Equipment

[littlenicker]

Hi everyone! I would like to start driving my pony...she was green broke to drive when she was 4 before I got her, now she is nearly 16-17 years old and hasnt had a job in years! Im a rider not a driver, but I just sold my riding horse and would like to get into driving with my pony. I would ofcourse rather start by ground driving et...

I am going to work with a trainer this summer of course

Id like to start collecting what I need this winter

what equipment will I need to start ground driving?

 

[shalakominiatureshowhorses]

Hi! Your really going to love driving!!! It's so much fun!

I just broke in my coming 3 yr old to harness. I started when he was a yearling, so we have been working for a long time. Not to say your training ( or In this case retraining) will take a long time, but he was just a yearling, so we took things slow. Anyway, rambling on here!

When he was a yearling I bought a show harness in advance since I planned on him showing anyway. I then borrowed a leather surcingle ( I wish I could post pics, but I'm using an iPhone ) you can probably google it so, I bought a show harness ( bridle, traces, saddle, reins and all ) and borrowed the surcingle. The surcingle will be what you use to ground drive with along with a bridle, my show bridle. You will probably need long lines. I borrowed them too, but they are cotton lines that are much longer than driving reins. These are also a must for a green driving horse because they are long enough for them to be lunged in or worked in a round pen with

Hope this helped!

 

[ksoomekh]

What fun!. Good luck with your re-training. I have no advice since I recently purchased a 14 year old experienced driving mini and have never trained a horse to drive.. Driving is a blast. I still ride my big horses, and I love driving my mini.

Karen

 

[hobbyhorse23]

The equipment for ground-driving is very simple. You need a bridle, a set of long-lines and a surcingle and that's about it. Now you can add to that and say you need both an open bridle and one with blinkers to use as you move along in the training, you can add a crupper and backstrap to the surcingle, and have a set of longer lines for double-lunging and a shorter, easier to handle set of regular driving lines for walking along behind the horse going cross-country, but it's quite possible to do your entire training with completely basic equipment. Really all driving training is is adding to those basics! One day you hang a set of breeching off the backstrap and let the horse get used to it, then you add a breastcollar, eventually you start attaching the straps to each other so the horse gets used to feeling all those parts pulling on them as they move, then you go back and redo all those steps with the blinker bridle, and once you teach them to work with shafts and to pull that's it- they're driving. It takes a lot of horse sense to handle it correctly and sensitively and build the horse's confidence, but essentially it's a logical process of adding to basics over and over so that each step is accepted and understood by the horse without fear.

Leia

 

[Sandee]

If your horse was trained for driving before, there's no reason you NEED an open bridle (without blinders). He should already be used to wearing the blinders. Just start slowly and if he has problems or resists at any point work slowly until he gets past it. Long lines can be soft rope (like heavier clothesline rope) with a snap on the ends to attach to the bridle.

In a pinch you can use the saddle as a surcingle. Just feed the long lines thru (in my case the shaft loops that will buckle in place) even the guide rings for the reins will work but not as well as something on the side.......useful for working for a head set.