Connor's been riding in our farm's completely amazing 6 horse head-to-head KiefferBuilt trailer for what, almost four years now? No issues. He's a champion hauler.
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| Usually we don't pack up in the road, but a fallen tree was blocking the other side of the circle drive on Sunday. |
He always faces backward, since the front stalls are pretty small when configured as a 6 horse (it can also be configured as a generous 4 horse), usually we put the bigger guys in the rear facing forward.
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| Connor's "luxury suite" in the generous 4 horse configuration for the 5 hour Fox River Valley trip last year. |
This is an old pic, but see the stall in the below picture? That's what he looked like when we left the farm on Sunday. When we arrived at Twin Towers after a nearly 3 hour trip, Connor was standing about 2 feet into the center area of the trailer, out of his stall, tethered only by a quick-release trailer tie to the outside wall.
As close as we can figure, my Curious George of a Welsh Cob learned how to pull out the ring pin that holds the chest bar in place (visible in the picture above), and freed himself. Luckily he did not walk forward and also divest himself of the quick release trailer tie and go wandering the trailer, but even still, how did he balance without a chest bar going up and down the steep hills of Ohio? Mysterious.
So he has been relegated, probably forever, to the middle rear-facing stall, because that stall's chest bars attach with giant carabiners, which he hasn't figured out how to open - yet.
My initial reaction to seeing him free was to laugh (this makes me a good candidate for Welsh Cob ownership) but my secondary reaction was "OH MY GOD so many things could have ended horribly in this situation!" Thankfully, the worst he did was untie his hay net which ended up under the shoe of the guy next to him, which got stuck and had to be pulled out. Which I realize is still not good, but everyone ended up fine.
Ponies.
Ahhh scary!! But also kind of hilarious, since everything turned out ok :) Bad Connor!
ReplyDeleteIt's a little of both for sure.
DeleteHappy everything turned out ok... this reminds me of a time our barn took 5 horses to a show in a stock trailer without dividers (I know, I know). Amongst the 5 was a very naughty 12 hand pony who somehow managed to untie his own quick release knot, and then the quick release knot of EVERY OTHER HORSE on the trailer. When we got to the show and opened the back door said pony came flying out, and luckily the rest were all so shocked and confused there was no harm done. Ponies!
ReplyDeletePonies indeed! No judgment here on the pony clown car stock trailer, we have totally done that for Welsh shows before.
DeletePonies. They are crazy.
ReplyDeleteI freakin' love ponies! Connor is a hoot.
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh too :) Bridget is a genius at untying herself and opening things and recently figured out how to get her whole halter off ( get your head under the rope/trailer tie and get it behind your ears, using it to pull the crown piece of the halter over your ears) Ponies!
ReplyDeleteLOL pony!!! I love this, it cracks me up.
ReplyDeleteGive him more time and eventually he'll be in the cab with y'all!
ReplyDeletePony IS a four-letter word, you know.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, at least he's not a pony mare?
Ponies! The trouble they cant get into...
ReplyDeletePonies certainly have a sense of humor haha
ReplyDeletenaughty pony!!
ReplyDeleteSuch a cheeky chappie, glad no one got hurt and that you had such an awesome XC schooling day in your new saddle ♡
ReplyDeleteSo glad all ended well! Just shows you how smart he is!
ReplyDelete