Well, we gave Mr X a few days to get used to seeing his "new carriage" 
nd
tonight we took him out for a drive pulling the new carriage. We had put the 
new carriage inside the barn and I "rolled" it over the concrete quite a few 
times so X wouldn't be surprised at the noise it made the first time he heard 
it. I also had taken him inside the barn quite a few times for him to smell 
the carriage (and he DID give it more than a "once over" ) ..... I just 
let him get used to it on HIS terms.
    It makes more noise but that didn't seem to bother him. The wheels on the 
2 seater (Buddy calls it the "Sports Carriage") have rubber around the steel 
rims -- our new 4-seater carriage (Buddy calls this one the "Van" or "Station 
Wagon") only has the steel rims ...... so, the steel rims make lots of noise 
going down the road.  The wheels are wooden (wooden spoaks etc) but around 
the wheels is a steel band.
    X was pretty good about it ..... he was a little nervous but I expected 
that.  He didn't seem to mind the extra weight (but then maybe it wasn't all 
the heavy as Buddy drove it by himself -- no extra passengers yet.  I rode 
Sham ....... now, SHE didn't like the noises that new carriage made -- not 
one bit did she like it!!
    The ride was mostly uneventful ..... X got a little harried after he'd 
been trotting for a bit and Buddy ask him for a walk again ..... maybe X 
didn't like the extra weight on his backside ..... OH, this carriage has 
brakes too so all Buddy did was apply the brake a little and ask X to WHOA - 
X stopped immediately.  It might have been that all the noise the carriage 
was making while he was trotting had upset him -- don't know but after that 
he was fine.
    Just thought I'd tell you about the first "outing" with the new carriage.
---
---------------