Training some tough 3 year olds

[Skylight_minis]

Well I have my work cut out for me this year. I have 1 bratty 3 year old and a high strung 3 year old. The Bratty one is Glory. She's not really scared of much. And Tika is the high strung one i think she inherited some shetland blood.

<-yep that looks like her.

My normal training ritual is ground driving for a week. Then i'll move up and do scary things like barking (never know when you might meet a noisy dog) I stomp on cans, Throw sticks in bushes...etc. Just desensitizing to every day stuff. Then I normally hitch them to the cart and ground drive behind it for a few days then i hop in and go. HA! That is not going to work with either of my 3 year olds this year.

Glory has never been afraid of carts she's been around them moving and such but she sure doesnt like having the shafts on her side. So i rigged up some pvc pipe so that it doesnt drag the ground and did some lunging with that. Yep she ran around silly threw in a few bucks. I was glad that no cart was involved. She finally settled down then we went back to the round pen i hooked her up to a small tire yep more wild circles but no bucking this time. Finally got her to walk calmly with that. Then i got the training cart and Finally got her to walk between the shafts of the cart with me leading her. Of course she wasnt attached to the cart and the shafts were really wide but it is improvement. We'll do more sessions of me leading her and holding the cart up as she walks around the pen. Then i'll move to actually hitching her up to it (it may be months before I actually hitch her up which wont be till i know she's ready).

Tika is pretty much doing exactly what Glory is doing but with a bit more pep lol.

I lunged Tika with the pvc and she took off running around bucking and then when i asked her to walk, she was walking like she was really unsure of herself. I pretty much stopped there with tika i figure if she's going to do the same as Glory but worse then i might as well see how Glorys training plays out. I can do more of a trial and error with Glory. Tika seems very insecure so dont want to do the wrong thing. In the past if i ground drive one of my mares and she acts like a booger is going to get them I just give up on it. I truely think some horses arent ment to drive just like some full sized horses make better driving horses.

So since Tika is soo much more sensitive, the plan is to get Glory going and then maybe start on Tika again with ponying her off a cart starting with just a halter then maybe with the blinders on. I dont think the tire drag would be a good idea at this point. If Glory ran around sending the tire air borne a couple of times, Tika would probably run right through the fence.

Now both mares ground drive perfectly they walk, stop, turns, trot. All on a light rein. If they were big horses i'd feel comfortable enough to hop on. They are young and i still have a ton of sacking out to do. Could be months before i'm able to actually drive them out in the pasture but they are worth the work and its a great learning experience for me. I already know every horse learns by a different method its just figuring out what clicks with them.

I've trained 12 horses to drive of various ages and various backgrounds. Just havent found any yet that were as much of a challenge as these two. And so the journey continues...

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Sounds like you have your hands full! I've had two I had to give up on. One was a 2 year old that I decided to start getting used to harness/shafts. He turned into a maniac after less than a minute of any equipment attached to him. He woudl throw himself into a white-eyed bucking frenzy and I could hardly get the equipment off him. He was a pocket pet, nice ground manners, didn't mind the bridle and bit, and clipped like an angel. I thought he would be a piece of cake to train. NOT. I decided, after a couple of months of rodeo, that he would never be suitable for a driving horse and it was time to move on. Someone might have been able to get him into harness, but I knew it wouldn't be me.

I guess each trainer has to decide if a horse is going to work out. They can challenge one's confidence, for sure. Sounds like you have a good feeling about your two.

 

[Sue_C.]

I had one in for training a few years ago, that I called quits on. he is the sweetest gelding, until you put him to anything...then he just looses his brain. I have never seen a horse that frightened. The poor little soul.

I called his owner, and told her that in my opinion, he would never be safe and sane in a cart. Some of them just never make it.

As for the high-strung mare, I would put her back to pasture, and wait another year. That has worked for me with both riding, and driving horses. They must have the maturity of mind to handle what they are being asked to do...and to rush that is to very likely ruin their eintire careers as a safe driving horse.

That said, I have never trained any of my own horses earlier than four years of age, and some of them, much older than that.

 

[Skylight_minis]

Thanks for the encouragement. It will be a bit before i do anything other than ground drive with Tika. I've never thought of her as being a safe driving horse. Normally i wouldnt even try it but I thought i'd take the challenge and maybe do some show driving. THis is one i'd definatly not take out on a trail. She is the horse in my avatar and just moves so perfectly but i will not love her any less if driving her never pans out. I have plenty of driving horses to chose from should i want to go for a nice drive. They are all trained by me and they all have their own little quirks which keeps it from getting boring.

Bree is my ultimate favorite she's a full sister to my brat, Glory. She's nothing like Glory though. Glory can be pushy and just wants to be the center of attention and wants to play with every thing. Put the harness on and she'll reach around and pull it off. Looks like a circus act of me trying to get her tacked up. Doing it in a grassy area works best so she's busy lol. Bree is loving but doesnt have to be IT and she's very patient. I can drive her with just slight finger presure.

Rosalita is a speed demon. She's one of those dont want to stand still got to trot fast walking is for wimps. lol

Sofie is very responsive but dont even try to get her to do anything near the barn she's buddy sour. Thats more her personality than anything. She's very clingy. Never have to put a lead rope on her just lead her buddy and she'll follow with out straying. I've never seen a horse so attached to another. She will do this with any horse she's in with so its not just one particular horse. Just hop in the cart and drive straight away and everything is fine. Try to do circles near the barn ha forget it.

Sugar is Tika's mom. Sugar can be a bit high strung too. I didnt train her but someone trained her for show driving. If you want to go just let the reins rest on her rump and your gone like a bullet. Dont want to run right through the fence keep reins off rump and just use a tounge click to get her going.

They are all works in progress the same as every other horse out there but they are a lot of fun to drive.

I have a friend that has a driving mini that i bought and trained. Now that was a perfect driving horse. When i went to look at her i just walked right up to her Jumped up and said boo and she just stood there and looked around at me like what the heck are you doing? She was an easy one to train to cart. She didnt like the straight shafts though couldnt get her to do much in those so i put her in a cart that had shafts that curved outwards and she took to it like a fish to water but now she's in a straight shafted cart and doing beautifully.

I find that the curved shafts are ideal for beginning horses. Here's another idea that i learned. this lady had a gelding that she "ground drove" Well actually he was just following her husband around. When i got called in on the job he didnt actually know how to stear on his own with out following some one. Well She had been doing all of this in an open bridle. After we got him going good then we put the blinders on him he went bizerk. I thought he was going to make a human kite out of me. Back to the drawing board finished training with out blinders. Even went right on up to pulling a cart. Then started driving down the road. Only thing he ever spooked at was a 1 inch ditch in the road sure didnt want to go over that but we did finally get him over it. Thus i learned blinders are not a necessity in all horses.

 

[Make A Wish Miniatures]

Ground driving for a week really isn't very long. There is no rule that says they should be hooked up at three. If they were my horses and I wanted to drive them, I would go back to ground driving . I would probably ground drive all summer and try hooking up again this fall. That said, not all horses make good Safe driving horses. But I think they need a lot more basics before giving up on them.

 

[Jetiki]

I spend a lot of time on ground driving and ground work. It does depend on the horse but I spend usually at least 2 months ground driving them exposing them to almost everything and asking them to do anything I'll ask them to do while pulling the cart. I usually then can just hitch to the cart with no trouble. I do have a tire for them to pull if I need to and I have one currently pulling the tire. Once Im comfortable with that we'll move to the cart. A lot of it depends on the horse but a lot of mini drivers really don't put the emphasis on ground driving, I haven't figured out why. 1 to 2 weeks ground driving isn't enough time.

Karen

 

[Skylight_minis]

The length of ground driving depends on the horse. Depends on how much desentization they've had before ground driving. I had a mare that i couldnt get to go straight with the ground driving she just kept spinning in circles so i hitched her to the cart and went down the road which she was already use to being ponied off a cart and went down the road every day. She was a great driving horse and never spooked or did anything bad ever. Would i do this with every horse? no absolutely not.

Rosalita was pulling a cart in 3 days probably could have hitched her up on day 2 but i did a bit of extra stuff with her like dragging training shafts and such which she was fine with. She's also never spooked at anything and is a great driving horse. Just depends on the horse. These two were exceptionally easy.

The average well handled mini's that i have trained did well with the 1 - 2 weeks ground driving and then being hitched to a cart. I just listen to the horse they will let you know if they are ready or not. Will they be totally trained to drive in 2 weeks? absolutely not. They will be considered green. Just like riding horses. You can get a horse to go from never having a saddle on to a rider getting on and riding around in a short time depending on the horse and how well the trainer can read it. Some times this can be accomplished in days with never throwing a buck. Is the horse considered well broke? No. But is under saddle and is ready to continue to be trained both from the ground and the saddle.

The 2 thats in training now, I wouldnt even try hitching them to a cart they couldnt handle it mentally. So i will do lots of ground driving and lots of more desensitizing in as well as out of harness. It could even possibly be next year before they pull a cart. I'm not in a hurry. I was just surprised that Glory would be so sensitive i've always thought of her as being a confident baby. But she is still just a baby so i have my work cut out for me. Tika may never pull a cart and i'm okay with that. She will be beautiful broodmare and maybe some day i'll do a liberty class with her. She might even excell at hunter jumper well if i could remember the course after i get in the ring lol.

I'll keep ya updated on Glorys progress.

 

[RhineStone]

Glory can be pushy and just wants to be the center of attention and wants to play with every thing. Put the harness on and she'll reach around and pull it off. Looks like a circus act of me trying to get her tacked up. Doing it in a grassy area works best so she's busy lol.

She's one of those dont want to stand still got to trot fast walking is for wimps. lol

Sofie is very responsive but dont even try to get her to do anything near the barn she's buddy sour. Thats more her personality than anything.

The above are all examples of the horse getting to make decisions they should not be allowed to make. You won't make a whole lot of progress if you are constantly "fighting" with their "personalities". Maybe a Halter horse can make decisions and "get away with it", but a driving horse that does is dangerous.

That being said, not only do you need to go back to ground driving, but back even farther to what I call "backyard Showmanship". It's like Showmanship without all the "polish" on the handler, just concentrating on getting the horse to be very responsive to voice and body, and having absolute manners. A good Showmanship horse can be a breeze to train, but without that foundation, it is the "circus act" you are referring to. In my opinion, you have skipped a ton of steps. I could write a book on this, but I'm pretty sure I already have on other threads.

Myrna

 

[jegray21]

The above are all examples of the horse getting to make decisions they should not be allowed to make. You won't make a whole lot of progress if you are constantly "fighting" with their "personalities". Maybe a Halter horse can make decisions and "get away with it", but a driving horse that does is dangerous.

That being said, not only do you need to go back to ground driving, but back even farther to what I call "backyard Showmanship". It's like Showmanship without all the "polish" on the handler, just concentrating on getting the horse to be very responsive to voice and body, and having absolute manners. A good Showmanship horse can be a breeze to train, but without that foundation, it is the "circus act" you are referring to. In my opinion, you have skipped a ton of steps. I could write a book on this, but I'm pretty sure I already have on other threads.

Myrna

I agree. I would go back to the basics. Defiantly want to be sure to have respect outside of the harness before hooking them up to the cart. I like mine to know the have a good leader before riding them too..would make me nervous to be behind a horse in a cart if I am not sure that what I say goes. Better to get it know then after they have practiced the behavior for a long time.