Видео

Thank you for your kind comment, I'm still healing, he's raring to go for our next adventure.

Yes that's true, like they say, it's not what you can see, it's what you can't see. The steel holding the wheel on had rusted through and so the part of the axle holding the wheel on just snapped off.

Yes, it certainly could have been a lot worse. I'm 100% worse off than he is, he's normal, I'm bruised from my shoulders to my toes.

@makeitdofarm3076 I am hoping my Mr Fixit can indeed fix it. The wheel snapped straight off, the metal it sits on was still inside the wheel so he should be able to punch that out and weld a new heavier piece of steel onto the axle.

@rosie7346 my confidence is OK, it was nobodies fault, the steel snapped, that is hard to foresee. I just felt so awful for poor Danny, he got such a fright and kept trying to run to me to save him before sadly running over me time and time again.

​@DeeinNZ yikes! So hard not to be able to help him! Glad you have your confidence.

@@DeeinNZ Poor Danny! At least for your sake, he's a small horse and not a big one!

Yes indeed, I think if he was a full sized hack and had fallen on me, I wouldn't be here any more.

Oh my. Reading the comments and found out what happened. So glad you both will be ok. So scarey. take your time healing. ❤❤❤

Thank you for your lovely comment and thank you for watching.

❤❤​@@DeeinNZ

@gnostic268 thank you for your kind words. It will take a little time to heel.

Thank you for your comment, you are welcome for the sharing. I find your comment 'most equines in harness aren't intended to gallop' interesting ...1-he's not galloping, he's cantering, 2-why not? Do you not see horses in marathon classes and scurry classes going at speed? We don't show, we don't compete, we do this for fun, going fast IS FUN, he loves it and so do I. Yes I watch lots of other drivers, I have some favourites and it's always interesting to see what others do. When it comes to horses, we all do things differently, nobody is necessarily right or wrong, we are different and celebrating differences is a grand thing, life would be boring of we were all the same. Do you mean the reins are disturbing because I refuse to have hold of his mouth unnecessarily or because we use them as an encouragement at times? If it's the use of them instead of the whip, that's the way he was trained, and he responds to cajoling more than insistance via a whip, he can flat out ignore the whip if that's his mindset at the time.

We do have some nice pathways in our local reserves, I wish we had forests as it would be much nicer under foot and the shade and shelter would be most welcome.

you would be most welcome.

You are very welcome, he makes me smile so it's nice that our adventures do the same for others. We are in Spring so summer is coming, we will have the scorching hot days and brown grass very soon.

Yes, it was arranged to go out with them. He loves company but most are too scared to go out with us because they all think their horses will be scared. The Gypsy is young and inexperienced and in less than 5 mins he went from 'what the heck is that?' to 'ok, I need to play with that, it looks like fun' to 'get out of my way'. It's never the horses who are scared, it's always the people who create the fear.

@@DeeinNZ I love those words, wise wise words! I am so guilty of creating fear, too.

Your welcome :D Lots of rain causes lots of big puddles to play in

Thanks so much for your lovely comments. It was a little hairy in the beginning but I knew he needed the experiences, challenges and opportunities for us to build trust, learn more about each other and figure out what worked for us, now he's awesome but the beginning sure was challenging, he's the toughest pony I've ever had and he was sure hard work in the beginning but totally worth it. It's why we did 19 months of long reining before we put a cart anywhere near him, he had so much energy and attitude to burn haha.

Hahaha which one the large one or the small one?

@@DeeinNZ The smalller darker one

@@DeeinNZ at 5:30

@@TraumhausRommelsried ah, no she's just young and in training, this was only her 2nd outing with a group. She's doing amazing. It's all experience and confidence building at this stage, I offered her the chance to see if she'd brave going over first, knowing she might say no, that's ok, she will get braver every time, it was a steep exit too.

Me too, company always makes things more fun, I adore Danny but he can't hold a conversation to save himself and I talk way to much! Hahahaha.

Awww thank you :D We did, and best of all, we got another outing the next day.

It was a lot of fun :D

I know doesn't he look awesome clipped? He's so much more comfortable clipped at this time of the year.

There aren't any on this video except yours as far as I know.

@@DeeinNZ I saw one earlier talking about the dogs. You Tube is really deleting a lot of comments lately. It makes no sense why they are doing it.

@@shakeyj4523 oh wow, ok, I never even saw it.

:D

Thank you for your lovely comments, yes though sadly it means it will get cold quick, we all love the inbetween seasons, not to hot, not to cold ... though if you notice he's getting super fluffy now, I gave his tail a winter chop last night, he will be clipped soon and feel better, if I don't clip him out for winter he overheats far too much. No he is used to everything flying around, the Taylor River is right beside Omaka airport where they teach pilots to fly so when we travel up and down it there are always planes practicing take offs and landings so a lot of them come pretty low over us, every now and then the shaddow will give him a bigger fright than the actual plane. He LOVES the river, Marlborough has such hard stoney grounds I think the water is soothing on his feet. I love the rivers too which is why when I go places I try really hard to get access to one as I know he appreciates the drink, especially if we are out for 3 hours or when it's warm out.

Thank you for your lovely comments. Yes, it's hard when you don't have company, we love it and they love it, my biggest issue is people think their horses will be scared of the cart but the reality is, it's the people who are scared, very quickly the horses don't even care.

Aww thank you for your nice comment. I have a bit of a conflicting feeling about the vineyards, very few of them allow access to their headlands which is the best surface and the safest place for us to be. Where you see me go through vineyards is usually only because those parts are on public land and they have no choice but to allow us access. It's rather heartbreaking because so much land has been turned into vineyards there are becoming fewer and fewer places to ride and roads are scary these days, especially when your only little so we pick and choose, depending on the day or the week, the time of the day and even the time of the year where we can go.

Oh? What part disgusted you, the stunning scenery, the beautiful autumn day, the river, the teamwork, the conversation, the laughter, or the horses joy and exuberance living his best life enjoying exercise and scenery instead of being confined to a paddock?

Hi and thank you for your input. I did do all of that (except the treat, I had none) I think I figured out what happened. A few weeks ago on another drive, he slipped going over an arch bridge, I think it's thrown him because he'd been over that particular bridge a heap of times with no issue but because it's another arch bridge, I think he was worried he was going to slip again so considering that, I think I might need to lead him over arch bridges for awhile till he gets his confidence back.

@@DeeinNZ Yes, that would do it. Leading is a good idea too. Mine slipped on some paint, and it took her a couple of weeks to be comfortable again. She got mad though. She wants to stomp it every time we go over painted markings on the road. They are such interesting creatures.

Thank you so much for your lovely comments. We got out as often as weather and my health allow, sadly I have health challenges meaning I don't get to do it as much as I'd like but I aim for 3 times a week, sometimes we hit the target, sometimes it's a couple of weeks because we go out. I have numbered every single drive in the video description and dated every one in the title which tells you how many we have done in total and generally how often because I did think that would indeed be a question. I first started putting them up because I could find very little about harness training a mini specifically and then I decided it was a good thing to share because he can be such a challenging pony and I know there were times I felt like a failure so I hoped there would be others out there who might find inspiration to keep going when things aren't going according to plan in whatever their passion is, then I thought it would be neat to document our progress and finally I thought it might be nice for my friends who don't live near me and other people to see some of my local scenery and the places we go so I am very happy to hear you are enjoying our videos and I value your comments, thank you.

Oh and finally, I thought if I could get enough subscribers, maybe it could help contribute to a some treats for Danny because my budget is always so stretched with the fuel required to get us to places.

Awww that is so lovely to hear. I am glad you enjoyed it. Must have been a lovely childhood.

@@DeeinNZ yes it was

Absolutely, he did not do well with them on, he is too nosy, he wants to see all so he would twist himself around trying to see around them, made me think what was the point? So I took them off. Like everything with horses they are not a one size fits all, they will always try and show you what they need.

Aww thank you so much. We have our challenges but I would like to think we have indeed built a bond and he knows i have his back, he's got very good now at standing still knowing I'll protect him from dogs and I would hope that would carry over to trusting me on other things but thank you for your lovely comment.

Because we did 19 months of long reining even after doing a good 6 months of getting to know each other before we even attached a cart I got to know him and his reactions pretty well. I know that he likes to buck and I know when he gets super frustrated he rears but thankfully between the 2 of us we know not to push it far enough that he would flip over backwards (I hope) I don't usally get scared persay but the backing up and the spitting of his bit trying to evade me when things are going really wrong I would say unsettles me more than scares me, simply because by him doing so we have completely lost our form of communication and have effectively stopped 'talking' to each other, those times I am sad his reactions have taken over the power from our teamwork so I just work at trying to get him back. I have had one instance where he nearly sent us backward over a bank into a ditch which was scary but I don't hesitate to jump out and grab him (as you saw) if things go into the too hard basket but only for a reset as the fix has to be from driving, leading him through a situation is not a success, it's a fail in my mind. It's one of the biggest challenge in harness and where it differs the most from riding, you MUST have the ability to reassure, reinforce and engage from behind without patting them. It's why harness horses have to be braver out front on their own but still take direction instead of someone clamping legs on and stroking a neck. Thank you for watching and I appreciate your question.

Thank you. I do love his pretty dapples.

🦄🐎🎠🐴

I am proud of him, he's come such a long way and it hasn't been easy, there were many times I doubted myself and his ability to do the job but now he loves it and so do I. I have even come to love his sass and hijinks, he has personality and should be free to express it, I've never wanted a robotic 'yes mam' kind of horse, I've always wanted a team mate, he just has to sometimes remember I am still the captain haha. Thank you for your lovely comment.🤗

I do not abuse my horse, he wasn't tired, he was full of beans, could you not tell that by his bucks? He travels that route often and right where I had to growl and remind him to keep going was where he likes to pretend to shy because he tries to tell me there are scary things in the bushes every time and this day I wasn't having that excuse. (which can be proven by other videos of him doing exactly the same thing) He would have done the same thing if we had been at a walk. He is also cautious because it is an off lead dog area so he is wary in case any dogs come flying at him (like they are inclined to do) and requires me to remind him I have his back and will protect him, as I have done many times. If you actually pay attention it was the 1 time the whip touched him and then after that he did not need reminding that he doesn't call the shots again, in fact he kept speeding up after that until he knew it was time to start slowing down again. He's very fit, we do lots of milage, he certainly wasn't tired and we walked for a significant time after that. Perhaps if you further your education regarding horses you might learn that given the right fitness build up they are capable for more than a 30 min plod around a paddock that a lot of people do.

He loves the water, I always try and get us in the river so he can have a drink because we are usually out for 2-4 hours. Right now, we are in summer and having some hot days, that's why we went out super early. It also helps to soak his feet because even though we have some good trails, it's still far to much gravel and rocks for my liking and he doesn't wear boots so I figure standing in water would be a nice relief, I think that's why he's so happy to just stand in the river, normally he fidgets when we stop but in the river, he's happy to just stand.

That sounds lovely and probably feels wonderful to him. I always forget that you are opposite us in seasons.. LOL!@@DeeinNZ

😂 What did you want me to say? I said heaps actually but I play music on my drives and it was too loud this day which would have breached You Tube Copyright polices so I dubbed music that is allowed over the whole thing so it wouldn't just be silence. If you check out my other video's you will hear me quite often, so much so I worry people get tired of hearing me laugh and yabber :D I will try and do better for the next one 🤗. Thanks for your feedback and thanks for watching 🤠🖐

Hahaha, I didn't think about turning that one ... next time :D

Totally, he never says no to going somewhere new, he loves adventures and going interesting places. I am hoping to add some gps speed to future videos as Danny can move! ... I clocked him today going uphill at 27km....if you watch todays video (27 Dec) you'll see what hill I'm talking about .. only reason we had to slow down was sadly my friend fell off.

@@DeeinNZ he should have choices

@DariaHarruff He has and he loves his choices and he complains royally when we don't go out and about. He comes running every time we are going out because he enjoys seeing people and going places.

Haha, Danny loves his outings and his adoring fans.

Doesn’t look hard to me 🤷‍♀️

Animals love to have their jobs that they were created for!❤ Looks like he is having a great time!❤

@@IDriveHackneys not at all, was a lovely relaxing drive, except when he forgot to hurry across intersections for safety sake.

@@cristineconnell7803 he does love his outings, better than being stuck in his paddock.

We usually average between 3 and 13 miles (5-20km) depending on the heat, the location and the company we may or may not have.

To cool off on a hot day after a drive. To provide mental stimulation. To provide medicinal support to legs and feet and joints. To solidify our bond of trust. To build on his desensitisation so he can cope with the challenges of life. Lots of purpose. I do as much as I can with Danny, exposing him to as much as I can in a safe way to enrich his life and for our joy in taking time to treasure as many moments of life that we can while we are on this planet. He was not forced to do this. He freely moved around, was guided, and asked to enter the water and quite often played pawing at the water. If he didn't wish to be in that water vigorously, there is no way I could have out muscled him. He was asked a question and answered for himself. Life is full of things we would rather not do, but sometimes you just do it, and sometimes you find it's not as bad as you thought it would be. The waves were loud, he's used to a river but not the noise of breaking waves that was all.

😁

Really well I am so grateful for it.

Yes but he forgets he cannot snorkel and breath sometimes haha.

Thank you, hard to believe how long ago this was. He's a special type of sausage, I learned really early on you can't push him, you just have to niggle him and literally annoy him into giving in, if you get forceful, he either ignores it, or retaliates. He loves streams now as you will see by more recent footage.