ponies!

Hidden Creek Draft horses is now home to two ponies, Dexter and Meatball!

Pony power!

For as good as these ponies are under harness, they are hell loose. Both of them are hard to catch. Both of them are scared of people. Dexter won't eat any treats and gives us a hard time with the bridle.. Meatball is spooky and skittish. 

But once they are under harness and attached to a cart, they are golden. Nothing bothers them. I mean, I almost tipped the cart on Dexter and he didn't care. Jaime took Meatball down the road and was passed by load diesel trucks with giant flags waving from them and he just kept going. 

This cart is so uncomfortable!

But I do like this one!

We are going to have a lot of fun with these two ponies! I got to drive them too, but there are no photos of me. 

I started taking Dexter out just to brush him and spend time not working him. He was a little bit confused. I tried to pick his feet and he wanted nothing to do with it. When I had picked up a back leg, he tried to jerk it away. Without thinking, I smacked his side. Yikes, that frightened him! I felt so bad. I kept working with him and it did not take too long before I was able to pick all of his hooves. 

I think I may do the same thing with Meatball. We don't know their history or training really, just that it seems they were treated bad or trained hard. We will get them to love people though!

So the purple breastcollar pad, yeah we took that from Notch's halter. It was the nose piece.

But it does make me wonder. . .why are both these ponies, who remind me of Shyloh when I first got her, still able to drive wonderfully? Scared as they may be of people, they can still do their job. Dexter is 3 and Meatball is 13. I told myself not to dwell on this, but it did cross my mind. 

I have about one more week before my pony time is drastically cut. I'm not sure if I mentioned, but I returned to school (after a couple years break) in April for my final year of my Master's program. I start fall classes next week and my internship after that. Plus working full time. I'll be done in April. Can you tell I am super excited about this lack of upcoming pony time?

So I plan on making everything I can out of this last week or so. Shy will be more than happy with more time for her to spend as wild and free pony.