Accidentally pity purchase

New Forests Rock said:
I am having so much fun with this lad - all 13.1 hh of NF "pink pony". Like your Reggie he thinks my command "and stand" actually starts/finishes with the "and ......" Probably not a bad thing to stop sooner than asked 🙈 🤣. Did you ever get Reggie broken to harness? Chief is off to Sam Searle in 6 weeks time - who will do an amazing job. I have always broken my previous driving ponies, but I was much younger then!!
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Yes. All my horses ended up stopping as soon as I said "and"! And one of them thought his name was "good boy" 😀
 
New Forests Rock said:
I am having so much fun with this lad - all 13.1 hh of NF "pink pony". Like your Reggie he thinks my command "and stand" actually starts/finishes with the "and ......" Probably not a bad thing to stop sooner than asked 🙈 🤣. Did you ever get Reggie broken to harness? Chief is off to Sam Searle in 6 weeks time - who will do an amazing job. I have always broken my previous driving ponies, but I was much younger then!!
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Arh yes!! The ''and'' command!! when we were kids that was usually an upward transition. Lots of welsh ponies pre-empting a trot or canter transition in riding lessons. And then the downward transition normally started with 'back to ......' so naturally they dropped down a gear without being asked by the rider. I don't think many of our little ponies really needed riders at all.

We haven't got round to sending either to be broken to drive yet. The idea was we would send Robin first and Reg would follow the year after, but once we added up the 4 wheeler and harness for each pony it was totally out of our price range. Sam would be my choice when and if we do send either away, but the sales patter for all the 'extras' did really put my OH off unfortunately.

I watched my dad break a few to drive, but it's not something I'm confident enough to do myself.
 
"And woah" is usually enough to make Wig come back to walk even from a flat out gallop. You can imagine my surprise at the weekend when we were having a little trot. He either didn't hear me or was enjoying himself a bit too much as I ended up nearly joining my friend on her horse when she stopped and we didn't 😆.
 
dorsetladette said:
Arh yes!! The ''and'' command!! when we were kids that was usually an upward transition. Lots of welsh ponies pre-empting a trot or canter transition in riding lessons. And then the downward transition normally started with 'back to ......' so naturally they dropped down a gear without being asked by the rider. I don't think many of our little ponies really needed riders at all.

We haven't got round to sending either to be broken to drive yet. The idea was we would send Robin first and Reg would follow the year after, but once we added up the 4 wheeler and harness for each pony it was totally out of our price range. Sam would be my choice when and if we do send either away, but the sales patter for all the 'extras' did really put my OH off unfortunately.

I watched my dad break a few to drive, but it's not something I'm confident enough to do myself.
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You can pick up decent synthetic harness second hand and my carriages were always second hand. Its not cheap, but no more than a reasonable saddle etc. You can always do it in sections. Harness, then find a carraige, then give it 6 months and send off then.
 
I'm Dun said:
You can pick up decent synthetic harness second hand and my carriages were always second hand. Its not cheap, but no more than a reasonable saddle etc. You can always do it in sections. Harness, then find a carraige, then give it 6 months and send off then.
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It's really my OH that wanted to drive them. Its not something I've been interested in to be honest. And he's toddled off and bought a boat and a track car now so I don't really feel we need to worry about it now.

The lady that NFR and I are talking about has her own carriage and harness business. And she was trying to sell the whole package when we went to visit. They look lovely, but for the occasional trot round the block it all just felt a bit overwhelming. It felt uncomfortable to ask for our own harness and little 2 wheel Bennington to be used rather than their 'recommended' set up.
 
dorsetladette said:
It's really my OH that wanted to drive them. Its not something I've been interested in to be honest. And he's toddled off and bought a boat and a track car now so I don't really feel we need to worry about it now.

The lady that NFR and I are talking about has her own carriage and harness business. And she was trying to sell the whole package when we went to visit. They look lovely, but for the occasional trot round the block it all just felt a bit overwhelming. It felt uncomfortable to ask for our own harness and little 2 wheel Bennington to be used rather than their 'recommended' set up.
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I'm in the opposite situation - O/H not interested, but very happy to help me (I will get him up to speed on how to harness and hitch up 🙈 ) and because my riding days are over due to 3 metal joints returning to driving just seemed to make such sense. Very sorry you felt pressurised with the "whole package" sales pitch (I do have a smart red Kestrel parked in our garage but I found that second hand and my leather harness came from a much cheaper source🎉) Anyway, will stop wittering on now, but 💕hearing about your babies xx
 
dorsetladette said:
It's really my OH that wanted to drive them. Its not something I've been interested in to be honest. And he's toddled off and bought a boat and a track car now so I don't really feel we need to worry about it now.

The lady that NFR and I are talking about has her own carriage and harness business. And she was trying to sell the whole package when we went to visit. They look lovely, but for the occasional trot round the block it all just felt a bit overwhelming. It felt uncomfortable to ask for our own harness and little 2 wheel Bennington to be used rather than their 'recommended' set up.
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Ive never met her, but do know of her and am disappointed that thats what she is doing.
 
We had annual jab and teeth yesterday and the saddle fitter came to see Reggie.

Teeth all fine just the usual tidy up for good measure. As the farrier has also said how good Reggie's feet are I'm counting my blessings that 1 of my horses is an easy keeper. (touching wood and crossing fingers it stays that way)

Saddler commented on how much he's matured since the last time she visited. She brought a selection of second hand saddles to try after we'd been chatting last week about what I was looking/hoping for. We've settled on a Sturgess GP which is pretty much brand new. It felt like I had a nice amount of knee block and I felt the seat was enough to feel secure - which is important to me. I've got it on a 2 week trial so we will see how we get on.
 
I've really confused the poor boy!

Rode last night. followed our normal routine. lunge, long rein and get on. Fine to start with and then for some reason I get overly 'praisey' so I'm saying 'good boy' after every aid and voice command. 'Good boy' is very much 'stop dead' 'screw my feet to the floor' kind of stop according to Reggie. In the end he just stopped and wouldn't move. A bit like he's said 'I don't understand so I'm just going to stand here until you sort yourself out mother' all the nagging, firm voice, smack on the bum efforts was doing nothing so I jumped off and popped him back on the lunge to ask for walk and trot again from the ground. That worked! So I got back on and walked and trotted nicely. Then I started again with the 'good boy' and we stopped and he wouldn't move. Jumped off again and walked him round in hand. Got back on, walked a few strides (trying very hard to keep my mouth shut) and stopped and hopped off before I could confuse him any more.

Good things that came from last nights session.
  • got on and off about a million times without the anxiety of the 'getting on' issues I've created in my head.
  • When Reggie is unsure of something he just stops - I'm happy with that (and so is my anxiety levels).
  • I'm happy to get on and ride without having to organise someone being with me.
  • I used a leather girth rather than the fluffy shires one and it definitely helped the saddle stay in place better.
  • I'm not riding with a huge polypad under the saddle for fear of Reggie feeling uncomfortable and throwing shapes.
Now just to work on my verbal diarrhoea - poor lad!
 
dorsetladette said:
I've really confused the poor boy!

Rode last night. followed our normal routine. lunge, long rein and get on. Fine to start with and then for some reason I get overly 'praisey' so I'm saying 'good boy' after every aid and voice command. 'Good boy' is very much 'stop dead' 'screw my feet to the floor' kind of stop according to Reggie. In the end he just stopped and wouldn't move. A bit like he's said 'I don't understand so I'm just going to stand here until you sort yourself out mother' all the nagging, firm voice, smack on the bum efforts was doing nothing so I jumped off and popped him back on the lunge to ask for walk and trot again from the ground. That worked! So I got back on and walked and trotted nicely. Then I started again with the 'good boy' and we stopped and he wouldn't move. Jumped off again and walked him round in hand. Got back on, walked a few strides (trying very hard to keep my mouth shut) and stopped and hopped off before I could confuse him any more.

Good things that came from last nights session.
  • got on and off about a million times without the anxiety of the 'getting on' issues I've created in my head.
  • When Reggie is unsure of something he just stops - I'm happy with that (and so is my anxiety levels).
  • I'm happy to get on and ride without having to organise someone being with me.
  • I used a leather girth rather than the fluffy shires one and it definitely helped the saddle stay in place better.
  • I'm not riding with a huge polypad under the saddle for fear of Reggie feeling uncomfortable and throwing shapes.
Now just to work on my verbal diarrhoea - poor lad!
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😀 I sympathise!
 
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