07.11.06
Horse play weekend
Hubby and I took our 3 horses and played last weekend (July 8-9) in the Keene/Peterboro NH area, first at our friend Kim’s on Sat. (who has Abby now, our former morgan/percheron driving mare) then at an organized carriage drive on Sunday (put on by Granite State Carriage Assoc., held in Lyndeboro, New Hampshire– THANKS TO THE TURNERS! See Horse peaches training cart for pix from the drive.)
Kim ground-driving Abby
Dad and Kim with Abby put to Kim’s Meadowbrook cart
At Kim’s we helped her hitch Abby for the first time to their Meadowbrook cart, gave her a kick start driving and then Kim took her husband and little girl out for a spin. We went out afterwards on our horses with dad driving Gilford, and me riding our arabian mare and ponying Glendale on the dirt roads around Kim’s farm.
Our 3 stooges Gilford and Glendale (full brothers, Arabian/percherons) and momma Arabian mare Willow’s Bask, at Kim’s barn
3-yr. old Gilford studying sheep
Our 3 horses were turned out in a paddock next to sheep and llamas, momma mare certainly got all snorty at the llamas every time they showed their faces! They were pretty ok with the sheep. Pix are our 3 stooges at Kim’s barn.
The horses went like pros both days– though it was his first drive away from home, Gilford (our 3-year-old perch/arab) didn’t do anything worse than startle sideways once or twice, and Glendale (Gilford’s 10-month-old perch/arab brother) acted like he’d done it all his life, being ponied, tied to trailer, trotting on dirt roads, passing another horse & cart in opposite direction etc. They were even exposed to gun shots passing a gun club and no biggie.
AND on Sunday dad had Peaches (our English Setter 2 yrs. old) in the cart seat half across his lap, which was no easy feat in the training cart but all was fine. SEE LYNDEBOROUGH PIX in Post of August 8, Horse peaches training cart. A five mile drive only, my Arabian mare Willow’s Bask was a little bit tender-footed in coarse gravel on the road in spots, but I took it easy with her. Sorta surprising because she’s been barefoot almost a year now, since foaling Glendale.
Gilford put to our training cart on July 2, I shot from atop my mare using a small film camera
Gilford with dad and Joonatan our Finnish exchange student in 2006
Parting shot of Joonatan, dad and Ezra on recent hike in Belknap mountains…
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Connie Moses, petArtist Portraits With Pets.com and PortraitsWithHorses.com
