Suggestions Please

[myfirstmini]

I would like to teach our mini's to drive and don't have a clue where to start. We would doing it just for fun and something to do. I have a 12 year old 31" mini and a 3 year old 30" and I weigh about 180 lb. Would that be too much for them? I was wanting suggestions on books or videos that all the experienced people here think would be best for me - do they make "Driving For Dummies"? Thanks in advance.

Thought for the day God made woman so his horses would survive

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Oh, goodness. First of all, welcome to the wonderful world of driving! Some good books to get you started would be Heike Bean's "Carriage Driving: A Logical Approach Through Dressage Training" and perhaps Doris Ganton's "Breaking and Training the Driving Horse." If you're looking at videos you might try Clay Maier's "Training Your Horse to Drive" DVD. It covers cart selection, harness fit, learning to pull and all the safety things you need to know to bring along a horse of any size.

If your harness fits well, the cart is properly balanced and the horse is slowly conditioned to the weight you want him to pull he should have no trouble. Be careful with the 3 year old though, he'll need more time than the older horse to build muscle and become fit for that amount of work.

Leia

 

[RhineStone]

I like Mary Ruth Marks' "Teach Your Horse to Drive" DVD. She is an excellent teacher who has a driving horse Long Listed for the World Equestrian Games in Oct. in Kentucky. I also like the book "Driven Dressage for the Single Horse" by Sandy Rabinowitz. It has great info even for the beginner.

Myrna

 

[MiLo Minis]

I will say it again: If this is your first horse and you have never trained a horse to drive before please find yourself a knowledgeable mentor or trainer to give you some help in person. Yes a lot of horses are easy going and will put up with a lot and you could get lucky but there are those that just won't. I hate to see either you or your horse get hurt or killed and you just can't learn everything you need to know from a book. For sure, read everything you can and watch all the videos but they just can't give you hands on experience and until you have that you really aren't ready to train a horse. Get some lessons for yourself on a well trained horse while you are working on getting your own started. Welcome to the world of driving! It is a lot of fun if you go about it the right way.

 

[Cindy]

I will heartily second Lori's comments about finding a knowledgeable person to assist you as you learn ....it is absolutely the best money spent! And, in driving, safety is number one!

Now, to find a trainer....here are some ways to search that person out:

1) You can post an inquiry on Lilbeginnings for a trainer in your area,

2) You can Google an inquiry about local driving clubs (we have them all over the country...maybe there's one near you!)

3) CAll the local 4H organization

4) Check with your vet and farrier about horsepeople they know who might be drivers and can help direct you to a trainer.

5) Go to The American Driving Society website ....they have some resources available too.

Clubs are an excellent way to get started in this fascinating endeavor ....usually many friends will be found and ideas are plentiful!

Have fun!

Cindy

 

[Champ]

I too agree with Cindy & Lori, driving is a lot of fun but can be very dangerous, it is best to get a knowledgable person to help you, also you might want to attend any driving clinics that are in your area.

 

[RhineStone]

The advice you have gotten is all good. In the mean time, be sure to put plenty of time into the ground work, "backyard Showmanship" if your horse doesn't already have a good basis in competitive Showmanship. Our horses that have been shown competitvely in Showmanship (not to be confused with Halter classes) have come along in their training MUCH faster. They already have a respect for their handler, know to wait for directions, stand for a long time, are used to subtle cues, and can walk, trot, and whoa on command. If this is all done in preparation for driving training, I feel you have half the work done already! (OK, I don't have "statistics" on that, but I can guarantee those horses take less time to train to drive.)

If you can, go drive a "finished" horse. This will help you understand how it should feel and how the horse should "behave". We had a student whose horse was very green and she wanted to take it to a show eventually. We talked her into showing one of our horses, and her comment after the show was that she didn't realize how broke/trained the horses needed to be!

Myrna