New to driving

[LittleLottie]

I'm about to buy back one of my mini apps which I sold last year as a yearling. He's been passed around, but luckily the lady who has him now chose to contact me to see if I wanted to buy him back...........which I do.

He's a very laid back little chap and I really would like to drive him. Now I've grown up as a rider, but not been taught to drive. I have someone who is willing to teach me with her pony.

Can you all give me a step by step breakdown of what I need to start doing groundwork wise? I'm going to lead him out in traffic and I know that I'll have to long line, but I really need help with what I should do and when.

I'll post a picture of him when he arrives back here on Wednesday too.

 

[Jill]

Congrats on your mini coming home.

I would strongly suggest finding a reputable trainer to train your guy to drive. It takes a lot of experience driving horses before it's a good idea to decide to train one on your own (assuming I'm reading your subject "new to driving" to apply to you, not just the horse).

With horses, it is at least 100x better and easier to do it right the first time, vs. trying to fix something that was done wrong or skipped the first time. Horses never forget a bad experience. A lot of horses that have had driving "incidents" never get back into the cart again. In my opinion, it is a lot harder to control a horse you are driving, vs. one you are riding... And even a small mini is a lot stronger than a person and extremely hard to control / stop if things go south (I've heard of people running minis into trees or barns to stop a run away in the cart).

I've been riding and driving since 1995, and have helped to start quite a few minis and have trained one start to finish, but am still not an expert.

You might even find a trainer who can let you participate in some of the steps, but it's just a bad idea to try it alone if you are not very knowledgable and experienced with driving. Over the years, I've seen so many "examples" held out on how this or that person "trained" their mini to drive and one thing I've gathered is I will NOT ever buy an already trained to drive mini unless I am comfortable with who trained him/her. Just so many things I've seen and read would not be something I'd ever put in front of me and my carts...

Best of luck!

 

[love_casper]

I'd suggest getting a really good book to start, so you have a solid foundation to follow, and don't have to teach yourself and your mini at the same time. Finding a local trainer in your area would help too.

For now, begin just by getting trust and then control while you stand behind him. Mannnny horses aren't used to having anything done with them back there, especially if all they have had done is being lead around with people at their heads. My two really timid mares that I started (well, one I re-started because her first trainer didn't do this), at first wouldn't even let you stand behind them, let alone stay there, or steer them around. So getting them to accept a person behind their withers, then at the hip, and then behind them was the hardest part of their training. Then my little bossy gelding who I've had his whole life, didn't really care where I was... but the farther I got from my typical leading position, the more he tried to go where he wanted. So with him I started with him accepting leadership from behind the withers, then the hip, and now behind.

Totally agree with you Jill!! My girl that I restarted was pretty shy in the first place, but that one bad trainer has made it a 7 month ordeal for me to "fix" her. Since she hadn't trusted people behind her in the first place, and that trainer put her in blinders first thing, poor girl was pulling a cart around and being told what to do by signals that she had no idea where they were coming from. And she was tense and nervous and prancy each time she was harnessed up. Not to mention she was also started without breeching for trail driving, and she had no idea there was even a cart behind her, so when it would move forward and hit her on her already nervous butt, she would about jump out of her skin.

I really recomend the DVD's by Nate Bowers.... http://bowersfarm.com/Merchant2/merchant.m...p;Store_Code=BF Just a personal favorite, in any case find some program to follow.

But there are plenty of other resources, and I am by no means an expert here... never competed or anything, only started my 3 little ones and 2 others for fun.

Good luck with your boy!

 

[BannerBrat]

Hello,

Would the lady who is willing to teach you to drive on her pony willing to help you out with training? If you like the way her pony goes ask her what she did.

 

[rcfarm]

Try to find a trainer that will work with both of you. My experience, I sent my gelding to be trained 3 months, long story short, had to start all over. He is a dream now, I had a trainer come to my home to help us. Still not a trail horse, but time and patience. Good Luck! Driving is a blast!

 

[Sandee]

I too would suggest a trainer or an experienced driver to help you train your horse. As already mentioned you would have to "train" yourself to train. Two beginners are at least one too many.

That said you can start by doing a LOT of ground work. A large part of a horse driving depends on his confidence and that may hinge on how much confidence he has in you. Also this will make it easier for a trainer to "get him driving" quicker. Get him used to listening to and obeying walk, whoa, trot. These can be started on a lead rope. Also as you mentioned working around obstacles is good experience. Then graduate to a lunge line. Next obvious steps would then be getting him used to a bit (has to be fitted correctly) and long lineing. Either before those last steps or at the very least after them you could use some experienced help.

 

[LittleLottie]

Thanks guys.

I'm going to start with the groundwork so that I know he'll be happy in traffic, walking around obstacles and dealing with day to day things. I very much believe that prep work can never be good enough. I'm happy to get him used to a bridle and bit as I've educated a lot of horses, but never gone into driving.

The lady who I've spoken to has agreed to then pop down to help me with everything else which is great! I'm also buying a book which has been recommended to me so that I have a full understanding of what I'm being taught as well as the pony.

Many thanks for all your replies!