Newsletter

Andy Marcoux talked again on Sunday. He gave us some things to do without our horse. One was to keep your whip lash furled up except when using it to tickle the horse. You can practice spinning the lash while sitting around watching TV. You want it to become natural to spin and unspin. Spin a pen around your fingers. This will help you handle the reins with less thought. Drive with your eyes. Looking where you are going will improve communication with your horse. If you look far enough ahead you will see what is happening in time to fix it. Choose points to drive to and commit to driving there. Whip usage replaces the legs of a rider. Practice your skill with the whip by sitting on a carriage and knocking over cans. Get your horse to stand quietly in cross ties and ask him to move over by using the whip on his side. This will come in handy if you are doing an obstacle course and want the horse to step a little to the side.

The trip was well worth the effort. I met some great people, including Henry Tarryk and Gary Kincaid of the Eastern CT Draft Horse Association. We talked about our horses and agreed to exchange newsletters and to my surprise they invited me to their next meeting in Franklin CT.

Karen Myers and I went to that meeting on March 18^th. We had a great dinner with Sandy and Ernie Staebner who host the meetings at their Blue Slope Country Museum. The speaker that night was Ned Niemiec of the Hallamore hitch. He also judges draft horse shows and gave us all some pointers on showing our great animals.

The most important tip I got was that winning in the show classes is all about size and money. There are other factors that come in to play. First impression really counts. Don’t enter the ring looking scared. Have a smile on your face, your horse under control and your body relaxed. The judge is looking for flexion and animation in the show classes. The higher the step the better you will place. If there are two horses that do everything equally well the judge will probably pick the bigger one. You cannot cover up a bad horse with a great harness but don’t cover a great horse with a bad harness. When the class is close little things count. Smile, breathe, have fun.

After the meeting we went to Peter von Halem’s house where we spent the night. It was a beautiful home on a beautiful property. If anybody saw the

February issue of Yankee Peddler, Peter is on the cover with his Hackney Clydesdale cross. We were going for a drive with his horses in the morning using one of his marathon carts. We woke to rain but no worries. This is not a place for wimps. Karen rode on the back standing with Henry and I sat up front with Peter. The horses must have walked at some point on the trip but I don’t remember it. I remember the mud flying and the horses running across the land. We were in a unicorn hitch and you could see the lead horse taking it all in so the two wheel horses would fit between the trees and be able to get around the rocks. It was so much fun! Karen and I are still talking about it. Just ask us!

Before we headed for home we took a side trip to see the Kincaids and meet their four wonderful geldings, two Clydesdales and two Shires. It was pouring rain and we were soaked head to toe from our earlier drive. We only stayed long enough to say hi, look at some amazing carriages and then headed home. If any of you would like to meet the people from the CT draft horse club I would be happy to attend another meeting with you. They are a great bunch of people.

UVM was looking for someone to plow with horses one of their fields. Pat Palmer and Ted Russell stepped up to do it. I am attaching some pictures of Pat working with students driving Spud and Chief. Most of the students had never been behind a team of horses. Lucky for them, they had such an incredible team to work with. Ted was having the students work Clayton and a walking plow. I don't know which was harder driving the horse, or working the plow.