Anyone ride driving horses/ponies?

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I now look after a Welsh cob driving pony who I can also ride.
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Does anyone else here have ride and drive horses or ponies? How do you (if you do) ride them differently than you would pure riding horses? I do use voice commands but are there other differences? Do you think its a good idea to canter them under saddle or not?

Thanks for reading, any thoughts most welcome.
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Captain was driven for years, he had to be retrained to be ridden, he is now getting ready to do dressage tests next year. Elizabeth started with verbal commands and has gradually reduced them to be replaced with the leg. There is no difference in canter, although he had to be taught how to. Now I am going to learn to drive him, hope he remembers!
 
I used to ride scurry ponies and they were a blast! One of them was the best, softest mouthed pony I have ever sat on. I never rode them any differently to any other horse, in most instances I can't see why you would because they seem to associate being ridden and being driven as seperate things and act differently.

As scurries are expected to go from 0-60 in 3.2 seconds, I used to gallop them a lot, so I can't speak from experience if your cob is just walked & trotted but I can't see any reason not to canter. In fact, my boss used to have all sorts of driving horses - Hackneys, Gelderlanders, private driving horse - as well as scurries and used one of his private drives as his master's horse when he field mastered for a local hunt
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He used another one for ride & drive classes and another one did ride and drive with a groom, but the ride part was done side saddle
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Snoops is ride and drive and she is very responsive to the leg and will trot just from saying the word like your lunging a horse. She can be a little strong in canter but i think thats just her excitment.
 
Yes, we have ride and drivers. Ride them just the same, although they tend to respond better to voice commands than purely ridden horses do.
 
Ride them the same, we use the whip as our legs so a well schooled driver should have no problem with the feeling and meaning of legs. Yes, its all a bit different, but so it is for a racer with short stirrup'd jockeys that go to dressage homes!
Use your voice and explain and all will be fine. My drivers canter under saddle and in harness, the latest dressage tests require it anyway.
The only thing I don't do is too much jumping, as some HDT obstacles can resemble and are built around cross country fences!
 
My pony was driven originally but has been ridden a lot as well.
He is very strong having been driven by some body with very hard hand but he's great a very responsive ride and also i can use voice commands to go.
 
My boy is partially broken to drive, and other than a heightened response to voice control, he is exactly the same as a normal riding horse.
Well I say responsive to the voice, as soon as we are having a blast and I ask him (voice command) to trot, he suddenly forgets that he should listen to my voice and becomes temporarily deaf. Funny that...
 
Motor was driven in his formative years and is very receptive to voice commands, however he often cocks a deafen
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..... his head carriage, when bridled is to die for even at 28
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I ride and drive my shire, i don't ride him any differently to any of my others but to be honest they were all broken to voice commands anyway. I always put " and "before any voice command to tell them i am going to ask something. by the way i am about 5,2 and look like something out of the thellwell cartoons on a 17.2 shire.
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My cob was ride and drive, he was broken to drive first and when broken to ride I had to school him like mad to get the transitions right as they were very raggedy and shorten and slow his trot but he got there eventually
 
I ride a handful of ponies that compete at HDT, ride them all exactly as i would any others, although they are rather good at the old voice commands
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say 'up' and you'll find yourself going quite fast
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totally love them.
We do everything with ours from hunting to the odd show class, and everything inbetween, although the young one who's being broken to drive has a nice little pop on her, and may confuse herself with the obstacles and what she can jump which could make things interesting
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i ride for a disabled driver & really love the respnsivness to voice they all have, we also use the "and" before a command.
it took a while to learn not to talk speeds when on hacks (its a little unerving when you say to OH beside you "shall we canter at the big tree" & find them both cantering mid sentence) and sometimes the young lad gets a little strong & puts his head very low and "pulls" you on, but he is still learning the differences.
 
Thanks everyone, I was worried i might totally confuse him if there was something I'd failed to think of. The mixing up obstacles and jumps is a really good point, I can see how that could be a problem.
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I hardly do any jumping myself anymore due to a back injury, so thankfully shouldn't have to worry about that one.

I'll just ride him like any other horse then I guess. I've heard off a couple of driving people that they never canter theirs as it spoils them.
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Must just be personal preference, but it sounds like there are plenty of unspoiled driving horses out there who get cantered.
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The not cantering thing is a little old fashioned now although there are the odd sticklers. You still shouldn't canter with a 2 wheeled vehicle, mainly because its uncomfortable for you and rocks the carriage! lol

I liked riding driving horses because you get an extra set of brakes! lol seat, hands and voice!
 
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