| Sher Olson's Barn Buddy - GingerSnap We all share our 35 acre home, in Deer Trail CO - 30 acres are devoted the Equine Crew! |
| We purchased GingerSnap for $100 & two goat kids, when she was 2 years old. She is now 5 yrs old. For 3 yrs, until this year, her only "job" was to munch grass while kids brushed & decorated her. At the end of Sept.2011, we decided to add to GingerSnap's career! Above shows her firs day with young trainer Tyler Ferguson - her first time with a saddle. She also learned to lunge dragging a noisey light weight paper stuffed feed bag. |
| Next we moved up to dragging a weight - the little tire on the end of the yellow rope, weighs 40 lbs - tied to the swell of the saddle. This is also her first time every, with a bit in her mouth. Plus her first session being ground driven! Ginger's 5 yrs of being well handled all over by kids, has really shown the benefits when driving training started! Nothing bombproofs a pony, like a gaggle of kids! |
| Ginger is really enjoying the lessons! She often is ears-forward, rarely fusses - and we make sure to keep each session fun for her (not like a chore.) On this day, it was raining - so only a 30 minute session, in the wet. |
| First day put to the cart. She was concentrating, learning to manipulate the shafts to turn the cart. This session was ground driving - no passenger yet. |
| This was a VERY windy day! But Ginger barely noticed the gales. This is her first day with passenger. We were still working in the half acre leach field - not yet into the big 30 acre pasture. |
| Ginger's next session - getting better and better at turning in the cart, using her shoulder and hip on the shafts... |
| Ginger's first day in the big pasture! Riding the fence line measures out to just under 1 mile. Now that she has pulling, turning, backing up, and standing still for cart entry/exit ... she was ready for distance! We notice that she seems to enjoy going at the trot instead of a walk. |
| Ginger really gets into carting! She is now up to twice around the big pasture (1 3/4 miles) at the trot, with energy to spare in the end! Sometimes, she likes to go into a lope (her choice!) - but is very controllable. She has a very nice trot, and even the lope is pretty smooth. I am now driving her, too - between sessions with our trainer. Soon, we'll be ready to go for drives off the ranch! :-) |
| Update Nov.01, 2011 Our first trip away from home! Went over to a friend's ranch, and drove in her pasture. There was all sorts of "stuff" in the tall grass (large hunks of metal, farm equipment, etc) - that we used as an opportunity to practice controlled maneuvers! There was also two stallions (in pens) that Ginger ignored, staying focused on the task at hand (practicing our driving!) After awhile, my friend hoped in the cart - her first time driving. She loved it so much, she's thinking of putting her daughter's Haflinger "Muffin", to a cart! ;-) |
| Sher & "Ginger" - our first trip away from home! |
| Best friend, Heidi - her first driving with "Ginger" |