The horses were snorting around the pasture, feeling their oats. Banderas’ previous owner, my trimmer, was here the other day to trim both horses’ hooves and thought he was looking great. He’s slimmed down nicely. He likes to chase neighbors’ dogs out of the pasture. Watch out: PONY ON PATROL.
For this trim, we took a more aggressive approach to getting his underrun heels and long toes under control. He’s shedding his old top layer of the frog and growing new. Here he is powering off to chase after his buddy, J. For such a wee one, he’s really incredibly athletic.
April 15, 2008 at 9:45 pm |
I can’t wait to read more about him – he sounds like he will be a blast to drive!
April 16, 2008 at 12:21 am |
He looks like a ony with attitude to me.
April 16, 2008 at 3:17 am |
Definitely, an attitude. He’s a pleasant little pony to work around, but make no mistake about it, his size does not keep him down at all.
Kelly – I can’t wait to start driving him! I need to hit the tack sale at an up coming horse expo to search for a little pony sized harness. The sizing of harnesses etc. is new to me as this will be my first adventure into driving, so I have a lot to learn.
April 16, 2008 at 5:57 pm |
Is he already trained to drive? Even if he is, it might be a good idea to take some lessons. I have driven everything from hackney ponies to clydesdale teams – in some ways it much easier than riding, in other ways harder.
The folks who own the barn I board at have a Clydesdale business – Amador Clydesdales. I know they are planning to be at the Expo – stop by and say hello! I will be there too, but plan to do some serious shopping, so maybe we will get a chance to meet.
April 17, 2008 at 3:03 am |
Thanks Kelly. I will definitely stop by Amador and maybe we’ll run into each other there! THe pony has a bit of a sketchy history as my trimmer got him from someone who had problems with him as a child’s riding pony. He’s a nice little pony, but he’s a lot of horse for a small child. Pound for pound, he’s really powerful.
From what I can tell he has been trained quite a bit under saddle but has not been trained to drive (he had no idea on ground driving). From a training perspective, I’ve seen all the training from start to finish for a driving horse, but have never trained one from scratch. I’m comfortable with the ground training aspects but would consider some lessons or additional training for me for the hitching and driving.
Hope to see you at the Expo.