Advice for training to drive

[misty'smom]

Need some advice for training my mini to drive.........Misty will be 2 in May, I have had her since she was 4 months old. She leads nicely with her halter and lead line. I wanted to know if I could start any ground training with her this summer? What type of harness or training tack would I need? Also I have looked at a couple "training your miniature to drive" books on line (Amazon) any reccomendations on a good training guide? I have never trained a horse to drive so I am really green at this as well as Misty!!! But I think with some guidence and advice from everyone here I can do it.......

Any advice, ideas, pictures or anything you all could offer me I would greatly appreciate, Thank you!!

 

[Melinda Dean]

Misty's Mom, I am not a trainer, nor do I show my driving minis, but I will be glad to share my experience of teaching them myself and how much fun they are to trail drive. First, it is hard to teach something you do not already now how to do. I see from your info that you are a retired teacher, so you already know this! Have you taken any driving lessons? Books can teach a lot but "hands on " is very important. There is a certain feel (referred to as contact) that you need to learn before serious training with a bit and harness. If you can not find a place to take lessons, you can still train you own mini but it will be harder for both of you.

I did not have anyone nearby to help me, though I had driven broke horses before and had some idea of what the end result should be. But no idea how to get there. Books were good for learning the terminology and seeing images but a great set of videos helped me train both of my young minis. I was lucky that I already had a wonderful driving mini and he helped me learn so much before starting the babies. I watched the videos and practiced with him. Then applied it to the young ones. Both are also wonderful driving minis now.

The videos were purchased from Ozark Mini Tack and are worth every penny. I suggest buying the whole set. I bought the first 3, then later, the last 2. They are by ****y Ferraro, and show her starting a young, untrained mini, step by step, all the way to winning in the ring. I could clearly understand and see how she was doing it. ( and no, I do not know her and this is not a paid commercial!)

It does take time to train a safe, confident driving horse/pony/mini. I spent a year teaching manners, ground work, long lining, leading next to a cart, before ever sitting on the seat with my youngest one. By the time he turned 4, he could drive single and as part of a pair. The other one was already 4 when I started him, already knew manners and lunging, so I was riding down the road in just a short time.

I started long lining Chester at 6 months. Most would say that was too young. But he loved going for walks when I long lined my main driving mini, often wanted to be way ahead when leading. So I showed him the difference, he understood, and his training began as just playing short games. I will try to post a picture of him with an old harness saddle, halter, and lines. Keep in mind, he was not lunging until 2 yrs. old, but knew whoa and walk, stand, etc. by 6 months.

Just have fun and be relaxed. Take lessons! I went to a adult driving camp between training the first one and then Chester. I did so much better, was more relaxed the second time. The lessons are much better than any video could ever be.

 

[Melinda Dean]

View attachment 3669 Chester pretending to long line at 6 months.

 

[Melinda Dean]

View attachment 15248 Chester and Buck waiting to do driving.

 

[Melinda Dean]

This is how Chester learned his verb

View attachment 3671
View attachment 3670
View attachment 4708
al cues. A nice older mini showed him.

 

[fourluckyhorseshoes]

You are near Culpeper, correct? I would recommend contacting Bonnie at Majestic Meadows. I have a friend that rides there and just loves her. I think she would be able to help you out with driving. I haven't found too many driving instructors in VA. There is a lady near VA beach and another south of Richmond, but that may be a bit far for you.

 

[misty'smom]

Melinda thank you so much for all your advice!!! I have never driven before but would love to learn and I understand what you mean when you say you need to get a feel for it before you can teach your horse. So that will be first on my list to get myself trained!! lol Also I will look at that set of videos from Ozark, I have purchased things from them before. So hopefully watching, reading all I can and finding a place to learn how to drive will be a good start!!

Fourluckyhorseshoes, Thank you for your reply too!! Yes I am in Culpeper, where is Majestic Meadows?? I see that you are in Va, where do you live? It doesnt seem that there many mini horse people here in Va. Would love to connect with some others that I can learn from. I grew up with the big guys so I am new to minis. I have had my 2 for almost 18 months and just love them!!!! My other mini is Misty's half sister Josie she is a dwarf and 1 month older than Misty. I won't be pushing her too much or expecting too much either she is just Misty's compainion and our families sweet little Josie!!!

 

[paintponylvr]

OoOOO - how many times can I "like" a post??!! Makes me sad - I can only *like* it once!

Besides the vids that Melinda recommended, I suggest the book by Pat Elder. She covers ground work, handling and then starting in driving. She does quite a bit, with pictures that are understandable and utilize MINIS & SHETLANDS. Her concepts/pictures helped me a lot - even with going to take driving lessons.

Here's a pic of the book -



Also, another one that I found helpful is Doris Ganton's - Training the Driving Horse. And another video that I like is Mary Ruth Marks.

If you go back thru the threads here, maybe 6 months before you were a member (?), there were quite a number of us "blogging" on this forum about how our training was going - what was good, what was bad and also some of us related differences between different horses - simply because they have different personalities. Quite a number of those posts had pictures, too. I think it was called the "training thread" or something... I'd have to go look!

I call the type of training that Melinda is doing "down and dirty". It accomplishes a whole lot in a short amount of time. If you only have 5 - 15 minutes a day, you can have your little girl driving in a halter and lead lines while you get in a short walk. Maybe you go out to the pasture and "drive" her into her stall. Works great for practicing leaving the barn, LOL. Much better to spend that 5 15 minutes several days in a row getting in some "quick driving" time, than to spend much longer only 1 or 2 times a week.

If you can't get specific lessons - sometimes just locating an event to go to TO WATCH is very helpful. No, it doesn't take the place of lessons with a trained horse under the watchful eyes of a good instructor, but it does add toyour education and can make HUGE improvements for you. Going to an event where you can watch, over and over, where all those confusing straps hooked up (even if you aren't participating at the time) is great, too. And then just quietly practicing w/o getting frustrated...

OH WHAT Fun it is .... to drive!! Congrats on joining us.

 

[Melinda Dean]

Please allow me to comment on my friend, Paula's post. I thought "down and dirty" was putting a harness on a unbroke horse, hooking up to something like a drag, while standing in a dirt field. Saying a prayer, telling the horse to move out by any means to get him going, then trying to hold on for dear life!!

Paul, I think you and I have seen a session like this on one of the draft trail drives. Only the man thought that horse was already well trained!!

I actually owned a Welsh cross that was broke to drive in one day this way. Long before I bought him. I was told they had 4 helpers standing by but never needed them. The pony galloped through the dirt with his cart following and driver holding on to the seat. When they came back to the farm house that afternoon, the pony was"broke". He was a wonderful driving pony by the time I got him years later.

I am way to chicken to train this way! But I agree, lots of small blocks of time. Attention span of a horse's brain is very short. That is why I call my way, "playing games". Hope full I will never get pulled through a field and get down and dirty. But if it happens, I hope you are there to help me!

 

[Melinda Dean]

Mistysmon, I just realized that Paula and I never mentioned a great resource for learning to drive that mini folks do not usually think of. She and I met at a NC Working Mule and Draft event. Va probably also has a working Draft Association. They hold "plow days" where people get together with their teams to plow a field, take wagon rides, eat, and talk horses. The people are always nice and love to share their knowledge and joke about their misadventures. More and more pony/mini drivers are joining in on the easy parts of the trails. It is not the same as mini breed driving, not showy, but the basics are the same. I have met some pretty terrific folks this way, including Paula.

 

[jyuukai]

I second and third what everyone has said. It's been a while since I worked my mare, but we bought her at 4 months old, and by the next spring we "long lined" her to and from her pasture, through the field, on the big horse trail..

We literally just used lunge lines on her halter since they had the smallest clips. At first my other half would walk beside her but after a short while she got the idea.

We are FINALLY going to get her really in harness this coming winter. She's five this month. Crossing my fingers that she hasn't regressed much in her two years off!

 

[paintponylvr]

Please allow me to comment on my friend, Paula's post. I thought "down and dirty" was putting a harness on a unbroke horse, hooking up to something like a drag, while standing in a dirt field. Saying a prayer, telling the horse to move out by any means to get him going, then trying to hold on for dear life!!

(OMG - NO! Maybe I should use "quick & dirty" as I usually did it while I was feeding - didn't groom them, just used either a halter and lines or a bridle and lines and worked with one while the others were eating. Did it a lot with several of mine one winter - worked great!! Then would go on to the next. Usually spent an extra hour in the barn, could groom several and work several too.) Paul, I think you and I have seen a session like this on one of the draft trail drives. Only the man thought that horse was already well trained!! (Yep, seen some interesting things on both the trail drives and the plow days. Even seen lots of interesting things on trail rides when I used to ride all the time.)

I actually owned a Welsh cross that was broke to drive in one day this way. Long before I bought him. I was told they had 4 helpers standing by but never needed them. The pony galloped through the dirt with his cart following and driver holding on to the seat. When they came back to the farm house that afternoon, the pony was"broke". He was a wonderful driving pony by the time I got him years later.

I am way to chicken to train this way! (I have seen this method used a lot - especially here in NC with minis and small ponies. Problem is - they often aren't taught anything once they've finally learned to ignore what is chasing them. Most don't ever learn a true "whoa", how to give to the bit in any direction or how to back up. Most of the ones I've seen trained this way are pretty severely traumatized - though not all. It's why I DO want to spend a lot of time on the ground teaching "whoa".

I've had one runaway that wasn't caused by lack of training - well she was very green and essentially so was I - but by painful attack by wasps whose ground nest we'd hit. Even though that 3 yr old filly knew "whoa" - she simply wasn't responding and I really couldn't blame her as I was stung quite a bit as well. It was on her 3rd hitch to the cart and I'd just about been ready to stop when it happened. I wasn't alone - the girls were with me, but I had no other adults with me. I was pretty sick from the stings I'd received and "scared spitless" too by the "runaway". The loss of confidence when you can't really do anything is HUGE. She was bucking and running and I managed to get her to circle our round pen - somewhere in the middle of our 4 acre pasture. But at one point she went up, wildly squalling, the cart and I left the ground behind her and we ended up in a tangled heap. It was the closest I'd come to cutting a harness off to untangle a horse - but I don't know that I could have. I was shaking hard, the leather was in great shape and many layers stitched together. It was a quick hitch training harness w/o breeching and I was able to get it all unsnapped in various spots. Got her untangled from the shafts and stood up. She wasn't lame or injured - a slight cut on the inside of her gaskin on a hind leg and quite a number of swellings/lumps from wasp stings. The cart was fine. I had wasp stings and some bumps and scraps but nothing major. I made a mistake when neither of us were actually injured by not re-hooking her then and there - like I would have gotten back on a riding horse. By the next day, just bringing the harness out caused her to get highly upset & I was still too green - and sickish and shaky - at the time to REALLY know how to deal with it. The gentleman that I was working with then was dealing with a very sick family member and couldn't work with me at the time and I didn't know who to contact for help to go on with her. I didn't work with her enough to get her over what she thought was BAD. I thought I was doing right - but even though I re-introduced the harness and cart - she wasn't happy or relaxed and honestly - neither was I. Honestly, it took a long, long time for ME to get comfortable with driving her dam or her sire after that and they were both pretty well trained. That was in 2000. Instead, we turned her into a top notch little riding pony and never got her driving again in the years we had her. Now she's a very fancy hunter pony, that consistently goes around a course under different little riders.) But I agree, lots of small blocks of time. Attention span of a horse's brain is very short. That is why I call my way, "playing games". Hope full I will never get pulled through a field and get down and dirty. (YIKES!!) But if it happens, I hope you are there to help me!

At one of the plow days I went to, a pair of mules - supposed to be well trained - got away from their owner/driver and took off. While hooked to a rather large hand plow! They headed straight back for the trailer area - where there were a LOT of HORSES, PONIES and other MULES standing tied to their trailers while being hitched. They circled around a couple of times with that "cutting thing" slinging around - honestly it was SCAREY!!!! I was THANKFUL I'd spent a lot of time ground driving my first pair AND had practiced driving them up into my horse trailer - I got the horse trailer open, drove them in harness and all, and shut the door, and I hopped into the bed of my truck. There were plenty of more experienced people to handle that - I knew I wanted nothing to do with it - I just wanted out of the way. I was amazed - no one was hurt, harness was intact and so was the plow and both mules. It did catch on one trailer - a big one that was heavy duty. I don't remember it sustaining any damage. I now not only teach our ponies to get in and out of the trailer while I stand outside saying "load up", but load them with their harness and then drive them in and out... a good practice to get into in my opinion...

 

[Gone_Riding]

I haven't been on MHT for a while, but since I'm working on driving my mini, I'm trying to educate myself on it. I got slammed for starting her training so early, so I haven't been on this forum in months. But I've never pushed her and she LOVES the attention and work (or shall I say play as we just play at it).

I've been training my mini to drive very slowly, as she's only 11 mos. old and 30 1/2" tall. I use her halter instead of a bridle and just clip to the reins to it. I would teach her her commands while teaching her to lead, so she caught them early on. I drove her a lot (5-10 minutes at a time once a week) before ever hooking her up to her "cart" last week. I used one dowel tied with a quick release knot to the side of her harness. She learned to accept it dragging beside her and how to turn with it, then I worked with it on the other side. I would stop when she still hadn't gotten tired so it was a positive experience, then just played with her without her gear on. We're up to a half hour or so, as she doesn't seem to get tired and she still runs and plays when I turn her loose at the end.

After numerous walks down to the mailbox (1/2 mile away), I finally drove her down there with the long lines. She did awesome! So, last week, she was ready for her "real cart". It's made out of PVC pipe, old push mower wheels, and very thin plywood all painted silver to look pretty. I hooked it up to me and drove her a couple minutes. She was fine with it, so I led her while I pulled it. After five minutes, she acted like it wasn't even there. The next time I worked her, I had her pull the cart. She acted up a little at first but settled right it. (Mind you, not all horses are so excepting!)

Here's her "cart":

 

[misty'smom]

thanks again for all the great advice and info!!!! The weather here is starting to get nice although we had a cold snap but it has to get warmer sooner or later!!!! Anyway I am anxious to get started with Misty on some training...... I have been just working with her on her lead line and some basic commands. She is leading pretty good with me just holding the lead line and not her halter. she will stop when I signal whoa, she will back and turns left and right. Working on getting her to trot by my side this week.

Gone_Riding, Did you use regular driving lenght reins with the halter? and what part of the harness are you using? I thought if I could get her used to wearing some of harness with the reins and worked with her on ground driving it would be a good start!! Not sure which harness parts I need to order? I have ordered halters and some things from Ozark Mtn and a few other mini sites. Any suggestions on what and where to order??? Your pictures were helpful too! If you have any other pictures of training your mini please post them as I said I am a visual learner!!!!! Thanks a Bunch!!!!

 

[paintponylvr]

I start most of mine in a training surcingle. I like having the rings at different heights to run the lines thru. I often use hommade lines that are much longer than mini sized driving lines. Allows me to stand back away from my ponies. I always teach to lead from both sides and to lounge in both directions, then to "psuedo" drive while both leading and lounging. Then I add the outside line to the one on the inside and start applying pressure on it when I want to keep the pony straight or turn in the opposite direction or stop. and while they wear the sursingle, they don't get the lines run thru the rings the first few times at all - they get good and moving forward with out turning to face me before I run the lines thru the rings...

That said - I "line drive" w/ just long leadropes on a halter and can stay right beside them or drop back right to their hips or behind their bums or out to the end of my lines, too. You learn to handle the lines while your horse is also learning to respond to what you are asking. Understand that you will probably get things you sure didn't expect - maybe you actually "cued" for that movement or response w/o realizing it.

Here is a great thread - showing how many of us were doing things... There are 17 pages of info w/ picures in this post.

Can we see pics of minis in trainging for driving?

I thought there was another one started further back in time - butr that one I'm not finding right now. Probably not getting the search terms right.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I remember that thread. There is a lot of really useful information on it and it is just a fun read besides. I enjoyed rereading it, well, some of it. theres a lot of reading there

 

[misty'smom]

Thank you all for the great advice and info!!! I am going to try to get some training myself as soon as I can get some free time. In the meantime I have tried Misty just with her halter and 1-2 long leads walking alongside her (both sides) and in back getting her to turn both ways and to back up. So far she is doing pretty good. I don't work her too long maybe 15-20 mins every other day. I do not want her to not like training. One problem that has come up is that she doesn' t want me to put her halter on.......maybe she knows the work out is coming????? Never had this problem since I first got her at 4 months (she turns 2 on the 9th). I need to put her in her stall or grab her with a lead line around her neck, then she will stand nicely while I put her nose in the halter and buckle. It almost seems like she is afraid of it???? But I follow through once I get her halter out and have been putting it on her everyday now. I was not leaving her halter on unless I was working with her or the farrier or vet were out to see her. It makes me nervous leaving it on her when I am not out there, I would not want her to get caught on something. So that has been a slight issue but I am sure she will get over it!! I did get a mini lunge line but she isn't getting the hang of going around me in a circle.......she tries to walk away , not pulling but walking off in a direction other than around. Misty is a sweet girl but can be sassy at times and a little stubborn but I think it is more her age, terrrible 2s!!!!!!!! Her half sister Josie (my dwarf, just turned 2) is so, so cute watching Misty train and she always wants a turn too. I put her on her lead and walk her about practicing trotting and stopping and backing!!!! She does a great job but I would never work her too much or push her it is just for fun and to give her some one on one time, I love her!!! Another question....... what type of surcingle should I get, is that the part the fits around behind the shoulders and underneath? How does it fasten , does it have a girth that straps or buckles? Is there a chest part or a strap to the tail to help hold in place???? I hope I am not sounding too dumb????? I was around a few horses(big) that could drive growing up but never put the harness on or drove and that was a long,long time ago!!! lol I am having fun working with Misty and want to be doing all the right things at this point, I know she is still young!! I would like to get a mini saddle on her one day too, I have granchildren that are still very young so maybe by the time they are old enough Misty will be Ok to ride with me holding her on a lead line!! Wow lots of work ahead.......Thank you all again!!!!!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I think she has learned the halter means an end to her freedom and the beginning of work. I always make sure my horses think my haltering them means they will get something they like, I will hand graze them a few minutes before and after a training session or to groom them. Anything to make a connection in their mind that the halter means good things are going to happen.

 

[Jenny]

I had the same problem with haltering with my gelding. I started giving him a small treat every time I put his halter on. I did this for about a month. He's now back to his normal self where he practically shoves his nose into his halter by himself without a treat.

 

[happy appy]

I always give 1/3 cup of grain as a reward after training or driving. It's not enough to bother them but they sure line up when they see me coming with a halter! I also use it as a training aid after the drive while I'm unharnessing them. If they stand still well the treat comes quicker if they dance around in anticipation then they are made to wait in the stall for their treat. It doesn't take long to learn.