I want a buggy

I think every girl that is horse crazy and grew up on western movies wanted a cart or buggy for their horse.

I decided that I could make a buggy, I got an old lawn chair, some bike tires, baling wire, rope etc and went to work. Now mind you I am not old enough to know better but I was too young to care. 

I proceeded to build my buggy. I took a young horse I had and hooked him up to it in the pasture. I did not have the vaguest idea how you went about that either but I tied ropes all over that young horse and the buggy was staying off the ground so I figured I had it made.  I very carefully lead him around the pasture and he seemed fine so being an idiot I decided that I was ready to go. I went over to the gate to the road. A gravel road no less and opened that gate and…………….

That cart hit the gravel and it rattled, it shook, it bounced and so did my horse. Off he went at a dead run with my hard work bouncing around behind him, hitting him in the hindquarters and pieces flying everywhere with me running behind as fast as I could go losing ground all the time yelling at the top of my lungs to WHOA! WHOA!  Down the road we went..WHOA! WHOA!  That did not even slow that horse down.

I was so lucky that he went berserk before I could get in that cart. As usual my hero, my dad was coming up the road from the field and saw the horse and was able to cut him off and get a hold of him. He drug dad quite a ways but dad finally got him stopped. I was so lucky that no damage was done to my horse except some minor scratches and a nightmare I am sure for the next few months. My buggy was nothing but a few pieces of lawn chair but mostly all that was left was my ropes.

As usual my dad said “of all the numb skull stunts to pull, when are you ever going to learn to think things through. You are lucky you did not kill you and the horse” He then proceeded to ground me and take my horse away for 2 weeks.

It did not kill that dream to have a buggy.  They have a draft horse show in Central Oregon every year at Eaglecrest resort and I always wanted to go but being in emergency services I could never get the weekend off. Weekends are impossible to get off as they are the busy times and everyone wants them off.  I finally had enough seniority to get a day shift with weekends off and guess where I went first…..Yep to that show at Eaglecrest.

It was a day I will never forget. I watched in amazement as all those beautiful horses with their carts, buggies and wagons went around the ring.  The first time the big eight horse hitches came behind the metal bleachers I was sitting on I about passed out, they were gorgeous! The noise of several eight horse teams and their wagon is more like a freight train, the ground actually shook and trembled as they came prancing by.

My favorite teams with the black Percherons and the black and white Clydesdales.  I did not miss one single minute of that show. I started back home thinking to myself, Linda if you are ever going to have a buggy you had better get with it.  You are going to be to old, you are almost ready to retire and you have not accomplished that goal. Better do it while you can afford it and are young enough to enjoy it.

Yep on the way home right alongside the road like it was meant to be sat a buggy for sale, training buggies and harnesses available…Think things through?  Nope, stop and buy a training buggy and a harness to fit my little Morgan/Quarter cross gelding and make arrangements to bring my pickup back and get it the next day.  Home I go with a big smile on my face.

The next day I went and picked up my harness and my buggy. I get home and get my horse out and look at that harness and all the straps and thought it through a little bit. How in the world do I hook this up.. Ok, off I go to Bend to Barnes and Noble and I buy three books on learning to drive a horse, everything from buckling them up to the first steps in training.

First step, get him used to the harness. He did not care at all about that harness even the coupler under his tail did not bother him.  Hook a pole to your harness and pull it around a enclosed area. He did great. I hooked everything I could find to that harness and drug it around. I even pulled my daughter that is as horse crazy as me around on the garbage can lid and everything I could find. Like I said all horse girls want a buggy. She might be a college graduate and smart as a whip but this was a horse..

Finally the big day came, hook him to the cart. Yep he did great, around and around we go in the corral on a rope.  Ok, I am getting in, around and around we go. Man this is as fun as I thought it would be. My horse likes this, he arches his neck and does his Morgan strut like he thinks this is the finest thing he has ever done. WOW, man this is fun. He likes it as well as me, we don’t need this corral.

Off we go to the sagebrush area with dirt roads running everywhere. This would be a good place.  I unloaded the buggy, hitched it up, walked behind the cart for a little while and he was doing fine so I crawled in.  Down the road we go, he is so proud of himself just strutting away and I am grinning so big I think my face is going to break.  All of a sudden he is getting slower and slower and his head is coming around to the left and he stops. I get out and drat my reins have gone through the holes in the floor of the buggy and have tightened up his reins until he can’t move.  That horse was a doll, he stood right there while I worked around and got us all loose again.  What a horse!  Lesson learned, keep track of your reins as they are long.

Off we go again, strutting down the road and we come to a 90 degree corner, well round corral don’t have corners and I get my rein under his tail.  He does a couple of half squats and jumps and I yell WHOA. He stops and trembles, I get the rein out. Maybe that is what was wrong with my first buggy, that horse did not understand the whoa part.

Off we go again and we come to a hill, just a gentle hill right, down the hill we go, the dang buggy goes up and hits my horse right in the butt, he jumps, I yell whoa, he stops the buggy hits him again, he jumps, I yell whoa, he stops, buggy hits him again, he jumps, I yell whoa and this time when he stops he tucks his butt and braces himself and just took it. I get out all shaky and think “maybe you should think this through a little more”

I lead him back to the pickup and loaded up and went home and got my book out. I had adjusted the brakes on the driving harness wrong. No dah!  I had better find an instructor who knows what he is doing. I try and try to find an instructor and none can be found in Central Oregon. I remember my favorite team was Sistersview Clydesdales so I look them up on the internet and sure enough there they are.  I called and asked if they knew of an instructor for driving.  She said that she did not know of anyone around but if I would wait a couple of weeks until foaling was over they would help me.  I am so excited that two weeks seems like two years.

The big day finally arrives and off I go to Sistersview.  Their horseman gets a big draft out. WOW he is huge! I am in seventh heaven. He starts showing me how to hook up the cart. He shows me to hook the reins actually called lines when driving. Tells me to be careful because it they get under the tail the horse does not like it and some will panic. Been there done that I tell him. Then he shows me how to set the brakes as this is one of the most important things of putting on a harness because the cart will hit the horse. Been there done that too. He proceeds through things not to do and I tell him again, been there done that and he looks at me strange every time. He asks, “what did your horse do?” I told him the stories and he laughed and said “that horse is a keeper and will be a great buggy horse”

My little Shilo will do about anything for me, he has total trust in me even when he shouldn’t. I fell in love with the owners and crew at Sisterview and became a crew member until they retired last year. I will always appreciate what they taught me with the horses and as people. A great time of my life and one I will always cherish. Some great times and stories will follow on my times with the draft horses.

All I can say is never give up on your dreams, even if you are older you can still accomplish a dream from childhood.