Ground Driving!

[circlesinthesand]

My dad and I took our two minis for their first spin around the pasture today. Can only do so much in the pen! It was such fun! This is the first time we get to drive together with them. Til now we've been taking turns in the pen. We drove over ditches and through gates, over logs, around trees, did a little trotting but not too much, it was hot! So much fun! Can't wait to get them hitched! I'm trying to think of bunches of things to do with them. These are the first, we teach to drive without the benefit of riding them first.

What are some of the things you like to do in the pasture before you hit the roads?

 

[susanne]

I love ground-driving -- luckily for me, as it took awhile to get a cart, so it seems like we did it forever. I believe those many hours are the reason Mingus is such a good, solid driving horse. We learned each other's language and built an incredible partnership. One of the things we did was to take him to our first (now annual) beach drive and ground-drove him while everyone else drove. I felt like the old commercial where everyone is riding their bike except one who only pretends to ride.

 

[circlesinthesand]

oh I have the cart (actually had it before the harness,) but he's still gonna get hours and hours ground driving. I agree with you about the ground driving. That's why we always rode our horses (even the drafts...ouch my aching hips on some of those huge ones!) for a few years before we harnessed them. Gets them over the spooks. Of course with the mini's it is not as easy but they'll get a lot of time. I also believe in having them drag things before they pull wheels too.. I have some heavy old tires that are going to be perfect for it! We had a little issue with the rough drainage ditches in the the pasture so he's going to have miles and miles of ditch work until I can go in and out of those ditches without a problem. I also have an old shallow canal that I'm gonna put my waders on and go walk him him through water once we get some rain (it's dried out right now.) Our place is nice for this kind of thing. I have an area with bushy trees and hidden treasures like a large culvert and some wind chimes, a few barrels that scatter about with the wind, a water obstacle (when we get rain!*doing my rain dance*) a wooden 'bridge', curious goats that jump on stacked tin behind a row of trees, ducks who are not shy about flapping their wings in the barn yard, I have a box to put them in the pasture too, lol, and idiot dogs who bark at everything, including the goats and ducks lol. All contained to the property...going down the road is even more fun Tractors, semis, whiny cars, trucks with bad mufflers, dogs in yards, some loose, some not, kids on swings, etc. etc. All with places to get off the road and keep the horses safe. It's really nice for getting the horses broke. I plan to haul them to a show setting before the summers over too, we'll do the 'mini/shetland' halter class at our local show, then ground drive them around the grounds the rest of the day. Just lots and lots of hours spent making them great ponies.

 

[paintponylvr]

Sounds like you have most things covered. I would therefore spend LOTS of time on "Whoa, Stand". I found at the beginning that it worked better to get a quiet, willing "whoa, stand" after they'd done some work and were a little tired. Then later, asked right from the beginning - starting with harnessing. After getting a good one started, then enforce it everywhere when in commotion...j\

I've learned you then need to go back - almost to the beginning - to enforce that whoa, stand with a partner or as a pair, and now that I'm driving my girls 3 abreast - we are practicing again, LOL.

Can't practice a good "whoa, stand" enough... or maybe should say too much.

So great to hear of more that are driving!

 

[Grace67]

This is perfect timing for me as I just got my new gelding home and though he's an experienced driving horse I am not so I plan on ground driving him a lot so that "I" gain experience before getting in the cart. In all my years of owning big horses and different riding disciplines I never learned to ground drive so where do I start? I plan on taking lessons with a driving instructor when she becomes available (she is actively showing right now so her weekends are pretty booked up) but I want to do stuff with my new boy now so that we're both feeling more comfortable with each other when we head into new places.

Any advice greatly appreciated and thanks for starting this topic!

 

[circlesinthesand]

ah! see that's one I didn't think to practice. Most of the saddle horses, learn that early on so by the time we get to hitching them it's a non issue. I can't even really pony these fellas, they're just way too small and are liable to go UNDER my big horses, so they can't even get out and see the world that way! I feel like I should be doing so much more!

 

[Jules]

Like Susan, I took my horse on a drive and long-reined. It was his first time out in company (he is the only horse at my place) and did very well.

http://trhdc.webs.com/apps/photos/album?albumid=13475942

Other than that, I long-rein him EVERYWHERE, at the skate park (really!), down my the main street of my country town, alongside the railway line, over bridges, through tunnels, you name it.

It sounds like you are doing much the same thing. I think the more things they are exposed to and learn to be confident with while still training, the better

 

[circlesinthesand]

hmmm, a skate park sounds like a good one. I don't know of any skate parks in the area though. I'm limited in the types of town or city things I can do. We're a really small town with not a lot of things going on, certainly no trains or tunnels. The nearest train is at least an hour drive. I'm limited in the types of hill work I can do too. I saw on a youtube video where a guy buried a piece of metal for the horses to clang the carriage over, like a grate on the street. I'm just not sure what kind of metal that would be safe and make a good noise...Tin definitely isn't going to be safe.

I can definitely do a tarp, I do that for trail practice with my big horses. I also have an old shower curtain for making a 'cowboy curtain'. I've also been collecting plastic bottles for scattering around and making them walk through, so that it bumps their legs. I was bouncing one of them between their legs the other day, letting it fall wherever and bump their legs. The same youtube guy also used barrels and would purposedly get them wedged under the carriage in his arena to make it pop up so the horses would pull even if something would fall off of the back of a truck and get caught under their carriage. It made a racket but it certainly made these horses broke. Not sure what I could do in the same context for a mini? maybe wedge a 5 gallon bucket under my cart? lol. I may be carrying things too far but I love the confidence in that guy's horses. He really put the work into them and I want to do the same.

 

[susanne]

My aim was not to expose my horse to everything you will likely ever come upon, but to show him that when he is frightened, he can trust you to take care of him. I've found that the things that frighten Mingus are those I never would have expected...cows missing their legs (lying in their field)...horse-eating foam at the beach (not so much the waves themselves... I could never have predicted what I should use to "bombproof" him, so instead I exposed him to what I could and did my best to be there for him. It worked pretty well.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I played "kick the can" with pop bottles I found lying along the road when my kicky young horse was first ground-driving and just learning not to react to things touching his legs. I spent a long time quietly kicking the can back and forth between my feet as we walked then started slowly kicking it up past him and clicker-trained him for staying straight and continuing to work even when it appeared out of nowhere and startled him. He caught on quick and within two days I was purposely kicking it up between his legs as he walked and he just kept on walking even as it ricocheted between his forelegs. And the funny thing was, he never even threatened to kick at it! This from the horse who used to reactively launch a hind leg if I so much as tried to brush his tail.

Leia

 

[shorthorsemom]

I took plastic grocery bags and tied them by the handles to driving whips and crops and had my kids run back and forth yelling, "look at the little horsey mommy" at the top of their lungs while waving their home made "flags"... balloons work too. Soccer played with big balls in the pasture... dragging tarps and letting the wind catch them so they flap and wave... pool noodles make excellent "launchers" and you can shoot them directly under the horses. Start slow, sky is the limit. My guys LOVE when we get out the toys to play with. Ride on toys with kids on them, John deere plastic toy mowers make nice sound. My one mini that I had actually grabbed the little toy mower and pushed it all over the pasture and paddock, it was hilarious. I have photos, he really was enjoying his mowing. He also loved the grocery bags on the crops and would hold the crop in his teeth and shake the bag himself. He would drag the tarp all by himself. He would also take the big kids hoppy ball and carry it around, lift it up and put it on the backs of the other horses and let go. if you do the spook games with a fun atmosphere you can have a ball and really teach them to trust you to protect them from scarey things. congratulations on your ground driving!!! I really started slow and was amazed at how much the horses looked forward to the spook training. They love it. Loads of stuff you can do in the pasture. if I can find the photos I will see if somebody will post for me later...