And we're off!

[wingnut]

Yesterday, I took the first steps in training my 2.5 yr old miniature to pull a cart. I had a lesson with a great lady from Valhalla Farms outside of Westminster, MD. Linda's background is in dressage of biggies, but she's been working with miniatures for years now. She loves training these little guys to drive and she loves working with people who want to do the same.

Our first lesson was to show me how to lunge a horse without getting dizzy! Some very minor adjustments to what I was doing made all the difference in the world. I got some time doing ground driving. All of this was done with a green broke mini that lives at Valhalla Farms. I won't take my own girl for a session for a few weeks yet.

We have a long, long way to go but I hope to spend this fall, winter and next spring getting Izzy really schooled in the basics so that we can work next summer after she turns three with a cart. Slow and steady, that's our motto around here!

I spent time working with my own girl tonight and it was amazing! She is so darn smart and responds so well already! And no getting dizzy!

This carting bug is here to stay it seems!

 

[BannerBrat]

Your post is so nice to read, Joy.

I think that the way you are going about driving sounds excellent, I think you're going to have fun with Izzy through the whole process. Are you focusing on driving for fun? Or do you have any other plans? I'd love to hear about your progress as you two go along.

 

[targetsmom]

Sounds like you are off to a great start. Keep us posted on your progress. And, yes, that "carting bug" is a very potent one - very hard to recover from !!!

 

[wingnut]

Thanks Ashley and targetsmom

We may eventually do some classes at our local club's shows. Probably not until her second year of driving though, so that would be the 2012 season. I'd love to do some local parades as well. Until then, we'll spend our time riding around our farm and neighboring properties where we have permission to do so. There are some trails near us that have areas suitable for cart driving too, so we'll probably take advantage of those as training opportunities to expose her to different things then she might see around home.

We're still very green at everything to do with horses, so as much as I want to do everything at once, I know we have to do this really slowly in an effort to minimize the chances of "bad things" happening to me or the horse.

If the opportunity comes to buy a fully broken gelding or mare, I'd love to do that. Right now, we're out of stall space here so that's not an option we can consider at the moment. I keep telling myself that the money I'd put into buying a already broken horse will pay for my equipment and lots of training sessions. So, I just have to be patient.

ETA: I will be writing about our experiences on my blog. The link is below and most posts will be under the category "Horsing Around" for now. I'll likely add a new category to narrow that down to ones about driving specifically. And of course, I'll come back here too

It's too exciting not to share!

 

[disneyhorse]

Even if you're a "long, long way off" ANY progress is still progress nonetheless! Keep it up! You will have fun!

Andrea

 

[hobbyhorse23]

How exciting! Sounds like you're going about things all the right ways and I look forward to hearing about your progress. There should be quite a few of us blogging about our three year olds next year! It will be an exciting time on the driving forum and fun to compare our progress.

Leia

 

[susanne]

You and your horse are going to have so much fun! We were already tightly bonded with Mingus, but driving took our partnership so much further -- you'll love it.

Ditto what others have said -- it's so good to hear that you're taking such a great approach with a mentor/trainer.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

I'm looking forward to hearing about your progress!

I hope you will all still post here about your driving progress, as I don't do blogs and I'd hate to miss anything about my Forum friends.

 

[Shortpig]

How exciting! Sounds like you're going about things all the right ways and I look forward to hearing about your progress. There should be quite a few of us blogging about our three year olds next year! It will be an exciting time on the driving forum and fun to compare our progress.

Leia

Wow Leia Koda will be 6yo does he count as two horses?

I think this is going to be an exciting year in the driving arena. How many others out there are starting their younguns in preparation for next yeat.

Actually Koda won't be started till spring but thats fine with me. My choice and I want warmer, dryer weather when he returns home.

Wingnut! I think it's great that you are working with someone and will not only get your horse trained but will be learning how to at the same time. Congrats!

 

[wingnut]

Thanks again everyone

Marsha: I'll most definitely be writing here too!

 

[susanne]

I want warmer, dryer weather when he returns home.

So you've moved out of Oregon?