Big things are happening over here!!

This week we took a new step in our driving training journey. I introduced Jasper to the cart in harness! We did NOT actually hitch yet, and still have a little ways to go until we do… but he was SO GOOD about the cart while ground driving!

Now, last time I showed Jasper the cart he was a little spooky about it. I had let him loose in the arena while I walked around pulling it and he was curious but didn’t want to get to close to it.

I did successfully walk both him and the cart around and he was fine with it by the end, but this was over a month ago and he hasn’t seen it since. So, I really wasn’t sure how he would react but I decided to go ahead and find out.

Before we brought the cart into the arena I did long line him a bit. He was being spicy about the mare in the pasture right next to the arena who he really wanted to go talk to. Jasper does have excellent manners about mares, but he is still a stallion so of course seeing her in the field right there for the first time was a new thing and he always has to put his two cents in. It also didn’t help that Wallace was loose in the arena and over there talking to her. After getting him focused on his work with a little long lining, he was fine, so we brought the cart in.

I started off by having my helper, Pete, walk circles around Jasper pulling the cart. Like I said, last time he had seen this he first wanted to trot off. This time he was still curious about it, but not acting afraid or like he wanted to avoid it.

We went ahead and ground drove with the cart next to him. He did want to reach over and touch it a few times. I just encouraged him on and he very quickly got back into his work routine and walked along like a champ! We even trotted a couple of times with the cart along side.

I then decided to pull the cart up to his rear like I would if I was hitching him. He had no problem with this either and stood completely still! So we ground drove a little with Pete still holding the shafts. Jasper didn’t take a wrong step! There was even a moment where I asked him to “woah” and the cart ran up and bumped him on the butt a little, still no reaction!

The last thing we did was run the shafts into the shaft loops and let the pressure sit in their for a few minutes while I snapped some pics! Again, we did not actually hitch. In the photos the shafts are only in the loops, none of the other straps are done up for hitching. But he is so cute in his little cart!!

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Next steps are to build the larger travois and get him going in that! This way I can work better on turns where he can feel what it will feel like in the shafts. I feel like he is not going to need too long in the travois for ring work until we can start hitching in the ring! I say this because I plan to do a lot more desensitizing on the trails before we drive on them, but I think he’s going to be ready to drive in the security of the area very soon!