Zetahra Progress- Driving

[lantairvlea]

Zetahra is my three-and-a-half year-old filly ( you know, the one with all the hair) and has been my main focus and project this year. I got her greenbroke to ride this Spring and have shifted my focus to her driving. On the riding side I've taken her out on trails twice, to the local horse park/public arena, and done a bit in my own little arena

Comments

[miladyelizabeth]

My s.o. is a driving trainer and he has a website with lots of training material, just click the Coachman's Guide tab:
http://coachmansdelight.com/

He's also got a few inexpensive online webinars coming up next week which might be of interest to you.

[lantairvlea]

I'll have to check that out, thanks!

[candysgirl]

My Arab drives. We don't do a whole lot of it, but he'll do it. I pretty much did what you've been doing. His voice commands and his 'woah' we're VERY solid before hitching him to the cart. We did a bit of 'you can't turn like a riding horse with this on' training with PVC poles before hitching him to the cart.

The first several times hitched I had a friend head walk him, first attached to a lead rope and then she backed off slowly over a few days. We first did it in a field on the farm. Then we moved to roads with a head walker again. And they slowly backed off again.

Now. He rode on roads for quite a whole before he drove on them, so I don't know if that would make any difference. He got over traffic under saddle first.

[lantairvlea]

Unfortunately I can't ride her right now, but I have taken her for walks around the neighborhood and when I can get a spare set of hands, I plan to ground drive her around as well. My instructor suggested ground driving her out and around with the pvc poles too.

[windy_withers]

Ive trained my draft and quarter horse to drive- You're on the right track desensitizing them to the shafts and then weight behind (tire dragging etc). I recruited some friends for all hands on deck when it came to hitching for the first time we just rested it in the shaft loops and pulled the cart along manually incase they wanted to hit the Escape button! Then we put the tugs on and lastly the holdbacks as those are hard to release in an emergency. Usually if you bore them to death with the shafts and the tire, the cart is a no big deal. Youre also right keeping it short, positive and sweet sessions. Good luck, you'll be driving into the sunset in no time!

[lantairvlea]

Thank you! It's good to hear I'm on the right track!

Yes, extra hands are definitely a must! I need to get her ground driven around the neighborhood, but spare hands are in short supply it seems!