Resources for learning proper driving etiquette and safety

[Molly's Run Minis]

You are doing a great job...it is hard when you are alone and learning at the same time. Do you have a harness or back saddle yet??

harness is in the mail, but i have been useing ropes to get her used to where the harness will be.

 

[RhineStone]

I, for instance, still lay the "pole" part of my whip along the outside hip of my horse when I ask him to step over in the cart. Carriage drivers shake their heads and tell me I'm terrible for this. But ya know, I'm coming from a ridden trail course background where I'd be picking up my inside rein and using my outside leg at the girth to ask him to step over. They are coming from a dressage background where you're providing a boundary with your inside rein and asking the horse to step into it with give and release on the outside rein. I taught my horse different signals.

Are you using this cue for a lateral "bend", meaning more of a hard turn on the hind? That is the cue I use, say to make a really tight turn around a pole, etc. For "bending", I move the barrel out.

However, it became absolutely apparent for me this year, especially watching the WEG horses, that horses that bend well are quicker and smoother in the hazards than those that don't. And there were WEG horses that didn't. The difference between Chester Weber's and Boyd Exell's horses were night and day from some of the lower placing drivers whose horses looked like they were being hauled around sticks. Truly, dressage (as boring as I find it sometimes) is the basis for all other training.

Myrna

 

[hobbyhorse23]

Are you using this cue for a lateral "bend", meaning more of a hard turn on the hind? That is the cue I use, say to make a really tight turn around a pole, etc. For "bending", I move the barrel out.

Neither.

I'm talking pivoting the cart on one wheel from a halt, basically sidepassing. Kody HATES this maneuver passionately as it was very difficult for him with his locking stifles and he requires that little reminder of the whip on his outside hip to move his whole body over instead of only giving with his head and neck. It's just a light touch, a little "bring your consciousness HERE. Remember to move your hip!" If we're diving around a tight pole at speed I use a repeated upward flick of the lash on the outside of his barrel as that is as much a forward movement as a sideways one and I'm only telling him to bring his body around faster. He's already bent to the inside correctly. I agree with you- the horse must be bending to be fluid through obstacles! I'm rabid about that as I can't stand yanking the horse around.

Leia

 

[RhineStone]

Yeah, that is what I meant. I use the same cue.

Myrna

 

[jegray21]

Truly, dressage (as boring as I find it sometimes) is the basis for all other training.

Myrna

So true

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

Truly, dressage (as boring as I find it sometimes) is the basis for all other training.

Myrna

totally agree! i taught my mare some dressage manouvers(side pass, piaffe, levade, etc) and it really helped her learn how to collect herself and relax.

plus, she loves showing off

 

[RhineStone]

totally agree! i taught my mare some dressage manouvers(side pass, piaffe, levade, etc) and it really helped her learn how to collect herself and relax.

Well, those would be upper level movements. Moreso what I meant was the basis of dressage, not the commonly held beliefs about dressage being just fancy movements. The basics of bending and straightness, rhythm and relaxation, submission, etc.: the elements of the German Training Scale produce a foundation that give the horse the ability to produce upper level movements. They are more principles than actual movements. Without these, you will not get true higher level movements. And those higher level ridden movements are not included in Driven Dressage anyway.

It is fine to experiment with those movements, but they won't provide the basis for quality driving.

Myrna