I brought Mikey home at the end of June. It took just over a month to get him healthy enough to start re-training him.
At the beginning of August, or so, I started taking him for walks, then moved onto ground driving him; first with just the halter and then with the bridle as shown in this video:
Next I started putting the harness on him, (that’s a process in itself because I don’t want my horses fidgeting when being harnessed. I like them to be cooperative to the process, including accepting the bit, and not being stressed when having the crupper put on, etc.) then ground driving with the harness and FINALLY hitching to the travois. He has been pulling the travois for a few weeks now.
The last two times he had a little temper tantrum about half way through so today’s drive was a test. I have been feeling that he is getting bored and ready for the next step, which is the cart, and today just solidified that. He did an awesome job, always listening to me and steady as a rock, even when he got nervous. So the next time we go out he will be hitched to the cart!
This little video shows him being harnessed, to show how quiet I like my ponies to be when being harnessed. He has been quite flinchy when being touched or brushed due to having ulcers when he came. I made this video to show how fine he is with being harnessed. He doesn’t mind at all!
We did a few videos today. I like my horses to be SOLID in the travois before I ever bring the cart out. Mikey is just that.
So the next step is hitching to the cart. Stay tuned!