Help with training a pair

[countryrose]

I am currently training a coming 3 year old to cart. His half brother is a year younger and will start late next year.

I would appreciate any suggestions for the best way to get the pair to work together.

Do you lunge together/ and or other combination of training as a duo needed?

How do you determine which position is the best for each horse to drive in.

They are now getting acquainted and trying to become buddies.

Patches is 35" and Lucky seems to be getting close to same height. Both are bay pintos.

I don't have current pictures as nothing but mud and rain here right now.

 

[Buckskin gal]

Will bump this up for you...maybe Geese or someone else will help you out.

I am currently training a coming 3 year old to cart. His half brother is a year younger and will start late next year.

I would appreciate any suggestions for the best way to get the pair to work together.

Do you lunge together/ and or other combination of training as a duo needed?

How do you determine which position is the best for each horse to drive in.

They are now getting acquainted and trying to become buddies.

Patches is 35" and Lucky seems to be getting close to same height. Both are bay pintos.

I don't have current pictures as nothing but mud and rain here right now.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Make sure each horse is comfortable driving as a single. They should be able to bend, know how to smoothly stop and start a vehicle, and be willing to move out on demand.

Ground drive the two of them together. There is a special way to rig their harnesses together so they are paired for that but I don't know what it is. I've just seen the results! LOL

Get lessons or buy books on how to do it. I can recommend some books that have great chapters on pairs driving and harnessing if you'd like. There's a lot of fine points to harnessing to correct problems with the pairing, like a horse who won't bend or goes faster than the other or overflexes on the bridle. You must also teach them the correct way to start a heavy vehicle and be willing to learn the reinwork to do so. I've got a reprinted carriage driving book from the 1900's that has a great chapter on that! LOL

Good luck. They sound like a great pair and you can be the one to finally give Wanda Lusk some competition in the VSE CDE pairs driving.

:

Leia

 

[countryrose]

Thanks Leia, I was going to talk to Wanda this weekend also.

Any suggestions on books, etc. would be great.

I know it takes a lot of ground work and next couple years will be a challenge. Just want to do it correctly.

Thanks all.

 

[justaboutgeese]

I started both pairs as singles ground driving and to a light bike. Never hooked them together until they were both going good as singles. Then I hooked them as a pair to a heavier four wheeled cart and off we went. Never had an issue with the younger pair. The older team took much longer to work together well. One just got lazy and would let the near horse do all the work. It took more hours with some prodding to go until he caught on. Actually they were so easy to break all of the concerns were without issue. Getting them finished for a dressage event requires hours of work but that comes with time. Its important to prevent bad habbits. They are easier to prevent than to cure. What type of harness are you using a breast collar or full collar. With a breast collar harness special care must be used to adjust to the yoke or you might be faced with the pole dropping into the dirt and the horses even a well broke team could get a bit jumpy. Some breast collar harness will fasten directly to the pole but if its a heavy pole it could pull the breast collar down. A strap attached to the back pad helps prevent that. I prefer the breast collar harness as far as looks are concerned it just requires careful adjustment when the fitting is made the first time. With a full collar harness the pole is fully supported but the horses look like they are overloaded with harness.

 

[countryrose]

Thanks Geese:

I have only got the 3 year old started so as they are youngsters I am hopeful they will be easy to train as per your experience.

I don't have team harnesses so thanks for the info on the breast collars. I will definitely check that option out. Patches, the three year old that is starting to drive seems very willing and settling in nice to cart . The two year old has more of an attitude so hoping they will cooperate together once both are trained.

You can bet I will be doing a LOT of ground work with both.

 

[Devon]

This topic appeals to me as well I am in almost the same situation only I owna gelding who is just starting single adn his future pair is already comfortable and syarted. Also is there anywhere I can gett he attachments for a team or better yet do you know anywhere where I can purchase a Team Harness that switches to Single?

 

[countryrose]

I did find this harness which has options to change from single to pairs with conversion parts.

http://www.ccfdriving.atfreeweb.com/harnesses.htm

Sorry, Edited to add the URL for this.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Sorry for the delay CountryRose, I lost track of this thread and had to search for it. Here's a link to

The Carriage House

Which also has a convertible beta pairs harness. I can't say enough good things about the service at that business, they are wonderful. WA is about as far from FL as you can get and I still got my stuff really fast.

The best book I can think of without being able to go home and check all of my titles is definitely Heike Bean and Sarah Blanchard(?)'s Carriage Driving: a Logical Approach through Dressage. It's available on Amazon or at your local Barnes & Noble if you're lucky (I was, that's how I found it) and it's priceless. A "must read" before purchasing your pairs harness as she had quite the discussion on the various styles of yokes and pairs hitching. That's how I learned!

Good luck, and keep us up to date. Did you know they have self-supporting poles these days to take all the weight off the yoke? Wanda has one I think.

Leia