Something to remember her by

Today I went to the Vets.  I couldn't let Lily go without something to remember her by.  When I saw her, she looked peaceful.  Amanda and I had brought some clay, and we got an imprint of her hoof.  I also cut her forelock, and a few peices of hair from her mane.

I have an amazing wife.  She came with me, and we both had our hearts leak together.  Lily has left an enormous hole that will not be filled anytime soon.

As I drove away, I held the locks of her hair in my hand, and in a way, I felt peace.  I'm still a wreck, but for a small moment, I knew that she was okay when she left me.  She knew that I'd done all I could and stayed with her.  It's heart breaking to think of losing her and her baby, but I think time will heal this wound.

Today I brought Pam up and brushed her all out.  I think Pam knows what happened.  She has not called at all for Lily, and she has been very peaceful today.  I think she knows that Lily is gone, and she has accepted it.  In a way, I feel a bond with her now, because when I got home from church, she came running over to me (something odd) and making lots of noise.  When I didn't see Lily, I got concerned, and Pam walked with me right to where she was.  Maybe this is the start of something.

Lily's Last Stand

My wife took pictures as the events of yesterday unfolded. They will be burned in my mind forever, but I'm posting them here for y'all to see what happened.

This is how I found her.  We have had an abnormal amount of rain this fall and winter.  4 months ago, this was not here.  I think underneath the root s of the trees, the dirt was washing out.  Lily stepped on it, and it collapsed under her.  She kept moving and moving till she couldn't more anymore.

She had moved forward until she hit a bunch of roots. 

I took a saw, and had to cut away all the roots in front of her, and behind her so that we could have room to work.

She was very very tired.  For a while she was resting her head high like this, but soon she didn't even have strength for that.

Lily was weak, and started putting her nose down into the cold water and mud.  I spent most of my time at her head, calming her, and keeping her nose above the water.  She was groaning with each exhale.

My friends (who are the best friends anyone could ask for) soon arrived with all the tools necessary to remove her from this wash. 

We began feeding straps under her belly to get ready to lift her out.

Knots were tied, as we prepared for the lift.

Almost ready.

The tractor did the work, and I can say that we would not have gotten her out of the hole without it.  We had to cut 2 fence lines and cut down 3 trees to get the tractor to where we needed it, but it had to be done.

The straps held, and slowly, we got her out of the hole.

Almost there.  I was keeping her head steady with the lead rope and handed that off to someone on higher ground.

Once above the hole, we drug her to the side, and let her rest out of the icy water and mud.

She was in shock.  We began covering her in blankets (more than shown here).  She tried to stand 3 times on her own, but her rear legs just would not work for her.

The vet showed up, gave her some banamine, and some sugar water for energy (in her veins).  We tried to get her to stand on her own, but she couldn't.

This was the hole she was in.  We counted 3 different spots where she was stuck at one time.  It's no wonder she was worn out.

We decided that we needed to get her on her feet.  Since she wouldn't do it on her own, we had to help.  Once again we put straps around her belly, and used the tractor.

Another view of getting ready to lift her for the first time to her feet.

We got her to her feet.  We had to place her rear legs under her, but she was able to stand.  She walked a little bit, but I tried to keep her still for a minute like the vet said.

I was very happy to see her on her feet, however, her legs were all trembling very bad.  After 5 minutes on her feet, she collapsed again.  We let her rest some more.

At this point the vet told me that she was done.  He tried to tube her but couldn't do it.  He told me I just needed to let her go.  She was so alert, that I couldn't.  I determined to lift her again, and try to get her walking so we could get out of the brush, and up by the house.

We got her up again, and quickly took the straps off from her so I could start walking her.

With friends on either side of her back end, we started the long walk to the house (around 100 yards).  Lily did it.  She was in real bad pain on her right rear leg, but she followed my lead.  I believe this was one of her final few acts that she did just for me.

Once up at the house, she stood for a few more minutes, and acted like she had some interest in food.  I went to get her a handfull of food, and she decided to lay down again.  She laid and breathed very heavy.  Both Duncan, and Pam came to her sides to see if she was okay.

At this point, the options were to put her down, or take her to a equine specialist.  After all Lily has done for me, I couldn't give up on her, not yet.  We used the tractor one final time to lift her, and she walked and actually loaded in the trailer for me.  She was a pro, just like she always was.  We then took off for the Vet.

Once there, the vet did all they could.  The pumped her full of calcium, and gave her pain meds.  As her electrolytes and calcium began to get better, she acted much more alert, and like herself.  I stayed at her head most of the time, talking to her, and letting her know I was there.

We were in a minute by minute situation.  The vet said she was in bad shape.  She was severly dehydrated, her rear legs would not work well, and she kept going into complete body cramps.  The vet looked and determined that she was trying to abort her baby.

We got her on her side, and the vet began pumping IV fluid into her.  I sat with her, for over an hour.  It was nearly 11PM, and we needed to get to Riley so he could get home and in his own bed.  I brushed her one more time to get some of the mud off her, rubbed her face, and then I held her head in a big hug.  She sat up for me, alert, and calm.  She was groaning with each breathe, but she seemed okay.  I kissed her and whispered a few things into her ear, and then we had to leave.

These were the last moments I had with her.  Within an hour, the vet called, and I had to make the toughest decision ever.

Good bye sweet girl.  Thank you for teaching me everything I know about horses.  Thank you for guiding me every step of the way as I began working hitches.  Thank you for your un-wavering love, and willingness to follow my every command.  Thank you for your patience, as I learned how to do things.  Thank you for your love of my son, and for carrying the both of us on your back many times.  You will never be replaced, and will never be forgotten.  Please wait for me at the rainbow bridge.  I love you!

Lily is gone

I'm sitting here still in shock.  I'm unable to sleep, and I just hurt.  Last night I had to make the hardest decision of my life.  I had to put Lily down.  I did a write up on what happened here:  https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/NADraftHorse/conversations/messages/10157

She had too much to overcome and lost the battle.  In the end, she was in pain, and the vet thinks her stomach was twisted.  I can't fault her for not trying.  She always did everything in her power to do what I wanted, even till the end.

Tonight I lost one of my best friends.

A Poke in the butt!

Today I hooked the girls up and did some more ground driving. Getting the harnesses on went without a problem, and this time I actually hooked up a real yoke between the girls. I also hooked up a double tree to get them pulling something.

Lesson #1: WHEN YOU HAVE A HORSE THAT DOES NOT UNDERSTAND BASIC COMMANDS, DON'T DRAG SOMETHING BEHIND THEM. As soon as I started the girls moving, the problems began. Just as last time, Pam didn't walk forward, and until Lily was pulling on her, she didn't move. This meant that the double tree was under her back feet with almost every step. I tried and tried to coax Pam up, but she just didn't understand. I tried and tried, until finally Pam stepped on the double tree, pinning Lily's evener to the ground. This made Lily jump and she broke her top hame strap. Luckily I just bought spares, so I had the wife hold the girls, while I replaced it. Once again, Lily was amazing. Broken harness, not a problem. She just stops moving when I tell her to woah. What a good girl!

Lesson #2: A CARROT STICK IS A GREAT MOTIVATOR!! As I unhooked the double tree, I realized that the root of my problem was that Pam would not walk even with Lily. I needed to confront that, instead of trying to work around it. I decided that maybe using the carrot stick would work best as a motivator.

For those who don't know, a carrot stick, is not an actual carrot. A carrot stick is a training stick about 3-4 feet long. It will usually have a removable rope on the end of it. This is a MUST for training a horse. For working with it on Pam, I took the rope off it, and since Pam is on the left as I drive, I carried it in my left hand with the line (rein).

So, I started the girls to walking, and Pam didn't move. So I smacked her on the butt with the carrot stick. That got her attention, but it also got Lily's attention too. Lily broke into a trot, and so, once again, my goal was not met. So I stopped the girls. It was getting a bit difficult to hold the lines, keep the ends out from under my feet, and use the carrot stick, so I made some adjustments. I tied the lines in a knot at the end, and placed them over my shoulders. This way the knot was right between my shoulder blades. The great thing about this, is that it keeps the lines out of the way, and if something were to happen, the lines would come up over my head and keep me free of injury. Doing this was great, and let me focus on keeping tension on the lines, and keep me motivating Pam to move.

I started the girls moving again, and this time, instead of slapping pam on the butt, I poked her with the end of the carrot stick. This worked really well. It got Pams attention and put a spring in her step. Next thing I knew, the girls were walking side by side, and the yoke was actually even between them. WOO HOO. I had to stop one more time, because my lines were adjusted to compensate for Pam walking behind. I readjusted them, and we were off again.

We walked around for about 20 minutes. Whenever Pam would start to fall behind, I would poke her in the butt with the carrot stick and she would then get even with Lily. Since she was walking even with Lily, she was actually feeling the tension on the bit. This was great. I got to watch her grow accustomed to it, and what it meant. It was a great feeling to give a bit of pull on the left line and watch both girls turn their heads to the left.

This ended up being a good session. I did lots of stopping and just letting them stand. They do much better than I thought at it. No anxiousness or wanting to get moving. They stayed stopped till I told them to get up. Pam required pokes every time to get moving, but she's learning! :) No pictures today, but it was fun and a great training session.

Driving 3 horses!

Today was a great day!!!  My friend Pat and I had made plans to try and drive his 3 horses in the 3 abreast formation.  He had never done this, and I felt honored that he asked me to come over and help him out.  He has 3 gorgeous Belgian mares.  They are all over 17 hands tall.  They all knew how to work, and just needed to be tried in this new formation.

I got there, and first we went about harnessing up 3 horses.  Talk about time consuming.  I'm used to doing one.  It took us at least an hour to brush them all, and get them harnessed up.  It went smooth though, and having 2 people sure helped.  Things go much faster with more hands.

The first thing we decided to do, was wear out his greenest horse.  Dolly, who is 4, is the least well trained, so she and Ruthie (a seasoned pro) got hitched up as a team on the sled.  Pat did a few laps around his pasture with them, and it succeeded in wearing that hyper edge off them.

I was very impressed with how well trained Pat's horses are.  They are very responsive to voice.  Dolly had a few moments where she would try to act out, but a harsh tone in the voice would put her back in line.

Riley and I got to ride along, and Riley was really impressed with those big horses in front of us.

After we wore that initial edge off Dolly and Ruthie, we parked them, and decided it was time to try ground driving the 3 girls together.

How we had determined to do this, was to use keep Dolly and Ruthie hooked together as a team with a yoke.  We would then use a jockey stick to hold the 3rd horse (Cathy) in line.

Pat had 2 different triple tree's we could use.  We chose to use the oldest one for the ground driving.

The oldest triple tree had all 3 single tree's even together.  All these tied to eveners that kept them all hooked together.

This ended up not working well.  First, we had Cathy's jockey stick adjusted too long (see the pictures), then the triple tree was so old, that it just had some j style hooks.  We found that the tugs had a hard time staying on these.

We also drug a chain on the single tree, just so we had a little weight on it.  The chain also worked well when getting the girls off the fence.  I would pull back on it while we got the girls all turned in the right direction.  This worked well in keeping the rig from getting under their feet.

Pat's newer triple tree had an evener between two horses, then a third evener that went over to the 3rd horse.  This had much better o-ring type connectors that kept the chains from coming off.

After hooking this one up, things went much better.

We also adjusted Cathy's jockey stick to go from her outside bit, to the opposite side bottom hame ring on the center horse.  This worked well and kept the girls a nice distance apart.

With the girls performing well on the ground, we determined to try out the sled.

We took the tongue off the sled, and hooked the evener up.  The girls did VERY good here!!  They really worked too!

Things ended up awesome!

I think my favorite part was when Pat let me have a turn at the reigns.  This was awesome!

I took the reigns and got to feel what it was like to be driving 3 horses.  It was great.  Pat's horses are very light on the rein, and they immediately respond to voice commands.  I was very impressed with the immediate right and left turns when they heard Gee or Haw.

It was definitely a treat.

We drove the girls till they were VERY tired.

As we headed up the pasture the last time, they were REALLY dragging.  We determined that they had had enough, and that we would be done.

Then came the un-attaching, un-harnessing, and brushing.  That took a bit of time, but once again, went easy with 2.  The horses soon found themself back in their paddock with a fresh half bale of hay each.  They looked very excited to get it too!

What a great day!  I had a ball, and am so glad that Pat invited me over.  I think that driving horses is a blast, and like my friend Roger from Paris told me, it's even more fun when you have another person with you that likes it like you do.  I find this to be very true.  I have fun alone for sure, but I have an even better time when I'm working alongside Roger, or Pat.

Here are some video clips.  The resolution is very small (my first time using my cell phone for video.  Enjoy though!






Pat was also kind enough to sell me some hamestraps, and loan me a double tree and yoke that I can use when working Lily and Pam.  Very generous of him, and I appreciate it very much!

What a great day!  Thanks Pat!!

Driving my team!!!!

With everything set up properly, it was time to let the driving commence.  I started them off, and they did very well.  I guess I should say, as well as Lily pulling Pam around.  Pam was okay though, and she kept her head about a head's length behind Lily at first.  Lily was actually doing more steering of pam, then pulling.  I had a grin from ear to ear.  It was amazing to be ground driving a team.

I kept right around the house at first.  Since I'm doing this alone, I wanted to at least be in site of the house so maybe my mother-in-law could see me if something bad were to happen.  The girls did fine though.  After 15 minutes of this, I decided to venture out through the pasture.

This is when the difference in the horses came through.  Lily did what she does best.  She knew what her job was, so she broke into her slow trot that Belgians have that looks so beautiful.  She was in beautiful form.  Pam on the other hand, was a lazy butt and was taking as big a step as possible to keep up with Lily.  Lily was basically dragging Pam.  I kept after Pam to step it up, but it's hard since she's untrained.  I didn't want to slap her on the butt with reins, because that is very bad form in the teamster world.

If I had to describe what it looked like, I would have to say it looked like a small child dragging their tired mother around.  Lily was in her happy spot, trotting foreward, and Pam was reluctantly moving as fast as she could without being dragged.

We spent another 15 minutes out in the pasture.  There was one point where I crossed some water, and Pam really spooked.  She tried to run forward, but then the bit hit her, and she acted like she might want to rear up.  Queue Lily the wonderhorse.  She didn't even act phased.  She just kept at her pace, and Pam had to move with her.  Soooo awesome!

I'm still grinning about it.  It was amazing.  Now I'm really excited to get some farm equipment and use them both to work for me.  Pam will have to learn to step up though and do her job!!

I think the best part is, now that I know I can do this successfully, I can really do it more often.  Pam will come alone nicely if I can just keep doing this.  Having Lily train Pam will be great (and giving her some personnal training will help too!).

That's it for now.  WOO HOO!!!  I drove both my belgians!!  I'm happy as a clam.  Enjoy the pics!!

Setting up to drive my first team of horses!!!

Well today I got off of work at 1PM.  I got home and decided that I should work the horses.  I'm getting ready to help a friend drive his horses 3 abreast, and so I've really had hitching on my mind.  I determined that today I was going to hook up Lily and Pam together, and do some ground driving.  I actually didn't think I would get to it today, I figured I might spend my day just getting Pam to let me put the harness on her.  Little did I know.

I started off just tieing the girls together on my trailer.  I figured Pam might do better if Lily was close by (due to her herd anxieties).  I started brushing them both off well.  Both loved this attention, and they actually behaved like ladies and waited their turns.

Next came the collars.  I have 2 harnesses, my new one, and the old horse sized logging harness a friend leant me to start off.  The logging one barely fits Lily, so I decided to use that one on her, and my new one on Pam.  I put the collar on Lily, and Pam watched intently.  Then came the time for hers.  Since this was the first time, I decided that I would unfasten it, and just put it on that way (versus pushing the whole thing over her head).  I was totally surprised when this went without a hitch.  Pam did not care at all that I put the collar on her.  This got me a little excited.  I figured I would have to fight her on this new stuff, but the laid back draft attitude came through for sure.

Next I brought the logging harness over and started to get Lily all harnessed up.  This harness has chain tugs, and I figured this would spook Pam a bit.  To my surprise, she was okay with it.  I was beginning to think that she was taking cues from Lily.  Since Lily didn't care, she decided it was okay.  Of course nothing bad happened with Lily, so next it was Pam's turn.  I walked over with the harness on my left arm and shoulder.  I let her sniff it, and I rubbed her shoulder with it.  She propped a foot up, and chewed a bit, showing she was completely relaxed, so I walked down her side and proceeded to slide it over her back.  She had no problem with this.  She stood there just fine and let me adjust it, and put it on properly.  I found that my new Harness barely fits Pam.  Looks like I'll be needing to get a new harness for her!  :)

Before I did anything else, I decided I'd better make sure Pam knows what the harness is going to sound like as she walks.  I lead her around a bit without a halter on.  She did awesome.  She seemed to be more concerned that Lily wasn't with her, than she was with the creaks and noises coming from the harness.

I don't have a yoke yet.  My mind got thinking, and I figured out a pretty sweet method for hooking the girls together.  I took a belly band that I had and used it.  I attached a billet around each of the girls harnesses (one for Pam, and one for Lily), then I just hooked the belly strap between the two billets.  This gave them about 40 inches of separation.  This looked about right to me.  After I did this, I put the halters on them.  Pam didn't know what to think about the Liverpool bit I had on her.  With the halters on, I unhooked both lead ropes, and lead both of them around.  I wanted them to get used to feeling connected at the collar.  The did very well, and neither of them freaked out or anything.  I think Pam was happy as a clam to have Lily right there with her.

So ... since things had gone so well, and I hadn't had any problems, I decided it was time.  I was going to try to drive them both at the same time.  I've never done this before, so I was a little cautious about it, however, I've been reading the Work Horse Handbook a lot lately, and I felt like I knew what I needed to know to make it happen.

I got out my team lines, and began assembling them and attaching them properly.  This was the hardest part of the whole ordeal.  I got them on right, but it was hard to know how much to adjust the inside check lines.  I did what I thought was best, said a prayer, and untied their lead ropes.  Once their lead ropes were secured to their hames, I got in place, and began issuing commands.

I can't say enough about what a wonderful horse Lily is.  She was AMAZING!  She must've been very annoyed having Pam attached to her, but she did just fine.  After doing a few large loops in my front yard, I had to stop and adjust the lines.  Pam was basically following Lily.  This made it so the lines were basically only tight on Lily, and Pam was just being pulled around by her collar.  I let the right check line all the way forward, and the left all the way back.  I figured this would help to keep as much tension on Pam as she trailed behind.  After this, I got my mother in law to get the camera ready, and then it was time to actually ground drive the girls.

pictures attached  ... to be continued ...

The girls are being punished.

So yesterday Lily and Pam decided that my mother-in-law was not scary, and they ran past her as she was opening the gate.  Wife got home, and got the feed bucket to get them back inside.  I guess the warm weather just made them feel like running.  She said that Pam would’ve come back, but Lily looked, decided she did not want to be confined to our pasture, and proceeded to run around 2 of my neighbors properties.  My wife just kept trying to walk so she would be in site, call them, and shake the bucket to remind them there was some yummy food.  Pam of course, just followed Lily around, both running and bucking.  Eventually the desire for food got the best of Lily and she came walking back through the gate following my wife.  Pam in tow of course.

So then I got home.  As I tried to open the gate, I saw them eyeing the gate, and inching close so they could make a dash for it.  Well ol’ Mr. Tim don’t play that.  I proceeded to walk towards them clapping my hands and making loud noises and drive them back quite a ways away from the gate.  A half hour later I called them for dinner.  Those dang MARES!!!  Since it is winter, they can see me from 300 feet away through a corner of the property.  Instead of coming, Lily just sat and looked at me.  Pam wanted to come, but was confused on why Lily wasn’t, so she stayed with Lily.  So, I just did some other jobs for a bit, calling from time to time, and sure enough, Lily’s curiosity made her come back.  So into the pens they went, and they are going to stay there!  Pasture is a privilege, and they need to be reminded of that.  Also, I have a bunch of hay on my wagon from hay rides I needed to feed anyway, so this gives me the chance to feed it where they will eat all of it.

Naughty Mares!!!

Using my new Liverpool bit

So yesterday it was actually above freezing, so I decided to work Lily a bit.  I got a new stainless Liverpool bit (non-jointed) and I wanted to see how Lily responded to it.  This was also going to give me the chance to harness Lily up with her new collar.

Lily sure tongued that bit.  She’s used to a plain snaffle bit.  She sat tonguing and tonguing the bit, however, her response was AWESOME!  She was sooo light on the reigns.  I put the bit on her with the grooves up (since I figured that was the mildest), and hooked the reigns to the actual rings so they were on the mildest position.  An awesome bit for sure!  Lily did great on it.  I’m sooo thankful to my friend Pat for turning me on to that bit.

The new collar was great to.  It fits Lily great and after a few good pulls in it, it will be perfect.  The day was great!

Cold Weather hits Texas!

We’re right in the middle of an “arctic blast”. Yesterday the temps stayed below freezing during the day. This morning I woke up to 15 degrees. Things will stay this way for tomorrow too. What gives?!?! This is Texas! I thought I left temps like that behind when I moved here from up North. J

Feeding the horses this morning sure made me feel bad for those horse owners who live North in even worse temps. My water barrels had completely frozen into big blocks of ice. I had to take fresh water out in new containers, and I’m sure they are already frozen again by now.

I feel bad for Lily and Pam. The ground in their pen was very mucked up due to them being in it while it was muddy. Well now that the ground is frozen, they can’t walk very well on it. It’s kind of entertaining to watch them slowly walk, carefully placing each foot. Hopefully this cold gets gone so once again they can use their weight to flatten those muddy peaks into smooth ground.

One of my goals for this year is to begin working on building a barn. I’ve drawn up my plans. It is going to take some effort, but it will be nice. Then on days like these, I can give the horses access to stalls so they can get out of the wind completely. I’m going to build a 4 stall barn. One or two of the stalls will be used for storing wagons. I’m also going to build them so that I can convert 2 stalls into a birthing stall. It’s exciting to be planning it. Hopefully I can put things together to make it come to pass.

Pam, Pam, what to do with Pam.

Well, last Saturday I found myself with semi-muddy ground (as opposed to the soupy mud the last 3 months has kept us with) and warmer temps. I took full advantage and worked with Pam.

Sadly, I found some things out that I did not anticipate. As before, I put the bridle on her, and she once again began tonguing the bit like crazy. Last time I did this, and she did the same thing. It was almost as if she did not know what it was, like it was new to her. I put the bridle on her with blinders to keep her focused on me (which actually worked awesome! No herd anxieties!). Well, I hooked up my driving lines to ground drive her, and she would not budge. I could not get her to move forward with kisses, clicks, hiyahs, and even smacking her on the rear. She just stood there. Same for backing up. I decided that maybe I could turn her to the side and get her walking with a turn. The minute I pulled on one side of the bit, she would flip 180 degrees and look at me.

We spent the next half hour to 45 minutes doing lots of leading, with me giving her commands. Lots of starting, stopping, and turning.

I have concluded that Pam has no formal training. I am under the impression now that she has always been a brood mare. She is people savy, and will stand great while you put a halter or bridle on, but she has no idea what I want her to do aside from leading.

This was quite a setback to me. The thought of working from scratch on an adult 17 hand tank of a Belgian really did not sound like a good idea for me.

I thought long and hard about what to do. I am in a situation where I can only have 2 drafts. Because of this, I need them both to be functional, and not just look pretty. I had thoughts of finding her a new home, however … I decided that she is a good enough mare that she deserves a chance. I talked to a friend of mine who is a wonderful trainer. I am going to send Pam to him for 30 days of training. He told me that after 2 weeks he will be able to tell if she is too set in her ways, or if she is learning well and worth the money to train her.

I hope things work out well. Once she gets 30 to 60 days, I will resume working her by ground driving, and then making sure she knows what a harness is and all that. Pam will not be a Lily (already trained, just needed to be used), but I’m going to put the money into her to see if she can become a great work horse. She’s built for the job, I just need to see if she can be taught the job as an adult.

Lily looking pretty!

I just found a picture I figured I'd share. Before I took Lily to be in the Greenville Christmas parade, I spent some time giving her a bath and making sure she looked gorgeous.

First I took the hair clippers to her, and I shaved off her beard (for lack of better words), whiskers around her mouth and eyes, and then I also clipped her bridle path really short. Usually she hates me clipping her bridle path. She surprised me this time by not really caring. It was nice.

After the hair cut, she got a bath. I ran the hose on her, and I used a kind of curry comb that I got for her while the water was on her. So she got scrubbed too. I was doing this cuz when we went on the test run, even though I had brushed her very thoroughly, she still had some dust coming up from her bottom coat and getting on the harness.

I used a squeegie to remove most the water, and then combed her mane and tail out. I even used show sheen or something like that so that her hair looked nice.

The results can be seen above. The picture is a little dark, but this is probably the cleanest she gets!

Dec 14, 2009 - Giving Wagon Rides in Greenville

I had a great time last Saturday night! I got to give wagon rides at Park Street in Greenville, TX. Park Street is a pretty old neighborhood. They have a historical committee, and each year the entire street decorates their houses, some even play music. On Friday and Saturday nights, they arrange for wagon rides to take place up and down the road. I got to go Saturday night and use Lily, my wagon, and my new harness to give people rides up and down this street. I had the wagon all decorated with garland, a wreath on front, and LED lights all around (I used LEDs because they use so much LESS battery than their normal counterparts and they do not generate heat).

When I got there, there were 2 other wagons set up and ready to go. One had a team of mules, and the other had a team of horses. Their wagons were much bigger than mine, but my horse was much bigger than theirs. J I got Lily all harnessed up and hooked up to the wagon. She had this really calm disposition. Usually before a parade she is itching to get moving. That night, she seemed to be content with doing what I wanted.

The night started off with a parade. It was short, and I hauled a few of the locals as well as my wife, and Riley. After the parade, the rides began. The way the rides were handled was great for me. The Park St. people handled selling tickets, and loaded and unloaded people from the wagons. I just sat there, and then the person in charge would give me the tickets for the people, just so I could keep track of how many people I transported. This went awesome. It was great to just be able to focus on the horse and not have to worry about the other stuff.

The rides were great. The street was lit up nicely, carols could be heard and Lily did just fine walking on her own. She has a strong tendency to want to stay with other horses, and so sometimes as we’d pass the other wagons she’d try to stop, or want to turn and follow them, but it wasn’t anything a strong hand on the reign couldn’t correct.

The event lasted 3 hours, and I ended up taking 4 groups up and down the street. When we reached the last hour, the mules were completely worn out and had to be retired. The other wagon had it’s battery die, and it got a flat. They kept filling it with air but it kept leaking. They continued giving rides though. (BTW. Those horses were gorgeous. They were full sisters, and you would’ve thought they were identical twins. Same size, exact same blaze, same colors. They were great.) Lily didn’t even break a sweat till the last ride. The last ride of the night, they piled 11 people onto my wagon. Lily did great, and when we stopped I noticed that she had actually began to perspire from that ride.

I have to say that this experience was AWESOME! It was great to get to be out and giving rides. I had some great conversations and met some wonderful people. The last group were some dancers that were performing where the wagon rides started. That group sang Christmas carols the entire ride. It was wonderful and really brought the Christmas spirit to me.

Lily got an A on this excursion. There was only one time where she got a bit spooked. While I was waiting for riders, the dancing group began a tap dancing number. Lily was not happy about tap dancing and she wanted to get moving. She’s pretty funny though, anytime she gets like that, I can just wrap my arms around her head, and she’ll calm right down. Needless to say, she had no problem getting moving that time. She also did great at following voice commands. There were a few people that were pretty impressed by how well she was doing with it. She did all I asked of her, and kept things safe for all riders. You can’t ask for more than that.

What a wonderful time. I hope to find more opportunities to do that kind of stuff. Giving rides is a very enjoyable and rewarding thing.

I wish I had pictures, but I’m afraid I don’t. We didn’t have a camera with a flash, and since it was dark, I didn’t get any. If I get any pictures from people who might have snapped a shot of me, I’ll send them.

Dec 6, 2009 - Parade was Awesome!

Friday night went great! Besides being in the 20 degree range, it was a lot of fun for everyone. Lily did wonderful and I think the waiting to get going was hardest for her. It’s pretty awesome watching horses get set into parade mode. I probably could’ve gone through the parade without holding the reigns once we were moving. I was pretty impressed with her, especially considering that for a good 3 blocks, we had a guy with these giant strobing light stick for sale and he was walking exactly our speed, right at Lily’s head area. I kept waiting for her to jump away from them, but she never did.

I had 2 times where she spooked on me before the parade started. We were standing, just waiting to get going. On my right side was a chain link fence with lots of city cars and equipment in it. Lily kept eyeing it very cautiously. We were sitting there, and I didn’t notice that some people came walking past us on the right. The minute they got in view she jumped to the left. She kept trying to go and she nearly become the hook ornament for a small truck. I calmed her, and then backed her back up to where we were. After that I kept a vigilant watch on people walking near us to give her a warning about it. But even then, one other time, for no reason, she just jumped to the left. This one was not near as extreme as the first, and I just backed her up and back in place again. I think there was something about that city storage area that she just did not like. Other than that, things were easy as can be.

My friend Roger came down, he brought his mare Jessie, who is 17.2 hands, and his big boy Jack, who is around 19 hands. Luckily I got to be in the lead, so all the kids were amazed at my big horse. J And I didn’t hear anyone call her a Clydesdale (which was a first). It was a great time, and there were around 8-10 wagons. I saw the spotted Mules Kim talked about, and they look like Dalmatian dogs. Very pretty!

Since I was controlling the wagon, I didn’t get any pictures, but friends did. As soon as I get some, I’ll pass them along.

One of the great things about being in parades is getting exposure to the community. As a result of the parade, this Saturday night I’m giving hay rides for a private event in Greenville on Park Street. Should be lots of fun for me!

I should also note that there was a woman there who rode her shire in the parade. I went up and saw the horse. Soooo gorgeous! It was an awesome horse!! I really like the look of the shire!

Dec 4, 2009 - Parade Practice, with only one panic attack

So last night I went downtown with my rig and Lily, and spent an hour walking the streets of Greenville and the parade route. Things went great! Lily is more impatient with red lights than many drivers, but after she gets that initial spunk out of her, she does fine.

The new harness is awesome! I think Lily hates having an overcheck line that is actually attached to the harness. It’s great having a harness that fits Lily well and I can have faith in its strength. No pictures, but I’ll for sure have some at the parade tonight.

I did some vocal practice tonight. I’ve been giving Lily vocal commands when I drive her, but up to this point, I was still pretty much driving her through turns and what not. Well tonight, on these roads, I tried a few different times to just give her a vocal, with no reign, and see what she did. She’s got “Haw” down pretty darn good. She also did great with my “straight up” command (which I use when at an intersection and I can see she is thinking she might need to turn). When I would holler that she would cease looking side to side and just settle in and go straight. She’s not the best wagon horse yet, but we’re working on that! J

I know y’all probably get sick of hearing me sing praises to Lily, but I have to one more time. After 45 minutes of walking around, I came upon a light, and proceeded to halt Lily. The road was going down hill a bit. Well I noticed the wagon kept rolling towards her when she stopped. I knew what happened instantly. Somehow one or both holdback lines had come unhooked. Since we were on a decline, my options were to make her move and run the red light, risking being hit, or brace for impact. Instantly I started calling for her to “woah” and be “easy”. The wagon smacked her right in the butt, and the shaft/single tree hit her rear legs. This all happened in just a few seconds, but I was very VERY concerned. I know a guy who had this same thing happen, and his result was that the horse spooked, took off causing the guy to bail from the wagon, and they found the wagon 1 mile and 4 fences later, turned over, and a horse with some serious wounds. With that in my mind I was probably the most “scared” (if you can call it that) that I’ve been. Fortunately my motorcycle riding has taught me how to put the panic away, and do what I have to do to ready myself for a situation.

After I called out to Lily and the wagon hit her, she took one step forward and then stopped good. I kept telling her to “whoa” as I handed the reigns to my friend, and I jumped down and grabbed Lily’s halter. Whew! Crisis adverted! I just cannot say how wonderful it is to have a horse that is so layed back, and so trusting of me. I really and truthfully thought we were going to have a rodeo for a bit, but nothing happened. What a wonderful horse!!!

The holdback lines I use are just chains with caribeaners on either side. One side hooks to the breeching strap ring, and the other hooks to the metal shaft ring. I do this because it makes adjustments very easy, and it is very stout. Both holdback lines were disconnected from the shafts. Nothing was broken or anything. All I can figure is that somehow I must’ve connected them with some twist in the chain so that they were pressured to turn and just popped off. How the spring loaded caribeaner actually opened and slid off is still a mystery to me. I’m going to get some locking caribeaners today so that doesn’t happen again.

Anyway … that’s my story for the day. This was my first time in a city, doing this by myself without someone more experienced by my side. I think I’m slowly learning!

Dec 3, 2009 - From the mouth of Pam (the Belgian mare)

Hi everyone. So nice to talk to such great folks. I figured I’d tell you a little story.

Well the other night Lily and I hear the whistle for food, and so up to the feed bins we went. We love the feed we get, especially this time of year cuz it has a little more molasses in it. Yum Yum! I noticed right away that things were different, cuz Tim was a bit chinchy on the feed. 1 scoop only? For muah? I knew he was up to something though, cuz as soon as Lily and I were eating, he closed the gates to our stalls.

Well Tim got this big ol’ white trailer. And here he came with it. With the food gone, I figured it might be good to get out of the rain, and have a little adventure. Lily agreed, and we both loaded in the trailer with no problem. Lily went in first, and then I stood behind her. I always stand behind Lily everywhere we go, so this was fine by me.

Well off we went, over the river and through the woods. It was nice to be out of the rain. Tim sure drives slow with us. He’s great!

Next thing I know, the door opens, and there’s Tim. He unties me, and then he proceeds to try and get me to back out of the trailer. Can you believe that. I didn’t see the need, and besides, Lily’s butt was right in front of me where it should be, so I declined his invitation to exit the trailer. Next thing I know, he’s behind me and pulling back. I really hate to not stand behind Lily though. Finally I decided I would do what he wanted, but I was going to surprise him. Rather than just back out (which I can do fine), I was going to do a 180 jump, and then walk out face first. That would’ve been so awesome, but unfortunately, this trailer is only 6 ½ feet wide, and I’m about 7 feet long. My brilliant idea turned bad when I got stuck half way. My back feet kept slipping out from under me, making it hard to get my footing. Finally Tim gave a good pull on my lead rope, which brought my front feet around enough to get back on my feet. Talk about embarrassing. I’m sure glad Lily was tied up front and couldn’t see how that turned out. (I can still hear her snickering).

Well Tim ties me up in the rain (the nerve!) and then he unloads Lily. She is such a show off. He had barely untied her and she began backing out just to show me up. Sometimes she can be annoying to live with!

I watched as Tim and his friend trimmed her feet up. Then back in the trailer she went. Next thing I know, I’m being led over to the guy who was doing the trimming. Fortunately, I’ve given Tim a hard enough time with my feet, so I heard them discussing things. They decided that in the rain, in unfamiliar surroundings would not be the best way to trim me. So back in the trailer I went. Standing back right behind Lily. I really wish I could just but a headrest on the back end of Lily to rest my head.

So then we get back home. Once again, Tim tried and tried to make me back out of the trailer. Do you think I’m going to leave Lily, alone in that trailer??? No way. He tried and tried, and I showed him that this gorgeous 2000 pound body wasn’t budging. One time he almost had me out, but the minute my first foot went down on that ground … brrrrrrrrrr. Back to Lily I went. I got to hand it to Tim … he was persistent. He tried for 20 minutes to get me to back out in the rain with no success. I know he was wet and cold, and I snickered a little about it.

He finally just walked down my side, and pulled the lead rope making me turn 180 degrees. With him pulling my head around, I turned faster then I would’ve liked to, but I didn’t get stuck. The 180 degree jump idea was still cooler. Anyway, so I walked out of the trailer. Once again, Lily has to be a show off and just back out without him even saying a word to her. She is such a brown noser!

I heard Tim in the truck talking to a friend. He said next time he’s going to put a bridle on me, hook up the driving lines, and make me back out that way. Maybe I’ll let him do it that way, but maybe not. I’m also scared that he might load me in first, meaning my head would be nowhere near Lily’s rear. That would be pure torture! Someone call the humane society.

Anyway, that’s my exciting story. Tim has a new harness he’s been putting on Lily. She looks so pretty that I get a little jealous. Tim winked at me though, and told me that this harness will fit me too and that soon I’ll be making use of it. I can’t wait. It’ll be nice to show Lily that other horses look pretty too! Hope y’all are setting up for a very merry Christmas!

Pam

PS – Bev, will you tell Vegas that I miss him and hope to see him again. I sure miss that hunka hunka burnin’ love. My heart is racing just thinking about him!

Nov 30, 2009 - My wagon is stained

Figured I’d send along a pic of the wagon. She’s stained now, and looking pretty. This Friday I will be in Greenville’s night parade. I’m really excited about it. This will be the completion of a goal I set over a year ago. I said I was gonna be in this parade, this year, and it’s looking like it’s going to happen. Tomorrow I get my new biothane harness for Lily. I’m very excited for that! It’s not a flashy spotted one, but it’s brand new, and I got it for well under what it is worth. This Friday night we’ll be in on a pretty wagon, with a pretty harness. Lily will be looking fabulous!

Nov 7, 2009 - My second wagon ride

Is there anything better then an afternoon wagon ride?!? I'm still grinning ear to ear.

This afternoon I decided to go visit a friend in the wagon. That friend doesn't live too far away (or so I thought).

I hitched Lily upwith no problems. And my new shaft holders are awesome! Thanks so much for the idea to use a normal horse back band deb!!! It's great and worked like a charm. Next time I'll get pics to show you what I made. The boy went with me and we had a ball.

So I had to take the long way around the block to my friends, because the sun was at an awkward angle and I didn't want to chance the sun being in peoples eyes. I live right on the interstate, so I turned and headed down the service road. Lily had no problem trotting the entire time while on the interstate.

The ride to my friends went great other than when we came upon a really unique bridge over the road. This was basically a giant grate. I tried and tried to coax Lily over it, but she refused to take a step on it. When I saw her eyeing the creek on the sides I knew I was going to have to walk her over it. So I hopped off, and led her over it with the lead rope.

My friend lives 2 1/2 miles away, and it took us at least an hour to get there. I didn't realize it would take so long. It was a nice slow relaxing ride though!

I gave Lily a short break and then we headed home. I ran out of daylight on the ride home. Let me tell ya ... riding in the dark is no fun. The boy was sitting on the hay and would tell me when cars were coming from behind. Luckily I have reflecters on the rear so that I'm noticable.

The worst part of the ride home, was that when I would ride on the shoulder for cars that were passing, I could not see what I was riding on. I had to have run over 50 plastic pop bottles. The first 20 times, Lily tried to spook, but the silver lining was that after 20 or so, she quit flinching when she heard the sound.

Luckily I have a wonderful wife, and when she saw it was really dark, she headed out and escorted me the last 10th of a mile. It as nice to have headlights from behind! Lights for the wagon are now a must.

All in all, Lily did awesome. By the time I got to my friends, Lily was doing well with vocal commands. She is still requiring quite a bit of reign to get exactly what I want, but she seems to do really well with "Ji". "Haw", not so much. :)

I LOVE having a wagon of my own. Such a fun way to spend a saturday afternoon with my son. I plan to do this more often!

LESSONS LEARNED:
As always with me, if I didn't learn something, I didn't have my eyes open.

The thing I really learned today was to make sure and really plan for how slow
the wagon is going to go. I left much later than I should have, and had to ride
in the dark because of it.

Riding in the dark is not smart, and is not SAFE! Luckily I had reflectors from
behind, but i didn't have anything from the front. That white line on the side
of the road was my friend.

Now I have a feed for how long a nice ride takes, so I won't be out like that
again. I'm going to plan a mile an hour just so I'm safe.

One other thing I learned, was that ferocious dogs, that are almost frothing at
the mouth with how serious they are about attacking, always back down when a 16
hand horse is finally up close to them. I got to watch many a mean dog lower
his tail and head and cower back to his respective driveway.

Have any of y'all ever come across a dog that actually tried to nip at your
horse?

Nov 7, 2009 - The Pam Diaries #2

Today was a great day. I spent some time with Pam today. She did pretty good. She needs me to mess with her everyday. She is always willing to do what I want, but she gets very impatient when I try to kep her doing something she doesn't want.

She let me pick up her front feet, barely. I only held them up for a second before I put them back down. She really REALLY does not like that.

I led her around a bunch, working especially on leading her away from the other horses. She settled right in and payed attention to me for the most part.

I was working with her on flexing her neck for me. She did this great the first few times, but it seemed the longer I made her keep doing it, the more agitated she got. The last time I flexed her nose around to her shoulder she moved her head in a way that made me think she was trying to bite me. I tried it again just to see, and she did the same movement, but did not bear teeth at all.

She's sure a sweetheart. Very easy to catch, and willing to do what I want. She just gets bored doing the same thing over and over. I really need to work her more.

Now that I have a trailer, I think I'm going to haul her and Lily to a friends and just hitch them up together. She does well with most things, I think that having her hitched to a great horse would help me to see how much she actually knows.

Nov 3, 2009 - Riley's first trail ride on Duncan

I figured that maybe some pictures of a 6 year old boy and his horse may make y’all smile.

The first few are of the boy on the horse. My awesome wife (who is not a horse person) saddled up the horse, and let Riley go for his first ride while I was out of town. Riley’s pet rat that he had for 2 years died, and he needed a “pick-me-up”. The horse did just that. “Duncan” is a 30 year old 15H QH. He just followed my wife around while the boy sat on him. This horse is going to be a great confidence builder for him.

Sunday we went for our first trail ride with Duncan. Riley and I are part of a trail riding group here in Greenville. Riley has always gone with me, so the other members were really excited to see him with his own horse. Just over half the time was spent with me dallying Duncan off Lily. Riley really wanted to ride himself, so once we were out in an enclosed, but open area, with Duncan being so good, I let Riley have control. He did great. We crested a hill, and the trailer was in view, and Duncan was off. (By off, I mean a very very slow walk that 30 year old horses do well). Riley tried and tried to pull his head around, but Duncan was not having it.

Y’all would be so impressed with me! I am not a cowboy, and I have a full 2 years of riding under my belt, so I’m pretty green and new at this. Riley was about 50 yards away and we were just trying to let him turn Duncan around himself. When I realized that Duncan was set on walking there, and the boy was getting more and more distressed, Lily and I sprung into action. I swear she can read what I want her to do. I said “Step it up L…” and before I could even finish her name she had sprung into a canter. We raced up on the side of Riley and Duncan, and then I walked her to cut Duncan off. I then grabbed Duncan’s reigns from the boy, halted Lily, and we put that lead rope back on him. I actually looked like I knew what I was doing. ;) LOL. I can’t get over how wonderful Lily is.

At first I thought maybe the boy was just having issues not pulling the reigns strong enough, but once I got that lead rope back on, I realized that Duncan had basically decided he was done. When we started heading back to the group, Duncan did not come willingly. But Lily had a gleam in her eye, because pulling a quarter horse, is much easier then pulling a Durango out of a muddy field. ;)

We had a great time, and the boy loved it. I think we’re going to have lots of fun together riding.

Enjoy the pictures.

NOTE: I think I need to add a special note to go with the pictures. Duncan is dally’d behind Lily. I did my best at keeping the rope up and off Lily’s rear end, but there were a few times where Duncan would not stop, and it would wrap the rope right around Lily’s rear legs. Since Lily is so wonderful (or maybe it’s just cuz she’s used to wearing a harness so she doesn’t mind stuff wrapping around her rear legs J ) she didn’t even flinch at this. Other horses may not be like this! Please do not try this unless you know you are going to be fine. I’ve heard of stories where that rope wraps around and the person who is on the lead horse then get’s a rodeo ride because the horse spooks. Always use caution when dealing with these wonderful animals!!!