Tru-D tanz unser Haus herum.
Well, she only danced a little bit. She mostly walked like a good girl.
My usual 9am is drowning in final papers and exams so I had an extra hour between lessons. I debated on what to do with Tru-D, but since my working students were hard at work in the arena I decided to take her for a walk around the house. I wanted to put her new bridle to use so I threw on the training surcingle and grabbed the long lines.
I took her for her first ground drive "in the open" around the house. She was a little distracted passing Ruby and was very suspiscious of the blue tarp by the pepper plants. Chris helped by offering a little hay and walking by her head the first time past. We went back and forth a few times until she was passing it calmly before heading on around the front.
Chris had hosed off the Jeep's trunk mat so there was a damp spot trickling off the driveway. She was suspiscious about it, but crossed without too much fanfare. I let her graze a little for being so brave, but then had a little fight about the difference between her being given permission to eat and when she's supposed to be working.
I turned her around and we went back across the front. She suddenly decided either the flag or the porch decorations were of grave concern. We did a lot of circles back and forth and a couple times she was a little surprised as I picked up the outside rein to turn her and it suddenly came across her haunches. She got over herself and we went past the tarp a couple times without issue and ended crossing the front of the house without fanfare before stopping at the cross ties.
Chris wanted to measure and Tru-D shows almost 15.2 hands already. She may just hit 15.3 at this rate. She's about 1050lbs, which is less than I was expecting, but she has a few years to fill out.
She certainly looks huge in this picture! She is staring very intently at the offensive blue tarp.
Her bridle fits nicely and has room to grow. I am debating if I should adjust the breastcollar yet or not. I figure she needs a dozen or two pulls on the tire before I try the drag and she needs several calm ground drives around the house before adventuring farther afield (and probably a few more walks to the mailbox and back too).
She isn't quite so huge looking here.
I'm still on the fence about when to really start looking for a harness for her. I know the harness should have adjustability, but I wonder about how much filling out she will do in the next three years ad I'd prefer to buy just one harness. I think I'll have to try Kitt's on her again and see if I might be able to make it work. If I get her a collar I want to do an adjustable one and have it so that the smallest size fits her now as I doubt her neck will gain another two inches. I haven't dealt with enough young driving horses to know what to expect when it comes to them filling out a collar. I know with Kitt between four and six years I went from using a collar pad to none because she had filled the space (about an inch).
And someone just posted a Haflinger gelding about Chewy's size and eight years old. Might be worth a look...
My usual 9am is drowning in final papers and exams so I had an extra hour between lessons. I debated on what to do with Tru-D, but since my working students were hard at work in the arena I decided to take her for a walk around the house. I wanted to put her new bridle to use so I threw on the training surcingle and grabbed the long lines.
I took her for her first ground drive "in the open" around the house. She was a little distracted passing Ruby and was very suspiscious of the blue tarp by the pepper plants. Chris helped by offering a little hay and walking by her head the first time past. We went back and forth a few times until she was passing it calmly before heading on around the front.
Chris had hosed off the Jeep's trunk mat so there was a damp spot trickling off the driveway. She was suspiscious about it, but crossed without too much fanfare. I let her graze a little for being so brave, but then had a little fight about the difference between her being given permission to eat and when she's supposed to be working.
I turned her around and we went back across the front. She suddenly decided either the flag or the porch decorations were of grave concern. We did a lot of circles back and forth and a couple times she was a little surprised as I picked up the outside rein to turn her and it suddenly came across her haunches. She got over herself and we went past the tarp a couple times without issue and ended crossing the front of the house without fanfare before stopping at the cross ties.
Chris wanted to measure and Tru-D shows almost 15.2 hands already. She may just hit 15.3 at this rate. She's about 1050lbs, which is less than I was expecting, but she has a few years to fill out.
She certainly looks huge in this picture! She is staring very intently at the offensive blue tarp.
Her bridle fits nicely and has room to grow. I am debating if I should adjust the breastcollar yet or not. I figure she needs a dozen or two pulls on the tire before I try the drag and she needs several calm ground drives around the house before adventuring farther afield (and probably a few more walks to the mailbox and back too).
She isn't quite so huge looking here.
I'm still on the fence about when to really start looking for a harness for her. I know the harness should have adjustability, but I wonder about how much filling out she will do in the next three years ad I'd prefer to buy just one harness. I think I'll have to try Kitt's on her again and see if I might be able to make it work. If I get her a collar I want to do an adjustable one and have it so that the smallest size fits her now as I doubt her neck will gain another two inches. I haven't dealt with enough young driving horses to know what to expect when it comes to them filling out a collar. I know with Kitt between four and six years I went from using a collar pad to none because she had filled the space (about an inch).
And someone just posted a Haflinger gelding about Chewy's size and eight years old. Might be worth a look...