A driving question...

[emma.is]

How can I tell if my horse will be able to pull a small two wheeled cart with me in?

I am interested in breaking him to harness and would love to know if it's possible

 

[touchstone]

I would imagine that he will be fine, considering that shetlands are used for driving

Being traffic proof, obedient and with a good mouth are the most improtant things. Make sure you get the help of a good experienced professional though, there are plenty of pitfalls if you don't know what you're doing

 

[Goldenstar]

I aggree with the post above its best to seek experianced help, but before that buy a book on breaking to harnesss so you understand the prosess and have a go at the long riening if you have good basic horse sense you can easily get to the stage of dragging a wieght I use a tyre and i long rien while my grooms drag chains cans whatever you can find that's nasty and noisy along behind if the horse takes to all that happily then the chances it will learn to pull a carriage with no issues.
Remember you need two people to safely drive out

 

[emma.is]

thanks very much! I am very interested in trying a little bit of everything with him even if we only get to the long reining part

 

[lazybee]

Any horses or ponies can be driven. He'll be fine. One thing to remember. It ain't rocket science. Try not to get to bogged down with too many tips. Try to read a few books to get the general rules rather than one authors opinions. Concentrate on good voice commands. Personally I've never dragged weights/tyres etc. With someone helping standing behind putting a bit of resistance on the traces works well. I get my helper to turn a small gig around backwards to the horse and push it like a wheel barrow. Then get it up close behind when I'm reining. That way if it all gets too much for the horse the gig can be backed away. I don't fancy having a horse tearing around the school with a tyre attached. I think it would set the lessons back a few weeks. The last horse I broke to drive, was in the shafts in 8 days. Then before that a donkey (whole different ball game )in 11 days.

Warning it's highly addictive!