New Driving Miniature Owner

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Breannanalley

Active Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2012
Messages
35
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Location
Indiana
So I'm a New Miniature horse owner since June 2012.

I got a miniature horse from my boss, who purchased him as a driving mini for her farm. I have worked for her for almost 4 years now. I broke two of her minis to drive, spent 18 months ground driving them and one is a perfect driver for all kids. The other is what I call an adult driver and rider only. I LOVE TO DRIVE THEM ALL!!
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Well needless to say whoever broke my gelding didn't spend time to teach him the normal necessary commands. We were told he was 5 and the man selling him had broke him as a 2 year old. The man brought BUCKY up to "test drive" and I fell in love. He was great, walked, trotted, and whoa'd when asked. So the boss bought him as we thought he would be an experiance driving horse for anyone to ride. Well that week we learned quickly that he wasn't that broke, maybe he had be under the influence of drugs?? We weren't to happy with the little guy he turned out to be, I found out real quickly that he needed to be worked, such as lunged or just let him trot while being hooked for a few then he would do what you asked. We this isn't what she was looking for
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Boss desided she was going to give him a whirl, well it didn't work out as he rared up and flipped over
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I felt so bad for Bucky and boss. She had invested money into something that wasn't what she wanted and Bucky had no idea what to do as he had never be taught properly. I promised to work my magic on this little guy to try to make him the perfect little driving guy she wanted.

Well I took him back down to basics of ground driving. He learned to quit pulling on me and to whoa when told. I let the boss come out and ground drive him and she was very impressed at what he had learned. After spending 3 weeks at the farm his inner male was starting to show. We are a breeding farm so as you can imagine he was getting the lovely smells of beautiful mares. Which showed that he couldn't control himself. He couldn't go out with our other minis as he wanted to breed them and strike and kick them. So Bucky was a lone ranger at the farm, became more of a problem because he wouldn't stop walking the fence and whinning all day long. He got to be more of a liability for the farm and people at the farm. I was just beside myself with these findings. We had blood pulled and discovered he was above stallion levels
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he couldn't help it but boss decided it was in his best interest to live elsewhere. I then spent the whole night trying to figure out what I could do for this guy, and well I took him in.

My father-in-laws girlfriend allowed him to stay at her farm where he was an only mini. It was great for him, he was a completely different little guy! I continued his ground work and kept praising him for doing such a good job. Told him often how proud of him I was. August 2nd she called and said that Bucky was missing. He had gotten out of the gate and wondered off her farm
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I was totally depressed, spent hours looking for him and spreading the word that he was missing, we posted fliers. The newspaper posted an aritcle and I got a call that a lady had him and she didn't want to go door to door afraid someone would claim a horse that wasn't theirs. I was so happy & to top it off it was my birthday. The lady where I had him stabled decided Bucky was lonely and bought him a girlfriend of his own, since he escaped out of his pasture to find a pretty filly! I couldn't win the argument what so ever, as I was his groom before his owner and saw just how he treated other horses...I'm happy to say TYRA put BUCKY in his place and they live happily in my backyard now. It was love at first sight and I love that he is happy and is a different young man now.

I have since re-hooked him and drive him around 3 times a week. He loves it and remembers our lessons and does everything as instructed. He is a good miniature horse for my boyfriend and I. He has a wonderfull trot.
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We are teaching Tyra to drive as well, she seems to like it but is no where near ready to be hooked. I hope to one day drive them together as one or even side by side on separate carts. I really enjoy driving him and he is a good looking mini, but I believe because of his under bite they wouldn't register him or maybe he wasn't eligible to begin with. Which either way I still love him, papers or not. Tyra was also sold to me without papers
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but I don't mind I know its not a most as I can't afford to travel to shows. But would if they were close and he was eligible to show off his mastered skills!! LOL

I do wonder is it possible to drive them together? or am I crazy? LOL

I also was wondering is there something that I can enter Bucky into in Indiana like a driving club? or what do you suggest I do?

I'm completely new to this and am VERY open to any suggests
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I can't comment on what is available in Indiana, I just wanted to say 'good for you' for sticking with the little guy and helping him settle into being a driving horse. Whether you can pair them up will depend on the horses. If they have similar stride length and way of going and they get along well then you should be able to drive them as a pair. It will help if they are close to the same size (makes it more likely their strides will match up) but plenty of people drive horses who are not matched height wise.
 
I can't comment on what is available in Indiana, I just wanted to say 'good for you' for sticking with the little guy and helping him settle into being a driving horse. Whether you can pair them up will depend on the horses. If they have similar stride length and way of going and they get along well then you should be able to drive them as a pair. It will help if they are close to the same size (makes it more likely their strides will match up) but plenty of people drive horses who are not matched height wise.
Thank you Reignmaker! I appreciate it, & I'm very proud of the hard work I have put in to my little guy. He is like my best friend, I believe it has made the to of us a lot closer, he whinnies everytime he sees me & comes running! Which he never really did before! Him and Tyra are similar in size she is an inch taller they are the same length and I'm not too sure about there strides. Bucky has a very nice trot and Tyra is so so & They get along very well! Thanks for the info
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