Ground driving

 Rally now saddles and packs the bridle whole longeing so the next step was ground driving. I have a nice set of biothane lines made by the guy who also made the saddle I use on Rally. The wet grass doesn't affect them, so they are perfect for starting horses and yes we still have moisture- no drought here. While we do have lovely clear skies, we are barely above freezing in the mornings with fog along the river and heavy dew. 

Rally took to ground driving easily, I started with one line to the bit and longed her, then added the other line and moved more to her hip and eventually  right behind her. It didn't take long for her to get it all figured out. Today was her 3rd short session; I did manage a short video but it's kinda hard to do with both hands on the lines.

Yes I could have tightened the cinch a bit more....

We worked on steering, whoa and backing. She is pretty light and responsive once she figures things out. 

We started getting our hay in, now that the farmers have sunshine they are cutting and baling like crazy.  I now have 3 round bales that are 1500 lbs each, even our big tractor had a bit of a groan unloading them. Next up is waiting for the call to pick up the small square bales and we will be done! It's always a relief when all the winter's hay is in. 

Speaking of winter....

this has been going on for the last 3 days, and the poplar trees are getting yellow leaves. It seems summer has finally arrived but fall is knocking on the door. I predict an early winter with lots of snow, which wouldn't be a bad thing for the many areas of this province that have been in drought for a few years now.