Minxiesmom
Well-Known Member
The Driving Workshop was held last Sunday at Pax Diem in Eagle Point, OR. WOW! What a successful event. Total attendance was 7 beginners and 5 experience drivers. We had folks from as far away as Redding, CA and Bonanza, OR. This was a "Friends Helping Friends" type of workshop, designed to encourage people that haven't found the right motivation to take private lessons with a "professional" trainer, or just wanting to get their horses out after a long winter layoff.
Lisa Brostad from the Horse Blanket and myself were the "coaches" this time. We divided the day into morning for beginners and afternoon for experienced drivers. The morning started out with me doing a demonstration of long lining with Max. I feel this is an important part of attaining collection in my horse and wanted to at least expose people to it. We then used Max to demo harnessing. We explained the different type of collars and how they work. Lisa did a good job of explaining the difference between over-checks and side-checks. Breeching fit was discussed, along with thimbles. It seemed to take a long time explaining harnessing. A lot of really great questions were asked by the workshop attendees and we felt it was important for people to understand "why" "it" is done a certain way.
After the initial demo, we asked the beginners to bring their horses in to harness. This task was completed with the coaches helping to adjust for fit and safety. Lisa demonstrated how to tell if a cart is balanced and let a few people feel the weight in the shafts as someone sat in the cart. Each person then put to their various carts.
A hour was spent with coaches making suggestions to drivers on how and what to do to achieve their goals with their driving horses. Safety and ring etiquette were discussed and practiced. We got a fun surprise from Jan when her horse started doing passage down the rail!!! When I commented on how cool that was, she had him do spanish walk!!! What was she doing with the beginners??? She explained she taught him this with clicker training. Maybe we should have a workshop on "clicker training"? I believe we thoroughly tired out the beginner horses. Handlers and horses alike, improved greatly.
The experienced drivers were milling about, ready to get with it. After a quick bite of lunch for the coaches, we went right into the afternoon session. We did an inspection of how the horses were harnessed, making only a couple of adjustments. Lisa came to the rescue on figuring out how to do-up and undone French Tug. There was a little excitement when one horse that hadn't been used all winter, decided to be a little broncy when put to. Luckily, quick thinking and experienced hands stopped it from becoming disaster. A good lesson should have been learned from this experience, and that is, even with an experienced driving horse, sometimes "stuff" happens. Be prepared!!!
Not being professional trainers, Lisa and I were not sure what we could bring to the table for the experienced drivers. As it worked out, having outside eyes watching the experienced horses, helped the drivers see where they needed to be (in our opinion). If nothing else, these horses got a good workout in a safe arena.
In my opinion, from beginner to experienced driver, the main challenge was not pushing our horses and asking for enough. It seemed we all have a tendency to just be go along for the ride and not being "with" the horse enough! Just as in a riding horse, we have to help the horse stay "in frame".
Everyone was asking, "When are we going to do this again?" I guess that meant they all enjoyed themselves and learned a little bit. We will try to find a free weekend to try another workshop, but with the show season upon us, that may not be easy. I encourage all to take a lesson from a qualified trainer. I know I always get so much when I take a lesson, and will never stop learning. There is always someone that knows more than us and hopefully, we can glean knowledge from them!
I love my mini and all my mini friends!
Lisa Brostad from the Horse Blanket and myself were the "coaches" this time. We divided the day into morning for beginners and afternoon for experienced drivers. The morning started out with me doing a demonstration of long lining with Max. I feel this is an important part of attaining collection in my horse and wanted to at least expose people to it. We then used Max to demo harnessing. We explained the different type of collars and how they work. Lisa did a good job of explaining the difference between over-checks and side-checks. Breeching fit was discussed, along with thimbles. It seemed to take a long time explaining harnessing. A lot of really great questions were asked by the workshop attendees and we felt it was important for people to understand "why" "it" is done a certain way.
After the initial demo, we asked the beginners to bring their horses in to harness. This task was completed with the coaches helping to adjust for fit and safety. Lisa demonstrated how to tell if a cart is balanced and let a few people feel the weight in the shafts as someone sat in the cart. Each person then put to their various carts.
A hour was spent with coaches making suggestions to drivers on how and what to do to achieve their goals with their driving horses. Safety and ring etiquette were discussed and practiced. We got a fun surprise from Jan when her horse started doing passage down the rail!!! When I commented on how cool that was, she had him do spanish walk!!! What was she doing with the beginners??? She explained she taught him this with clicker training. Maybe we should have a workshop on "clicker training"? I believe we thoroughly tired out the beginner horses. Handlers and horses alike, improved greatly.
The experienced drivers were milling about, ready to get with it. After a quick bite of lunch for the coaches, we went right into the afternoon session. We did an inspection of how the horses were harnessed, making only a couple of adjustments. Lisa came to the rescue on figuring out how to do-up and undone French Tug. There was a little excitement when one horse that hadn't been used all winter, decided to be a little broncy when put to. Luckily, quick thinking and experienced hands stopped it from becoming disaster. A good lesson should have been learned from this experience, and that is, even with an experienced driving horse, sometimes "stuff" happens. Be prepared!!!
Not being professional trainers, Lisa and I were not sure what we could bring to the table for the experienced drivers. As it worked out, having outside eyes watching the experienced horses, helped the drivers see where they needed to be (in our opinion). If nothing else, these horses got a good workout in a safe arena.
In my opinion, from beginner to experienced driver, the main challenge was not pushing our horses and asking for enough. It seemed we all have a tendency to just be go along for the ride and not being "with" the horse enough! Just as in a riding horse, we have to help the horse stay "in frame".
Everyone was asking, "When are we going to do this again?" I guess that meant they all enjoyed themselves and learned a little bit. We will try to find a free weekend to try another workshop, but with the show season upon us, that may not be easy. I encourage all to take a lesson from a qualified trainer. I know I always get so much when I take a lesson, and will never stop learning. There is always someone that knows more than us and hopefully, we can glean knowledge from them!
I love my mini and all my mini friends!
