Advice for restarting a horse?

[RockemSockem]

I bought a mare that has been off of driving for 3 years.. any advice?

 

[Shes My Style]

Personally I would start from the beginning (lunging, ground driving, etc) just to ensure there were no holes in her training and she remembers it all.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

How old is she? What is her experience? Is she "hot"? It's always best to start at the beginning with refresher lessons, especially ground driving.

 

[BiologyBrain]

I'm doing the same thing kind of - the guys I'm working have been pasture pets for most of their lives. I'm lunging, ground driving, hand walking, and basically acting like its never been done before. I've found that's almost always the safest option. Good luck!

 

[romewhip]

I'm restarting one, and I've gone at it from the ground up. Started with just grooming, see what happens, then hand walking, then lunging, then ground driving. We've had issues at each point because of his past mistreatment, but he's coming along nicely. We're sort of stalled at ground driving, I'm not sure he was ever trained for it so we'll lunge with two lines and work back from there. After that he'll go on track with the other pony and ground drive in poles, then see if he can handle the cart. He definitely had some behavior issues, so with one who has just had time off it should be pretty fun to just work through and see how much she knows.

 

[Annabellarose]

I always like for my horses to learn to lunge on a lunge line (even though I have access to a round pen and even though I do end up doing a lot of free-lunge work with my horses). I think that lunging on a lunge line really helps to familiarize a horse with ropes (or reins) hanging and flapping around their head and eyes. If I am restarting one that I am pretty sure had no known issues in the cart (for me in the past or for a former owner that I feel I can trust), I lunge them for a few days in a halter (or, better yet, a lunge cavesson, worth every penny, in my opinion) and then I switch to just warming them up on the lunge line and then switching to ground driving them in an open bridle with long lines fed through a training surcingle (also, worth every penny, in my opinion). After a few days of that and no hiccups, I switch to ground driving them in a harness. I made myself some pvc training shafts that I hang from the harness. After a day or two of that I try to ground drive the horse from beside the horse's hindquarters and I try to "jiggle" the shafts and then I try to "bump" the shafts into both sides of the horse's body. I have never been a fan of using a drag as I have always found horses to be more afraid of a drag following them than the cart. I usually get a horse into a cart and then go back to the drag after the horse accepts the cart (as I have found it handy on more than one occasion to be able to use a horse or a pony to drag something around the farm; a large fallen tree limb, etc.).

 

[paintponylvr]

Funny how some of us advocate doing certain steps while others say "no way" and how some of us switch steps around! Always interesting to see how each of us trains our horses.

To the OP - I see that you have the one mini horse and two large horses in your signature block. Have you ever driven before? If not, I would highly recommend that you find a driving instructor to take some lessons from. Doesn't have to be with minis - just needs to be a knowledgeable instructor & driver. You'd be amazed how much you can recognize things that may not be right after driving an already trained horse. If the instructor can work with you on ground driving - then you will be sure to check out your mare w/o possibly creating new issues.

Have Fun!!

 

[RockemSockem]

I have ground driven other minis but never up in a cart. I am working closely with an instructor

I did lunge my little miss today and she does REALLY well. I have not come across any issues as yet, but as suggested I have started from ground up. I have learned the hard way previously that you should never EXPECT a horse to know how to do anything.. just expect them to not know it, and if they know it, BONUS.

I have not harnessed her or anything, she is super sweet and relaxed so I am hoping she will take to it kindly.