distance

[diamond c]

What kind of distance are you able to drive your minis ( singe and team ) when you'r out trail riding?

 

[Rhondaalaska]

I can do six miles so far, but I know of one friend that did twenty miles .

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

We often drive 8 to 12 miles with ours, even our little 28" mare handles it with no trouble. We walk the majority of the time while they get fit for it and have a stop and lunch break about midway most drives. Ours are given plenty of space to move while loose in there dry lot and pastures so they walk a lot of miles in a day without us, that keeps some muscle on them year round.

 

[diamond c]

I never dreamed of 20 miles. I figured 10 at the most.I working on a team of mini donkeys ( I know I'm on the wrong site but there are not many people on there. ) that are 33"and 35" that are doing fairly well consideringhow much I don't det to drive them.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

Take it slow and build them up to how ever far you want to go. I worked my girl up one mile at a time. Next year I want to be able to go farther . The 39 inch Shetland gelding of my friends does twenty miles , but they take breaks and take thier time.

 

[diamond c]

absolutly ( don't judge me on my spelling please ) anyone who knows me will tell you they have never seen me in a hurry. I still can't imagine doing 20 miles with minis.With ridding horses a 20 mile day for me was all day. I've seen on the internet BIG hoses doing wagon trains doing 5 day 100 mile rides. I have thouight about doing a charity ride and thought that I would have to meet them half way or better just to finish with the big boys. But now with time I have hope to go the hole way.

 

[Rhondaalaska]

Next year we are going to join a ride group that will be doing at least 10 miles one way

So we have a ways to build up to yet

 

[happy appy]

Well my minis have it easy, time to up their work load I think! I only go a mile or so each trip!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

6 miles is my longest so far. I do 4 sometimes and 2 frequently. I cant' imagine riding in a cart for 20 miles...

 

[chandab]

My FIL does 4 or so wagon trains a year with one of his draft teams, either Percherons or Fjords (depending on which wagon train); I'm not sure how many miles they do daily for the 4-7 days they wagon train, but I do know there is a guy with a pony team (may even be minis) that goes the whole distance of the local wagon train. And I also know of a couple little girls that ride small ponies and go all day long.

 

[Peggy Porter]

Well my minis have it easy, time to up their work load I think! I only go a mile or so each trip!

But at the national drive we drove for miles! And sugar handled it great.I use an app on my phone to measure distance, time, and speed, and can be surprised at how much we actually do. I usually try to do at least two miles each time we go out, much of it at a walk.

 

[ckmini]

My shetland does 4 miles easily, mostly trotting in the arena and fields. I'm hoping to get some longer drives in either this fall or next summer.

 

[Lloydyne]

I try to drive 3 miles everytime I go out. Most of it is trotting and most of it is off road. It is a repeat trail about a mile long so my lil guy knows when he needs to walk because of the bumpy parts. I think I could put anyone behind him and set him on cruise and they would be fine....lol

 

[paintponylvr]

Chanda - you might know this but wasn't it average for a wagon train in the Pioneer days to USUALLY go about 25 - 30 miles per day? On a bad day w/ weather, no water or indians maybe 8-9? That's what I seem to remember. And any "out" riders - the Wagon master, the hunters, any extra horse wranglers (oops that's cattle drives) usually did many more as they ranged out looking for good trailing (or if experienced - knew the ways to go), water and next place (s) to camp, checked for good, stable water crossings etc...

I know one thing - when I went to Iowa and last year when I went to OK and I crossed those long and HUGE bridge spans over rivers - I couldn't even imagine attempting river crossings in a wagon with a pair of horses! O..M..G.. I notice a lot more when I drive a vehicle now and compare it to driving the horses!

I know that distance is also relative. As your horse/donkeys get more fit, they can cover more distance at better speeds, however, there's nothing wrong with walking. No different really than you - if you set up an exercise or walking program for yourself. A couple of times, we've covered a lot of distance - some of that at a good clip and others we haven't done much at all. Terrain and how your equipment is working also plays a part as I found out with a green mare last weekend...

The one mare in the pair was jigging and acting the fool, while the 2nd mare held steady and helped steady her. The "jiggy" one made not only herself sore but also made the other mare, who bore the brunt of the "abuse", sore... Part of me was wishing I had some one at home that could hook up the horse trailer and come get us - but I'd kept going on the way out (straight) and there were no shortcuts to get back. That last mile was "killer" for all 3 of us. We did a total of 5 - we've done many more than that but she/they had had too much time off. I could barely move my arms and my chest ached all day the next day, too. I made sure I used plenty of liniment on both mares - shoulders, necks and backs - and they were cold hosed a couple of times dureing the week even though they didn't really do any work. Now I need to work with "jiggy" (might give her the new name) alone and see if I can get her to stop with all the fussing. Lord knows I did that with the mare she's currently partnered with for months in 2010 and early 2011, LOL.

 

[paintponylvr]

I have a "loop" or "block" that is measured by car on the road to be 2.3 miles. That doesn't include turning into fields and dropping below the road level on rough ground or then going back up hill w/ about 4 "waves" of up/down. Nor does it include if I turn into a private drive way a little ways to visit with folks that are at home or with relatives visiting or several times (luckily the ponies were already pretty fit and we'd only started our loop) I've given short buggy rides to a few extra people - usually children.

I think the fastest we've done the single loop - w/ two single driving ponies to an ez entry and a sulky - was 20 minutes. Almost all of it at a trot, some cantering, very little walking. I often did several loops with the ponies as they/I became fitter - alternating w/t/c and stopping to practice our "whoa/stand" and also if I did enter a field, when I went back out to the road, they get used to doing a "whoa" while I look for traffic. I think I'd worked up to doing the loop 2x in each direction before actually taking our mares anywhere for any length of time when we started going out... Now I need to start ground driving some of our young stuff around that "loop".

Other than that loop - I've always judged our "distance" as time. Simply because I don't have a way to measure how far I go except by time, usually.

 

[diamond c]

I've given the "boys" off all summer because of the heet and humidity. Started them sunday, for about an hour and a half. I judge et to be about 1.5 miles. I know that don't seem like much but we were all tird by that time. I'm going to try to start working them every other day ( as my work alows ) for now. Increacing as time and there shape gets better.

 

[diamond c]

I havent had a chance to drive my "boys" in a week because of work. I hope to hitch up a couple of times this weekend. I did take a minute on the way home one day and clock off a new road to drive down. I didn't see any dogs ( but out here in the country you never know ) and only one big hill. Weather permiting I'll get started bilding some muscle as the road is 3.5 milews round trip.

 

[Carriage]

I believe that you have been given very good advice.

I would break down and define your individual set of givens. Your horses ability, your specific terrain to be driven and your equipment.

While my company has specialized in the equipment part of the equation for many years now, taking all three of these givens and objectively evaluating them on a constant basis will allow you to arrive at the right answer, first for your horse and then you. Driving for three hours straight, even with folk in their seventies is pretty common for us.

First and foremost, truly hear your horse and put that horse first in everything and you will know the answer, your individual answer, to this question.

Bb

 

[Gone_Riding]

My parents have their 36" mini do 15-16 miles with no trouble, but that is with breaks. That is when he's in shape. At the beginning of the year, he's tired just doing one! They work him up to it without overdoing it. Of course grandkids playing with him all summer really helps too!