Willow Learns to Drive---The Conclusion



When Fonz hooked Willow for the first time I figured he'd probably drive him around the barn yard a few times (no arena, and he'd probably feel safer ((Fonz)) in the open anyway, with no fence to tangle in), or up the hard-dirt road Fonz's barn is at the end of, it's a mile or so long, and nice and wide and has all kinds of things beside it.  Nooooooo..... being Fonz, he took Willow up the road 1/4 mile or so, to where there's a NARROW--I mean it's exactly 1 cart wide w/no room for error-- 90 degree right turn up a bank into a 1 cart wide driving trail through the woods! Eeeeek!  I'd never have tried that the first day, esp. with a horse that's green about the outdoors---but I guess that's why he's the wizard!  So, he drove him through the woods a half mile or so, to another 90 degree right turn, down a bank onto another dirt road, circling back through a lovely big farm that has a beautiful twisty drive lined with Bradford pears, and paddocks, and back down a rather steep, RUTTED and uneven path back to the barn. No smoothly graded surfaces here!   Not a long drive, maybe 2 miles, but I'm sure Willow learned a lot--- seeing a lot of things he'd never seen before, never mind with a cart attached to his behind!

Willow's 5th day hitched as he and Fonz cross the Very Scary Bridge!

The boards on the bridge are not fastened down so they each move up and down and make a terrible clatter!  Sounds kind of dangerous to me but Fonz wanted him to be prepared for any weird sound or sensation, especially with an unskilled driver such as me.  Driving down the highway, Fonz would reach out with the whip (the only time he used it) and clang it against metal road signs, and purposefully drove near  or over sticks and branches so they'd crunch or catch in the wheels and make a racket.  Kind of the driving version of sacking out, but I appreciated it. 

Fonz just drove him w/his voice, no whip, but then his voice, when he says 'TROT' is like a Really Big piece of Velcro being separated! He never actually  used  the  whip with him since he's pretty sensitive to the whole concept and needed to not be worrying about it, and it's alot easier to wake 'em up than to put 'em to sleep!