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Guess what we did today!!
We drove our goats in UNICORN FORMATION for the first time this afternoon! And dang it! I didn't get any pictures! Phil took some video which will no doubt feature in his livestream at some point. Hopefully I'll get some good photos next time. We had Sonic and Scout hitched to the big wagon for the first time. They did splendidly! We've only ever hitched them to the small garden cart two times and that was sometime last spring. But as if hitching them to the big cart together and using bits for the first time wasn't enough, we attached a singletree to the front of the team pole and hooked Finn out front! It was a little chaotic for the first moment or two while Finn twisted and tried to turn round to face the others, but Phil stayed at his head and got him straightened out. Once we got Finn walking it went magnificently. He tried once or twice more to turn around when we'd stop the carriage, but after he got tangled up on the traces and reins one time he quit doing that. He's a very smart goat and figured it out very quickly. No one had to walk at his head after the first 50 yards or so and Phil and I both took turns driving with the other walking a little behind, ready to jump into the action if the goats misbehaved. But once we were halfway around the circle without any major mishaps, we both got in the carriage and rode together the rest of the way. It was amazing! I hope we can practice enough to drive them like this in the two Christmas parades in December! It's a little weird handling two sets of reins but we soon got used to it. There are a few things I still need to adjust because our hitch isn't quite balanced correctly, but I'm mighty impressed with how our goats handled this entirely new experience. (A new experience for ALL of us, I might add! I've never driven a unicorn hitch or even a four-in-hand before, and unicorn hitches are one of the harder hitches to handle.) GOOD BOYS!!!
Edit:
Phil got some still shots from the video we took today!! Look how magnificent these boys are!!
We drove our goats in UNICORN FORMATION for the first time this afternoon! And dang it! I didn't get any pictures! Phil took some video which will no doubt feature in his livestream at some point. Hopefully I'll get some good photos next time. We had Sonic and Scout hitched to the big wagon for the first time. They did splendidly! We've only ever hitched them to the small garden cart two times and that was sometime last spring. But as if hitching them to the big cart together and using bits for the first time wasn't enough, we attached a singletree to the front of the team pole and hooked Finn out front! It was a little chaotic for the first moment or two while Finn twisted and tried to turn round to face the others, but Phil stayed at his head and got him straightened out. Once we got Finn walking it went magnificently. He tried once or twice more to turn around when we'd stop the carriage, but after he got tangled up on the traces and reins one time he quit doing that. He's a very smart goat and figured it out very quickly. No one had to walk at his head after the first 50 yards or so and Phil and I both took turns driving with the other walking a little behind, ready to jump into the action if the goats misbehaved. But once we were halfway around the circle without any major mishaps, we both got in the carriage and rode together the rest of the way. It was amazing! I hope we can practice enough to drive them like this in the two Christmas parades in December! It's a little weird handling two sets of reins but we soon got used to it. There are a few things I still need to adjust because our hitch isn't quite balanced correctly, but I'm mighty impressed with how our goats handled this entirely new experience. (A new experience for ALL of us, I might add! I've never driven a unicorn hitch or even a four-in-hand before, and unicorn hitches are one of the harder hitches to handle.) GOOD BOYS!!!
Edit:
Phil got some still shots from the video we took today!! Look how magnificent these boys are!!