Obviously.
 |
| in all its old lady glory |
To be fair, I did really think it out. But then we got a sizable school tax check (Thanks, NY, for pretending like you're trying to help when that check was a fraction of what we actually pay in taxes each year.) that we always use for extraneous expenses, and we ended up with plenty left over for a truly frivolous purchase--like a cart. Hubby was of no help talking me out of it because he wants to drive, so over the weekend I sent an email to another craigslist ad.
I didn't hear back from them until Monday evening and had kind of given up on it altogether. Through a few strangely worded emails I was able to set up a time to drive down and look at it, and then I made Hubby call for directions because I was getting the vibe that the seller was either elderly or a backwoods banjo playing serial killer. Turns out they were just old.
 |
| they lived on a property that was up for sale for just under $1M that included this insanely large, empty house. |
The cart is basically an EZ Entry cart on steroids. It's a little bigger, a little sturdier, and a little heavier, but with the same easy bail-out access for the driver and still a completely manageable size. The seller had used it as a training cart for multiple horses, and while it had a couple of repairs done to it, they were all really well done and it should suit my low-key purposes just fine. We dropped it off at the barn last night, and one of the girls immediately pointed out it would look great covered in Christmas lights. #ideafactory
Opie got a dressage school this morning after snooting it quickly, and then I brought him over for a proper introduction.
 |
| "this is the most boring game ever." |
He could have cared less about the cart's existence...until I hefted it up and started pulling it behind me while walking him. He wasn't so sure about that and kept a close eye on it, but he followed along beside me on a loose lead without question. I did a lap of the ring before setting it back down and letting him check it out again. Now that he realized it was a moving thing capable of chasing him around the ring, he took a closer inspection of it. He snooted it all over while I stuffed cookies in his face before deciding it was still pretty boring.
I brought him in between the shafts head-first and plopped down on the seat to feed him cookies just so he got used to standing between them. He walked in fine, but backed a few steps out the first couple times. He was being cautious and polite about it, so I just didn't give him his cookie and instead told him he was a good boy until he stepped forward on his own and hung out.
 |
| "seems questionable." |
 |
| "jk, cookies make everything okay." |
I lifted the cart up and bounced it around a little bit while he ignored me, so I backed him out and--you guessed it!--gave him another cookie. The last thing I wanted to do for the day was get him to back into it. I thought I could just get him to back right in, but Opie is an easy read and he quickly let me know he still wasn't too sure about the thing being behind him.
Instead I backed him up parallel to it a few times with lots of praise until he was bored with that. I had to grab a crop to control his butt after that because he would step back crookedly and start to step on the shafts which wasn't a good plan. Once I had an arm extension and was able to keep him straight, he stepped carefully all the way in and hung out for awhile.
 |
| listening to the electricians bang around in the barn because this cart business is a complete bore |
I lifted the shafts again and gently bumped them against his sides several times while he ignored me, and then he got to be done and have a good graze before getting tossed back out with his friends. Obviously I have to wait until I have a second person on hand before I get him all strapped in, but Saturday I'll have Hubby. The plan is to get him dressed and have one of us pull it behind him while he ground drives, and then I'll hitch him and just let him sit with it for a couple minutes. Next weekend he should be good to go with pulling it the first time!
No comments:
Post a Comment