First time with Riverdance in the wagon! - Pictures - Pictures - Horse Community, Horse Pictures, Horse Forum and Information

Posted : 1/10/2012 7:48:48 AM

Riverdance in with Duke to the Bartell war wagon: 45 minutes.

The beast

The beauty...

First time for us!! Riverdance did beautifully this weekend!
We put Riverdance and Duke (a Percheron/quarter horse cross) into the Bartell's warwagon and off we went. Duke had a little tantrum as we exited the gate and River was all business from beginning to end. Her ears up in enthusiasm, in her collar the whole time and on the bit, she performed perfectly the whole trip of about three miles. I can well believe that she may have been trained by Bill Long. Dennis kept complimenting me on her perfect manners and obviously excellent training. "You've got a hellofa good horse, Ron! She's had some really good training somewhere, that's for sure!" He also kept saying, "I really like this horse!" Dennis' son rode along and kept asking what River was crossed to. I kept telling him she was a purebred Hackney, "I've never seen a hackney this big! They've always been kinda small and stocky," he said. River really impressed these two Stagecoach drivers!

Last time I had a horse this sweaty was after a seventeen mile CDE marathon. We only went about three miles.

Tired as she was, River was still willing to do whatever Dennis or I asked. In fact, we just got back in the gate and Dennis decided to try what he called 'sweeps' (that is to say, to have the horses side pass in order to move the team (usually a four) sideways). River performed perfectly, doing an excellent job sidepassing perfectly, whilst her partner (Duke, the supposedly experianced one) hopped and jumped about. As can be seen in the shot, she was doing her side-passing beautifully! Both ways, without the least hesitation. Duke on the other hand, was bouncing all over the place, LOL! So, the new horse made the 'old hand' look bad.

All done and she was still ready and rarin' to go.

Such a good girl!

When we got back, River didn't want to be taken out of the wagon. She wanted to go out again! Then when Duke went out with another student, she called loudly to them and pulled at her tie rope, wanting to go too! Since River came in covered with sweat and foam, I figured she was pretty well done up. She obviously disagreed, LOL!!