The most important thing you learnt when you started out?

[Wings]

De lurking

Was wondering what you felt was the most important thing you learnt in your first year of driving.

I'm starting out next year, end of the show season one of my guys gets pulled from the halter team and goes off to a trainer and I start driving with a friend so hopefully when it comes to driving my own guy we are both less green!

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I would have to say the most important thing I learned as an absolute beginner was to maintain contact on the reins. Horses with closed bridles can see very little on their own and they really rely on us to guide them and support them. If we don't have contact they are left sightless and in a void. You are their link to vision and your hands on the reins is their lifeline. Anyone who doubts this should put on a blind fold and hold a rope in front of them and let another person 'drive' them. If their driver lets those ropes go slack they can not know where to go next. There is so much to learn in the beginning, how to harness correctly, rein handling, how to push the horse into the bridle etc etc but for me this was an epiphany of sorts. These horses trust us with their well being far more than we trust them with our own. They are so vulnerable and willing to put themselves there because they believe we can keep them safe...an awesome responsibility for sure.

Oops, kinda went on and on, sorry

 

[Wings]

Oops, kinda went on and on, sorry

Feel free to go on and on! How else do we newbies learn

I'm really looking forwrad to starting, I was supposed to this year but I decided to do one more halter season with this horse so it got put off a year.

 

[jegray21]

That is a good question. I think I learned to take my time, when tacking up. Details are important when hooking up to a cart. It's hard to miss that the girth on a saddle isn't tightened but sometimes with all the buckles and straps on a harness things can get missed! So double check and take your time

 

[shelterwood]

I agree with taking your time. I would get so excited to get out and drive that I would rush through tacking and putting to. Well I found that this not only had me occasionally missing things but also making my green mare feel hurried and stressed too. When you slow down and breathe and really stay in the moment good things happen. I also found that dropping any agenda I might have had about accomplishing some goal helps. If I go out with an attitude of letting the horse dictate to some degree what we do on any given day, then I don't end up frustrated or fighting with them. Sometimes they or I might just be having a crappy day, and if that's the case then repeating some exercise we know and do well is far better than challenging either of us with some new task.

One big lesson for me as well was to buy GOOD equipment, particularly harness. I still haven't gotten a really good cart, but I have a sulky that is light, balanced and comfortable, the three most important things to the horse. I bought a harness from a friend that worked for training purposes, but ordered my Comfy Fit harness and have not looked back. I will be getting a second for my other mare.....well worth the money, and can be modified to be a pairs harness eventually, saving the cost of another set of harness if/when my mares drive together.

I went through a period of time where I was reading things on here and on other sites that had me begin to feel fearful that driving was dangerous, and I found myself a little tentative to drive, especially on the roads, which I have to use somewhat to get to my trail system. It took me a while to balance smart safety with these feelings of vulnerability, even though I have driven and ridden full size horses extensively. I guess being a full fledged adult now makes me think about worse case scenarios. Safety is paramount, but it shouldn't completely overwhelm you to the point of ruining your driving experience. Everything in life carries some risk, especially when it comes to horses, but the fun of driving is worth it!! Welcome to the driving forum!!

Katie

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

I agree with taking your time. I would get so excited to get out and drive that I would rush through tacking and putting to. Well I found that this not only had me occasionally missing things but also making my green mare feel hurried and stressed too. When you slow down and breathe and really stay in the moment good things happen. I also found that dropping any agenda I might have had about accomplishing some goal helps. If I go out with an attitude of letting the horse dictate to some degree what we do on any given day, then I don't end up frustrated or fighting with them. Sometimes they or I might just be having a crappy day, and if that's the case then repeating some exercise we know and do well is far better than challenging either of us with some new task.

One big lesson for me as well was to buy GOOD equipment, particularly harness. I still haven't gotten a really good cart, but I have a sulky that is light, balanced and comfortable, the three most important things to the horse. I bought a harness from a friend that worked for training purposes, but ordered my Comfy Fit harness and have not looked back. I will be getting a second for my other mare.....well worth the money, and can be modified to be a pairs harness eventually, saving the cost of another set of harness if/when my mares drive together.

I went through a period of time where I was reading things on here and on other sites that had me begin to feel fearful that driving was dangerous, and I found myself a little tentative to drive, especially on the roads, which I have to use somewhat to get to my trail system. It took me a while to balance smart safety with these feelings of vulnerability, even though I have driven and ridden full size horses extensively. I guess being a full fledged adult now makes me think about worse case scenarios. Safety is paramount, but it shouldn't completely overwhelm you to the point of ruining your driving experience. Everything in life carries some risk, especially when it comes to horses, but the fun of driving is worth it!! Welcome to the driving forum!!

Katie

Excellent points shelterwood! For the tacking issue I found that having a set pattern to harnessing and hitching helped. Doing the same straps in the same order makes sure they are all safely connected and then just a quick second check for safety when I'm done allows me to be sure I've completed everything and no straps are twisted or incorrectly adjusted.

As for risk, I agree, there is risk in getting up in the morning or walking down a flight of stairs, its all in how you manage that risk.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

Never hitch an entire two year old Welsh Sec A to a sled (stone boat type thing but unloaded) after two hours (and that is ALL) of ground driving- it does not end well!

In my defence I was 16 years old (and still should have known better) and he did go on to make a brilliant all round drive and ride kids pony, one, in fact, in a million.

But we were lucky we survived long enough for that to be able to happen.

 

[LAminiatures]

I took driving lessons. I needed to feel as confident in the cart as I did in the saddle. Learning the correct way to fit the harness and making sure your horse was ready for the cart. Try and have someone around the first few times you go out as well.

Have fun!

 

[Jill]

The proper way to hold the reins. Even though I had ridden for years and knew how to hold properly for riding, for some reason, I had it bass-akwards at first for driving. Also, I cannot stand to see reins within fists. My horses are all so light. It's as if I almost only think the command. Would hate for someone to drive them with the reins through their fists, yet you see this over and over in photos and not at all just "back yard" photos, either.

 

[Wings]

Thanks everyone, all really good things to consider!

My cart is half paid off, it's an old but good and solid wooden one that has seen the starting of MANY minis over the years

so it's less green then me or the horse! Much as I love nice leather gear I'm going to get a synthetic harness as my work one, less maintenance that way

So all up nothing fancy but it'll be good and safe gear to start with and when we are ready to compete (I want to do dressage, maybe some showing) I'll get the fancy stuff then

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Yes, taking time to harness up properly. Now I have mine hung in the harness bag in a certain order. You wouldn't think one could forget a piece of harness, but take it from me, one can!

 

[shorthorsemom]

I learned that the halt and stand were the most important "gaits" for the driving horse. Without a decent halt and stand you really don't have a foundation for safe driving. Safety is most important too.

 

[Sandee]

Most important thing my old guy taught me..... learn how to fit and make sure the harness, bit and everything fits the horse you are working with. If they are uncomfortable, you're gonna be uncomfortable----soon!

We bought a driving gelding with harness and all to start with. However, the people just put a harness together to fit over his already started winter coat not to mention the fact that he was over weight. Come spring nothing really fit but we, not knowing what we were doing, still tried to put it all on him and drive. He objected and the more often we put it on him the worse his objections got until I had someone tell me how ill fitting everything was and help me get a better fitted harness and bit. Then the old boy went right to work without the rearing and blowing a fit as he had before.

 

[JMS Miniatures]

Biggest thing with me is holding the reins correctly and keep contact. Its not like riding a big horse where you want to keep slack, with driving you want contact with their mouths. Also find a good harness and cart. I first bought a nylon harness and big heavy metal cart. Lets just say both didn't last long. Important thing is to keep the equipment simple but not cheap.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

...Its not like riding a big horse where you want to keep slack...

It's exactly like riding a big horse...English!

Western riders do seem to have the hardest time making the transition to driving.

Great gems on this thread, I'll admit I can't think of more at this moment but will post if I come up with any additions.

Leia

 

[JMS Miniatures]

It's exactly like riding a big horse...English!

Western riders do seem to have the hardest time making the transition to driving.

Great gems on this thread, I'll admit I can't think of more at this moment but will post if I come up with any additions.

Leia

Ahh see never ridden english before.

 

[susanne]

...that the more you learn, the less you know. There is such a wealth of information you can never stop learning something new.

Holding the reins is a great example. What is done by most whips, including myself (using both hands, line coming up through bottom of hand and out over the index fingers), is totally wrong to a traditionalist using Achenbach style, with both lines in the left hand, using the right hand for the whip and to make adjustments.

...that knowing the WHY is as important as knowing the WHAT...

 

[rabbitsfizz]

OK I'll try to be serious.

That the way that is most comfortable for you and for your horse, whatever the show fanatics say, is the right way, for you and your horse.

So what if it does not win you Concourse d'Elegance? I am driving, not trying to win a beauty pageant!

I have, for the record, always driven with two hands, in spite of having always ridden one handed, it is just the way I am most at ease, and this, in turn, then benefits my horse.

I had a quick look, at European and UK driven horses, to see exactly what was going on, and it seems about fifty/fifty on two or one handed driving. Almost all the BDS cross country drivers were two handed. ALL the Hackney pony drivers were one handed, half and half on the private driving classes.

 

[Wings]

I'll definetly be going two handed, I rode english so it 'makes sense' to my brain!

Thanks guys these answers have been very helpful

 

[susanne]

As I mentioned in my previous post, I definitely drive two-handed but some day I plan on trying Achenbach. On another driving forum we had a member who was very outspoken about Achenbach and Coachman-style.

I may not do it (at least not yet), but I feel it's important to know when there are other approaches and that ours is not the only way. In combined driving, upper level dressage tests include circles driven with one hand, so any advanced driver is certainly comfortable driving both ways.

I always have to laugh at photos of me driving...my fingers are so stiff from arthritis that my hands look pathetic. For the time being, my left hand can barely hold one line, let alone two!