Danielle had expressed a desire to see me work with more horses driving so I told her she could help me with one of our young ones on Thursday.
We did have to get mucking done first and she assisted, which helped it go much faster!
We ended up pulling out both Talon and Jasper and dragged and bounced the cart around them. They both stood quite well. Then I took turns ground driving them walk and trot with the false shafts, which both of them did excellent at.
Then Chris asked if we should hook them together. Why not!
They ended up facing each other a few times, but we eventually got sorted and they had their maiden ground drive together. Neither one has been worked in a team, Talon had been started single only and would have started driving double this spring had she stayed with Jane.
![](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/lantairvlea/184732/234404/234404_600.jpg)
Not too shabby!
![](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/lantairvlea/184732/234726/234726_600.jpg)
Jasper started getting grumpy ears towards the end. He knocked it off with a couple grumpy voice reminders that I was more important than Talon.
![](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/lantairvlea/184732/234774/234774_600.jpg)
Maybe someday they will look as sharp as these two!
Chris is really excited, he sees a four-up in the near future! I'm excited too and I very much enjoy seeing Chris excited and looking forward to something.
Today I didn't start until 10am so we pulled out Jasper and worked him again. We tried Talon's harness on him. He doesn't have a harness for just him yet and we may have to do something about that before I can get him in the cart.
![](https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/lantairvlea/184732/234102/234102_600.jpg)
He doesn't have the butt for a three strap breeching (yet!) and the harness makes it obvious how much filling out he still has to do. He might be an inch taller than Talon, but he isn't as big as her yet!
After some walk/trot in the arena I took him around the house and for the first time he didn't get silly about being away from everyone while long lining. We called it a day and Quentan insisted on sitting on him too (don't tell Tristan).
Monday I also worked Tru-D. She started out leaving the house alright, but someone left a pile of garbage on the side of the road and she was Very Suspicious and it set the tone.
Click to view
This was our warm-up, the video was to demonstrate some things to my correspondence student (she approached me about it, two lessons in we've established somewhat of a baseline and building the framework for moving forward). I did hook her to the tire and did alright until I paused to adjust the tail wrap and she got antsy and started walking off and I wasn't able to get her stopped and she goosed herself and took off. It's all on video, I'll eventually get it processed and post it. She goobered a second time, but I was able to keep a hold of her and we ended nicely with some walk/trots with the tire. I'm glad I didn't attempt to throw the false shafts on her as was my initial intent.
Tru-D, Jasper, and Talon will all be getting hauled over to the property with some regularity this winter. I'm looking forward to making some good progress with them and get all three going well in harness!