Nicer day

Warmed up real nice this afternoon and hardly a breeze.

Fed this morning and left the team harnessed but loose to drink and eat. Went out this afternoon and worked the filly.
Again, put her in the middle and hooked them up to the chariot after a bit of ground driving. This time I tied her back with a halter rope on either side of her, to the older broke horses hames and then hooked the jockey straps between the bits. Had to readjust my lines a bit and really should have made them a bit different, in that my far left hand horse was quite a ways over, so by having the lines hooked correctly for my two on the tongue, it was a bit off, tho’ it worked. The far left horse just wanted to be lazy and hang back a bit, but then that was a good deal for when the young one in the middle wanted to jump ahead a bit. Biggest problem is getting Ron, the older gelding, to just walk. He wants to get right out and jog or trot and when I try to slow him up a bit he just leans on your hands. Voice is about all that will slow him down on a light rig like that. On my wagon I will take a dally on the uprights when he gets to going to hard and make him pull it with the lines and he is good to back off then. I do not want to go to a harsher bit. Face it, he’s just got a lot of energy and go and when I get his mate broke with him, they will be pulling son of a guns! From what I’ve read they would make a good lead team on 6 up as the weight of the lines would help to hold them back and they would get out and make the rest of the horses hustle to keep up. Anyway, by tying back to each horse with the halter ropes and the straps between from bit to bit, instead of from hame to bit, it is a little better, you’ve got a little more feel and there really was no jerking on each others mouths as I thought it might. Not sure the first trip a man would want to do it this way, but this filly is far enough a long that it worked nicely.

Chinks almost done. Pictures when I do…if I can get Gramma to pose or take photo’s…