When baby horses grow up and start flexing their skills, the real fun begins. Last time, I promised a post on trailer loading, and I will deliver, but lately Mother Nature has given us several weeks of glorious weather for riding and driving. I would rather not spare the footage in favor of more boring fundamentals. I've tucked away my trailer loading post for a future rainy day. For now, this post will feature some of the most beautiful (in my opinion) images and videos we have ever taken, so please enjoy the pure splendor of our adventures in New England.

Once Levi's new driving bridle arrived (which is beautiful by the way - thank you to Mindy and Chimacum Tack!), I wasted no time in putting him right back to work in his cart. Despite training intensely under saddle this summer while we put driving on hold for a bit, he behaved and moved beautifully, as though he never took a day off, and my confidence in his training soared. The riding "module" put the afterburners on the pony and I am glad for it, because it has made a huge difference in both his fitness and his way of going. Lately, we are working on lengthening the stride at both a trot and canter, getting a nicely forward canter (hello hills!), and hacking out in the wide world instead of doing mostly arena work up to this point. So far he is earning an A+. Of course, this should surprise no one, as he is a little over-achiever.

To lengthen the stride, I had a few dumb ideas. If something is dumb but it works, is it dumb? I'll leave that up to you to decide. Like everything, I try to introduce or teach movement I want from the ground first. One of the poignant phrases my instructor has impressed on me is this: "You can only influence the hind leg when it is in the air!" With that in mind, I used my longer driving whip to just barely touch that inside hind on the stifle, first at a trot on a 20 -30 m circle on the lunge line, and then at the canter. The idea was to first just ask him to think about that inside hind leg and remember that he has one he can utilize. I practiced this also under saddle, using a longer dressage whip while still maintaining contact. We worked on this in the indoor arena first, then outside. The second dumb idea I had, which I have shared before, is to use hills to approach upward transitions particularly for the canter; the uphill puts the horse in the ideal frame for the canter because his croup is lower than his withers, and he can easily lift his shoulder to power up. He lifts more of his weight behind, and the rider can more easily get out of his way. Since he naturally wants to burninate up hills, asking for the upward transition at the right time makes the cue easier to understand and gives him the right feeling in his body for it, when we go back to riding on the flat. Trotting downhill is also good for helping lengthen the stride and I like to help him find his own balance while again staying centered and out of the way. Our stride lengthening workouts, dumb as they may be, have made a big difference for Levi in his impulsion and forwardness at a canter. The workout is simple in its format: we hack out for two miles at a brisk walk (with some trotting on the flat trail to get him used to when I will ask for this in the future), and when we return to the trailhead we take advantage of a nice long hill with a relatively slow burn and steeper crest. We do no more than 3-5 repeats of cantering up this hill with walking downhill, and then head back to the outdoor arena where I warm down at a trot for about 10 minutes. He's pretty toasted after this, but the benefits of banking this workout as a once or twice per week investment has made a big difference for him.

Due to his prior training, Levi happily goes out by himself or with other horses; in the video below, which is now my very favorite of all time, he and Mozart are practicing their little canters and it sparks joy. We were so happy to be cheerleaders for Mozart, whose confidence with his canter work is increasing. Being a calm, confident, and steady horse, Levi has a calming effect on more nervous horses, and is a great trail buddy for that reason. When I watch this little video, the song from the animated 1973 Disney film "Robin Hood" comes flying out of the memory vault: Robin Hood and Little John, walking through the forest, laughin' back and forth at what the other has to say...

Under cart, the same idea applies: get out of the arena and into the world. During our first outing back (shown in the videos below) I had no doubt that Levi is at heart a combined driving horse, and we will continue with our training plans in that direction. On the day this video was filmed, we were attacked by mosquitos, and poor Joe my camera man didn't heed my advice to spray himself down before heading out there. I'm happy he managed to stick around long enough to take these gorgeous videos!

Under saddle, I've slowly asked for more forward canter. The hills really help here and he is starting to ignite when asked; I loved these final repeats from last week's workout. The fact you can see my smile from space is all you need to know. I'm not a daredevil or anything, but when we achieve liftoff I can't help but wonder if there's maybe an eventer in there somewhere - it's probably not a good idea to teach your carriage driving horse to jump.

Well, that's it for now, but I will continue to share our progress this Fall, and as we enter cooler weather we will begin our most excitingly boring project yet - teaching obstacles and cones in the cart outdoors.

Levi is my only horse, and will probably always be, so in many ways I've brought him along as an equine Swiss Army knife of sorts capable of performing many activities and endeavors under saddle and harness. He may compete in a combined driving test one weekend, and go out on a 25 mile trail ride the next. He might be asked to pack gear and pull a travois through backcountry as part of training for search and rescue, for which, given his confidence, steadiness, and quiet nature, he is well-suited. We may ride a dressage test at a schooling show and then load up in the trailer and head out onto the beach for some fun in the surf. We may explore other riding disciplines in his lifetime, including endurance or even Western dressage. While his training started early on, he was not fully "started" as in backed, until age 5.5, approximately a year ago. His first hitch to cart was similarly done at a later stage, on his 4th birthday. I undertook these milestones myself, with the help of people close to us and who have supported us. These time frames are well outside of the norm for many if not most trainers, but the rewards for waiting have been immeasurable. I know I did right by him in giving that extra time and space to grow up, mentally and physically, while nurturing, protecting, and preparing his physical body for the demands of sport.

As such, we have now reached a moment together that is both amazing and bittersweet; I think everyone who has brought a young horse along in its training to adulthood finds themselves in this formerly liminal space where it is suddenly apparent that the horse beside or beneath you is now fully an adult. This is bittersweet, because the baby you fell in love with, carefully guided and grew to understand, is now an independent, proud, sentient adult with all systems online, and when you look into the eye of that adult horse, you can witness everything you hoped, worked for, strived after, in its true manifestation. It's humbling, and deeply emotional. It's like you've been in a room all this time lit only by tiny, twinkling lights, whose playful glow over time slowly grew brighter, and that increase was so incremental that you barely paid it any notice until suddenly one day it appears that all the lights are at full strength... and there you are, fully engulfed within it and part of it. Riding in that light in co-existence is wonderful, powerful, and comforting - we're ready now to leave the lessons of foalhood and his early youth behind, and move into an era welcoming the peak experiences of this horse's life. From now on, as he is now 6.5 years old with one year of training under saddle and 2.5 years under cart, I will refer to him as a green horse instead of a young horse. He has earned this title.

So, green horse, what's next?

With much focus on the canter transitions lately, we have also improved our trot due to increased accessibility of power from behind, and it is much more regular and forward. I don't pay too much attention to Levi's frame or the position of his head; is he focused, responsive, moving in rhythm and articulation from the hind legs? Is his back lifted, and is he interacting with my hands without pulling or leaning on the forehand? I don't use auxiliary aids or devices for establishing the frame, as roundness is supposed to be a natural consequence of correct riding, that the horse will learn to seek over time. While these devices have their place (for restarting and rehabbing horses or for young horses who may need early support in lateral balance), I like to see how and when I can feel he is in the right frame as a result of seeking comfort in his position within the movement. By not hassling him about anything as long as I have the basic blocks in place, it really avoids introducing any resentment or tension. Levi is a horse who can really blow up on you if he is pushed too hard and too quickly, and he carries a grudge like it's part of him; I see no reason to create that kind of atmosphere if 80% of what I want is already in place.

Here are a few longer (~ 5 min.) clips from our riding videos from recent workouts. Both show his movement, mostly at a trot and canter, in both the indoor arena which is where we have worked until the recent cooler weather, as well as in the outdoor space. As you can see, he's much more forward albeit quite distracted outside, and was very interested in both our trailer parked along the arena (we practiced trailer loading right afterward), the deconstructed round pen with uneven footing, and the children's afternoon soccer practice ramping up along the right side of the sand box. I also left the sound in these videos so you can appreciate the sudden noises (planes, traffic, screaming, someone pounding a metal stake somewhere in the distance) he has to contend with as well. I used these welcome distractions to give whatever was needed in the moment. I like that he can access a big, forward trot, but can also make that trot smaller when asked, even on a loose rein.

In the second video, I thought we'd put his distracted mind to use through a serpentine pattern in the cones. There's a funny little moment that deserves some context: at about 2:45 in the video, as we trot through the remains of the round pen which was in pieces, he noticed that the little soccer kids he'd been keeping tabs on the entire time were lining up to do some wind sprints, and decided he wanted to join them. As you can see by my smile as we rounded the corner, I could feel he was gearing up to canter, so I reorganized him and sent him forward. Challenging little children to a footrace is really on brand for Levi, so while I had not planned on cantering, I went with it. His canter is much improved, don't you think? It is actually his most comfortable gait over all - I don't have to do much but steer and balance him. Otherwise, I feel like I can just put my feet up and grab a book while he does his thing.

In the indoor, we have less room and he is less rush-y, but still forward and capable of executing good upward transitions. Our right lead canter still needs improvement, of course, and you can see I am using my right leg and whip on his right shoulder to remind him not to fall in to the right. Many horses will drift in over the right shoulder when asked to trot and canter to the right, and although he is getting much better at this, he does need a lot more support from me on the right. Still- I can't complain about the improvement here!

I wish that I had good news on both the driving front as well as show reports. Sadly, due to how insane my summer has been on every level, we have competed in exactly one show and received exactly one blue ribbon. Sure, it's something, but it's clear that our plans for this year are an absolute bust. There's hope for a driving clinic locally happening in October - fingers crossed that we can participate if it's still going to be held. I actually did not drive Levi for the past two months! This was intentional, as we were avoiding greenhead fly activity and focusing on work under saddle. I decided to drive again last week, only to discover that somehow, this guy is still growing - his skull has somehow grown over the past couple of months and now his driving bridle that I just bought last Spring no longer fits across his temples! I can't easily swap out the crown piece for this bridle, and it would be just as expensive to replace the parts as it is to buy another bridle. Oh well. I measured him carefully and ordered a new ComfyFit bridle from Chimacum tack to match his (mostly) ComfyFit harness. Once the new driving bridle arrives, we will be back in that business, and I am glad. I've grown addicted to the physical challenge and increased fitness from riding, but I've really missed driving! My plan is to immediately take Levi out on the trails near the farm - free-ranging cows be damned - with an entourage of riders and footmen along for the journey. It's time to start introducing the next phase of life as a driver: navigating small hills and uneven country.

I had mentioned in a previous post that Joe and I are working diligently on plans to relocate with Levi to our own property in the near future. A large part of my almost non-existent 'free' time this summer has been eaten up in developing infrastructure and prepping at the site. All of that has been hard, physical work. If you can believe it, I did this with my family as a young person, so it's not as daunting a prospect for me, but I did learn that I am apparently very allergic to the acreage of invasive weeds and plants we are in the process of removing to create viable gardens and pasture. My new-to-me brush mower, appropriately called "Dr. Power" is an epic beast and yes, we did mow the full acreage with a walk-behind mower. The hills are my favorite feature of the property; just try being fat now, Levi. The goal is to create a training space for combined driving that will help facilitate healthy, fit horses year-round. I don't want to own other horses, as I said, so we will be reaching out to local rescue organizations to foster some companions for Levi, or to trainers who may need a place to board that is proximal to a popular local show venue. I'll share a bit more about this epic project as we get further along in the process; by this time next year, Levi's landscape will look very different, and he may be building a new 'motor' of his own! At the very least, once I have created a dry track around the property, I will have the option to help keep him off of grass when necessary while still promoting healthy movement and behaviors.

It's too easy to be round, if you're Levi. I've joked that he's the "hardest working fat kid" you will ever meet, but beneath the jokes there is a real concern. After some research I invested in the Thinline Grazing Muzzle, which I'd heard was the best on the market; hopefully this will work for him. If not, he will have to go back on weeds in a smaller paddock until the sweeter Fall grass is gone. Of course, I am just a big meanie apparently, putting a muzzle on and working him so hard. In fact, in the video clip below, just look at how obviously stressed and upset and checked out our poor boy is! Clearly, he's hating being stood in cross-ties for grooming and compliments and treats. Over-burdened by the demands placed upon him, the poor colt is misunderstood and obviously longing for some lone Yoda in a cowboy hat and spurs and armed with a flag and a drinking problem to come along and save him from those people in tights. In seriousness, I don't think we could be any kinder to this horse if we tried. Too much kindness, in fact, has him rounder than a barrel. We're working on it!

For next week, I want to devote a post to trailer loading - what we have been challenged by, and how we overcame it. I think it warrants its own entry and discussion, which are hopefully relevant to a larger equestrian audience. As a sneak peak, I have taught Levi to self-load. Stay tuned if you're interested in that topic, and as always, thanks for joining us on this journey.

One of my goals is to contribute posts on a regular weekly schedule. It's sometimes a challenge for me since I feel like we don't make enough progress that warrants creating a post for anything interesting or noteworthy. At least, the more frequent posts will be shorter and less verbose out of necessity!

As I write this, it's 93 degrees F in the shade, and all horses are inside with fans on for the rest of the day and night. Despite the heat, Levi and I had our lesson this morning as usual, and as we were working I thought about how cleverly our instructor has woven teaching intro dressage movements into these hotter days where we are only asking for short bursts of energy. Currently, Levi is learning lateral movement under saddle. While he is getting it, it is by no means easy for him, physically or mentally. It would probably help if I could actually ride as well. Now, he is learning how to extend a turn on the forehand into forward movement through stepping underneath his body to cross his hind leg, paired with moving the opposite shoulder one step to the side, and repeat. The movement is a not-quite-shoulder-in/not-quite-side pass, alternating hip to shoulder as the horse tracks laterally down the long side of the arena, while keeping his body straight from poll to tail. My job is to sit tall and straight, cue with my outside leg or whip, and immediately release the shoulder with my rein while the hind leg is still in the air, all while keeping the horse's neck and body as straight as possible through the side-step movement. It's really subtle and difficult for both of us to master, and results in a fairly hard workout without over-taxing the horse. Doing this pattern on repeat in the indoor arena today, we were both absolutely drenched with sweat afterward. After correctly executing the lateral movement, the final piece which is perhaps even more important than the correct sequence, is to help the horse use the energy he has just generated by bringing his hind leg underneath his body and lifting his shoulder, to send it forward, right into a trot or canter. Today, Levi did exactly this and even used that energy to initiate a canter in both directions despite me not specifically asking for it. In any case, forward is good- so good job, Levi!

I also intended to ride yesterday, but the flies had other plans. When I arrived at the farm, happy to take advantage of the cooler weather for once, I noticed the geldings were running around willy-nilly in their fly sheets like a group of terrorized ghosts. An army of greenheads was busy picking them off one by one. When I brought Levi into the barn and removed his fly sheet, he was absolutely soaked with sweat across his chest, shoulders, and some parts of his hindquarters, panting like he'd been running a marathon all afternoon, so I set aside my time in the saddle to tend to him. Looking at the naturally-occurring sweat patterns in horses, which result from their movement at liberty, is informative in learning which muscle chains are being recruited at faster gaits. Levi's revealed just how much more of a natural "shoulder mover" (relies on pulling himself with his shoulder "engine" vs. propulsion via the hind legs, back, and hind end) he is, which gives him less natural ability to generate the kind of impulsion he needs to stay in balanced movement under saddle. A large part of early dressage training is teaching the horse how to recruit the right muscle groups, through introducing and performing specific activities tailored to this; just like a targeted body weight routine, these activities are intended to build strength but also to feel good for the horse, as he can stretch those same muscle groups through the full range of movement. I was taught that good riding should also feel good for the horse as well, and that horses that are properly ridden will be much happier in and look forward to their work under saddle. Levi really does seem to appreciate his training - he tacks right up like a dream, ears forward, goes right into the arena to the mounting block, and will even begin pawing impatiently if I am a minute overtime based on his calculation! He does not appreciate his time being wasted, apparently! It helps that I am consistent with that process regardless of his behavior, never impatient, emotional, or rushed. Working on exploring and understanding nuances of smaller but critical movements, and reinforcing neuromuscular memory, are elements of riding training that can be done at times where temperature extremes prohibit harder conditioning, while still providing a lot of benefit to the horse (and rider!).

During our lesson today, we used the energy gained from those early (albeit imperfect) lateral maneuvers to carry forward into smooth and well-connected circles at a trot, in both directions. While making subtle adjustments to my seat, leg, and core to spiral in and out of the circles, our instructor mentioned that these same lateral movements were fundamental to the idea of inside leg to outside rein, helping me make the mental connection before translating to physical cues. The over all goal of this kind of training is to facilitate balance, rhythmic movement, and ultimately, collection, all leading to greater benefit and well-being for the horse. At least, that's what I have learned. However, as I will share below in an amusing anecdote, not everyone shares this sentiment!

While Levi and I approach lessons with a serious and focused attitude, we do have many fun moments. And to be honest, lately I have been looking for anything to laugh about, although seeing photos and videos of my riding is surest of all to fix that! While we were walking a bit to cool down between activities, our instructor off-handedly mentioned something she saw on social media that made me laugh so hard I almost fell off the horse! Apparently, someone created an ad featuring a photo of their horse offered for lease with a list of things it could do (e.g. trail riding, picnics) but with a strong caveat clearly specifying no dressage! Now, I know this person, and they are hilariously funny- think horse-related physical comedy like Pontus Hugosson - and often feature their horse in fun photoshoots or memes. Anyway, the thing that made me laugh so hard is that nobody remotely familiar with dressage, and the horse in the ad in particular, would look at that horse and think, there's the horse that's gonna get me my USDF bronze medal - see ya in Ocala, suckers! Even funnier to me is the implication that our local equestrian scene is somehow under siege by an ominous cohort of dressage trainers waiting to get their grimy little hands on Mom's old mare or gelding, lurking in the bushes and waiting for the chance to jump out and... school your horse according to the training scales, or... maybe teach it to lift its back and... stretch its topline? I don't know. Anyway, watch out for those dressage riders- they're a hidden threat and they're coming right for your horse!

I was inspired enough by this (not to mention the need to have something I found truly funny to laugh about) that I made my own meme: here is an unhinged, social media-coded ad featuring my two adorable AI-generated "lease horses" who are super talented and needing jobs (but not, under any circumstances, dressage)! Hope I can find the right person to bring them along in the Facebooks. (If this doesn't give you a chuckle, just imagine me driving these two, or better, just watch me ride Levi sometime, and you surely will!)

If you've been looking for a sign... this is it: summer is flying by, so go ride!

Another very hot, humid season with several weeks of greenhead fly activity from now until mid-August means our schedule once again changes: early AM turnout and turn in with earlier workouts, and more attention on energy levels, nutrition, and hydration strategies for horse and rider. I decided to forego driving entirely from the beginning of this month until mid-late August, as the potential of a driving wreck due to my poor horse being tormented by biting flies is enough to make me reconsider my training plan. We are already acclimated to hard work in this heat, which is the other big threat, but horses can become desperate to get away from the flies. This farm does not offer night turnout, unfortunately, which could be a good option for maintaining healthy movement. Working only in our indoor arena is no guarantee either, as the flies will find us there as well. Instead of driving, we have been riding almost every day this month. I can fight flies from the saddle, and sit out a fly-induced bolt or buck, but regaining control from the cart in that situation seems like a fast trip to hell: let's not. In late August, when the greenheads finally sweep out to sea to drown in the bay, never to return for the rest of the season, I can dust off the harness and cart and return to driving as planned. I'm sure Levi will remember; he's in great shape right now from all the riding we're doing, and we've made much progress. I can't wait to write about it.

One constant challenge is managing an easy keeper during lush pasture season. I have been introducing changes into Levi's diet carefully; as his fitness improves and training becomes more demanding, his need for specific nutrients and calories in the form of high quality forage is increasing also, but potential insulin resistance is always in the background. He is prone to metabolic syndrome due to breed/genetics, and while fortunately he shows no signs of insulin resistance, he is always rather round and I am vigilant about his condition during this time of year in particular. He was turned out on a low-quality grass paddock with mostly weeds and clover to pick through, and receives second cut hay in a standing slow-feeder when in the barn at night. I learned a while ago that feeding in hay nets can cause the horse to develop imbalanced musculature and mobility in the neck, due to how some horses interact with the nets, and this can create problems for the horse in training. Instead, standing slow feeders allow the horse to eat in a normal position while slowing the rate of hay consumption. He usually has hay left in his feeder every morning, which is a good sign. Since last year, I've also adjusted the ratios of copper, iron, and zinc in his diet via supplementation; the soils in this region are very high iron-content as is the hay we feed, so accounting for iron load is important for metabolic and general health, particularly for horses prone to insulin resistance. Keeping the horse fit is critical, but restricting access to calories by limiting hay and foraging introduces stressors that seem to cause worse problems, particularly behavioral. Instead, I manage his body composition through daily physical work with lots of time (at least six hours daily) and space for movement in turnout, keeping him mostly on grazing spots with poor quality clover (legume) and weeds instead of the nicer grass-filled pastures. I allow selective grazing for brief periods of time after tough workouts.

A tough workout is usually an hour of riding and schooling at all three gaits, covering 3-4 miles or more, which we do several times per week. Afterward, he gets electrolytes in a bucket of water (which fortunately he enjoys - some horses refuse to take electrolytes this way) and about 30-60 minutes of grazing where he likes before going inside or returning to turnout with the herd. He looks round and dappled, but he's strong and fit despite his appearance.

At this point, excluding total time off, Levi has been working with me under saddle for about 8 months, with at least two workouts per week, ramping up to riding several times a week for up to an hour. We started working with an instructor last Fall and have continued, making great progress. He now has a solid foundation with three good gaits, understands transitions, responds to rein, leg, weight, and seat aids (in addition to driving aids that can be translated under saddle), is beginning to understand collection and articulation of movement, and is generally absorbing his lessons under saddle like a sponge. What's missing from that sentence are mentions of higher level training such as dressage-specific movements, performance based metrics or competitions, jumping, and similar. This may not seem like incredible progress compared to other horses at his level, but consider this not a competitive performance training environment but rather the goal is to produce a healthy, happy, well-adjusted equine partner capable of understanding his job and consistency at any level. This approach is for the benefit of my horse. Going this slowly for so long, and being very deliberate and thoughtful even about minor details, I admit that it's sometimes tempting to give into FOMO, particularly when others seem to be achieving so much more with their horses in the short term, but I try to remind myself why I'm doing this, and what it is accomplishing. Ignoring social media has been not only helpful but apparently revolutionary (join the resistance today!).

On that note, I think he's really shaping up to be something special as a saddle horse. Over time, he has become steady enough in executing balanced movement that I can even sneak in a bit of time to work on my own riding, with him! Lately, my workouts have included more stirrup-less work, which both Levi and I prefer. This makes sense considering that this is how I started him last year - in a bareback pad and no stirrups. He responds much better to leg and seat aids without stirrups, as I think my leg is in a more natural position that way. Our jumping saddle, which I do like, puts me in a more forward position while my leg naturally wants to hang straight down, and I am sometimes fighting to not have a 'chair position' with my feet in the stirrups. The video clips below are from a recent workout; I usually ride without stirrups during our warmup and warmdown (warmup shown in the video immediately below) and it is often so comfortable that I lose track of time and may ride for 20 minutes or longer before reluctantly taking my stirrups back. I am proud of Levi's progress in his upward transitions; the responsiveness has really improved, particularly in the trot. Again, this is probably nothing special to brag about considering how many photos and videos on social media are showcasing glossy babies flying over jumps and winning dressage competitions and being fire-breathing over-achievers at ages 3, 4 and 5... if you're thinking so what, I get it. But this is just for us, and these moments are fleeting. Someday, I will look back on them and smile, thinking how willing and kind he was even as a young horse starting his training.

Finally, the best news is that we have conquered the canter! Well, maybe not declared 100% victory, but we are mostly there, and in comparison to where we began, the progress is night and day. Levi still has a hard time picking up the right lead and keeping his balance to the right, and I have to alter my position a bit to keep him from falling in. This is typical young horse stuff. However, he is light years ahead of what this right canter departure used to look like, so I am very pleased with his humble achievements. It's now pleasant to ride his canter, and I look forward to the "thrilling" occasion that he throws a good hand-gallop in my direction. I'm looking forward to the day he's moving at a fast enough clip that I lift naturally into two point and sail right along with him. The most positive change that I like best is of course the shift in attitude that goes along with teaching him that he can do something really difficult for him. Once he owns a movement, it becomes hardwired, although as you can see in these clips below, it takes a lot of motivation and patient repetition to keep the momentum and not break back down into the trot. Even if we only ride for 30 minutes, I always ask for a little bit of canter, even just a lap or two around the arena. Lately we are shortening the break period between canter sets, asking for more energy here and there. Here's how it looks in the clips below; beware, this is not great movement, nor great riding. It's just a reflection of results of the tiny remedial steps in the long process to build up a horse from blank slate to been-there-done-that.

I want to revisit this post later to see if there's anything I forgot - I suspect I have, so will edit this tonight hopefully - but for right now, I'll publish it so I can take my own advice, and go ride.

My plan for Levi's first driving show was to compete in the Pleasure class at the Myopia Carriage Classic which was held today. As I write this, the drivers are likely navigating their cones courses in a heavy downpour, which is one reason why I am glad we decided not to go. Levi hates rain, and working in it is always a huge distraction for us, so it is for the best that I didn't drive him at this event. We will need to work in less than favorable conditions if we ever want to earn the coveted title of 'boiled owl'. This particular show is quite intimidating as well, as it features some of the most accomplished and respected drivers in New England competing with their antique carriages and professionally-trained driving horses and ponies; these are intense competitors who would give us more than a little side-eye if we show up in our silly metal Frey Sprint cart, in a synthetic-and-leather Franken-harness, equipped with three trots that are still indistinguishable from each other, and proceed to ruin everyone's day with our mediocrity. I want Levi's first driving show to be a good experience for the both of us, but there aren't many options locally outside of this club. I have a few ideas, however, and we will keep working at preparing to give our best. Don't lose faith in us - you'll see.

I have also had to travel more frequently for work and personal reasons, further limiting our time to prepare for driving competitions. This week, I traveled to see my family (whom Levi has never met) for a rare visit; I received some really devastating news that means I will need to travel back and forth more often, meaning that our show schedule will be impacted. When I saw Levi again on Friday, I told him what was up since I always tell him anything important; he listens intently of course, and while he doesn't understand my words he seems to know the intention and emotions behind them. I created a little obstacle course in the outdoor arena and put him right to work under saddle, with a brief but intense workout, after matter-of-factly spilling the beans. What I am feeling, regardless of whether it is justified, should not affect any situation with the horse. We have work to be done, and we will do it regardless of my emotions. As trainers, I think it is crucial for us to be emotionally stoic and consistent, which includes keeping all that bad stuff from our human lives far away from the horse, at all times. My generous equine partner already carries my body safely - he should not have to carry my emotional burden as well. I am obligated to give him the best of my presence and focus, and he does not owe me anything.

Levi's first off-property outing in mixed riding and driving company took place last month, at an event with our local club. We trailered about 10 minutes to the Bradley Palmer State Park, which I've never been to before, and learned we were a bit late as the procession of carriages and equines of all shapes and sizes, accompanied by walkers and riders, rolled past as we were unloading. Levi knew immediately what was up and despite the new surroundings, was confident and determined to catch up! Not wanting to frustrate my eager mount, I launched into the saddle and we marched right down the trail... promptly missing an important turn. Joe kept pace alongside with a map to help navigate, but his navigation skills are a little off when he is nervous (which he was, walking next to an excited and eager horse on tip-toes blowing at everything) and after awhile we just shrugged and decided to explore instead of trying to locate our group. The trails are beautiful, filled with riders, hikers, dog walkers, and of course, the ever-dreaded bicyclists. Now, encountering cyclists was oddly one of the few situations I hadn't prepared Levi for, and not only seeing them at a distance but standing quietly as groups of them actually raced toward and past him on the trail, was novel. When confronted with cyclists for the first time, horses often react to them as terrifying half-human machine monsters, but fortunately as he has seen enough stuff with wheels this did not provoke him. I prepared myself for any reaction, but he just snorted and went full giraffe, head in the skies, body so tense that you aren't sure if he'll blow up into the stratosphere or just take off if you put a leg on. We stood, with me just sitting there not doing anything, and after a while, he realized the wheel-running 'herd' was not to be feared but only more nonsense from the people. He snorted, shook it off, and lowered his head. We took off down the trail to look at the next interesting thing without any further comment from Levi.

During our 4.5 mile ride, we saw and navigated many other new-to-Levi scenarios from big hills gated by narrow culverts, to forest groves filtering into wide open fields, and he did wonderfully well. On the way back, we caught a glimpse of our friends in their carriage with their over-achiever competition horse putting miles between them and anything with wheels. They told us we were going the wrong way but that it didn't matter as the carriages were having difficulty navigating some new construction on the trails and were turning back. We rode back to the parking lot with a couple of new members driving a Canadian horse in their carriage, and a been-there-done-that rider on his graceful old Warmblood who knew the park by hand and was a little amused at how we'd managed to get lost despite having a well-marked trail map. There were a few nice rolling hills that I let Levi trot up, and was quite happy that he chose to ignite the afterburners and break into a few strides of canter; what did I say about letting him cook? It might be a stupid (or stupider than schooling in a ring like a normal person) way to learn that upward canter transition... but if it's stupid and it works...

While our trail ride was completed with an A++ for Levi, nothing great is guaranteed, as when we tried to load up and go home, he dug his proverbial and literal heels in and refused to get back on the trailer. Joe and I did everything we could think of but he can be stubborn. As is well-known to Levi, my toxic trait is that I am quietly relentless, meeting his stubbornness on another level. It was a matter of wills. After 45 minutes (all in front of the driving club members, I might add, who were having a really nice picnic I'd wanted to join, and who were likely taking bets as to whether I'd be riding the horse back to his farm that night), we finally pushed him onto the rig in a final burst of momentum - Joe fastened the doors, we hopped in the truck, and managed to make it home just before a cloudburst. Levi looked a bit sheepish (and relieved) unloading when he realized he was back at home for his efforts, and all that protest was for nothing.

Later, a driver friend texted asking if everything turned out okay and if they should have offered to help. It's always difficult to watch people struggling to get horses to load and not know if you should try to step in, or not. It sometimes makes things worse. I think every single person watching the spectacle had gone through that same tribulation at some point, and I felt no embarrassment nor self-consciousness about it because I knew that any good horsemen had been there. The same horse calmly hopping in and out of his trailer at our recent show had decided to refuse on that particular day, and it was what it was. The unspoken sentiment among the group seemed to be that we could handle it and that, as my friend said, "if you can't get him on, there's no way that I could!" When do you step in and offer help when someone is having some trouble with a horse? Every situation is different, but I think compassion and knowledge coupled with a matter-of-fact attitude go much further than assertiveness, trying to take over the situation, standing around 'in support' while actually escalating, old-fashioned emotional reactivity, blaming, judgement, or calling upon the old gods and the new or smudging incense around. If we truly needed help, I am not too proud to ask for it, and we were fortunately in good company had we done so.

In the cart, we are doing well under Sam's guidance. She's fairly soft-spoken and usually suggests rather than tells, but when working with us in the cart she is very assertive and fast to correct any mistakes, reflecting her ability to give what is needed as a driving instructor. I really appreciate this, as the arenas have no mirrors to quickly check my position in real time and make adjustments. I always have to review our footage after the fact and try to remember what to do differently the next time (usually a lot!), which is less efficient. I think Levi's physical development under saddle is also improving his strength and stamina for driving. We just weren't ready for the carriage show today, unfortunately; looking at the video above carefully, what do you think? I guess we could have done it, but I don't like to take that energy of uncertainty into an important show. I also don't want to be the reason anyone else's performance is ruined in case my bet was wrong and everything goes sideways! Never want to be that guy.

I have a couple of little clips showing our process for hitching and unhitching without a header. These are interesting because, in the first clip where I hitch up to the cart, we dealt with two problems that had not been an issue before: while securing the shafts there was sudden pandemonium outside, in which a bunch of horses got loose on a merry chase, as well as a minor equipment malfunction. My process for hitching and unhitching is standard and the same every time: my lead line is clipped to the bit with the reins secured, and the lead line resting on the ground in front of the horse (or held if I need it for safety); cart and horse are aligned; I lift the shafts and slide the left shaft into the tug, and then secure the right tug (a quick-release style); tighten/secure the overgirth; quickly attach both traces to the singletree; fasten the holdback straps through the footman's loop, keeping the trace, in a figure eight wrap and secure the ends in the buckle; do a quick once-over to ensure everything is buckled, fastened, and secured; detach the lead line and bring it with me into the carriage; jump into the cart and secure my lines underneath me; take my whip in my right hand and adjust my reins; pause for a second to check in with the horse and briefly scan the environment; give my cue to walk on. Unhitching is almost identical, just reversed.

With a header, my personal preference is that person stands out of view of the horse, behind the blinker and about a foot or so from the horse's head, and keeps talk or interacting with the horse at a minimum. I have experienced people introducing various distractions via treats, pats, affectionate greetings, or misplaced expressions of empathy "oh, poor little boy has to work - mummy is just so evil and mean!" which are all unproductive. It isn't that I don't want others to have a relationship with the pretty horsey, but rather to keep our monkey-minded green bean of a Levi focused on his upcoming task of driving the cart, and distinguish driving-mode from people-enjoying mode. People unfamiliar with driving see this moment of respectful quietude in these horses and can mistakenly believe that carriage horses are "shut down" or suffering when in reality, these are highly trained athletes that are using the time to save energy, go within, get calm within their minds and bodies, and prepare themselves for what they are asked to do next. I have observed this state of going within before competitions in every carriage driving horse at a show. This is an intelligent response and not a powerless one. They have been trained to stand like this, and it is for everyone's safety that they not be interfered with nor misunderstood. Please do not, ever, approach a driver and attempt to touch or pet their horse, with or without permission. People grabbing reins or bridles have been stunned to find themselves holding a horseless bridle, sometimes after being knocked to the ground by the horse's chest or carriage shaft. When we strap a horse to a carriage, he becomes a living projectile; do you really want yourself or anyone vulnerable such as a child near that situation? The driving horse cannot see what is immediately in front of and around him very well, and he is relying on the driver's skill to help him navigate. Please do not offer treats to working horses without a driver's permission, nor get angry with drivers who may be terse in their response to questions or even ignore you when we are operating the carriage or horse - we are not being haughty or rude bastards, I promise (at least not all of us). Our job is to keep ourselves and everyone else safe while driving. The most vulnerable state in which humans and horses can be hurt while driving is during hitching and unhitching, and when the driver is getting in and out of the carriage, and this is why we are so strict and systematic with these processes.

Lately, we have been working on improving bend and circling to the right, as Levi's left hind leg is weaker, while that right hind has been working overtime. He tends to counterbend when he's tired or I haven't set him up correctly on the right. I feel like I drive two horses sometimes, based on the direction he's traveling, but this can be improved with correct work and time. I measured out a 30 m circle with the cones and try to consistently drive something resembling a 30-40 m circle, although often we will drive a square instead. I'm pretty sure those squares he loves driving so much are not part of any dressage tests!

Uncertainty as a result of my family's situation will dictate what portion of summer I can devote to showing, but I will still prepare us for the shows we have planned. As always, and no matter what, I could not ask for a better partner than my Morgan.

May is off to a galloping start, although we are still kind of ambling along, respectively. When I think about both work and personal responsibilities as well as the needs, training, and show schedule for Levi, my resting heart rate jumps 20 points and my blood runs ice cold; but, if there's a way to accomplish all of that and be successful in all endeavors this year, you know I will damn well find it.

Speaking of success, our first show of the season was a hit, with Levi winning a blue in the Open English In Hand class at RRDC. Here's a shot of us before the class, and again during the lineup. I don't recall what I said to him as he seemed nervous beforehand, although I had very low expectations. I told Joe that just loading in the trailer and making it out there was a win for me! I had briefly considered entering the Adult Walk-Trot Equitation and Pleasure classes, but fortunately thought better of it as I realized that we not only need a lot more practice to not embarrass ourselves, but also avoided a Springtime downpour in the afternoon. Drowning at a horse show is not on the master list of ways I intend to leave this dimension.

I included a video of the judging and ribbon pinning. If you want to just see the ribbon pinning it's in the last minute or so of the video; true to form, I got giddy on the way out, mistaking the in-gate for the out-gate. I think Levi looks pretty darn good lately, considering all of the effort we are putting into riding (and driving!), and fortunately he also performed well enough in the class of nine horses and ponies that the judges agreed and we took home his first blue of the season. I stashed it safely in the tack room for now - the barn swallows will have to wait until the end of the season for target practice. We do plan to compete in several more shows this season, under saddle, in hand, and in driving ... and man, it exhausts me to consider how I will accomplish all of that and stay upright, but I am not going to talk about any of them in advance, in the hope that I don't jinx us. I know, I know, I don't believe in dumb superstitions either, but still.

We are also making major strides with the dressage training under saddle. This instruction has been the best investment that I could have made for us; there is no equipment (saddle, carriage, etc.), clinic, gimmicks, or online webinars that could substitute for good classical instruction. I can't describe to you how difficult this hard work has been, both physically and mentally for the both of us, but it is so rewarding to see changes almost overnight and happening continuously.

There is truly so much to be gained by submitting yourself and your horse to a dedicated working program designed to build up the horse correctly and position you, as both an athlete and a rider, to give your best effort always. It's a reminder as well that beneath what looks effortless and easy is an ocean of deep sacrifice and hard work that is often done in private, and unrecognized or unappreciated as such until it is evident. To put it into perspective, we have been working under saddle with an instructor for months now, and only in the past few weeks has Levi actually begun to look and move anything like a dressage horse. It takes years of good, solid and consistent riding to see results in this direction, so I am encouraged by this humble progress. We are locked in; we're invested for the long haul.

I was delighted to see a little footage of us the other day where he was lifting his back at a working trot, rounding down into the frame, accepting lovely light contact, and then stretching down on an increasingly loose rein until we were moving gracefully along on the buckle! We have only just begun the "long-and-low" work, and my thinking about this kind of movement has been totally revised in consideration of Levi's needs. If he had a more suitable back and conformation, such as a Warmblood or PRE horse who was designed for dressage, the ever so popular long-and-low work could probably have begun sooner, but in Levi's case, he needed months of support from me in interim stages teaching him to carry himself, while riding in a way as to avoid overloading his forehand. We couldn't ask him to stretch down into movement before he had the muscle strength to continue lifting himself and not create counter-productive biomechanics. I am learning so much about this every day.. it feels impossible to describe it all but I will try to post a few reflections on this process more often, if I can.

While Levi is doing just great with all of this, I still ride like a sack of potatoes (or whatever else you want to put in it). I am forever grateful for the help and instruction I am receiving from both our riding instructor as well as our driving instructor, Sam. Sam has a long history of driving and schooling in both driven dressage and combined driving. She has a unique background and a lot of knowledge that I am appreciative of, but is also entertaining new directions as her personal interests with horse training evolve. It is the mark of a master to keep educating themselves, updating their skills, and learning on their own and with other masters, all while sharing their knowledge. School is never out of session. We have explored some of these training ideas with Sam, as Levi's classical education as a six year old is firmly in place at this point and we are in no danger of altering that, or being drawn into some kind of weird, expensive horse cult (cough P*****i cough) for people who get information from TikTok trainers and are afraid of their horses. Playing with a few new-to-us ideas (nothing cultish - just exploring movement) as an add-on to my solid and more traditional program is also fun and interesting, without risking confusing the horse or making me feel forced into renting more space in Crazy Town.

Speaking of Crazy Town... our long and often difficult journey through navigating various boarding farm situations is fortunately coming to an end in the near future. I can't tell you how relieved I am about this. Boarding Levi has become very challenging for me personally lately, as I just really don't deal well with irrational people who insist on keeping horses as a proxy for going to therapy or taking their medication, nor do I want to support situations that I think are rapidly unraveling, becoming unsustainable, or potentially dangerous for horses and people. I also really want to keep Levi in a place where I can control his nutritional needs; as he ages, he will require a seasonal dry lot, or better, a paddock track system, where he is encouraged to move throughout the day and consumes primarily low-NSC hay, off pasture grass during the spring and fall growth cycles. No facilities locally have such a track system in place, and even though his current farm has been promoting it, nothing in the way of this has been fulfilled to date. Joe and I have been working on a plan to bring Levi to his ideal forever home with us for a while now, and this plan is solidly in motion. While I am yearning to talk more about it, I've learned that be best thing to do is just show results and keep silent except for a trusted few. As they say, people can't ruin what they don't know. I had a lovely image of Levi's new spot to show you.. but instead, I will just leave you with this gorgeous photo of Levi and Indy Blue instead. It's such a peaceful moment.

Happy trails and new horizons are ahead for Levi and I!

Well, the one good thing about taking forever between updates is that I can sift through copious notes, footage, and thoughts to create some kind of interesting story or coherent narrative out of the journey in ridden and driven training that isn't as boring as the weekly or monthly updates. We will start with where we are as of today, in terms of what we have accomplished as well as a few new changes in Levi's routine that have impacted him. Right off the bat, we have a beautiful surprise to show you in the form of a brand new little herd member! Let's jump right into it, with some videos letting the horses tell the story better than I can.

If you are gasping with delight at this little bundle of joy, join the fan club - this gorgeous little chestnut filly is miss Indy Blue, a purebred Morgan who just celebrated her first birthday last month. Baby Indy has been at the farm for about six weeks and we collectively decided that Levi would be an ideal turnout companion for her, as he is very gentle but also will teach her the social skills she needs to thrive with other horses. The two are thick as thieves yet have only been together for a couple of weeks now. How special to have another Morgan at this farm! We are very lucky to have such a nice baby here. The series of photos and videos below tell their little story so far.

The two Morgans, despite being purebreds, are quite different in type even when age is considered, aren't they? I think Indy Blue will be taller than Levi at her adult height, and she is more narrow as well (although she will fill out as she grows). Even when he was at her age, Levi was compactly built, and with denser, thicker bone, with a wider forehead, shorter face length, and button nose. I see a more gracile and delicate, even ethereal, appearance over all for the filly. It will be interesting to see how the two horses differ based on their breeding, once she grows up. So far, Indy's lovely human family is just letting her enjoy a large, safe place to mature and she is learning basic handling, although they have expressed some interest in teaching her to drive eventually when she is ready in a couple of years. I often need to access their shared paddock to turn in or out, but I don't handle this filly very much, although it's pretty difficult to refrain sometimes given how sweet and approachable she is! Right now, we are all friends, and she can decide how much or little she is comfortable with in that regard. There is such a thing as handling little ones too much and I don't want to overwhelm her or create a situation where she would be confused about how to interact politely with people. I usually just greet the filly over the fence, as in the video above, and let Levi do all of the disciplining and communicating with her. The "surly uncle" torch has now been successfully passed on to Levi: as a newly minted adult, he will soon be expected to lead small groups of young horses and assist us in bringing them up properly to learn their jobs with human beings. The sooner he is comfortable with this, the better he will be at this role. He is already taking to it surprisingly well. I think he feels very high up on himself and proud about reaching a brand new social tier, now that he has a "mare" of his own, which no one else here has! When she first arrived, there seemed to be some discussion back and forth among the geldings (and the two mares!) about who was going to take the baby into their herd. It may have come as a surprise that the horse who is lowest on the totem pole, and less invested with the baby, was the one who swooped her up!

In case you were wondering what happened during our winter, you didn't miss much during January and February. In fact, I have one image in particular that best describes those two months, and that is this monolithic sheet of ice revealing treacherous misery to all who attempted to so much as step outside:

Despite this dangerous condition, we soldiered on and I was at least able to keep Levi in fighting shape, with a couple of workouts (mostly lunging or short but intense riding sessions) each week during those two months. Since he was working so hard and we were also putting effort on trying to improve our canter, I decided to limit working in the cart so that Levi could simply save energy.

Under conditions like these, the horses' top priority is not performance but survival. I didn't want to put him through unneeded physical stress when we were working so hard at intense levels during very cold weather already. However, there were warmer days ahead in late February and March; Levi and Mozart had a few snow days where just playing in turnout was all the work they needed to do. This was a nice mental break for Levi as well; building downtime and play opportunities into his daily routine, even if it's just making snow angels from fresh powder or chasing pals around, is so important.

I am happy to report that we have actually accomplished breakthroughs with canter quality recently. I really want to show you footage of this, but I haven't captured any yet, and will ask our instructor to film us next time, if she's comfortable with that, so you can see the difference. I also made some additional changes to his diet and supplements as well, which are giving him extra energy and nutritional support without making him 'hot'. Also, limiting strengthening of 'pushing' muscles with the shoulder by keeping him out of driving training for the past couple of months (until recently) also helped. We are driving again now that the weather is warmer, and his driving frame has been completely transformed.

We are continuing to work not only with our current (and amazing) dressage instructor, who is really helping us navigate this process, but also with our former barn manager turned driving instructor, Sam, who is helping us in the cart. I would really like to show Levi under cart this year, and with Sam's great help and advice, we are likely to succeed.

I'll share more about how we started to work together on Project Levi in the next post, as this is too long already for most. Thanks for coming along with us as we support the development of this beautiful and special horse.

I know I've been behind on posting for some time, but Joe and I have been preoccupied with various obligations, and now that the year is nearly over I have a moment to catch up with this. In my last entry, I shared that we are working with a riding instructor to help progress Levi and I under saddle. We have been working with her twice per week since October, and the ground we've covered in just two short months is astounding to me. It would probably have taken me twice as long to get these results on my own, which really underscores the importance of working with professionals you trust once you're at a point where you have some of the basics in place. While I won't share our instructor's name for privacy reasons, nor will I be filming any of our lessons as I want her to feel comfortable and not be concerned about that, she is a local professional who has been competing at high levels (mostly eventing) for decades, and who has started countless riders and horses. She is the instructor for several current and former riders at our boarding farm, and one of her areas of expertise is working with green horses, which makes her an ideal resource for us. I'll give some updates about our process and progress in the following paragraphs.

Before I update that, I wanted to summarize our show season this year and talk about a few plans and ideas for 2025. This year, showing did not go as I planned for various reasons, mostly because my work schedule picked up significantly which limited the number of shows we could do. I was able to attend about half the shows I had planned. Two of the Morgan breed shows that Levi and I attended were also removed from the list of star rated shows per the AMHA; afterward, I learned that the registry had done so early in 2024, which we didn't know, and the information on the website appeared to not have been updated. The two formerly rated Morgan shows we competed in, which were the Summer Kick-Off and Lippitt Country Show, were dropped from that program last year. Points earned in 2023 for these shows still counted, but not for 2024 onward. Going forward, we can get points (and did this year) in shows with divisions in which Morgans are also competing against other breeds. If we want to receive points for placing in classes where we compete with other Morgans, we can attend a regional show (and Grand National & World Championship as well). I enrolled Levi in the Open Competition program (see the AMHA website for details), and entered his results for this year, as it was past the deadline to enter his show results from last year. Last week, I received an email from AMHA congratulating me on Levi being awarded 9th place in the Open Shows In-Hand Division, which surprised me because I didn't understand how we managed to place in the top 10 given how few qualifying shows we participated in this year. I reached out to the registry for clarification, and will try to pass that information along in an upcoming post if anyone else is confused by this. In any case, good job, Levi - he now has some show points on his registration - and the fact that he could achieve this placement in the "Levi vs. Everybody Else" category is pretty cool. I have kept all of Levi's ribbons where he can see them in the barn. He knows these are his ribbons, and that they mean he's done well; I think he's proud of them, too.

The out-of-place pink ribbon among the blue and red and multicolored is a story in itself and was received at our last show this year. I actually debated throwing that ribbon away (and the birds must have felt the same way I do about it, given that they collectively shat upon that ribbon in particular), not because I was disappointed in myself or Levi, but because we had a very stressful time at that show. Nothing went right from the beginning, despite the fact that Levi gave his best performance to date in the chaos around us. We earned this ribbon in the Open Sport Horse In-Hand class at the Lippitt Country Show in August. That show had divisions for Lippitt Morgans only, and an open division for other Morgans. Non-Lippitt horses could not compete in Lippitt-only classes, but Lippitts could compete in open classes. The Sport Horse In-Hand class is more of a performance-based class, but at this show, it appeared to be considered one of the model classes. Model classes are scored based on conformation and metrics of the breed standard and are usually competitive for horses that are or could be suitable for breeding. Our class included five horses, all of which were Lippitt stallions except for Levi, and all of these horses were much older than him with established careers as show, breeding, and performance sport horses. The physical differences between Levi and any one of these Lippitt stallions, were striking; Levi has some of the Morgan show phenotype, but is more delicate with a shorter back and more Arabian looking head, particularly when compared to Lippitt horses. I told him a little ruefully afterward that he could have spent two years lifting weights and smashing plates in his pony gym and still never placed higher than a stallion in that class, due to the presence (or, in his case, absence) of one very critical hormone. Everything leading up to the class, and afterward, had been an absolute disaster, but Levi always rises to the occasion and he gave me 110%, which was more than I could have asked for. He did well enough that right afterward, for a second, I thought we had a chance of being in the top three, but we were awarded 5th place out of five. I took the pink ribbon home and added it to our collection, whereupon the barn swallows made their sentiments immediately known. Over time, that ribbon has earned a special place for me. It's a reminder to not take anything for granted, and to always put in your best effort even if everything is going sideways. It's a reminder to choose any event as carefully as you prepare for it, and to keep all things in perspective if they start to unravel.

For 2025, we will have the opportunity to compete under harness and saddle as well, which is really exciting. I will stick to local shows with open divisions and that are under an hour or so from his boarding barn so we don't have to stay overnight at the venue. Having learned from the past, I'll also recruit a team of people to help, as showing a horse with just two people is challenging, if not impossible for driving competitions. Finally, I'll make effort to be a little more social at shows, if I can, which might be easier if I don't have to babysit Levi continuously; I didn't have any time to meet any of the people I really wanted to at the shows we attended, and still look forward to that.

Back to riding training, we have twice weekly one-hour private lessons with our riding instructor. These usually happen in the indoor arena since it's been wicked cold outside lately, and working indoors limits the many distractions for the attention-challenged youngster, helping set him up for success and focus on the job.

When we first started, Levi must have felt we were ganging up on him, since that was how he reacted to the sudden presence of a third party with an agenda following us around the arena. Once he realized it was me in the hot seat instead of him, and the pressure was off of him, he relaxed. This wasn't a trainer getting after him - she was getting after me - which made her A-OK in his book. It helps that she is compassionate and has a sense of humor about the fact that we are, and continue to be, a total hot mess most of the time. This is why if you can, and early on, it is so valuable to have a coach or expert eyes on the ground to help you in the first place; you can't get ripped sitting on the couch thinking about it or doing the wrong exercises, you can't become competent by burying yourself in literature without consistent and correct application of principles, and you can't go back in time with a young horse if you fail at an important crossroad for lack of help. We seem to be a good team together so far, and our progress and the physical changes (that are all positive) that I've seen in Levi clearly demonstrate that.

An easy way to determine if horses are in a good, regular training or working program is to simply look at them. It is really clear which horses at our boarding farm are working with our instructor. All of them (including Levi's BFF, the Friesian gelding Mozart!) are beautifully shaped and carry themselves with lightness and balance. Their backs are strong and flat, and they have lovely toplines and strong, sound legs. Although at different ages and training stages, they all have good fitness and strength. An instructor or trainer who can produce horses that look like that, whether you view them working under saddle or harness or just walking around out in the field, will have living advertisements for their services. A good instructor will also tell you, usually during your lesson when they ask you to perform an exercise with the horse, what muscle groups are being worked and what biomechanical purpose or advantage that exercise has for the horse. You can confirm this is true afterward by feeling those muscle groups and examining the sweat patterns on the horse; in Levi's case, he is building some much-needed muscle in his hindquarters and hind legs, while he is being asked to lift his chest and engage his thoracic sling, lift his back and take some weight off of his forehand. The sweat patterns for this kind of work vs. driving, for example, are different and reflect the different focus on building muscle groups to support specific activities. Many of our lessons have gymnastic components where I am taking the horse through exercises such as trotting over ground poles to help achieve the longitudinal balance to support the work we are asking of him. Some are more technical and refine my communication with the horse through my aids, while others incorporate suppling activities that support connection and impulsion, and, eventually, collection. One remark my instructor said that resonated with me was this (and I'm paraphrasing but I wished for once I would have recorded her comment!): "When we add the weight of ourselves and a saddle to the horse, we throw off his natural longitudinal and lateral balance and he now has to cope with that. If we don't give him the tools to do so in a way that helps him stay safe, balanced, and healthy, we are not doing right by him. He isn't being lazy, or evasive - he simply does not know how to use his body properly with this weight that he was never intended to carry in the first place, until we teach him. This is the purpose of the training scales - we are educating the horse to properly carry the rider."

I have only had the chance to film two videos so far of our more recent riding work, and shared some clips of these below. Although I don't film my lessons, as I mentioned, I was able to film the last two riding workouts that we do on our own. Levi and I ride twice a week in lessons, and once per week by ourselves with either driving workouts or rest days in between. The riding workouts we do on our own are a few steps behind what we are learning in lessons, because at this point I only want to do activities that support and clarify what we've been taught, without introducing any new training. For example, we might (if weather is nice) go out on a relaxed trail ride. If we work indoors, I will structure our workouts based on the recent lessons so it is consistent for Levi, albeit at a more relaxed, less intense level. The quality of the connection, clarity of my aids, responsiveness of the horse, and consistency in how I am riding are elements on which I try to center my attention. Levi and I as a pair are about 90% aloha with only 10% yee-haw, so relaxation comes naturally to us; the twice-weekly lessons are helping us yee the needful haws, but the one day per week where we don't tap into that energy, we try to integrate the knowledge without going full cowboy.

Below are a few clips of our riding workout last week, showing our warmup, transitions, and some funny events during our warmdown. I thought I'd share these because the equine orca working alongside us, called Zoie, steals the show! Zoie is her own thing, and does mostly trail riding with her owner and another rider who leases her and works with her in these clips. Levi and Zoie don't have the best history and she has repeatedly declared war on him while he purely does not care one bit about her on a deeply spiritual level. Despite this, the two horses have been calm together working in the arena, although Zoie is often allowed to do whatever she likes and may tell her rider to sod off, so I kept one eye on her and her rider (of whom I am in admiration for re-entering the world of riding again after a long hiatus!) to make sure we gave them a lot of space as we zoomed around. After the ride, we see a cameo from Zoie that will always make me laugh, and you can see how she really feels about Levi! We don't have a blooper reel yet, but this is a good start. I do love Zoie!

Yesterday's ride was much less exciting, with Levi and I working alone in the indoor. I have included a few clips of us working at a trot below. He is relaxed and listening, with a good rhythm and connection. I can hear our instructor's voice in my head yelling at me to get after him and push him into a higher gear, but I'm actually happy with this trot. (The fact that I think that is exactly why we needed a teacher again!)

Since November, we have been slowly sprinkling in upward transitions to the canter and attempting to move in a balanced way at this gait. I used the word 'attempting' like that means anything. I also have to preface this by saying that on a good day, Levi's canter is mediocre at best, and that's while he is galavanting out on the paddock with no cares in the world. It's partly because he is young, and hates feeling unbalanced, and is also not necessarily lazy but just really not a hot horse, so he doesn't practice a lot on his own. Being Morgan, Levi is built to hammer along at a trot all day, while acting like cantering is a foreign concept to him. I'm convinced that when the founders decided to improve on the newly created Morgan horse breed, they pointed at the hindquarters and said, "absolutely not, we must move the engine in the front", and thus, the road trot was born. It sometimes feels like I am riding and driving just the front end of this horse, with the hindquarters drifting along for the ride like a person on the back of a tandem kayak. Impulsion? Don't know her.

If you were to ask Levi what he thought his hind end was actually for, he'd look at you wide-eyed and reply, that's what I use to escape! And it's true; I've shown multiple clips of him exploding into flight from random devils in the trees, so we know he can actually get his hind legs under him, lift his shoulder and his front end, and GO. Yet, putting this sequence into deliberate practice in a calmer setting seems like the hardest thing he's ever done, and he has a lot to say about it. Despite this, our instructor keeps patiently pressing us onward, and while it feels like I am crash-landing an early prototype of the lunar module whenever I ask him to pick it up, we seem to be making some slow progress. I debated posting this clip of one of these unfortunate transitions because it is so cringe, but in the spirit of transparency showing you how the dang sausage is made, I overcame my reticence. So now, for science, here's the ugliest canter transition I've ever seen, and if it looks bad just know it felt even worse- but you know what, I'm still proud of him!

Fortunately, figuring out the cantering is merely a sprinkle in the work we are doing, and not a main dish. We accidentally discovered our canter in the first few weeks of riding when I pointed him up a long hill and let him cook. Most horses will break into the canter in this case, and he found a few strides before dropping back to a trot after the crest of the hill. With professional help, we might have a chance to build this up properly.

I still need to write up my end of the year post, summarizing our major milestones and highlights, and presenting some new ideas and goals for 2025. As we head into the New Year, I'll leave you with this clip of Levi pestering Sam's horse, Ennis, while celebrating on the day before Christmas Eve. Happy holidays, everyone!!

We've made the most of these warm, gorgeous Fall days by pushing for major progress in Levi's driving and riding training. In my last post, I shared that I had started him riding at the end of July. He was ready then, and he remains so now. We've consistently ridden at least two days per week since then in his bareback pad (a Werner Christ fur saddle). We currently alternate riding and driving days, basing the workout and workload on his thresholds and conditioning/schooling needs. Our workout progression has followed the outline I shared in the last post, with a few twists, for excellent results. At the end of September, Levi wanted to do a little bit more than ring work. I replied, "OK, but if we're heading out into the wide world, could I please have stirrups now??" While riding in the stirrup-less bareback pad has cemented a solid place for a weekly workout, in order to make more progress with a green horse learning to balance a rider at all three gaits, we needed a good saddle. Fortunately, I found one, and I think it fits him very well. Did we really get this right on the first try? Saddle fitting is usually an arduous process. While I do have a saddle fitter coming out this week to give us the thumbs up or thumbs down regarding the saddle I chose, after three rides in this saddle (with stirrups- thanks Levi!), I am already seeing some great progress.

In addition to riding, we have been driving also, and I feel that starting Levi under saddle has actually improved our driving. I have not been great about getting routine photos and footage of all of our workouts. One great step forward is that I have taught Levi how to ground tie, meaning I can drop his lead rope and have him stand quietly to be hitched without a header. While in principle I didn't agree with doing this at the outset, the reality is that I can't always rely on others to help me, and if I don't learn how to hitch alone safely, I won't be able to drive as often as we need to keep up both fitness and training progress. It's a tradeoff and a risk I was willing to make; so far, we have had zero problems. I have put Levi to his cart myself multiple times in different settings and I feel it has not only made us better and more confident drivers, but has improved our focus and our relationship as well. "Just the two of us" is the way we prefer to work at this point.

I made a few modifications to his tack that have helped him; I noticed a while ago that while he was interacting with his bit and going on the bit in the cart, on occasion he would kind of hold the bit instead of really working and responding to it. I watched this pattern for several days and then thought perhaps he would be happier if the reins had less motion, the bit was more level in his mouth, and the signals were all clearer. The way to accomplish this, in addition to being relentless with myself about keeping still and quiet hands and a good position in the cart, was to change his bit. Levi was driven in a 3-piece jointed snaffle with a butterfly cheek piece; the bit accommodates a curb chain which I usually do not drive with, and I always drive with the rein on the ring closest to the cheek, which you can see above and in our videos. I realized that, due to the physics of driving vs. riding, a snaffle bit may not be the best option for a green horse that one wishes to get on the bit, because of the greater weight of the driving reins and how we interact with them to communicate with the horse. Levi likes the butterfly cheek piece, so I kept that and switched him to a version with a curved copper Mullen mouthpiece instead of the 3-piece snaffle. I was happy to see that he responded much better immediately; I feel that I can help him accept contact much more readily with this mouthpiece, and the 'signal to noise' ratio is improved for him. Bitting is voodoo and I don't claim to know even half of what I should about it. Many drivers go through this iterative process trying to find the right mouthpiece and bit for our driving horses at different stages of their training. Often, bit that would seem to be incredibly mild is actually not the right tool at a particular time, and recognizing and correcting it is important.

In addition to riding and driving, new schooling opportunities have injected some new momentum into our training. We participated in a classical dressage clinic at the boarding farm last month and learned many helpful pieces of information. I was so relieved, and happy, to hear the clinician affirm that Levi was, in fact, a nicely balanced and supple young horse. When you work with a horse every day, it's easy to magnify faults on a macro scale; I've worked very hard to help Levi become more balanced and symmetrical, even a little bit more ambidextrous, using different training and biomechanical approaches. It gives hope and confidence that he does feel more balanced and aligned.

Finally, and most exciting for us, we participated in our first trail ride yesterday! Not only was it Levi's first ride off the property, it was also his third ride in our new saddle, and our first group ride ever! Once a green horse has the basics down in the first couple of months of rides, I think it's essential to get them out working on the trail. Trail work is a master class in putting together everything he has learned so far in the ring. He is expected to quietly go through gates and over diverse terrain, to balance himself and pay attention to his surroundings, to quickly and obediently respond to the rider's aids, and to be socially appropriate around other horses, respecting everyone's space. He is expected to lead and follow other horses without any fanfare or protest. He is expected to remain calm and responsive to the rider regardless of what other horses are doing or what is going on in the environment. Easier said than done? Well, what you tend to expect at the outset, you tend to get; if you expect you are going to get a hard time from a wild youngster, you will probably experience that. If you've carefully prepared the young horse and also are ready yourself to handle and immediately shut down any shenanigans or silliness, you will be successful. Levi did not disappoint; in fact, he and his BFF, the Friesian gelding Mozart (featured in the photos below) took turns leading a group of five horses for most of the trail ride. Levi passed the test with flying colors, but, true to form, he had a few little shies and spooks along the way. Here, I was grateful for a stable seat - when we returned to the farm, he decided that one of the bushes he sees every single day hid something that wanted to eat him, and he leapt sideways in the air like a cat. My body didn't move in the saddle, which made it much easier to just point him right down the hill afterward without fostering any interest in his excitement. No one cared about how he reacted, primarily me, and that was important; he doesn't get to set the emotional tone for the group. Channeling young horse silliness into productive energy is much easier when you are stably positioned and can sit out a spook (which is one reason why I was so grateful to be back in the irons in a nice saddle instead of a bareback pad)!

When I examined the sweat marks beneath his saddle afterward, I was pleased to see full clearance of the gullet along the spine, full clearance of the wither/trapezius, clearance of T-18 and no rub marks beneath or along the girth indicating possible pressure points. So far, so good, but the saddle fitter will confirm whether this one goes back or not. I had originally thought I'd need something custom made for Levi, but I thought better of it for a couple of reasons. One, he's young and still developing and his back is going to change dramatically over the next months under saddle, and the custom saddle he was measured for today would likely not fit him in several months! This is an expensive mistake that I can avoid. Second, it's far likelier that the local market does in fact have something that will work for him, given the number of Morgans in our region, as long as I am somewhat flexible about the style of the saddle. I don't necessarily want to do eventing, but having the type of saddle that puts me in a more active position where I feel more capable to react to sudden young horse antics, and can hover in a half seat comfortably (as was proven to me during our trail ride) is exactly what we need right now in our training. For our future trail or cross-country work, I am hopeful that this saddle will be just the ticket.

While Joe is still helping me with both riding and driving training, his schedule has become so busy lately that he hasn't had much time to film or assist us. However, we will plan an exciting outing this coming weekend that he's eager to participate in - we will share that footage next week! In addition to Joe, I have added a new instructor to our weekly ridden training which is going to be transformative; stay tuned for updates on this very soon, because we start private lessons this week, and I can hardly wait. We're nearing the three month mark now with riding, and Levi is at a point with my skill set where we can start to really develop as a team with some professional guidance from the ground. This instructor is actually someone who has known Levi since he was a two year old, and I'm glad we kept in touch, as I knew I wanted to work with them once we were at this point.

Levi is well on his way to becoming a steely-eyed missile man of saddle horse as well as a solid driver who will get the job done. His new nickname around the farm is "the Professional" due to his workmanlike, straightforward confidence and consistency in going where other horses fear to tread and showing them how it's done. This is the cool-headed, smooth operator I knew he could be!

Yes, I realize I didn't talk about our final show season results (lots to share there!) and challenges, but I will do so in our next post. Can you really blame me for being so pleased and excited for him??

We have had a productive summer, and I can't believe it's nearly September already. So much has happened over the past six weeks: traveling to our first longer-distance show, competing in our first Morgan sport horse in hand class, trying to keep up with driving conditioning despite the annual greenhead fly infestation and heat waves, and, as you might guess from the title of this post and banner image, starting some new and important training for Levi! Believe me, I have been counting down the days to starting Levi under saddle! If he could be ridden, it would make our conditioning work for driving much simpler for me, and would be a great fitness benefit to him. He could begin to translate all of the in hand training to ridden work, and we could also begin to address some of the growth-related biomechanical and balance issues we have faced a little more easily under saddle than driving. In addition, riding is a great social activity for people and horses that can be approached much more easily and spontaneously, unlike driving, which feels orders of magnitude more difficult sometimes. This opens up a whole new world of experience to Levi, as we have access to local trails, parks, and roads that are not easily accessed with a carriage. Quite frankly, while I'm happy to have increased my cardiovascular and physical fitness by leaps and bounds running around with him on the ground, I am relieved to finally have a break and move on to building fitness in the saddle instead! Running is great and all, but have you ever posted without stirrups?

I had actually planned to start Levi under saddle next year, when he was skeletally mature at age six, but at nearly five and a half years old, he has been showing me that he's ready in many ways. This is the first Levi has done something ahead of my projected timeline for him! We have been assisted by the four to five week window of time in late July-late August that corresponds to greenhead season out here in the salt marshes of Northern MA. Anything I try to do with him outdoors is futile, and with the heat in the indoor arena, working hard is off the table, so I used the time to begin preparing him for riding instead. I have actually been preparing him for this since last year, and early introduction to work in hand and on the ground, as well as all of his driving training, has really assisted him. I can't recommend enough devoting plenty of time to the work in hand before riding, as it has made backing seamless for him.

To date, we've had seven rides, with each one building on information from the last, and each also asking just a little bit more from him while being mindful of energy levels and thresholds. My main goal in these early stages is to foster forward, fluid, correct movement and a great attitude to accompany it; it is really important to me that Levi feels confident, safe, comfortable, and trusting of me in doing this work. Part of this is letting him offer suggestions, make mistakes, and figure things out without abandoning him to that, just as he needs to be guided to find the correct answers. My plan is to guide and teach without getting in his way, to the best of my ability. Just as with driving, every riding training session is designed to set him up for success. It's an intuitive process and I am going to try to explain it in concrete terms without sounding mechanical or emotionless, or pedantic. I am not a professional trainer, and my lack of knowledge could fill an ocean in comparison, so please keep that in mind as I want to share what we have accomplished in enough detail to be informative, without sounding like a know-it-all!

In that vein, I considered writing about some of the training philosophy for riding that I have learned and tried to incorporate, but after writing a bit and reading it, I thought better of it. This is Levi's blog, and it's about his experiences, not mine; if I feel like my ideas are good enough, I'll write a book (that no one would read). The goals and motivations for this are also somewhat evident through our videos and photos anyway. For reference, prior work has allowed Levi to expect standing quietly at the mounting block, and he has experienced and is comfortable with me putting my body weight over his back (albeit not the full weight) for several months, before our initial "ride".

For those who are interested in details, here's a summary of what each ride has intended to accomplish, using questions posed to the horse as the focus and describing how he responded to them. He has been ridden about twice per week with several days in between, since the end of July. All of the riding has been either bareback or with a bareback pad, since we don't have a properly fitting saddle for Levi yet, and until we have a good saddle he won't be asked to do anything more strenuous than brief sessions of trotting. None of this has been exciting whatsoever, so if it's too boring to read, feel free to skip ahead and find yourself equally bored by our videos.

• Ride 0: How do you feel about seeing me above your back, and putting my full weight on your back while you're standing still? I gently put all my weight on at the mounting block, observed his responses, praised him, turned him around to the other side, and did the same thing. After five minutes of this, I hopped off and celebrated his focus and great attitude.
• Ride 1: How do you feel about taking a little walk with me on your back, with Dad leading you for support? I accomplished this with Joe's help, whom Levi followed around the indoor arena while I was mounted, with just a halter and lead rope. We walked around for several minutes, and I jumped on and off several times. He was allowed to stop and stand and explore this new situation to his full satisfaction. Once it was clear he was not at all bothered by this, we stopped and celebrated.
• Ride 2: How do you feel about taking me for YOUR little walk around, without being led? Here, I just added his open bridle and let him kind of follow Joe around at first, then wander wherever he wanted to go as long as he kept moving forward. The clip above is from this session. Again, I mounted and dismounted several times from both sides, and gave him breaks as needed. Toward the end of the session, ever so slowly, I took up some contact in the reins until we had a light connection as he walked. This session was about 10-15 minutes.
• Ride 3: How do you feel about walking around while I direct your movement and position from your back? This was very similar to the second ride, but with the addition of light contact and slowly incorporating some leg cues. He knows many of these already as I taught him from the ground, but what truly amazed me was how quickly he really seemed to get it and I found that all I really had to do to steer him is simply turn my shoulders and head and look in the direction I want to go! He is that sensitive. Amazing. Amazing horse. I kept my hands still and just worked on moving the energy from the hind leg to the bit, keeping a steady walk forward. This ride was about 15 minutes, and it was challenging for him but I thought he seemed to be looking forward to them.
• Ride 4: OK, smartie- how do you feel about learning the difference between staying in a straight line, and turning, with a rider? Lots of driven work has prepared Levi to work on circles, bends, and turns of various shapes and sizes. He is well versed in inside-outside rein cues, and understands how to move his hindquarters and shoulders to facilitate bending and turns. He can do a shoulder in and haunches in, in harness and long lines. I did find that when asked to walk in a straight line with me on his back, he would kind of waver a bit, which is understandable as he is adjusting his balance to accommodate dynamic weight. Here, I added subtle leg pressure, riding from back to front, just keeping him in a steady walking tempo. He was getting it, but still having a few questions about it, so we stopped for the day and I bookmarked it for the next session as something to work on.
• Ride 5: How do you feel about riding outside? All prior work was done in our indoor arena, but on a nice cool day with no flies, I thought a little walkabout was in order. Change of scenery and context can present their own little challenges, and taking advantage of this early on can help put the horse at ease in new situations. We practiced integrating the prior knowledge in this session, but with a little twist to help him understand how to stay straight and when to turn, using my leg and seat for help. I set up a little L-shaped set of poles on the ground, such that when walking between the poles on the long side of the L, there were about four stride lengths to walk straight ahead, followed by a wider angle marking the beginning of the shorter side, with enough room to move his hindquarters without stepping on a pole but not so much that he could avoid the turn. At first, he was a little nervous, but I had walked him through the pattern in hand first, and he got it perfectly right on the second try. We walked through the L until he was confidently moving straight and off the leg into the turn, then repeated the pattern without the poles to success, and declared victory for the day.
• Ride 6: How do you feel about being ridden in this nice saddle pad? I bought a Werner Christ "fur saddle" for Levi, which I've been raving about to everyone because it is so comfortable and fits us both so well. It's a combination of a bareback saddle and saddle pad, with some innovative features. It's going to be pretty nice and warm during the cooler weather! After introducing the pad to him, which he loves because it is mostly lambs wool and is extremely light weight as well, I tacked him up and lunged him at a walk and trot. No issue there, so I mounted and off we went. I think we rode in the outdoor this time, but it was just a nice little walk around. We both loved it. Levi was starting to really look forward to his rides at this point. Toward the end, I asked for a little trot, and he gave me a few strides, which was really nice. He needs to get used to the feeling of a rider in the sitting and rising trot. Since I can't ride with stirrups with him at this point (riding with stirrups in a bareback pad with no tree, on a green horse, is a risk I just don't want to take!), I am posting with the rising trot using my thighs with the motion of the horse. It provides a unique kind of muscle soreness afterward!
• Ride 7: How do you feel about doing a little trot? For this most recent ride, I utilized the help of Joe. Joe has expressed a lot of interest in helping me teach Levi to ride, and wants to learn to work with the horse on lines. Working with horses on the ground, on a lunge line at trot and canter, can be really intimidating for a beginner, and handling the whip and lunge line is awkward at first, so I asked him to just follow along with us during this session and see how comfortable he feels working with him on a lunge line at a walk. In the video clips below, Joe is doing a great job of figuring out where he needs to stand, and how to handle with the whip and the lines. At the end of the session, I walked Levi on the buckle to warm down, and asked Joe to clip on the lunge line and just try to keep Levi at a pre-determined distance from him, before moving him into a circle. With no input from me (I was just a passenger at this point, but could direct him with the reins if needed), this helped build confidence for Joe. It is kind of sneaky way for me to build in some riding fitness sessions for myself as he can soon work with us on a lunge line. I asked Levi for no more than three or four strides of trot before dropping back to a walk, and we utilized the long straight sections of the indoor arena for this. As he gets stronger, I can ask for longer and more active trotting, but as he's never done this before with a rider, I was quite proud of him. He has been so willing and seamlessly taken to this work, like he has done it all his life. In a way.. he has.

I wanted to share all about our experiences at our last show, but since it's not relevant to riding and this is already long, I will save it for an upcoming post. We have a lot of ground to cover with that, and I intend to combine it with the report for our next show on September 8. The following show after that will probably be the Vermont Morgan Heritage Days at the end of September. I am making our plans for these shows now.

I couldn't be more impressed and pleased with this horse. While he's not officially a 'ride and drive' just yet, he is definitely getting there! His willingness to try, and low-key acceptance of virtually everything I have asked of him, is outstanding. While we have accomplished so much recently, it hasn't been entirely without issues, although these are fortunately unrelated to our recent ridden work which has gone smoothly. I can share how we've addressed some of these challenges in the next post.

Thanks for sharing the journey with us so far.

Today's post is mostly a photo and video dump of our activities over the past couple of months. We have been working through various conditioning exercises to improve Levi's aerobic and physical strength, in particular to strengthen his core and back muscles, and facilitate more collection and correct movement under cart. All of our training is based on classical dressage, and all of the exercises we do in and out of the cart were developed by professional trainers in that discipline, while his flexible curriculum was designed by me to support our future goals and his current abilities. Below is a little photo and video diary highlighting what we have been working on lately: a typical training week involves 3-4 drives of 30 minutes, featuring mostly walk-trot transitions, and at least two days per week of long-lining or work on double lunge, or work on a line or in hand going over poles.

Under cart, I've been working on my own driving and posture as well, and have found it valuable to review our driving sessions because I can pin-point what I am doing wrong, and what I need to change. For example, I have a bad habit of holding my hands too low and too far out in front of my body; my elbows should make a 90 degree angle and be aligned with my core. My shoulders and arms should also be in alignment with the line of draft, with my shoulders mirroring the singletree. I need to take some of the slack out of the reins; this is a little tricky as Levi's head carriage is naturally higher and can be dynamic. He will initially put his head up when asked for an upward transition for a couple of strides, then round down and take more contact over the next few strides. I would like to encourage him to push into his upward transition more steadily but I am not entirely certain how to ask him to do this while encouraging him to stay on the bit. Having good eyes on the ground would help tremendously. Fortunately I am working on that and won't have to do this entirely on my own. There is nothing that compares to expert advice to check your position and tell you immediately what the issue is and how to fix or address it. I need to work every bit as hard, if not harder, than the horse in order to get this right.

Levi and I were also able to attend two shows this year so far. June is typically a busy month for me, and the shows I planned for that month we were unfortunately not able to attend. In May, I initially wanted to attend the Rowley Riding and Driving Club show, as we did last year, but Levi's blood work did not come back in time and without that we couldn't show. We did participate in the Morgan In Hand class offered at the Silver Heels Driving Club series in May, and took home a blue ribbon.

For this month, we have competed in our first AMHA rated show, the Summer Kick-Off Open Horse Show in NH, where we competed in the Morgan Open In-Hand and Specialty In-Hand classes, and respective championship classes. Attending this show was a last-minute decision as it was not on my calendar; this was a make-up show since we weren't able to participate in the rated show I had initially planned at the end of June, and as July is promising to be just as busy for me, it will be the only show I had time to attend. I intended for this show, and the rated shows in the future, to be primarily training and schooling situations for Levi, because these are large, competitive shows featuring hundreds of entries and participants, and the venues are noisy, crowded and filled with numerous potentially frightening situations for a young horse. It is a great training situation for them. It was also another chance to perfect our trailering and show routine- we are kind of a one-man band with only Joe to help us with ground support, unlike the pros who roll deep and have the resources to make these endeavors spectacularly successful experiences. I have volunteered at these breed shows before, but only for the carriage driving division, so my experience reflects that. The only real advantage we do have is Levi himself, whose pedigree is no slouch and who is willing to do just about anything I ask of him. For the in hand classes, I also knew that the horses turned out in park style and with that movement, with a group of people chasing them around the ring and stacking them up for judging, were always going to place more highly than us on our best day. This still doesn't deter me much from considering participating in these classes, even alongside professionals. At worst, we make fools of ourselves; at best, we put in the kind of performance and effort that demonstrates why people love these horses in the first place. I believe in the importance of in hand classes to illustrate the very versatility and characteristics for which this breed is known, in the absence of tack or aids from riders or drivers. In addition, the representation of sport horse and hunter turnouts in hand is lacking, as is participation in hand in general and particularly among the little guys like us who own, train, and show our own horses. If you show your Morgan, please participate in the in hand classes if you can, because these often have few entries and they can be valuable experiences for your horse and a way to support the show.

There is a canonized Standard of Perfection in judging the Morgan horse that was adopted in 1952. Regarding this, I found an interesting passage in the prizelist document from the Lippitt Country Show that describes how this organization believes the Morgan horse ought to be judged:

We underline the fact that we intend to adhere to this standard without regard to what the rest of the Morgan world is doing. Therefore, we feel that large horses should not be favored over small horses and that a “parky” way of going should not be favored over pleasure motion in either in-hand or pleasure classes.

As a novice, understanding the Standard of Perfection was extremely helpful, because I could fully appreciate what is considered desirable for Morgan type. I found this paragraph interesting:

Equally important are presence, disposition and endurance. In The Perfect Horse, William Murray describes Morgans as amiable and affectionate. The Morgan Judging Outline says: “Morgan countenance should express an abundance of energy, exemplified by a friendly attitude, and bold, energetic and fearless movement. It is actually the nervous system of the Morgan that makes him the invincible, but controllable, animal that he is. This is in contrast to the ‘hot horse’ which defies direction of his physical powers.”

One mistake (among quite a few that I made), and that sent a few giggles through the onlookers, was that I didn't know we were supposed to come blasting into the arena at a trot, as for all of the in hand classes I've participated in to date, we enter at a walk and await instruction from the judge or ring steward as to when to trot, and when to line up for judging. For sport horse in hand classes, we show on a triangle to USEF rules, which are quite clear. It also was not clear whether we were supposed to use the whole arena (we would gladly run laps if asked and nearly did), and where we were to line up for judging. Despite my confusion, Levi did exactly as I asked with one exception. The entry behind us had a couple of people one of which was chasing the horse with whips, and when he heard that whip sizzle in the air he broke into his best impression of a Morgan trot without me asking for it, and I had to pull him up in a circle and try to rejoin the lineup. Of course, Levi is very used to whips as a driving horse, but I don't wave my whip around up in the air above his head in order to get him to trot on, and I think he may have had this experience in early training as a yearling before he came to me, so his reaction makes total sense. Again, this class was supposed to be exposure to the "real" show world for him (and for me!) and it turned out to be a great experience in that regard as now he knows not to react to that noise.

In the second class, we made sure we entered at a trot, and this time allowed the other competitor to go first, which helped us save a little bit of face as we could kind of follow along. The Specialty in hand class was intended for Western turnout, which I didn't know; again, if we were in the wrong class, we weren't sure of that or how to proceed except to treat it like a regular in hand class. Some better descriptions of the type of in hand classes would be really helpful! After both classes, both Joe and some of the crowd were pretty supportive of us despite knowing we probably didn't belong there!

After we picked up our reserve and reserve championship ribbons we exited the ring and went right to our trailer to give Levi some water and a little breakfast before we packed up and drove home. The venue is only an hour away from his boarding barn which is convenient. Over all, I think we had a pretty positive experience at our first Morgan breed show, and Levi had plenty of time to confront multiple scary things to which his worst reaction was a lot of snorting and a little scoot at the one single object that should not have frightened him: an overturned jump. The people at the show, and their horses, were all lovely and had that winning glow about them, and I wished we'd had time to stick around to watch the driving! Maybe next year we will consider participating again, perhaps under cart and saddle, which is my next big goal for Levi. I'll talk about that in an upcoming post. Our next show will be another breed show in August, and I plan to devote an entire post to that because it will be a very educational and special event for us.

Good job, Levi!

Levi and I have been plugging along with our boring conditioning work under cart. I'm happy with his progress and our efforts so far. This training has been largely facilitated by the generous help of my headers, who are experienced drivers able to meet me at the farm and just hold my horse as I hitch or unhitch him and jump into and out of the cart, and then accept that they will be thoroughly bored while we dither around in the cart. They have taken some really gorgeous photos and videos of Levi, and I'll try to include as many of these as I can going forward. Driving is truly a team sport!

We aim for four days per week under cart with one longer conditioning workout in hand, and either two days off with turnout only, or one day in which I long-line him instead of driving. I will film some of the in-hand workouts soon, since they are a little bit interesting. I've seen a gradual progression with Levi's fitness. He is able to maintain a steadier tempo at a trot (and a slightly more forward trot as well!) for a longer duration compared with two weeks ago. The outdoor arena perimeter is approximately 1/8 mile. My goal is to increase the time and trotting distance each week until he can complete 1/2 mile at a steady working trot without wanting to drop the pace and walk. He can currently complete about four laps at a fairly steady trot, with one or two walking laps to catch his breath in between; he's clearly not very fit yet under harness, but we will get there. I have introduced him to the wonderful world of driving on the grass, which he finds so much easier than the sand, but mostly we use this arena for conditioning. I encourage him to stay on tempo, but if he can't keep up, he can't do it, and we'll downshift into a walk and do transitions until he gets the fitness he needs - I'm not going to nag or bully my horse at this point or try to shortcut any of this process through force. In the video below from our last drive, I could really see (and feel) a difference in his movement. He's stronger. He is taking more of the contact better, is experimenting more with his frame at a trot, and I was really pleased with his lovely little stretch down, toward the end of the video.

We have two shows scheduled for this month, both of which are local. Both shows are either open or open/Morgan in-hand classes. For these classes, I will show Levi turned out as a sport horse; while at one point he was taught how to park out, if I tried to ask for this now he'd probably think he was being encouraged to pee. Showing him as a sport horse in hand will be interesting since we've not competed against other Morgans before. Under cart, we will keep on driving through the month with the goal of participating in his first competition in October, which will be an open CDT/schooling show. So far, we're mostly just having fun together, which is really the most important thing.

Happy birthday to Levi, who turned five years old yesterday. Levi had quite a milestone year, and I don't think we could top last year's birthday. After all, he can only be hitched to cart for the first time once. Still, we kept this year's event challenging, with a good drive to demonstrate our progress and a little party at the barn afterward to celebrate and reminisce. We even had a little group of onlookers during our workout this time, and Levi wasn't fazed.

For the past month we have steadily focused on increasing the number of week days for under-cart conditioning, with drives of 25-45 minutes in duration completed mostly outdoors. My goal has been to drive him four days per week, with one full rest day for turnout only, and sometimes two depending on how he's doing, one hour-long workout for conditioning in hand (which is usually working over ground poles at a trot and canter on a lunge line), and one long-lining workout in the outdoor arena, also mostly at a trot. The goal of this current program is to steadily build aerobic fitness and strength for driving, without stressing him too much or increasing the workload too quickly. As always, he also receives a full day of turnout where he does get quite a bit of movement in a very spacious paddock, and is never worked without being fed beforehand or receiving at least an hour of turnout time. We moved yesterday's drive to the indoor arena; I had intended to do a long walk out on farm roads, but changed our focus due to wet footing. This drive was difficult for him, since he'd had a full week of driving already and was due a rest day, but he bravely put in a great effort. We did a lot of longer trotting sessions in between shorter walking breaks, and I had to use lots of encouragement to help him keep his tempo and not break back down into a walk. I also used this workout to remind him to stay on his outside rein and stay straight through turns. These early tempo-building workouts will be important going forward. At the end of every workout I always signal to him that it is time to warm down and stretch by letting him relax and walk with incrementally less and less contact until we are at a full stop and ready to unhitch. At this point, while I do want him to use his body correctly and work more over his back, with less effort of movement from the forehand, he first needs to be strong enough to hold that kind of frame. Keeping a steady tempo will help build that strength, which will in turn make it easier for him to relax more going into his upward transitions.

I've carefully and incrementally increased the amount of time he spends at a trot, mostly along straightaways, with lots of walking breaks in between. I am not as concerned with his trotting speed but mainly see to it that he doesn't break his tempo; if he decides to set his own tempo, I'll hold him to that, and he's learning to work more efficiently at a trot. Trot work in sand, while pulling a cart, is pretty hard work for a horse just starting to condition, and I fully appreciate this difficulty. I keep the total time for these workouts rather short, at up to 30 minutes, and we often focus mostly on transitions while gradually lengthening the total distance and time spent in the trot relative to walk or halt. Sneaky ways to build fitness!

After our drive, Levi, Joe, and I celebrated with some friends at the barn. I counted ten people including us in attendance at the party. You know you have found a great group of people when they respond as enthusiastically to an invite to a horse's birthday party as they would if it were for a five year old child. I don't think I've ever had ten people at my birthday party, at any point in my life! It doesn't surprise me that Levi is so popular. He has always had the ability to attract a crowd of people who became fast friends. I'm curious and intrigued by what the future holds for this year. I think he's doing splendidly, and I'm very proud of him and how far he has come.

Today, April 20th, is Levi's fifth birthday, so I'll be making a second birthday post after today's drive. We're currently waiting out a steady rain, and I'd like the footing to be a bit drier out but it is what it is, so I'm taking this sliver of time to write my promised post on balancing Levi's cart. For some background, you can read all about how and why we chose this style and manufacturer of the cart in our prior blog posts about it on Facebook (here https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=475096721287419&set=a.349189413878151 and here https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=430574532406305&set=a.349189413878151); the long and short of it is that back in 2022-2023, I had a custom cart designed and built specifically for Levi by the Frey Carriage Company, with the intention of using it for everything from training to pleasure showing to trails, driven dressage, obstacles, and cones. Maybe my original plan was to drive it to the moon - I don't remember exactly, but there were some high hopes. Since that time, many events have transpired with regard to the company, and I won't go into that here for brevity's sake and as it's not really germane. There exists a Facebook group related to the Frey Co. and products as well, which is very helpful for those interested. This particular post is intended to offer some assistance and guidance for those who own the Sprint carts (specifically the horse or cob sized carts only, as I can't offer any advice regarding the smaller pony carts) and who are struggling a little bit with fitting them, as we did. When it comes to adjusting, balancing, and changing settings on the carts, there is very little advice online, and there was little guidance from the company, and no manual available to my knowledge that would really assist drivers in making the most out of these otherwise outstanding carts. As a result, I am attempting to provide here as a public service our trials and tribulations with the hope of helping drivers.

Before I share how we struggled with, and ultimately overcame, our balancing issues, I want to convey just how much I actually love this cart, and am really happy that I did ultimately choose this to be our first one. I loved it at first sight, and you can see why - it is absolutely gorgeous and elegant in every way! I loved how easy it was, at first, to order and customize the cart, and interact with the company regarding my choices. I loved the breadth of options available for including just about any custom feature from bench style to paint colors; the online galleries of finished vehicles are a spectacular resource showcasing drivers' creativity in design. I really love the elegant but utilitarian style of the cart: I needed a front-entry, wedge seat design, solid metal with enough weight and heft to stand up to the rigors of training a green horse and working outdoors, yet lightweight enough that with the addition of a driver plus passenger the cart is still easy for the horse to pull relative to a heavier Meadowbrook, for example. I love that this cart is virtually silent; in fact, the only sound that I hear when I am driving is due to Levi's traces, which have a metal ring attachment intended for marathon driving, that knock against the metal shafts. I love how adjustable and comfortable the cart is as well. I tested the limits of this system and actually wound up taking this cart apart and putting it back together again, no worse for wear; I am posting this so that hopefully no one else has to go through that! Finally, if you saw the video in my last post of us driving through a spook, you might have noted just how stable the wedge seat kept my body position during the turns at a canter- this cart was definitely built to stand up to the sharp turns in obstacles during combined driving, and it is actually extremely comfortable and stable at a canter. Basically, there's a lot to love about these carts that make it really worthwhile to try to overcome some of the challenges they also present. It's a shame that people give up on them and sell them because they don't fit properly or just can't seem to balance correctly.

When the cart arrived in a shipping crate, it was in multiple pieces that needed to be assembled with a socket and ratchet set. The shafts are removable and fully adjustable, which is a feature I like as it will help with transporting to shows; however, the cart can fit in the bed of a large pickup truck with or without removing the shafts. The bench seat is completely removable, as are the wedge seat and seat pads with the exception of the far left pad which is attached. I can shift my wedge seat over to the right to accommodate a passenger. The bench seat has an adjustment lever beneath the seat that can be used to shift the seat forward and back, which is intended to help support the comfort of the driver, and it is not intended to be a determinant in balancing the cart.

After assembling the cart, I first attempted to find its balance point both with and without a passenger, in the standard approach, by lifting the ends of the shafts until the shafts and floor of the cart are level and the weight in the ends is negligible. Ideally, the height from the ground for the shafts at a featherweight point should also be where they would lie within the tug loops of the saddle. The first issue we encountered was that even if I lifted the shafts as high as my shoulders, there was still what felt like a non-negligible amount of weight in the ends of the shafts, and the shafts/floor were no longer level. I first attempted to alter the balance by shifting the bench backward with its lever, which did not seem to help at all. There was also a dispute regarding what 'negligible' weight really meant in this case, and how that weight would be distributed when the horse is hitched and in draft. As I strive to be very precise and careful about how and where there are points of stress on the horse, I was also concerned about this cart introducing too much weight over a small part of the horse's back. Unlike a riding saddle, a harness saddle has much less surface area over which to distribute weight, and although our saddle is treed which rescues the spine from directly bearing that weight, the goal is to put as little weight as possible on the back of the driving horse for his comfort and longevity. If you really want to rile people up, ask them to actually determine, by direct measurement, exactly how much weight is on the backs of their horses and ponies when hitched to a balanced cart with a driver sitting in it. From there, just start asking questions. You will either find yourself quickly without friends who vanish as a result of your challenge of the status quo and resulting inquiry, or you will attract a phalanx of cautious, determined nerds who also want to get to the bottom of this from a welfare and problem-solving standpoint. Welcome, Overthinkers, to our nerdery.

In any case, this situation presented an opportunity to not only learn but also correct some misconceptions regarding cart balance, and in particular, balancing the Sprint carts. I will save everyone from having to read another tome by getting to the end first: we were rescued purely by serendipity, as I was contacted on Facebook messenger by the person who actually designed and built our specific cart. Over several weeks they provided generous and thorough education and guidance in how exactly to balance this cart. I will be forever grateful for this unexpected help, which came not a moment too soon. I'll share all of that knowledge with you below, to your benefit.

First, let's clear up some misconceptions about balancing these carts. One that we hear commonly is that 'there should be no weight in the shafts', or 'there should be no weight on the back' which is false for a couple of reasons. I precisely measured that, when the shafts are at the height of the tug loops when the horse is hitched, without a passenger, our cart applies 10-12 lbs. of weight on each shaft, or 20-24 lbs total. When I sit in the cart with the seat all the way back and the adjustment points in the neutral (standard) position, that weight drops to about 7-9 lbs on each shaft. Once we actually balanced the cart using the adjustments I discuss in paragraphs below, this dropped to about 5 lbs. on each shaft, which is at the higher end of weight range I've heard is acceptable for a properly balanced cart. To facilitate proper balance at a trot, with this particular style of cart and shape of the shafts, we were also advised that having a bit more weight, e.g. up to 10 lbs., is actually acceptable in order to stabilize the shafts in the tugs and prevent bouncing. Regarding weight on the back, consider that a dressage saddle weighs about 20 lbs., and that a horse of Levi's age, weight, and height would have absolutely no problem bearing this relatively small amount of weight, with little to no danger of causing pain or injury to his back or spine. Bouncing is bad for many reasons, and trying to minimize it through wrapping the overgirth or shafts just passes the buck on to the horse, who still has to contend with the cart's imbalance and resulting movement even though the driver feels less of it. This can lead to sourness in the horse toward driving, as the shafts jolt up and down in the tugs or pull upward on his girth as he moves into a trot, and could be a cause of training problems that are purely avoidable. As it pertains to this style of cart which appears to be somewhere between a breaking cart, a road cart, and a gig, the ends of the shafts are curved, which confers more weight on the tugs and the shaft tips are not intended to 'float' like straight shafts, but instead to account for the higher level of action of the cart in motion. The weight introduced by the curved shafts, like those found on gigs, is accounted for through use of a traditional gig harness intended specifically for these heavier vehicles which includes a much wider saddle with a sliding backband and French tug loops to distribute weight across a greater surface area, and the use of a full collar instead of a breast collar to account for the lower line of draft. In this case, while the ends of shafts are curved somewhat, the line of draft on the Sprint cart is the same as other road style carts, where the point of attachment for the traces at the singletree is aligned with the shafts. The belly of the shafts is also straight, giving us a balance objective, and the ends are not a true curve but angled with a flat part to accommodate traditional open tug loops. As a result, we were advised to adjust the shafts accordingly:

• Before tightening the bolts that hold the ends of the shafts in place, turn the shafts such that the flat part where the tug loops lie is facing the horse. In the banner photo, the shafts are shown before this was done. In the driving videos in this post and the last post, we have made this minor adjustment to the shafts.
• Make sure that the ends don't 'hook out', and that the shafts are at a comfortable width to accommodate the horse. They should not brush or interfere with the shoulder in a turn (too narrow). You shouldn't see a large gap where the tugs are pulled outward by the shafts (too wide), and the tugs should not move forward or backward very much in draft.
• For my purposes, I also added the thickest saddle pad I could find to help distribute the weight a bit better. I tend to overly worry about these things, as I mentioned, because Levi is rather important to me and I don't want him injured from what amounts to intellectual differences of degree. I always carefully monitor Levi for any signs of soreness after every drive; to date, I have seen no indicators that he has any problems.

Based on the advice we received, we were also able to balance the cart using the built-in adjustment sites for this purpose. There are two major points for adjustment on the cart that will facilitate balancing. These are shown in the photos below, with descriptions on how to adjust for proper balance.

If the cart visibly bounces up and down like a lowrider car at a trot and it is clear the shafts are moving in the tugs, the cart is not balanced. Here is another misconception that we need to correct: bouncing of carts is acceptable because that is just how carts attached to some horses move. The cart should be lifted and lowered along with the shoulder movement in a trot, but not more than that. Some horses with higher action at a trot will lift the cart more than others. In any case, the shafts should stay level in the tugs. In the video of Levi and I driving, we can see his shoulder movement lifting the cart at a slow trot.

Finally, the driver's height, leg length and position can be accommodated for comfort by changing the bolt position above the springs, as in the image below. Lowering the bench helped me feel more comfortable, and less like I was perched high above the horse while driving.

I will gladly answer any questions about the cart, so if you want to know what exactly we did and how we did it, please subscribe and ask away. I will write Levi's birthday post tomorrow; we had a great drive today, and ten people attended his party at the farm. I know he feels very loved and seen tonight, as I do. Drive on, Levi! Welcome to year five of your life.

On this blustery, wet, non-Spring-like day, I finally have a moment to post the third and final update on this little series which was supposed to be about using thresholds in training, but has evolved into much more, and has taken far longer to complete than I ever intended. As you can see from the banner photo, Levi is not in fact training for the Grand Prix based on his recent shenanigans, which might come as a bummer to those of you who thought we were finally starting to seem interesting. While we never did find out if he's actually jumping in and out of his paddock (never did get to eat my hat one way or another), our very wise barn staff tackled this escape problem using the art of distraction, adding him to the largest paddock on the property with five other geldings to explore, graze, roughhouse, and canter around mindlessly. It's pretty much everything he's ever wanted.

I have split this post into multiple sections to be a little more manageable. Still, it's the longest post I've written here, so be forewarned in case you would rather not sift through lots of words. There are plenty of videos and photos if that's more your thing.

Updates on Progress

Speaking of cantering around, as you can see in the video below, Levi is taking this seriously while on his own time. He had fully recovered from his hematoma in February and was literally right back in harness when, right on cue, he either slipped or fell on the wet paddock during turnout one day and pulled a muscle in his shoulder, making him pretty lame at a trot for a few weeks. I had him seen right away by his vet, who determined there was no obvious cause of injury such as a hoof abscess, and that the lameness was mild. Putting him in turnout and with only walking in hand for exercise, and pushing back my plans to get him back in shape for driving, was the routine for most of February and the beginning of this month. However, he made a full recovery and is now back to both driving and galavanting around outside, and we are planning to spend the next six weeks gradually building up some muscle strength and fitness in and out of the cart.

I think this long break, although it was frustrating and worrying for me as his owner and trainer, actually dealt Levi a world of good in various ways. I had read that giving young, green horses a nice long winter off can actually slingshot them further ahead in their training vs. keeping them in work during those weeks, and this old school wisdom seemed to hold true for us. He is somehow more mentally mature, even since December, which was when we had our last drive in the cart until recently. The increase in mental maturity seems to make the most difference here. While I still see a very physically young and immature horse in front of me when we are driving (it's really noticeable in these driving videos, isn't it?? I wonder if he will always look just like a two year old plucked from the pasture) I also see a horse who despite his youth is calm and focused and ready to meet the next stages of his training with a good attitude and work ethic.

With the addition of more geldings to his herd, Levi has become much more fluent in horse, and it's fascinating to watch the behavior in establishing who drives each moment, and setting rank of the individual geldings. I really think he is having the time of his life, and I'm here for every moment of it. I've never seen happier horses. Oliver still remains Levi's steadfast mentor and surly uncle extraordinaire; Ollie is always surly uncle #1. Karamo has a softer energy with Levi and tends to rile him up a bit, but surprisingly is a sort of peacemaker among the others, often intervening when horseplay is too rough or there are conflicts. Karamo is surly uncle #2. Mozart (surly uncle #3) is the de facto herd leader yet the geldings sometimes split into two small bands with Oliver seeming to lead one and Mozart the other. Levi bounces around between the groups, not particularly attached to membership in general, as he has no real skin in the game. The others know he is too young to be useful, and so far they let him just eat and play and be cute and not have any true responsibility for anything. To his benefit, Levi has learned from these older males how to interact, how to be soft, how to be moved and move others at a distance without needing to get in other horses' spaces, and how to calm himself when needed.

On occasion, this herd of horses will panic over something in the environment and take flight; Levi joins them of course, as he's a member of the gang, but he never instigates this behavior and his attitude is usually one of perplexity instead of fear:"OK, so... we're all running now. Hey, wait, what are we running from? Guys... listen... this isn't making a whole lot of sense...". I always intervene since he could hurt himself otherwise, but the moments leading up to that are often comical to witness. Levi doesn't like doing too much cardio and would rather face the boogeyman in the woods than run from it. Who knows, the boogeyman might have food, or might know where food could be found! When I have come to collect him and the threat is over, boy does he have a lot to tell me about what happened, through his impressive dance-fighting re-enactment of the 'battle'! It's expected to deal with the aftermath of fight or flight, but he sometimes does both at the same time with the hope that one of them will land, with the end result resembling a hapless teenage victim in a B horror movie who slips and falls down while escaping some terror, grabbing and throwing whatever useless objects are around him in the hope it might be effective. Levi prefers brave displays of kicking, bucking, hopping, striking out, and even suddenly rolling around (maybe to confuse the enemy? I'm not sure) in the midst of the great flight, instead of running around with his head on fire. I actually approve of this because him not being prone to losing his mind, and coming back to Earth right afterward, makes training him a lot easier.

Observing how horses handle this type of stress (as one example), and how they deal with it after the fact, has been a master class in understanding thresholds, which is the next topic below. If you'd rather not read that and prefer to just stay within Levi's world instead, feel free to skip to the last section, "Future Plans".

Working With Thresholds

The longer I work with my horse, and watch excellent trainers working with theirs, the clearer it becomes to me that success in training horses arises from observation and application of a few correct actions performed at the right times. "Correct" could be what's needed in the moment; I consider it to be the softest ask I can give that gets the result that I'm seeking. As time goes on, I feel like I need to do less to achieve results but it has greater impact when I do take action. What interests me is that he is also doing less, somehow. Does it look like we are really doing anything? Sometimes, and yet substantial progress happens even in moments where we aren't even working together. I spend a lot of time that used to be focused on doing now just thinking and focusing on the information presented to me by the horse, and asking myself how I can use this information, firstly to teach, reinforce, or alter behaviors, next to foster greater physical and mental benefit for him, and also to establish trust in human beings and our leadership. The way in which I can accomplish this, through any established realm of training or methodology (and there are probably as many ways as there are horse breeds in the world), doesn't matter to me as much as whether it is appropriate and humane, and if not overtly supported through scientific or medical evidence, then at least yields a historical context or precedent that reflects collective knowledge accrued through centuries with this species. This can be as broad or as narrow as one wants to make it. I do think there is a 'right' and 'wrong' way to go about training, however, but that's personally perspective-driven, from my view, and I wouldn't try to force those perspectives on others. I thoroughly enjoy reading the work of classical dressage trainers for this reason; Étienne Beudant's thoughts on training through the levels comprise one of the most profound and insightful works on horsemanship to date, and this was published nearly a century ago. (He also has some innovative reflections at the end of his book regarding working with untrained horses which proved to be very challenging for the methods of the time, just as such horses exist today, and those stories are truly worth reading!)

As I've been thinking on this topic during the now nearly five (!!) years Levi has blessed my life, I have been routinely confronted with the idea that thresholds are critical elements for making progress with my horse. Although the concept of working with thresholds isn't new and I probably haven't discovered anything that others interested in this haven't already, I might offer a unique perspective as I haven't encountered any views on the topic that are exactly similar. I want to preface that these thoughts are a reflection of my own journey with horsemanship developed over time, working with individual horses who were very special to me. I am not a professional trainer nor do I want to be, but I have tremendous respect for those who do this difficult work so well, and I want to represent my understanding of their hard-earned knowledge authentically. In that light, I am trying to avoid overstating anything, while trying to share any insights or discoveries that have been helpful for me. Hopefully, I'll manage to avoid the tone that screams "Equestrian discovers fire- stay tuned for more breaking news at 11!"

With this in mind, over the next several paragraphs, I want to share my definition of thresholds as I have come to understand them, and describe how I have used this information in training to the benefit of my horse. I want to provide some video evidence of how this manifested with my horse and how I have dealt with it, and discuss how thresholds change over time. Finally, I'll share a couple of easy training exercises I have developed that can help anyone with a basic knowledge of horses to begin working safely with thresholds.

Thresholds Defined

Again, please keep in mind that these are my own opinions developed through working with my horse and thinking about how I can present this information in a way that is insightful and helpful to horse owners. If you read or see anything you disagree with or feel is so ill-informed it makes you spit out your coffee, please use that energy to subscribe and leave a comment. I will probably not go into this level of detail about anything similar here again, thankfully.

What are thresholds in the context of horse behavior and training? We've all heard of exposing horses to triggers and the use of desensitization to reduce the magnitude of stress responses, and similar. These phrases imply that thresholds are situational properties related to the environment, or to a particular scenario causing stress to a horse. That would be a reasonable consideration, and I doubt anyone who works with horses would refute or fail to understand that meaning. I don't think it's incorrect to think about thresholds in that way. However, after working with Levi for some time, and adapting my training accordingly, I have come to see this a little differently. My sentiment is that thresholds are actually innate characteristics of horse itself rather than predicated by the environment. I define a threshold as the tendency to manifest a behavioral response to a stress-inducing stimuli, with a direction and magnitude of effect (value) relative to a unique set point or baseline. A threshold comprises the capacity of the horse for emotional regulation, physical arousal (fight/flight/freeze), learning and recollection, tolerance for novelty, and also takes into account the impact of the environment, age, and social status as a herd animal. It is easiest to quantify this collective measurement, and consider thresholds as representing a range of numerical values relative to a midpoint; if 10 represents the peak in terms of most extreme behavior or response, then 1 would be the least, with the average values falling around 5. For example, if 1 is a state of deep sleep, perhaps 10 is a state of panic in which the horse has completely mentally left the building and probably won't come back to its own natural baseline without a lot of time and space. How each of these values manifests in real time looks unique for, and is relative to, each individual horse. I will describe the elements that can be largely assigned to thresholds categorically, because these elements are areas where we can either work with the horse to help move his threshold up or down, or where we are stuck managing behaviors that are likely fixed.

Just for fun, I've included a little video of Levi below, demonstrating how to use a very low threshold in training; later on, I will show you the other extreme! Once he stopped, planted his feet, and literally fell asleep right in the middle of our warmup, I decided to let him stand there, instead of pushing him up to a higher state of energy and trying to get more from him. There didn't seem to be much benefit to it at the time. Instead, I simply worked on ground tying with him, which has been unusually challenging for him to master, but as he was at such a low threshold it was very easy to use this state to get the behavior I've been trying to accomplish. Sure-he's unconscious, but standing still is standing still. If I had pushed it, we would have had a mediocre session doing other things rather poorly; in working with a low threshold point for what it could give, I was able to allow the horse to do something right, to earn praise for it, and to work on establishing something new as well. And yes... the lesson has stuck!

The Elements of Thresholds

I think that any horse's threshold is driven by four elements that could for the sake of ease be termed Nature, Nurture, Environment, and Time (capitalized for dramatic purposes only). I believe the that most influential element for the threshold is Nature, i.e. the horse's genetic and epigenetic background that it was born with and that is expected to largely dictate its natural behavior or temperament. We know that the genetic heritability of complex traits reflects the degree to which the variability that is observed for that trait can be attributed to genetic (inherited) factors. In horses, the heritability of traits that are best understood are usually health or performance-related, or specific to development of certain breeds, as these are most commonly selected for in breeding programs. Nature also includes the genetic factors related to specific diseases that can contribute to thresholds, but as the impact of environmental risk factors and variation in heritability within and across breeds also greatly contributes, the situation becomes more complex. What makes heritability as a measure of the genetic background or contribution to a particular trait so valuable for our understanding of thresholds is that it can be quantified. In this case, it is the heritable traits governing basic temperament, as well as those driving intelligence, memory, and novelty tolerance, for example, that are most relevant. Through various forms of evidence, it is clear that a horse's basic temperament and the resulting behavioral responses are a relatively stable entity over time and across multiple generations. As a result, in my opinion, it can be considered a major, if not the major, contributing factor underlying a given horse's threshold.

The second most important driver of a horse's threshold is Nurture, or what happens to the horse at any point both outside of, and inclusive of, any given environment. This is mostly related to the horse's interactions with people and the human world, but includes social relationships to other horses and animals, and past situations resulting in alterations in personality or temperament that are unrelated to genetic factors as the direct cause. If Nature is considered fixed, in that the genetic background of the horse cannot be changed (but only the effects of heritable traits managed), Nurture is a step above it in terms of the level of variability. Both Nature and Nurture could be considered retrospective, as they represent things that have either already happened and can't be changed but the effects only managed, or are currently happening and still can't be altered very much, if at all. One example of the impact of Nurture is how the horse responds to its initial schooling and training. If we took a horse that has exemplary temperament and also had favorable conformation and no underlying health issues that would negatively impact training, we could expect that with a trainer of average skill or higher, the horse would respond well and would not display many instances of unwarranted fearfulness such as bolting or rearing. With a bad trainer, the horse might still be resilient to some degree, but it would still likely be adversely affected despite its potential. Another example of Nurture is the early life experience of a foal during the first 6-12 months, notably weaning. How, and at what age the foal was weaned, for example, can cause behavioral changes that persist throughout life, impacting thresholds in multiple ways. The horse's social structure is also accounted for here; the impact of other members of its own species represents one of the largest concerns for them as herd animals. Nurture has the second greatest impact on the threshold.

The two most variable elements, Environment and Time, are also easiest to understand. Environment refers to everything that is physically external to the horse, or that is happening around the horse. Time is the most variable element for obvious reasons and captures an important feature underscoring the threshold, which is the horse's biological age, developmental stages, and even its circadian rhythms. Thresholds will vary with age and across age groups, due to hormones, the regulation and secretion of growth factors, metabolism, health status, and so on, and can vary even at different times of day or night. Horses live in the present, and many owners have often wondered, what horse do I get to ride today?

How are thresholds actually determined? Many of these factors above we cannot actually truly measure, but only estimate based on behavior and prior knowledge about the horse. We might know something about the horse's pedigree, and know its age and gender. We may know the behavioral traits of the horse's breed and any medical issues the horse has that could impact this; we know his environment and perhaps how he reacted to his recent training. We may know some or none of the above. If one has only a short time to establish a horse's threshold at any point in time, observing the horse at commonly known points of both stress (feeding time, getting on a trailer) and relaxation is one way to get a sense of its threshold. You have probably observed good trainers at clinics or other venues doing this with client's horses, through quick assessment performed quietly and non-invasively. If, like me, you are blessed with just one horse, you have plenty of time and opportunity to focus on that horse, understand and appreciate that horse's threshold, and work with it to get the most out of your training time. You can determine his set point and see how that set point changes on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. You can develop and adapt your existing training program around this information, with benefit to the horse.

The Benefits of Using Thresholds in Training

I believe that the greatest benefit of using thresholds is that it gives you a more impactful result relative to the time that you invested in training. This translates as steady progress. The tradeoff is a greater need for flexibility in training plans, desire and willingness to be more observant than you may have ever been in your life, and being open to and capable of responding to subtle information from the horse. It can also seem frustrating, particularly if you don't feel you're making progress quickly enough, or in comparison to those who aren't doing silly stuff like this, but I've found that this kind of work has an amazing impact on the horse's ability to learn.

I have been working with Levi's thresholds for a few years. If we hadn't had anything to show for it that I could directly relate to this kind of work, I would not be driven to bore you to tears with this. Here is a short list of what we have accomplished using this approach:

• Consistently able to work calmly on a lunge line or in long lines, in indoor and outdoor spaces, and in the presence of stressors (weather, noises, other horses, people, etc.);
• Walking and trotting quietly in hand with lightness and self-carriage;
• The ability to quickly 'come down' or emotionally regulate following a spook or scare, and return to working;
• Working calmly alone, and near or past nightfall (typically a time when Levi is more nervous as he's usually worked in the daytime), and walking to and from the barn calmly in pitch black or during storms;
• Loading/unloading and trailering peacefully, and working around machines of all sizes and shapes;
• Standing quietly to be hitched to cart and not moving unless asked to move out;
• Standing quietly tied or in cross-ties; ground tying;
• Being receptive to redirection: 'don't look at that, focus on me';
• Standing and being relaxed for the vet and farrier;
• Crossing puddles and not reacting to water or diverse kinds of footing;
• Performing well at shows - FYI, Levi was the 2023 Open English In Hand Champion for RRDC;
• All of our work to date under cart - all of our current training and results under cart that I share in this blog are largely due to prior work incorporating thresholds.

The common theme above is working calmly. This is what I most desired for my horse from the start. Being in a state of calmness means that the horse has the mental resources and energy to focus and learn; he is not devoting resources to self-preservation or flight. The ability to carry himself and have some responsibility for his own physical space means that he can more easily regulate himself following a frightening or nerve-wracking experience. All of the above work builds a lot of trust in his human handlers.

This sounds great, but what about when thresholds are pushed rapidly, or when something happens that sends even a calm horse like ours into the stratosphere? What does it look like for a horse like Levi, whose natural set point for temperament or behavior is about a 4, which is a little lower than most horses of his age and breed but still high enough to make room for shenanigans, to shoot up to an 8?

I debated posting the video below because I know it will probably strike terror into the hearts of drivers, but I think it's illustrative not only in seeing firsthand the results of how using thresholds in training of driving horses can help them recover from a sudden fright, but also in realizing how quickly trouble happens and how little time you have to avert a major accident. I've also seen few videos online of spooks or bolting under cart with a successful recovery, so perhaps this one will be educational for drivers. For some context, in this video which was filmed back in late November (at the height of the season for pushing thresholds!), Levi and I were practicing some simple walk-trot transitions in the indoor arena at night when he either visually reacted (which I thought at the time) to something or heard some noise (which was later determined to be the real cause- I still don't know its origin although it sounds electric, like... a cattle prod? Maybe some astute reader can tell me what they think.) that sent him from calmly trotting through the corner right into a bolt down the center line. He's never bolted under cart before, so this was unexpected. Importantly, prior to the drive, he had been trying to tell me that his threshold was rapidly increasing, both during the warmup outside the arena in which he spooked in hand, as well as in his general state of tension working under cart during the workout. It is unforgivable to me that I did not take more seriously the buildup of little clues; I've since apologized to him, and we have had smooth sailing since this day. In the video, watch how he signals his discomfort once we round the corner; he actually turns his entire head and looks in the direction of whatever it was that had bothered him, just before all hell breaks loose. Poor guy! If I had listened to him in the first place beforehand instead of being confident in the exercise instead, we could likely have avoided this entirely.

Spooking and bolting under cart or carriage is incredibly dangerous, and all drivers must learn how to prevent it from happening as well as the skills to getting the horse under control as quickly as possible. Paying attention to creeping threshold levels before you get into the cart is important! Sometimes, like we see in this video, stressors have accumulated to the point it seemingly happens out of nowhere following the final causal event. While the actual spook itself was over and under control in about three or four seconds, you can also see just how quickly Levi made it from one end down to the opposite end of our huge indoor arena, despite my attempts to buy us some real estate by turning. With a bolt in harness, you have only a few seconds to regain control; after that, you are managing a runaway. While I don't like that my beloved horse bolted (right in the direction of my cameraman, no less!) I am glad that I was able to quickly get his mind back, send that extra energy gifted by adrenaline out through a smooth and wide turn at a canter, halt him, and put him right back on the job, within ten to twelve seconds. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug, and I was not actually expecting the situation to be over as soon as it was. I've dealt with horses whose panic re-ignited after an initial calm down from a bolt, simply because all that energy needs somewhere to go. Fortunately, Levi responded differently, and his expression was mostly in line with "WTF just happened??" Despite everything, it is remarkable that he still trusted me, and calmly went right back to that same corner without hesitation. Thank you, threshold work!

As the driver, muscle memory from riding bolters and spooks kicked in; I have never actually dealt with a spook or bolt in harness until now, as every horse I've ever driven has somehow been a total angel. Statistically improbable, but also true. I can't do a one-rein stop in a cart, of course, but I could use everything I had available to me including the space/distance, reins, balance, and my body position. I'm grateful for all those spooky horses in the past, because they taught me to act in crisis mode without thinking about it. Until I met Levi, I thought that nice horses happened to other people.

What is interesting in this video is that afterward neither of us appear to be remotely frightened by what transpired, although we were both incredulous. I just had to chirp at him a little bit afterward ("Not gonna get out of work, bud!" and "I guess we know you can do combined driving, with turns like that!"), but didn't hold it against him as it was truly my own fault in the first place. I didn't feel any fear, or much of anything really, in the moment it was all happening except for this giant balloon of NOT TODAY expanding throughout my entire body. I felt total determination and commitment to getting our turnout safely stopped. I love my horse to the ends of the Earth, and would never forgive myself if he met with any accident as a result of my doing, but if he was not able to listen to me and stop, my next plan was to point him at the arena wall. Fortunately, Levi is intelligent and equipped with self-preservation, and our work has prepared us to overcome this kind of situation, as we discovered. I am happy to report we have not had any further incidents of any kind, and I have continued to be ever vigilant of him signaling his threshold level before we are ever near a difficult place.

So, that is how we came back down from an 8 to a 5. In the next section I will share a little exercise that is far less dramatic to begin to help the horse regulate in stressful situations.

Thresholds in Practice

You really don't need to do all your own stunts. Here is a simple exercise that can help address thresholds as a way to increase the horse's confidence and trust through reminding him to use his body correctly. I mentioned that thresholds evolve over time; the horse that could not walk to the arena in darkness without losing his mind, over time, begins to feel it's no big deal, as he goes from an 9 to a 7 to a 5 over several training sessions to specifically address his concerns. His whole demeanor changes and it seemingly hinges on that one thing, but so much more is happening inside. How much time does it take to return to baseline from a bad situation? You don't need to wait for the spook to find out.

One exercise that just about anyone of any skill level with horses can do to improve focus and move a horse from a difficult space to a more relaxed level also paves the way for emotional regulation. For this exercise, you only need your horse, a halter and lead rope or lunge line, and a safe place to work. The ideal situation in which to use this exercise is if the horse is not too far off from his baseline but is starting to show signs that he is becoming worried or frustrated, in that he is no longer focusing on you, is rigid and tense in his body, staring or snorting at what worries him, and is trying to move his feet around or turn to look at something that disturbs him. One caveat is that if he is already taking flight, rearing, or screaming his head off, he is probably over the threshold for which this simple exercise can reach him, but you can still work on the 'stand still' part, which will help you both. This exercise can also work if the horse is distracted in the cross-ties, squirreling around, or acting like a busybody. The theory behind the exercise is based in part on information from the trainer Amy Skinner, whose work has been mentioned here before. From Amy, we learned that having a posture aligned with straightness (horse's head over his chest, weight balanced across all four feet) contributes to mental and emotional well-being and perceptions of safety. This exercise uses adjusting balance and posture within the context of a stressor to help re-calibrate the horse's emotional state, which is correlated with his perceived level of safety.

As an example of applying this exercise in Levi's case, he has been rather concerned and worried about some questionable farming practices going on in the neighbor's field (hilariously specific, and is too much to go into here by way of context, but he is rightfully concerned considering the situation). I want him to focus on me, of course, and I know that if I allow this behavior to continue unremarked he will escalate his brewing concern into, "Now I'm mad, and I'm going to go over there and give that guy a talking-to, and you aren't going to stop me!" Another horse would probably react differently, but right now this is the energy I have to work with. To use the exercise to help him avoid this point, I simply ask him to whoa and stand, which he knows well how to do, but with his head pointed away from the area of concern and centered over his chest, with his weight balanced on all four feet. After setting him up in a balanced frame, I stand far enough away that there is a nice loop of slack in the lead rope, as he is used to, but still close enough to reach him if he moves; if your horse moves off practice making him stand before trying this exercise, which is a great way to build patience and focus. Now, he is going to do his best to address the threat by turning his head in its direction. The horse may even try to move off or take a step, paw in frustration, or lower or lift his head. Each time he does this, gently but firmly grasp the lead rope just under his chin, and move his head and/or body back so that it is in its balanced frame. If he stands for a moment but still moves, put him right back into the original balanced position. You may need to invoke the patience of all the saints in order to keep doing this, but if you stay calm and consistent in your body and reactions, eventually the horse will relax, lick and chew, and blink his eyes, lower his head, perhaps rest a hind leg, and you will begin to see his concern fade away. Once the horse is in a nice comfortable state (or dead asleep by now, per Levi) try moving him to another spot and repeat, if he continues showing concern. I have done this exercise countless times over many hours with my horse, and I keep returning to it when needed because when he is calm, balanced, and straight in his posture, it's easy to remain below his threshold set point.

How do we work with thresholds under harness? In this video from last week, we had just returned to working under cart after Levi's hiatus. The structure of our training sessions is the same - 30 minute walk in hand, 10 minutes ground driving to make sure all of our buttons are working, a quick hitch, and then a brief walk out followed by walk-trot and walk-halt transitions. Awareness of thresholds is constant throughout the entire process; usually, whatever energy Levi gives in the warmup is what will be repeated throughout the rest of the workout, so I am very attentive during the stages before I get into the cart. Lately, in addition to taking issue with our local gentleman farmer, Levi has been concerned about disembodied voices and ghostly sounds echoing in the indoor arena (hence our conversation in the video about "is that someone singing"), which distorts and vibrates sound like an amphitheater. In the video below, I was working specifically with this in mind: go into the corners with focus, you can listen but don't react, speed isn't important here but keep forward, respond to my aids, relax and halt. If I had all of that below a 5 or 6, I said good job, now let's go outside and drive! And we did! Levi has also learned to disregard the distraction of farming next door, but he did write a farming joke for you:

Q: How can you tell that someone is a gentleman farmer without them telling you they're a gentleman farmer? A: They own a tractor that costs as much as a single family home, but still don't put up their own hay. Good one, Levi!

Congratulations on reading this far, if you were interested in learning about thresholds from my view. I may revisit this idea in the future, just so that I can correct my own current misconceptions! In the meantime, if any of this content was helpful or if you felt some type of way about any of it that you're burning to share, feel free to subscribe so you can leave a comment. Many thanks for reading.

Future Plans

If you're not a member of Overthinkers Anonymous and decided to skip all the stuff about thresholds above, welcome to this last and final section where I get back to Levi's life and share some of our upcoming plans. Levi will be five years old next month. That's incredible to me. Last year at this time I was putting some final finishes on his ground work in preparation for putting to cart for the first time. This year, we are already out driving in our spacious outdoor arena, getting fit and ready for Spring and Summer outings!

My main training focus for this year is to prepare Levi for something very special, which is his very first driving competition - a combined driving event - in October. It takes ~200 days or so for a novice, green horse to be fit enough to compete in this kind of event without injury and I am taking all precautions. For the next six weeks, we will do the kind of slow, steady, boring work you see in the video below. Afterward, I will begin trailering him off property to have various important driving training experiences that are critical for his future success. We are breaking no land speed records here, and I am not putting Levi into any kind of collected frame as he is not yet strong enough for that. We will build up to working every other day or so under cart, and then finally about five days per week with one day consisting of a long walk out or dressage-focused work in hand that will make his transition to work under saddle easier. Regarding that, toward the end of this year I will have Levi fitted for a saddle, and if all goes well, I plan to put his first rides on him in April of 2025, on or around his sixth birthday. He will have built up a good base of fitness and strength from our steady work this year, and will have had virtually all but the kitchen sink thrown at him in terms of preparation for starting work under saddle. I think Levi will make a wonderful driving horse as well as an excellent riding horse, and we are still in early stages of both endeavors. It's truly fun and remarkably rewarding to work with this talented young fellow.

In addition to the driving conditioning work which will take up the majority of our efforts this year, I plan to show Levi extensively in hand. I have carefully reconsidered my thoughts on participating in the Morgan sport horse divisions at the breed shows. This is primarily due to the fact there are very few shows that offer these classes, and so I would have to travel pretty far to compete in them. Another reason is that while yes, there are aspects of showing that I personally don't agree with, I may have been a bit hasty and premature in deciding to boycott them entirely. What if our presence and support actually does help foster positive change in the direction I am seeking? How can I help anyone else who might feel the same way I do, if I stay home; how will that help change anything? A final consideration is Levi himself; every sire on his pedigree competed in harness or under saddle, and in many ways he was born to do this, so how could I deny this legacy? Having said this, I feel the Morgan breed and open shows in Vermont will be the rated shows we would be comfortable focusing on this year, as I have direct experience with several of them as a volunteer. I am particularly interested in the Lippitt show in August; although Levi's not a Lippitt Morgan, this show is open to all Morgan lines, and I am very interested in meeting some of the breeders of these remarkable horses. I think the Lippitt folks are doing a remarkable job and seem to embrace many of my values regarding the breed. It might be worth attending and participating in the show with Levi, if only to listen and learn.

Finally, I mentioned in a past post that increasing my knowledgebase and education is paramount for this year. I have been working steadily in this direction with a driving instructor and her pony, who hopefully will not be opposed to making an appearance in video or photo content here! I also have the help of the local driving network, which I affectionately call "The Fancy Hat Society" because they have great turnouts, who have graciously agreed to help head Levi so we can drive multiple days per week. There are many exciting plans in the making, and I can't wait to share updates with you all as we pursue them!

In my next post, I want to switch gears and address the big green two-wheeled elephant in the room: how in the heck did we ever manage to properly balance Levi's pretty Frey Sprint cart? If you thought this post was detailed, just wait until the next one. At least, it will be based on mechanics and not, well, whatever this was!