Regarding the Horses in our lives...

[perchie.girl]

Wow, how scary! How did you teach her to drive and how long did it take?

-Kathy

Edited to add: And how tall are the wheels on your cart?

Sorry I missed the last one. My cart is a road cart... And that one is designed ONLY for driving on flat roads and or in the arena. Its retired now. But the wheels are 52 inches in diameter. On recommendation from the fellow at the place I bought it from. Specifically because of Katees height. to make the shafts as close to level as possible. Only a requirement for this vehicle...

I couoldnt afford to buy a road cart new and have it shipped from the east. They ran around 3000 at the time and here in California there werent too many dealers that carried them. Shipping from the midwest was close to the same price back when diesel had jumped up to the price of premium gas.... the first time.... So I found a place in New Hampshire of all things that sold a road cart kit. All hickory... I love that wood. The kit was shipped regular freight and came on two pallets and ran around 1000 dollars... shipping was another 500 as long as I could have it delivered to a buisness address... I talked to my feed store and they said they were good with it.

So it took me and my mom about forty hours to finish the wood and Toungue oil it and put it together.... thank goodness the wheels came from a good Amish manufacturer and were all ready assembled. As was the seat... All I needed to do was fit the parts to my horse... Namely the shafts. They came over-sized just for that purpose....

That same company had a wagonette... but he retired before I could scrape up enough money to buy one....

deb

 

[casportpony]

Quote: It's a beautiful cart, and she looks marvelous all hitched up! We have a cart, but it's not nearly as nice as your cart.

-Kathy

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
I did all the extra steps because REALLY I didn't know what I was doing. And I had to be certain my horse was good with it all. The other thing was I wanted to drive in an open bridle.... no blinders... Katee does better in one but goes with either.

If you are contemplating teaching one of yours I highly recommend a book.

http://www.amazon.com/Carriage-Driving-Approach-Dressage-Training/dp/162045727X

Because the last time I worked with Marc to train him to drive I had the advice from my own trainer Lurena Bell and that had been a good thirty years ago... I wanted a good book to refresh my knowledge for when I started Katee...

I found it logical, clear, and devoid of "techniques" some trainers tend to use here in the US. The illustrations are outstanding... I am a very visual person. And I came away with a better understanding of Dressage as well. Or Classical dressage... where the goal is to achieve self carriage rather than framing a horse up into the bit and holding them there with Over checks and running martingales.... Sad to say if you want to show you have to use them eventually especially in fine harness. But for Driven dressage that stuff is not required.

Oh and rule of thumb.... you may drive with what ever bit your horse is accustomed to... though if its a shanked bit Id go with a shorter shank.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

It's a beautiful cart, and she looks marvelous all hitched up! We have a cart, but it's not nearly as nice as your cart.

-Kathy

Thanks... the low humidity here in Southern California has shrunk all the wood especially in the wheels.... As there are no wheel wrights here I have two options.... send them to the Amish to be reworked or take the hubs and send them to have steel wheels made from them.... both are too expensive for me

So right now I am contemplating redesigning the cart from existing parts to make it an easy entry cart.... Then buying new wheels small enough to have me slide past them to get in. IN order to do this I have to raise up the shafts and seat to maintian a high enough position to keep a straight line from the collar to my hands...

Good steel carts can be a thing of beauty as well. When i moved up to the desert one of my goals was to build roebust trail carts for training and pleasure... Sigh but life got in the way.
deb

 

[perchie.girl]

Here are a couple of one of our Welsh Mountain Pony mares, Ceulan Lena

Here she is at the Royal Welsh Show in Wales


Here she is in Santa Barbara


-Kathy

Oh she is stunning.... did you import her? I love Bays with a splash of Chrome....

deb

 

[casportpony]

No shortcuts this time around... in hindsight I think that pony mare had been driven before or I just got really lucky. Not positive, but I think we have that book, if not, we'll buy it. Thanks!

As for competition on the Welsh circuit, martingales and check reins are not required and might even be illegal, which is fine by me. Don't think I own any even for my riding animals. Our long term goal is to show in harness at a Welsh show, but we're in no hurry.

Here is a picture of a Welsh stud at a show in Elk Grove, CA:


-Kathy

Edited to add: This is *not* one of our ponies!

 

[perchie.girl]

Just something I go back and look at now and then

http://www.windermerefarmspercherons.com/clydeponies.html

Windermere farms Percherons is a BIG breeder of Percherons. Windemere Bloodlines are known throughout the show arena.... Some time back they decided to create a "draft" Pony. With all the same attributes that their show drafts have.... Lots of muscle action and that flash that show horses have.

They started by crossing Draft horses with Hackney ponies.... and refined as they went.... Now there is a whole registry for Draft Ponies.

Draft ponies arent new though.... Look up the term "pit pony"....

deb

 

[casportpony]

Oh she is stunning.... did you import her? I love Bays with a splash of Chrome....

deb

Thanks! The people we bought here from were the ones that imported her.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Just something I go back and look at now and then

http://www.windermerefarmspercherons.com/clydeponies.html

Windermere farms Percherons is a BIG breeder of Percherons. Windemere Bloodlines are known throughout the show arena.... Some time back they decided to create a "draft" Pony. With all the same attributes that their show drafts have.... Lots of muscle action and that flash that show horses have.

They started by crossing Draft horses with Hackney ponies.... and refined as they went.... Now there is a whole registry for Draft Ponies.

Draft ponies arent new though.... Look up the term "pit pony"....

deb

OMG, those are beautiful ponies!

-Kathy

 

[perchie.girl]

No shortcuts this time around... in hindsight I think that pony mare had been driven before or I just got really lucky. Not positive, but I think we have that book, if not, we'll buy it. Thanks!

As for competition on the Welsh circuit, martingales and check reins are not required and might even be illegal, which is fine by me. Don't think I own any even for my riding animals. Our long term goal is to show in harness at a Welsh show, but we're in no hurry.

Here is a picture of a Welsh stud at a show in Elk Grove, CA:


-Kathy

Edited to add: This is *not* one of our ponies!

Oooh Nice turnout.... everything is well balanced... to be honest Katees cart wheels are a bit too big I like the shafts to come up at a slight angle...

Take a look at Bird in Hand Carriage.... Oh boy I doo love the styling on them.

Bird in hand
http://www.bihcarriages.com/gallery

Also if your carriage or cart has natural wood you can go with a Russet harness.... very few people use them and on some horses they are outstanding looking.


deb