Harness up!

With a marathon carriage on order it seems time to get Casey fitted for a harness and start teaching her to become a driving pony. Maybe I can get 20 drives on her and then both mares will be at the same point in training? Lol. 

All joking aside, even if they both have 15 or 20 drives to their credit- they will not likely be at the same point in their training. They are both smart, but we all learn at different speeds and some of us pick up things more easily than others. Horses are the same.

The first fitting went pretty well. I brought out my harness and a bag of spare parts. Since Casey is a little smaller than Mazy, I was expecting to have to take everything up a notch or two. Most of the spares are larger so I may have to swap out this for that. 

The harness saddle fit without having to adjust too much. Up a hole on each side and thats it. The backstrap needed to be changed out- the crupper was a couple holes long with no more to adjust. The same with the breeching.

My friend and mentor hit up her friend and mentor... and he suggested the backstrap shortened would help bring the breeching up closer to where it belongs. Adding holes would put it in its place.

Whole spare bridle sans a bit (which there was another in the box) and it all fit Casey perfectly! Just need a few things and there's a whole 2nd harness- reins, neckstrap, traces & saddle. 

As the pics show- we went out to ground drive and work her in the long lines. She did So Well! At one point she was rocked back and almost Bouncing along with such freedom in her movement. 

Yes I was gobsmacked and speechless for a bit at what I seen her doing. If she continues with that? We're going to slay dressage! 

The next day we swapped out the backstrap to put the crupper in place, used the breeching and breastcollar adjusted for Mazy and no adjustments needed. 

This pic is after she half slid to a stop. I still think she would be a fancy reining pony too. My friend told me her pony usually slides into his stops in long lines. Highly frowned upon in driving! 😊😳😔