Going Buggy
by Lucia Roda
by Lucia Roda
| Thirty years or so ago, carriage driving made a comeback in the U.S. and the American Driving Society was born. The problem was for many enthusiasts, there was a book in one hand and a horse in the other. By the grace of God and tolerant horses, drivers became more experienced and less likely to kill themselves and other people. English and European drivers were our only sources and as the American upstarts that we were, there was a lot of raised eyebrows at our attempts at perfection. I come from a slightly different perspective. I am seriously competitive in nature and I love my horses, but I tend to grin and be a little tongue in cheek as far as many of the traditions that have been the custom for the last 30 years. I am not that way about my training. I firmly believe that most people that are starting to drive today are more lucky than good. Horses are often times angels in pony suits and I have been the recipient of their tolerance and grace on more than one occasion myself. I am a carriage driver. I compete both in Pleasure Shows and Combined Driving (the carriage world's version of 3 day eventing). So after all the above , I would like to talk about what it takes to train the carriage horse. |
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| When starting your horse,do the sacking out, but also don't forget the following rule: You can't drive a horse anywhere you can't lead him or ride him. The driving fairy doesn't sprinkle pixie dust and you will not be able to magically drive a horse along a highway if you can't ride or lead him there without a problem. Rule of thumb: If your friend has to get off a horse and lead yours across the black top, don't hook him. |
| Parts List for training shafts. Use Schedule 40 PVC 1 3 ft. length of 1 1/2" PVC pipe 2 8 ft. lengths of 1 1/2" PVC pipe. 2 1 1/2" T fittings pipe dope (don't use cement) baling twine Cut 6 inches off one end of each 8 ft pipe. Use the pipe dope in the T's. Put it all together so that it looks like an H. The 6" lengths are the drags. Drill holes in the horse end of the pipe, to run baling twine through. Don't hook up the pipe to the harness at first, just rest the twine over the withers of the horse. |
I like to use training shafts when starting a green horse. My training shafts are made of PVC pipe and are built so that if there is a huge problem, they essentially break down to the sum of the smallest parts. I would rather rebuild pvc training shafts than my meadowbrook. My point of reference is that I was once towed by AAA in California. The tow truck driver called it a KODIAK moment. God knows I was "grizzly" when it happened. That aside, try to have at least one other person helping you during the shaft training. It makes the turns for the green horse smoother and the learning experience easier for all. Green horses can suffer from claustrophobia in the shafts and often have a hard time figuring that they can move into the shaft and pressure to get it to move. We teach them to move away from pressure and then ask them to face it.....Go figure. |
| Carriage horses are made after great effort is put forth, both on the part of the driver and the horse. Don't just take a really nice and tolerant horse and put wheels behind him. Eventually, you will run into something that your horse was not prepared for and you will literally pick up the pieces afterwards. My gelding, Thunderhawk, was the easiest horse that I have ever trained for carriage driving. I say that with a grin, because he is a Spanish Mustang, right? Seriously, though when you start a carriage horse you do all the sacking out that you do with a riding horse and then add 50 percent more. I hang tarps, drag tarps, walk over tarps with my horses: flags flap, tin cans rattle, bleach bottles filled with rocks are bounced, tied on, and drug. No amount of de-spooking is too much. |
| We took advantage of a windy day. We tied yellow caution tape all along the pens. We tied balloons & wind socks to the end of the caution tape & their tails & manes. It didn't take long before they took it all in stride |
