Frankie Was A Rockstar

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“I was a really good pony.” 😍 #frankiesrockstar #newvocationsrachorseadoptions #firstdrive

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on May 27, 2019 at 12:58pm PDT

Some long time carriage driving friends came over on Monday to help me hook Frankie for the first time.  I didn't have any concerns about him not knowing how to drive, but the cart he'd be pulling was much heavier and probably different feeling or sounding or some other possible issue that I hadn't even thought about.

We've done quite a bit of ground work while he's been acclimating to being here, finishing up his rehab work, adjusting to being turned out on full pasture, building some much needed muscle...  I felt like he and I were a pretty good team and I was pretty confident I knew how he'd react.  Still, it's always better to have extra help on hand in case something doesn't go as planned.

Frankie strolled out of the barn, navigated through two offset gates to get into the arena and was as quiet and relaxed and well behaved the entire drive as you'd ever want.  He was definitely a "Rockstar".  I'm sure he found the work a bit hard, especially in the grass, but I think he had a good time.  I know I did :-).

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Frankie was definitely a “rockstar” this afternoon. I couldn’t have asked for a better first drive. We still have a long way to go conditioning-wise, but to his credit, this is a very heavy cart to pull when you’ve probably only pulled lightweight training and race vehicles. He struggled with it a little, especially in the thick grass, but didn’t let it faze him. Good boy, Frankie! Looking forward to many more fun drives 😀. @newvocationsracehorseadoption #frankiesrockstar #carriagedriving #firstdrive #newvocations #newvocationsrachorseadoptions #standardbred

A post shared by Sara Dunham (@thecrazysheeplady) on May 27, 2019 at 5:49pm PDT

We did try trotting three really short times.  The first time he really struggled to get the cart rolling and lapsed into a pacing gait, but the next two tries he basically trotted.  I think with a little bit of fitness conditioning he'll develop the pretty trot he shows on the lunge line and under saddle.

Frankie loves to drink from the hose while he's getting a bath.  That's fairly common/normal.

Holding the hose in your mouth?  Well, he wouldn't be the first rock star with a drinking problem ;-D.

A big thanks to Jack and Virginia for expert carriage assistance and photos and videos and Jennifer for the Instagram posts.  Give us a little time to build up some fitness and then we'll go for some fun drives this summer!