# Teaching the horse to accept the shafts training device?



## JMS Miniatures (Nov 14, 2009)

I have seen this training device for the big horses but haven't seen it small enough for the minis and was wondering if anyone would know where to find one. Its looks like its made of plastic but its in the form of shafts but it looks light enough to where you can just hook it up in the harness and it will be around the horse. Its purpose is for the horse getting used to the shafts without really hooking your cart up. I thought it looked really neat and would love to have one for the minis. Has anyone else seen them?


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## candycar (Nov 14, 2009)

There have been homemade ones posted on here before. I couldn't find the post that has the pic of how to make one. I did save the pic tho.

Someone on the forum made it and posted the pic with measurements and everything. I don't know if I'm allowed to repost that pic or not. I could pm it to you.

I actually made one and used it to train Jelly Bean. It's basicly a travois made of pvc. I added eye bolts on the cross peice so I could hook up the traces and breast collar also. Real easy and real cheap to make. Let me know


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## JMS Miniatures (Nov 14, 2009)

Yeah that would be great! I found what I was talking about but not sure if I could post the link or not on here anymore. Basiclly what you describe only its for big horses, only what your talking about the design sounds better.


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## Margo_C-T (Nov 14, 2009)

I made one MANY years ago, using the example in a book by Doris Ganton(her book is still one I'd recommend for beginning drivers; it's 'Breaking and Training the Driving Horse'.)

In her book, nice straight saplings are used, but since there are NONE of THOSE in this country, I substituted PVC; it only took two lengths, plus a piece of 2X4 and a couple of eye bolts w/nuts.

I used it all of the horses I trained, but found it has some drawbacks, one I consider SERIOUS, and have NOT used it since.It will be pretty inflexible, not allowing anything but very large, gradual turns--and, because it will NOT allow the horse to step backwards, even one step, it can be hazardous; an inadvertent backward step can cause the horse to panic, and then, it's 'Katy bar the door'!!

I have not used mine since that incident. Instead, I simply use a single length--it can be around 6-8'--of PVC, heavy wall, about 1"diameter--to 'pole' the horse, one side at a time. While ground driving in harness, with the tug loops 'tied down' via the wrap straps, I slip the PVC through one loop, then drive w/ one hand while holding the PVC, moving it up, down, around with the other hand, including turning the horse 'into' the 'simulated' shaft, so that it presses across the shoulder as a shaft might do. I MUST STRESS--it is BETTER to have a helper for this; helper can lead horse(w/ halter on, over or under bridle; don't clip leadrope onto bridle!), while you hold PVC; and you could do it with TWO 'shafts' with a competent helper. I don't have a helper, so have to manage without one. I also have many, many years of horse experience.

Some things to remember: 'round' the cut ends of the PVC, and do be aware that PVC can be quite brittle, and break with resulting VERY sharp edges/points. Don't use 'old' PVC, as it may have become even more brittle, esp. if it's been exposed to the sun.

It also might be possible to build a 'travois' and mount little wheels on the ends that 'drag' the ground...I've considered it, but haven't bothered, as I've had good results without even using it, anymore.

Just some cautions...

Margo


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## candycar (Nov 14, 2009)

I decided to put the pic up anyway, since it has been on here before. Sorry I can't credit the maker, If you are around please take the credit!







I did tweek the measurements a little as I think this one is made for a small mini, I have big ones



I used 1" PVC and glued everything, otherwise it comes apart when in use.. The rear skids are angled away from the center so you can walk between them.

As Margo said, you can't back up in it unless you hold the rear up, tho I have never had a problem. It turns easy and tight, not like a regular travois. Good Luck!


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 14, 2009)

I think I have investigated or personally tried EVERY shaft training device out there and the best one is to put the horse IN A CART. There are so many things can go wrong with all those travois, and poles and pool noodles and assorted other things that really don't look, feel or move like cart shafts that they cause more problems than they solve. Use a cart that you don't really care if it gets damaged but that is safe and sound and just put your horse in it.


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## susanne (Nov 14, 2009)

When we worked with our trainer/coach teaching Mingus to drive, she said she really hated the PVC devices, largely due to the sound made by the hollow pipes. She felt that they bore no resemblance to actual shafts, and therefore frightened them for no real purpose.

I used pool noodles (long soft foam tubes for swimming pools), which worked swimmingly (haha). The noodles accustomed him to feeling something in the shaft loops and against his body, but with none of the drawbacks of the PVC.

We went directly from pool noodles to the actual cart shafts with no problem.


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 14, 2009)

susanne said:


> When we worked with our trainer/coach teaching Mingus to drive, she said she really hated the PVC devices, largely due to the sound made by the hollow pipes. She felt that they bore no resemblance to actual shafts, and therefore frightened them for no real purpose.
> I used pool noodles (long soft foam tubes for swimming pools), which worked swimmingly (haha). The noodles accustomed him to feeling something in the shaft loops and against his body, but with none of the drawbacks of the PVC.
> 
> We went directly from pool noodles to the actual cart shafts with no problem.


To each their own!



I have tried the pool noodle thing with a percheron and he FREAKED over the squeak they made going in the tugs - never tried that again! They don't look or feel like shafts either


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## targetsmom (Nov 15, 2009)

A different perspective - I use BROOMSTICKS - one at a time for the step to just get them used to the feel of the shafts. I have a helper insert the broomstick on one side, then the other, and if I have 2 helpers of feel extemely dextrous, then both sides can be done (I have plenty of brooms and leave the small brooms attached). If they are comfortable with this step - and all but one have been - then I usually go next to the cart with 2 helpers to hold the shafts in the tug loops. The 2 helpers are usually my trainers. I have used the PVC pipe travois, but with one exception, I didn't feel it was needed.

Now the EXCEPTIONS: We have one (our gelding Cowboy) who was NEVER comfortable with the broomsticks, (he seems claustrophobic), is very spooky, and has never progressed to the cart. Maybe someday, but with so many others that can drive, and at my age, WHY???

The other exception was Princess - our very smart black & white mare. At the cart shaft in the tug loop stage, she figured out an evasion, so rather than risk a cart catastrophe, we went back to ground driving and then to the PVC travois. We strapped her in to that and she tried the evasion - but it didn't work!!! The look on her face was priceless - we could read her mind very well as she said "#$%#@ - that won't work!!! I guess I will have to behave and be a good driving horse." From then on her training was uneventful, but I am glad we did that with the PVC and not the cart!


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## Minimor (Nov 15, 2009)

I so agree with Lori--the best thing is to just use the cart shafts.

I have Doris Ganton's book & did try her wooden poles idea with a big horse--and I know a trainer who always uses the poles & wouldn't think of driving a horse that hasn't been hitched to the poles first--but I simply didn't like them. I found them cumbersome and actually dangerous, for much the same reason as Margo stated. One backward step can be disastrous. Granted I wouldn't choose for my horse to take a backward step at this point in training, but the fact is it can happen. The horse doesn't have to back up, it just has to take that one step back and things can go wrong.

I have held a single pole along the horse's side--I don't even put it through the shaft loop as I consider that a very possible danger--I just hold it at the horse's side and lead him, turning him so that the pole presses against his side, then I do it on the other side. I haven't even done that in awhile. Now I just lead the horse beside the cart and if the horse accepts that I put him in the shafts.

At one time there was an ad in the magazines (Horse & Rider, or Horseman, whichever magazine it was) for a set of training shafts--they were the PVC pipes and shaped to go around the horse. You'd put them through the shaft loops & had to have a strap over the croup to hold up the back end, and then they were just around the horse--there was nothing that dragged on the ground. IMO those would be far better than the kind shown above, but in truth I'm not sure how much good they would do--they would just hang there, not touching the horse unless a person pushed them into the horse--even on turns I'm not sure how much contact there would be on the horse's sides if a person didn't press the "shafts" against the horse, they might just turn with the horse, since there's nothing on the back end holding them steady for the horse to turn into/against. I never had a set of these & never used them, so cannot say for sure how they worked.


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## susanne (Nov 15, 2009)

Lori,

This once again shows that each horse is different. I shouldn't use Mingus as an example, since I have yet to find anything that freaks him out. If he is upset by anything, his response is to stand perfectly still, like when he saw cows lying down. (He just couldn't figure out what ate their legs...)

It should be interesting training Scarlet to drive, as she is not nearly so sanguine, and I won't make any assumptions based upon Mingus. She's very good, but loves the comfort of her protectors.

The broomsticks do sound like an interesting idea...


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 15, 2009)

susanne said:


> Lori,
> This once again shows that each horse is different. I shouldn't use Mingus as an example, since I have yet to find anything that freaks him out. If he is upset by anything, his response is to stand perfectly still, like when he saw cows lying down. (He just couldn't figure out what ate their legs...)
> 
> It should be interesting training Scarlet to drive, as she is not nearly so sanguine, and I won't make any assumptions based upon Mingus. She's very good, but loves the comfort of her protectors.
> ...


The cow thing - that is hilarious!



You just never know what will set one off and won't even fizz on another, one will bolt heck bent for leather or buck or rear and another will just look and think what the heck is wrong with him? Every one of them IS different. Whatever method you choose you can get away with it 9 times out of 10 but that 10th which results in disaster can sure make you think twice. I have learned to REALLY think things over before trying anything, reason out just exactly what _could_ happen and then decide whether the benefit will justify the method's possible outcome. I look at broomsticks as massive splinters which could well rip horse flesh to tatters.


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## Minimor (Nov 15, 2009)

That's what I was thinking about broomsticks too!

Susanne--what would Mingus have done if those legless cows suddenly grew legs & jumped up & took off? I've never had a horse cut & run because of cows lying down, it's when the cows suddenly become mobile that we had a problem. I could always stick on my saddle horses if they did that--and most of the young ones do it once, the first time they encounter cows that aren't used to horses--but some of the people I rode with weren't so fortunate.

But yeah, 9 out of 10 horses may not have a problem with the poles. The 10th one can make you wish you never used the poles at all. Some horses can seem to be afraid of nothing, and then you sadly find that there's one thing that can set them off--and for one horse here & there the poles could be that one thing. I had a gelding that was afraid of nothing. He'd go anywhere, across anything, even walk calmly down the shoulder of the road while semis went past in the near lane, he did nothing more than tip his ears toward the sound as a bus applied its air brakes right beside him and they hissed--but let a pickup truck go by with something in the box that went BANG BANG BANG when the truck drove over a rough patch of road--not close to this gelding but still loud enough--and he was suddenly ready to run off in a panic. Turns out he just didn't like loud, sharp noises--for him that was the one scary thing in life. Horses are funny, and the more of them you work with the more you think things through before you try them--like Lori said.


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 15, 2009)

Okay now I have to tell you my 'pig' story. Sorry it is a full size riding horse and not a driving VSE but gotta do it. I had a 16.3 hand Thoroughbred mare that was bold as brass. We evented for several years and NOTHING fazed that mare till one day I was conditioning down a country lane near where I used to live. There was a new pig farm at the end of the road and as we neared it Brooke, my mare, pricked up her ears at the smell. She picked up her gait a bit but more out of curiosity than fear. My husband was riding our Quarterhorse mare who was normally a real follower and took any bravery she had only from her rider. She was snorting and jigging from the smell - you would have sworn she was ready to blow! We went past the field with the sows in it - massive big girls! Brooke was fine, Peach was pretty darned edgy. We were almost past the farm when a TEENY TINY little piglet gave a TEENY TINY little squeal. Brooke leaped about 4 feet in the air and bolted! Peach put the brakes on and then moved in for a closer look at the cute lil piggy! It took me about a 1/4 mile to get the daft mare slowed!


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## RhineStone (Nov 16, 2009)

I realize that no horse is totally "bomb proof", and that goes for my Alax, who has spooked with the best of them. However, in reading back posts on this thread, if a horse can't handle a pool noodle, a piece of PVC, or a broomstick attached to their side, I would NOT drive it. As much as Alax has spooked at goats, black asphalt "holes", water crossings, etc., he had to be totally OK with whatever we "threw" at him in the training process before I would put him to. If they flip out over going backwards with the shaft trainers attached, it's time to back up in the training process. I have used both shaft trainers and the cart the initial put to, but before we get to that step, we have "played with lots of toys". We have a old rug, plastic bag, pieces of foam, bubble wrap, playground ball, pipe insulation, plastic drain tube tile, and my personal favorite (until my kid destroyed it) shiny silver expandable tube leftover from our skylight installation. We use things that squeak and pop, whips that crack (you can't control what some other idiot does next to your horse), etc. The whole point is to expose them to lots of different stuff that they realize will not hurt them. We do it in a "matter of fact" sort of way, "this is your job now to carry the plastic bag on your head from point A to point B". Once they realize that the easy thing is OK, we add stuff that is "harder", but all the time encouraging them to be a "big boy/girl". We DON'T come at it with the perspective of, "It's OK, I know it is scary, but don't spook." That is just telling them that there must be something to be afraid of.

And in reference to Alax spooking nowadays, he has come a LONG way since we have applied the "Mom and Dad is the boss about everything, and horses are bad managers" philosophy. He gladly gives up the decision making process, and trusts us for the most part that we aren't going to make him do something that will hurt him. Last night, when I drove him through the woods, there was a tree down in the trail. I decided to have him go around it which included driving over small branches and some brush. The cart wheels and his feet over the sticks and leaves were so loud, that I really had to raise my voice so that he could hear me tell him, "You can do it." The branches scraped on the bottom of the cart, but he plowed through like a draft horse! I was impressed. When he was done, we trotted off like it was nothing. I still wouldn't call him bomb proof, but this is a horse that used to freak out over the flick of the brush in the grooming process! We are in the process of training our coming two year old Arab/DHH filly. She, too, has to "do her good work" and carry the bag on her head while walking over the plastic tube. Whatever you can find around the barn will work. And yes, I also believe that there are some horses that will never drive.


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 16, 2009)

RhineStone said:


> I realize that no horse is totally "bomb proof", and that goes for my Alax, who has spooked with the best of them. However, in reading back posts on this thread, if a horse can't handle a pool noodle, a piece of PVC, or a broomstick attached to their side, I would NOT drive it. As much as Alax has spooked at goats, black asphalt "holes", water crossings, etc., he had to be totally OK with whatever we "threw" at him in the training process before I would put him to.


I think that is a bit contradictory - you won't drive a horse that spooks at a pool noodle in the training process and yet you will drive a horse that spooks at black 'holes' and water crossings? I think you are a lot more likely to meet up with those kind of things when out driving than a pool noodle. A horse in training is under a fair bit of stress being introduced to many new things and being asked to do something that is totally unnatural to it. While I too spend a great deal of time desensitizing a horse in training to as many things as I can that I think he might run into during the course of his driving career I certainly would not give up on a horse that is frightened by a squeaky, flippy, floppy pool noodle flapping around at his side especially when he only gets bits and pieces of a look at it because he is wearing blinders. The percheron I was referring to got over his fear of the things once he could see that they were really not harming him and has gone on to being a great driving horse. Is he still capable of spooking at something? Sure! As is ANY driving horse. I did show them to him BEFORE putting them through the tugs and let him investigate them but still they were too much to deal with when he wasn't sure what they were up to beside him. And in all reality they look, feel and work NOTHING like a shaft on a cart so what benefit would they really have?

More important to me than whether a horse spooks at anything during training is HOW their minds work. If I hadn't been able to get the percheron past his fear and if he was fearful over most things or everything I would say NO, he should not drive and there have been more than a couple that I have said that about.


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## RhineStone (Nov 16, 2009)

We don't have goats, black holes and water crossings at home (except in the spring melting season



). Those are things that Alax has spooked at in the past when we took him to his first shows and trail drives. He had to be taught to deal with those things as well. He walks over black holes just fine now, and plows through water obstacles (with a bit of encouragement sometimes!).

What I read in the posts were general comments of, "I won't use that (insert piece of equipment) b/c it spooked my horse". My point was that if they are spooking in the driving training process over one piece of equipment being attached to their side, I wouldn't just avoid that piece of equipment (unless deemed not safe), I would go back in the training process (which is what it sounds like you did). They need to learn to get past that fear. Maybe I should have said that I wouldn't drive it YET. Horses have reacted to certain things that we have used (might have been as subtle as putting their heads up), but they had to get over it before we put them to the cart or training shafts. (My husband has a saying with a reacting horse, "Get over it, you're a driving horse!" meaning if the horse is going to drive, its going to have to handle lots of stuff.) We are constantly amazed at what carriage driving horses will "tolerate" compared to a lot of other horses, especially in obstacles (has anyone seen the Live Oak CDE video?).

I, too, have found that some horses will come along much faster in an open bridle so they can see what is going on. And, there have been others that would rather not know and work better in blinders. It takes a bit of "intuition" to figure that out for each animal. Its all about developing trust between you and the animal.


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## Minimor (Nov 16, 2009)

I for one never said I wouldn’t use poles because they spooked my horse—I won’t use the poles because IMO they can cause a major wreck—they are dangerous, or potentially dangerous. From my experience and observations, most horses don’t have a problem with the poles & IMO those horses do not NEED to be started in the poles. The one horse of ours that did have a problem with the poles did not have any other issues with being driven, nor even with being started in harness. Because of an innocent action of his—a misstep really—things went wrong, or nearly did. He got upset but stopped on command, and no harm was done. However, from that we saw that the poles have the potential of being dangerous—they could have easily caused a wreck that wouldn’t happen if some other method of starting the horse in the shafts was used. Because of that potential, we stopped using the poles & will not go back to them.

As for broomsticks (as one example)—it isn’t that I won’t use broomsticks because they are likely to scare my horse—I won’t use broomsticks because they are potentially dangerous. If the horse were to spook & jump the wrong way, if he were to land on one of the broomsticks, that broomstick is very likely to break, and once broken it may very well become a spear that will get jammed into the horse’s abdomen. I prefer to use something that I consider safer, something that is less likely to snap under a very small amount of pressure and become a sharp instrument that can do a huge amount of harm to the horse. I don’t train my horses with plastic bags—not because they might spook the horse, but because I simply see no point in it. In spite of that, in all my years of riding and driving I have never had a horse come undone by a flapping plastic bag.

A friend of mine once had a young horse she was trying to train. One day she tied a plastic bag to his halter & put him on the longe line. The bag filled with air right there next to his face & scared the living daylights out of him. He ran and ran and ran until he could run no more, and only then did he finally stop. Now what was the point of that? It taught him nothing—it just scared him badly. The fact that he was afraid of that air filled bag flapping alongside his face didn’t make him dangerous to ride. I know that, because I rode him for awhile.

I do have one horse here which I don’t believe we will ever drive. He’s scared of everything and I don’t expect that any amount of desensitizing will ever make him brave enough to drive. He’s a little guy we bought—he’d make a real pretty little driver, but I think he’s just too nervous to be a driving horse. Perhaps his eyesight is poor, I don’t know—we’ve got enough others to drive that we aren’t going to worry about him.


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 16, 2009)

I totally agree with you Holly and will reiterate what I said earlier, the easiest, best and SAFEST method to train a horse to shafts that I have found is to put them in a cart. It can be hard on the cart occasionally (as you saw in that other thread with my easy entry) but it is the best way in my experience and it is usually my fault when something happens because I didn't have the horse as ready as I thought I did





Glad to hear you wouldn't just ditch the poor horse Rhinestone



My point is that if I had NEVER brought in the pool noodle to the mix I can almost guarantee that horse would NEVER have met one in his driving career and would never have had to get over his fear of it so now I just don't bring them in - haven't had a single new incident with one!



Some training devices I have tried or thought of trying just figured out to be way too dangerous such as travois even AFTER I put one on wheels - won't touch 'em again with a 10 foot pole. Some things I am happy to say I was lucky enough to learn by other's mistakes NOT to use them


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## JMS Miniatures (Nov 16, 2009)

Thanks for everyones comments, I'm still looking into it more. What I'm talking about is kind of like what Minimor said, that its around the horse but nothing is draggin on the ground. The horse may not be doing much of anything but I still feel like he could get use to the feel of shafts being there. I think having something drag behind wouldn't be what I'm looking for but the design is quite interesting.

This idea is more so getting the horse having a sort of feeling of what shafts are before he actually gets in to the cart. I think it would be a more easier introduction to the cart. I also at first would use a open bridle.

RhineStone I see what you are saying and I agree, you kind of just have to throw everything at them to get them quiet as can be. If they see a bugar like say a pool noodles then you work with him on the pool noodle til he isn't scarred of it. Or say a plastic bag because well you have those windy days and bags get blown at shows they are a object and make noise if that horse isn't use to plastic bags he may blow up and take off. You will never get a 100% bombproof horse but you can't avoid scary objects.


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 17, 2009)

JMS Miniatures said:


> This idea is more so getting the horse having a sort of feeling of what shafts are before he actually gets in to the cart. I think it would be a more easier introduction to the cart. I also at first would use a open bridle.


Most horses don't have a problem with the shafts being there when they are going straight it is when they go to turn the first time and bump up against them giving them the feeling they are trapped. Unless you can have someone holding a pole or whatever against their side they won't get the actual feeling of a shaft with whatever you use.


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## RhineStone (Nov 17, 2009)

Minimor said:


> I don't train my horses with plastic bags—not because they might spook the horse, but because I simply see no point in it. In spite of that, in all my years of riding and driving I have never had a horse come undone by a flapping plastic bag. A friend of mine once had a young horse she was trying to train. One day she tied a plastic bag to his halter & put him on the longe line. The bag filled with air right there next to his face & scared the living daylights out of him. He ran and ran and ran until he could run no more, and only then did he finally stop. Now what was the point of that? It taught him nothing—it just scared him badly. The fact that he was afraid of that air filled bag flapping alongside his face didn't make him dangerous to ride. I know that, because I rode him for awhile.



Wow! I doubt that I would tie a plastic bag on their head, either. I agree, what is the point?




He might have learned that in all of his running, he didn't get hurt by the bag, but it depends on the particular horse as to whether they can process that way. Some can't, some can. However, I have had horses react to plastic bags at shows. Particularly, ones that cover speakers on rainy, windy days. We lost a class once with a big horse, because it flapped hard just as he went by on the rail and he jumped sideways. It was just enough of a tie-breaker the judge needed. A little duct tape around the bag would have helped with that, but oh well. We put treats in plastic at home, and even our Arab/DHH filly comes "running" towards us when she hears the bag! That helps a lot.

The plastic bag we use for training is a big, clear recycling bag. We don't tie it on them, just put it on their back, neck and head, rub it on their legs and belly, and if it falls off in the process, they watch it fall and we pick it up like nothing happened. We don't spend a lot of time with each of the "toys", just enough to keep them interested in training, and develop trust. I find that especially the minis need to have variety in the training process. If I just longe for a week teaching gaits, they are bored to death. So we alternate with "toys", or I might lead the horse in a halter while pulling something on the ground in the other hand so they get used to the noise dragging behind them. We might pull the cart around along side them, and even bump them in the side with the shafts, being careful not to bump their heels with the wheel. We give treats on the cart, while teaching them that they CAN'T EAT THE CART!





Generally, we work with "English" type breeds, so we are used to horses "blowing smoke". If they see something that they think is weird, we "make" them "stick their nose on it", until it becomes a "non-issue". I find it harder to work with a stoic horse that doesn't show you they are afraid until it is too late. That is why we keep "pushing" to find different toys that they might react to, because I would rather teach them to "spook in place" as John Lyons calls it, than to find out that they were really "tolerating" all the stuff and blow up when they can't take it anymore. Major wreck. It's not about making your horse bombproof, but more about teaching them how to deal with it safely. Even you and I jump at noisy, scary stuff, but we have learned not to run away like a schoolgirl. If you can find information on Police Horse training, they use some AWESOME stuff to train their horses.

My son was riding our 20 yr. old Pinto Arab last night. He is a total babysitter. Kyle's "new" saddle that we got for his birthday came in green bubblewrap, so he wanted to lay it out in the arena. Spider walked over it like there was nothing there. Yup, "psycho" (as some people call Arabs) Polish/Crabbet Arab cross, carriage driving champion, great kid's horse.


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## wildoak (Nov 18, 2009)

Most of mine have gone directly from ground driving sans poles, to the cart with no problems. The mare I drove this past year had the most training, the most thorough desensitizing of any....... and yet for reasons known only to her she became claustrophobic about the cart shafts touching her and just came unglued. This came with no warning either - and she is at least temporarily retired from driving.

I have a great story too about horse's fear. We raised a QH filly many years ago who was - unlike all her siblings - goosey from day one. I looked out early one morning to see her lapping the field at a dead run, with a good sized piece of heavy black plastic flapping from her mouth. She had evidently picked it up out of curiosity, then when it flapped in the wind she panicked and took off, clamping down with her teeth instead of turning loose! The faster she ran, the more it flapped and the more she panicked lol. After several laps around 2-3 acres, she hit a low spot and went down in a cloud of dust....and came up on the other side of an old wire fence, leaving a couple of bent t posts in her wake! I couldn't catch her for a couple of hours - just got close enough to see she wasn't going to bleed to death - and from that day you couldn't get close to her if you had on a jacket or skirt or anything that flapped. She was scraped up from her fall, but only ended up with a couple of stitches in her cheek. I was pregnant at the time, and decided the better part of valor was to let her go, so she was sold not long after to a rancher who knew pretty well what he was getting into.

Jan


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## MiLo Minis (Nov 18, 2009)

It is really important to take big wide sweeping curves for the first while when putting them in the shafts. Make sure that your shafts are wide enough they are not pressing on their sides and gradually tighten the turns over several weeks.


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## Margo_C-T (Nov 20, 2009)

I am fully comfortable with my technique of using a single length of heavy wall PVC, with ends rounded off, in one tug loop, and driving the horse with one hand at a walk while 'maneuvering' the 'pseudo shaft' in the tug loop,including 'pushing' it against their shoulder as we turn 'toward' it. I am as safety-conscious as anyone; should anything go amiss, I can IMMEDIATELY pull the 'pseudo shaft' backward out of the tug loop, and drop/toss it BEHIND me and the horse, well out of the way. That said, I wouldn't recommend that ANYONE who has never 'trained' a horse before try it, because it requires a 'feel' that only comes with a high level of experience, IMO.

As for flapping plastic? I think it is a perfectly useful idea to use it for desensitizing; out here where I live, there is a LOT of wind, and in this 'modern' world, flapping/flying plastic is an unfortunate fact, oftentimes. What is NEVER a good idea is to ATTACH any such scary thing TO a horse so that it CANNOT 'ESCAPE' it;IMO, no one who understands horses would do such a thing! Jan's mare 'did it to herself', and being horses, that happens...but the result was a permanent 'impression' that she needed to fear flapping things...understandable, if you are a horse. Key is that the horse needs the chance to ACCLIMATE to whatever the 'scary' thing is; you must make it so that the horse finds out, with a minimum of stressfulness, that such things aren't out to hurt it, AND, that it can 'avoid' the 'scary' thing until it has learned it doesn't have to fear it.

My first fulltime show mini was BORN a spook, yet with a LOT of patient handling, he competely successfully in both Halter and Driven Obstacle, and went in large parades and other venues where there are lots of things going on likely to be scary to a prey animal! Yes, occasionally an obstacle would be more than he could take(like the time at Estes when a blue tarp on the ground to simulate water, had a HUGE ceramic POT on each corner, and when he stepped onto the too-taut, and edges-NOT-buried tarp pulling the cart, the pots all MOVED toward him, tilting and falling--and he set a new 'giant leap' record! Funny now, but could have been very dangerous; bad course design idea. And, I've been a STICKLER for having the edges of ground-laid tarps buried in dirt EVER since; a safely factor, for sure, in my judgement!)My point is, with time, patience, and consistency, much is possible.

Margo


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