Elizabeth Pannill said:
Do most have their minis drag a tire before hitching ? Then maybe have a helper head the horse at a walk with someone in the cart ??
Elizabeth
She did that yesterday, Elizabeth.
Well, not with her in the cart but she had a header on a lead and several helpers standing by. I think the tire is actually far more dangerous and harder for the horse than the cart itself so I may skip that step with Turbo but it's certainly a normal step with full-sized horses. As you said, you'd never walk behind a hitched full-sized horse so there MUST be some sort of intermediate stage between ground-driving in harness and hopping in the hitched cart.
I would never ground-drive my mini from beside the cart at a professional driving event because I know full-well what ADS drivers would think of it. And they are right- it is dangerous! I cringe when I see trainers double-lunging hot Modern Shetlands in cart in the warmup ring at R shows, which they do regularly.
Talk about putting others at risk! But at the same time, handling my mini is not the same as handling a Friesian.
I cannot possibly flip the lines over the cart if a Friesian turns unexpectedly, the cart could easily kill me if he suddenly backed up over me or whirled into me, and that is a deadly, deadly weapon if he gets loose with it. Plus the addition of one human to a cart that big is hardly going to be noticed by the horse, weightwise. With the mini there is no interference in the line of the reins and far less potential for major injury (i.e. death or dismemberment). That does NOT negate the significant psychological risk to the horse in case of an accident, but I have to weigh that against the fact I am more than doubling the weight of that vehicle when I get in it and my green horse may not be ready for that yet. Like Mimi, I don't want to do too many things at once and simply walking around with the cart attached is probably enough for the first day.
I would consider it far more risky to lead him around in that cart than to ground-drive him around in it as you cannot possibly control a hitched horse sufficiently through a leadline. The best possible combo, of course, is exactly what Mimi did- have a header and ground-drive in an enclosed arena then get in as soon as possible. I've seen Sterling Graburn do that with a much larger pony.
Just my controversial .02.
Leia
Edited to add: The tire thing made me think. Don't agricultural drivers walk behind a PAIR of horses hitched to a plow or other dragging device?? Things with sharp steel blades? It seems to me like that would be far riskier than a light rolling vehicle but maybe it's the opposite or maybe the disposition and training of the horses makes the difference. It would be interesting to discuss.