The Christmas Tree Hunt!
Well
as most folks know each year, I head out into the local woods with my trusty
"tree horse" Andy and a rope to find, cut, and drag the family
Christmas tree home for the holidays.., This year I managed to get the little
kids to come with me as it was neither raining nor exceptionally cold.. What FUN
we were going to have!!
In the past I have just used a rope tied to the tree, tied to Andy's saddle horn to drag the tree back, but this always results in a tree with no bark on the underside of the branches and a grumpy horse as she doesn't like the awkward pull on the horn. This year I got creative and decided to make a "sled" for the tree out of an old piece of carpet I had laying around. We took one of our old harness breast collars and a set of traces along to attach the sled too, and thought that might work, as long as Andy was willing. Andy has never formally been hitched before but is the kind of horse that is pretty ameaniable to most new things, so I thought we might be just fine..
The
first issue was getting the sled up to the tree (a few miles).. So we rolled the
carpet up and tossed it over Andy's neck.. She didn't mind a bit. I tell you it
was a bit of a challenge trotting down the road like this but we managed.. We
had to, it was getting late and going to be dark if we didn't get to
hustling.
The kids had a great time riding up thru the fields and into the woods. Breeze had decided she needed to be a race horse and was really itching to have a gallup.. Not today Breeze.. Galluping with saws and knifes in our back packs didn't see like a smart thing to do!! lol.
So, we got
to "the tree patch" and found a perfect Grand Fir right by the
roadside for us.. Whew!!! I hate treking thru the forest off the road looking
for a good one. I decided to hold the horses while Amy and the kids cut, it is
much easier then tieing them all to trees, faster too.
After the tree was cut (that took about 2 mins), Amy and the little kids set about loading it onto our makeshift sled while I held the horses and tried to get good pictures. By now it was quite dark and so the pictures had to be lightened significantly on the computer later on, hence the poor quality of them.. With the tree loaded and the kids remounted (safely behind the tree and sled), I tied Andy to the sled and asked her to move off. (I wasn't on her yet as I wanted to make sure she wasn't going to freak at the sled and tree behind her before I got on!). I shouldn't have worried, Andy never even flicked an ear back at the tree and sled and didn't mind the traces dangling down around her rear legs a bit. So I climbed on and off we went towards home!!
We
had to stop once or twice to readjust the tree on the sled. Each time, Andy
stood like an old plow horse, all by herself while I moved around fixing stuff..
The trip home was made mostly in the dark, therefore we never did get a good
picture of Andy pulling her sled.. Poor mare, each year she does this for us and
NEVER gets good photo credit for some reason or another. Oh well, she doesn't
seem to hold it against me!
Anyway, the
"tree hunt" was a roaring success. The kids really had a lot of fun
going along, and I ALWAYS have fun, even in the pouring down rain (which
thankfully we avoided this year). This trip to the woods with Andy, always
reminds me of what wonderful horses these Curlies are. Andy never thinks
anything I do with her is "too wierd".. My husband had worried about
me "tieing a tree to a horse".. He said it was dangerous as all get
out (oh by the way, this was done in an open bridle.. no blinkers on Andy at
all, she could see everything). I just laughed and told him he didn't know
"my horse" very well at all, and I trusted her totally to be tied to a
tree!! LOL.. The three other horses that went along on this years trip
also were not bothered by the tree and the sled, perhaps next year one of them
can pull it back and earn themselves a place of honor in the family Christmas
routine. Oh perhaps not, I sort of like the tradition of Andy doing it!
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