If you’ve read this blog or follow the farm page, you know that six years ago, I gave myself a ten year goal of building a 6 to 8 hitch of ponies. By November of 2022, I had my first pair of ponies working together pulling a sled for odd jobs around the farm. The problem, one of those ponies, like me, was currently in foal, and would need to stop working in March until after the baby was weaned. I had several single driver ponies, but size differences among the mares didn’t make them good team candidates, and I was hesitant to pair my stallion with a mare in a hitch. Around March, Darling Husband came across a pony that looked to be a perfect color match with my team mare, Summer. The pony ended up being too small to pair with Summer, but was a perfect size match for, Tater, my smallest pony. The owners were told the pony drove, but were not knowledgeable about ponies or driving, so they had no way of verifying that information.
At this same time, I had been saving for a pony wagon for my ponies to drive. I had placed the order, and it was due to arrive in May. My goal was to have a team of ponies driving before I had to go back to work from maternity leave. I instantly began training our newly acquired pony, Fairy, to drive as a single. Whether she already knew how to drive or was just an extremely well minded pony, Fairy progressed quickly through singles training. I cut some corners with her, because I planned on pairing her with Tater, an experienced single driver, anyway.
On June 20, 2023, both Tater and Fairy had their debut drive as a team pulling my wagon! The first drive with the wagon was six years in the making and one step closer to my end goal. Our drive was not without its challenges though. For whatever reason, Tater, hates team activity. She is an eager worker until you invite another pony along for the drive, at which point Tater demonstrates her hatred of forced group fun, by taking every opportunity to bite her teammate. Fairy, isn’t special, Tater shares her wrath equally among the other ponies as well. Tater simply needs to be the center of attention at all times.
We persevered, switched pairs between Fairy/Summer, Summer/Tater, and Tater/Fairy despite the size differences. During this time, I was also training the completely unhandled rescue pony, Tinsel to drive as a single in hopes of pairing him with Summer as my 2nd wheel horse. In a horse hitch, the strongest animals are usually placed directly in front of the wagon and called Wheelers, the next ponies hitched in front of the wheel horses or wheelers are called swing horses (a job I’d like for Apple Jack and Pumpkin), and the horses in the very front are the Leaders (most likely Tater and Fairy).
By October, even though Tater wasn’t fully resolved to team activities, she was focusing progressively less and less energy on biting Fairy. It was at this point, I decided to try another bucket list item of driving a pony team through a parade. If one pony pulling a cart is cute, two is adorable squared. We debuted at the Moody Cotton Harvest Festival Parade. It was a small parade, with a short route, and a decent size crowd without being overwhelming.
Despite the band directly in front of us, kids running around everywhere, crowds lining the route, and the train blasting by just as the parade kicked off, Fairy and Tater got down to work. They’re my smallest ponies and by the end of the parade had pulled me through six miles of parade. The first part of the route included a pretty steep grade uphill, and we trotted the return route to the trailer to reduce the amount of time spent driving on the side of a busy highway. Both were tired, but by no means overworked. However, I knew that if I were to try some of the Christmas parade routes we usually do, I would need more horse power in the form of Tinsel and Summer.
As the old farmer saying goes, weight pulls weight. So I needed larger heavier ponies for the longer route. To be continued….
Gardner Hard Luck Horse Farm 