06.29.08
The adventures of Frick and Frack
Kelli and I just got back from the Fraase Family Reunion in Embden, ND and a visit with our friends Gene and JoAnn in Aberdeen, SD. The reunion was good, we laughed a lot, and they missed Phyl.
Our friend JoAnn has 2 horses, 3 ponies, 2 minis and 2 mini spotted asses. The first day we were there, JoAnn was driving her well broke mini, and Kelli was driving her 3 year old pony that had previously been sent to a trainer. We had a foot rope on her, that I was running from the passenger seat. We think that possibly the trainer only trotted her, because she absolutely did not want to walk. She wanted to make it easier to pull and always trot, but Kelli wouldn’t let her. She needed to learn how to pull at the walk.
She’d balk and Kelli would be beating her butt, and she’d just stand there for a long time, then she’d have a fit. She got mad and reared and jumped around, getting her leg over the shaft and bending it. So Kelli and I bent the shaft back and then raised them so she wouldn’t be able to get a leg over so easily. She kept having fits, but seemed to be getting the idea. Then she had to pull us up a small grade, and she was almost at the top and she really got mad. She was rearing and spinning and I kept taking her foot away, then she’d stop, I’d give it back, and Kelli would ask her to walk again, and she’d pitch a fit again. I was grabbing a cross brace to keep from getting thrown out. Finally, she reared up, and threw us backwards, and when she came down, the cart just gave up, and Kelli and I were gently laid down on the ground. The point at which the shafts attached to the basket of the cart wasn’t braced or reinforced, so it just gave up, but in slow motion. The whole cart is made of pretty lightweight tubing (and our asses once again made the difference).
So, there Kelli and I were, on our backs but still in the seat of the cart. The pony wasn’t being asked to move on anymore, so she stood there huffing, with a leg over the other shaft (that she didn’t bend the first time). Kelli and I both rolled out and got up, and then just stood there laughing. We extricated the pony from the twisted cart and harness. I pulled the cart back to the barn. Needless to say, it’s going to take some major work to get to where it’s usable again, and will need to be reinforced better. The shafts will need to be cut off and discarded, then new, and better shafts added. Luckily, the basket came out unharmed.
Kelli ground drove her a while, which the pony was fine at (afaik), since she didn’t have to walk while pulling any weight. So Kelli brought her back to the barn, and we set up the travois with two heavy wheels attached. Then Kelli took her out to the field again. It was seriously hot that day, so I waited in the shade of a tree where I could still see. That pony had some definite attitude going that day. She reared, did caprioles http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KochCapriole.jpeg, everything she could think of to get out of the work of pulling something heavy at a walk. She’d also have times where she was walking along fine, but then if Kelli turned her away from her friends she’d have a fit. Eventually Kelli got to a point where the pony was behaving acceptably, and quit for the day. (The next day Kelli ground drove her pulling the travois and she was tons better, still a bit balky at times, but no rearing or airs above the ground that I saw.)
So that’s our biggest adventure from the trip