Jingle Bell Driving!

[MySparrow]

Today I put the bells on Sparrow and loaded up some kids in the little cart
and off we went around the neighborhood, all a-jingle. Sparrow trotted big, neck soft and round, and every horse in their pastures turned to look at us. Jingle jingle! It was good!

[pricestory]

Sounds wonderful. Here it has been low 40s and very grey with rain all around, just not here. Seems like if it is going to be this grey and threatening, it could at least rain and decrease our drought.

[MySparrow]

It's about the same here. Very windy and gray, though not quite as cold. The jingle bells seemed to make everyone think of sunshine, though!

[Ashemont]

Gee I'll have to try some bells on my next drive - although I usually feel pretty 'sunny' with Maggie in front of me :winkgrin: It's probably a good idea to get a driving animal used to bells anyway.

Dale, you're just having way too much fun with that cart!!! :)

[olehossgal]

I LOVE driving with bells on at this time of year! I celebrate Christmas in about as low-key a manner as it is possible to do(no children/grandchildren around, a full plate just caring for the horses and my place, and due to getting older and less agile, less inclination to have the 'extra' work of setting up a tree of any size,and decorating)-and though I make a couple of 'only-then' candies to give, and exchange a few select gifts w/ my daughter who comes down for the holidays, I do NOT participate in the 'shopping frenzy', and haven't since my children grew up...but IF I get a chance to drive, I always attach my few but genuine cast brass bells(which my non-horsey mother bought, attached to a unsalvagable leather strap years ago; not sure why??), now just strung on a piece of(gasp!-I know; someday I hope to find the time and funds to have them 'reattached' to a proper leather strap)plastic-clad electric wire, and away I go! Even these few(I think I have 6, or 8?)bells make a 'joyful noise'--and they just 'sound' like the season, for me!
Merry Christmas!

Margo C-T in NM

[War Admiral]

Price, you'll probably get lots of rain tomorrow (if it hasn't already arrived). Here it's been raining since last night, YAYNESS!!!!! So HRH and I may not get to go on our Jingle Bell Drive, but trust me, I am NOT complaining!! :D

[pricestory]

It did rain all morning but the sun is trying to come out now. So I might get a drive after all this afternoon. On the road only because the ground everywhere is too greasy slick.

Pat, try the bells out working around Maggie first. Some ponies/horses don't take kindly to them in the beginning. And once you are going it is too late to find out. The faster they run, the more the bells sound. Not a good scene.

[Ashemont]

Definitely planned to do that Price. Maggie has never actually bolted or run away with me and I sure don't want to 'train' her to do so! Although I must say while all of the horses run around being silly about my new goat (Barbie - due to have babies in February) and black sheep (HUGE 15 year old fellow), Maggie just walked up and sniffed. Funny how what will set one off will be totally uninteresting to another.

And thanks for sending the rain this way. Glad it stopped long enough for us to get hay in last evening (1000 lb round bales - ugh!). I dragged the pastures this morning instead of driving but with the rain coming I guess that was the better choice. Hate getting caught out in the rain.

[goodhors]

GTD's bell training method sounds like an easy way to get equines happy with bells. Better to know there is a problem BEFORE tieing on the bells and stepping off. Congrats Pat, on your new pets. I like sheep, but goats always seem to be getting into trouble. Too smart for pets. Be careful with the kids, they LOVE standing on car roofs, sliding down. Can take the fun away very fast.

Weatherwise, we are getting TREMENDOUS wind here. Better tie everything down, or you will be chasing it! Cleaning stalls out in the barn, the wind hit the roof vents, sounded like a turbo tractor was COMING in. Never heard that sound before, even on windy days. Must be the angle and speed did something new, to make that sound. At first I thought it was the Polar Express Steam Train in town, giving daily rides. We have the steam engine the movie used for sound and looks, the 1225. That steam whistle has been blowing a lot lately. You can hear even more sounds, chugging, when the wind blows in the right direction. Pretty whistle sound, like the good bells have. You can easily tell the difference from the diesel train whistles. The rides ended last week though, so engine sound is just the big wind blowing.

We missed the rain and drizzle, but warm air has erased our 6 inches of snow since Friday. We have only the plow piles left, and they are little. LOTS of water moving, with running water removing ice sheets in paddocks, so that is good. I checked the drainage ditch, took the grill guard off the tube going into the ground so water would run faster. That helped drop the water level a couple inches right away. Ditch is about 1/3 full, but all the high ground water from neighbors hasn't reached us yet. Lots of flooding down by Detroit.

I went around and added some logs to lay in front of the barn doors, to keep the bottoms down. One was really lifting, a foot or more with the wind. Wind is cold and wet, so chill is probably below freezing, though temps say 40+F. Makes the horses hair ripple in the breeze. They are really puffy today.

Glad to hear the rain is going where it can be used.

[pricestory]

This is the first time in days we have had sun and it is really wonderful. Poppy and I took a quiet walk around the neighborhood since everything else is so slick. Played with my GPS watch somemore. Forgot the bells. Oh well, tomorrow is suppose to be nice too and maybe I can find the bells before then. We do have wind but at 55 degrees, who cares?
Hopefully the sun will follow for you guys further east also.

[LostFarmer]

Go had some very good suggestions. I would also put a workout on said critter before introducing the bells. Sweat seems to make things a lot less spooky. :D Bells are a must when winter driving. :yes: LF

[Ashemont]

NO problem, LF, I was educated in the old school of "Nothing breaks a horse good like a lot of wet saddle blankets!" Assume it applies to harness horses, too, which is why Maggie has LOTS of miles on her ;)

[Simrat]

I used a similar method to GTD's technique to introduce my boy to a hip strap that I had custom made last year. I had chrome bells put on a black strap to match the stainless on my harness. Unfortunately, I have no cart, so we don't have any chance to really get out with them, but here is some holiday cheer. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgw2bes5jR4

[MySparrow]

Another gray, cool day, but I coaxed husband away from his 3-D puzzle, harnessed Sparrow, threw three daughters onto other horses and off we set in the village cart. Way up high! Lovely way to spend a couple of hours, I must say.

Merry Christmas, all!

[War Admiral]

Merry Christmas to all here!

I still can't believe I got my miracle and HRH Avery can drive again, at least a little bit!!!! :yes: We kept it short so as not to strain him unduly, but had a loffly Christmas Drive. Avery wore his Santa Hat and his jingle bells and we went "down the road a piece" to freak out his girlfrens in the neighbors' mare herd.

Normally HRH dislikes anything that insults his dignity, so you'd think he would loathe the Santa hat, but he seems to enjoy it b/c it wigs out the plebs and he gets to feel superior. ;) As to the jingle bells - he hasn't had them on since last Christmas, so pursuant to recent threads, I felt it prudent to reintroduce same while he was in the cross-ties being groomed.

"You remember these, Ave-man?" (jingle, jingle).

In return for which courtesy I of course got the Arch TB Look: "I'm not the one with short-term memory loss, Dumbass!" :lol: So I clipped them on his harness and away we went.

He cracks me up. :)

[Ashemont]

Did anyone else see the show on RFD TV tonight about sleigh bells? It was nicely done, although I wish they had also shown attaching bells to harness with a breast collar type harness ;) How timely! Now I just need to start saving to buy some of those really fancy bells :yes:

[Yip]

I know the season has passed - but I just got here! I SO look forward to driving with bells! It's part of *the dream* from toddlerhood. Of course I want a sleigh, but in NC we only get real sonw about every 8 years. I grew up in northeastern OH where *the dream* began, sleigh and all.

I've seen lots of different lengths of leather with bells attached, and I've seen bells in a pretty frame that you attach to the saddle. What do all y'all like to use? And if using the leather strips, how do you attach them to the harness/shafts? Where and what works bestto give you more jingle for the buck?

I plan on buying a set at next year's Nov. Dixie Draft & Mule Sale north of Charlotte, NC. That's only about an hour from me.

Thanks!

Wendy/Yip