Harness & wagon fitting queries

[DownUnder Gal]

Nanno, any clues on the above re ongoing shaft issue?

[Nanno]

Oh, I'm sorry. I must have missed the question the first time round. The best thing you can do when you don't quite like how something is working is to experiment. Try adjusting the traces to the shortest hole and see if it helps with the shaft issue without putting him too close to the cart. Another thing that will help is training. As Koby learns to cross his feet over and turn without arcing his body the shafts will not poke into him so much. In fact, a poking shaft can be a good teacher for those turns. If he doesn't like how it feels to be poked, he'll figure out how to avoid those shafts in the turns.

[DownUnder Gal]

OK will try both - thanks very much Nanno

[DownUnder Gal]

Koby's lessons are going pretty well given we can only manage once a week at the moment.  I'd say the harness fitting can still be fine tuned. Nanno, I'm not sure if you can access this, but if so, is there anything obvious that stands out that needs to be adjusted, or any other comments you'd care to make?  Something seems to be bugging him at the back end.  Thanks as always for your advice!

https://www.facebook.com/ashcroftgoats/v...651634322/

[Nanno]

I can see your video!

The feel of the britchen rubbing against Koby's hindquarters is probably what's bothering him. It looks properly adjusted, so there's really nothing to be done about it except to keep working with him like nothing is wrong and eventually he should learn to tune it out. Sputnik was bothered by the feel of the britchen at first too and would try to scoot away from it like Koby is doing, but it didn't take him too long to figure out that it wasn't hurting him but it also wasn't going away, so he learned to ignore it after a while.

[DownUnder Gal]

Okay, we will persevere with the current set-up - thanks for your advice Nanno

[DownUnder Gal]

We had a wonderful lesson this week with Koby; I am up to ground driving him properly from behind/beside the cart while my friend Kat leads him from the front. Koby really knows his commands now and seems to be over the panic stage. He no longer scoots away when he feels the pressure of the cart slowing down through the breeching. We've so much to work on but I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. Koby actually seems to be enjoying himself! We need to start winding back the treats though

[Nanno]

Awesome!!

[Sanhestar]

An idea! A friend of mine teaches slowing the cart via breeching by letting the pony (!) gently backing up with the cart. First on the ground, then up a gentle slope.

Maybe you need to have an aditional step in your training and teach Koby to lean back into the breeching - shifting his weight.

[DownUnder Gal]

Hi Sabine! Thanks for your idea! We do need to focus more on "reversing" ?. Koby used to do it fine when ground driving, but now I guess it feels a little weird for him to do that when hitched up. We will keep persevering!