. I have noticed this and mentioned it a few times and I would like to see it on video or from a different point of view. Her legs move fast and it is like she is taking off, but she doesn't go anywhere. There is no tightening of the lines or lead rope. Strange. Shy did this once when we were walking over some hay. I am not sure if the tire got caught and bounced maybe, but she recovered quickly. I made her walk back around it and it was not a problem. 

I am so proud of my little snowplow! She is always doing the most unexpected things. We are one step closer to cart time!!