Carting

By pony correspondent: Jo Ronin

Last time we went over how to practice responding to whip commands in the safe environment of a corral. Once you are happy that you and your partner have a synergy going, you might want to think about taking to the roads.

Now, for roads, there are four places that I like. AK Stables has a very nice set of straight, flat roads with right angle turns. They also have a number of different carts out for public use, just please return them when you're done. This makes it very good for the beginner pony.

The second place is Frilly Filly Farm. It has a reasonably advanced race track, plus cart rezzers and access to linden roads for multi-sim cart rides. Certain areas can be a little tricky to navigate, but they make good practice at doing different corner types, plus there is a central timing gate.

Similarly, Happy Bottom farm can be an excellent place to start a cart ride along the long linden roads.

Finally, there is Sala, the stables for The Forum. Sala is one of the nicest places to go carting with plenty of different turns, hills, ramps and pretty views. There are also a number of cuddle corners to be your target destination and to keep you riding round the sim. There were a number of cart rezzers, but if you cannot find one, rez-rights are limited to members of The BDSM Forum group. They are a lovely group, so there is nothing to stop you dropping by and joining up.

One piece of advice with regards to carting, if you are crossing sim borders, be very careful. Do not try to turn once you make contact as it can spin you all over the place. It's best to stop short, then step reasonably slowly over the border, then wait for everyone to arrive. If you get bumped from the cart, hit "stand up" and sit on something near the cart. This usually works better than trying to TP and without you having to re-log.

If you're trying to go carting in a place without rezzers and are therefore looking for a good "Beginner" cart to purchase, I would recommend the Dog Cart.

The Dog Cart

For quite a while, one of my favourite carts has been the Dog Cart by Sugarcube productions. It's quite plain and very simple, but also incredibly reliable and robust. It's not too heavy, so it can go reasonably quickly, but not so light that it is uncontrollable. The turning circle isn't fantastic, but that has the benefit that the control is not too twitchy, so can avoid a novice pony "tripping" and falling off the road (and if you hit a parcel that has ban line.... let's say they hurt). This also makes it good for blindfolded carting.

The other big bonus is that it is copy/mod, so if you want to add an auto-rez script, that is a possibility. You can also mod it to suit your personality better or to match your pony's tack. There are also a number of similar yet different designs to choose from, including 4-passenger and 2 passenger, 2-puppy configurations (all be-it as separate purchases).

The crowning jewel of the Dog cart is the Duo Dog Cart. For the trainer lucky enough to have two ponies, this cart allows them to work together, one controlling the forwards and backwards, the other steering. I have enjoyed using the single cart with a number of friends of mine, but the duo cart can just add that extra bit to make a ride much more entertaining.

As with any cart there is a time and a place for it - it makes an excellent relaxing ride cart, but you wouldn't use it for racing. At 499$L per style, it is also not the cheapest cart on the market, but it is certainly an excellent and reliable cart that makes a good starting point when carting.

Landmarks for the locations mentioned in this post can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/slponyplay/locations