BHS advice I would like your opinion on please

nicolenlolly

nicolenlolly

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I was at the Dorset show on Saturday and watching the scurry. A couple of years ago hubby and I were keen to consider participating but had wedding and baby on priority list first. Now the ponies are 5 and we are slowly breaking them for riding.
One of them is like my 5 year old daughter's soul mate, he follows her around and is so gentle. She loves riding him and I hope they will pony club together in a couple of years.
So anyway, I went to BHS stand to see what books they had on driving etc, although I wouldn't try breaking to drive myself I wanted to understand it and then save up to send away... The lady at BHS said she had been interested in scurry but was told it ruins the pony cos it's hard on their legs etc and they end up like the equine version of a spaniel-completely dotty- and therefore no good as a children's pony.
Now if this is the case I will drop all aspirations of scurry and concentrate my efforts on just riding.
Does anyone have any experience that will support or contradict this please?
Many thanks
 
It probably depends in part on the pony and also how good the driver is, if the pony is generally quiet it will probably stay that way if driven sensibly.
I would not want to break to drive and rush into scurrying, by starting out just quietly doing pleasure drives until the pony is well established in both ride and drive, you then have the option of speeding him up when your daughter is older and able to deal with a faster pony or once she has outgrown him, would be more sensible in my view.
 
Scrurry is very fast and exciting It's really just the same as say getting a young horse broken and hunting it hard two days a week and expecting it to also be the horse of a nervous person as a hack some horses would cope most would not.
But there's no reason why a pony with the right temperament wont cope with ppleasure driving and being ridden.
 
I would agree with Goldenstar that many horses cope with being driven in the 'normal' way as well as being ridden, but I can also see that scurry would quite probably make them fairly excitable. I would liken it to mounted games ponies who are not generally suitable for novice children and are 'interesting' to do normal school work etc on.

I can understand how it could be seen as hard on their legs but there are several teams of ponies who have been on the circuit for a few years now (One that springs to mind is Pooh Bear and Piglet) so they must have stayed sound enough for that! Though I am not involved with the circuit so I don't know if it is common practice to replace ponies with others of the same name?
 
I have just started driving myself and had done some research previously as i was also interested in scurry driving. I found that the scurry ponies are chosen specifically for their more 'excitable' temperement and would not make great childrens ponies, however if the pony is already a good childs pony i was told that they would make a great driving pony for the roads but perhaps not have the fire for serious scurry driving. If its just for hobby scurrying and not for competition and just for fun at home then why not :)
 
Scurry driving is the speediest form of driving and is best seen in pairs, these pairs are driven by experts.
If you want to compete you would do better to start by joining your local BDS or SCDA and going along to see the driving trials and also the driving at local shows.
It is easier to start with breaking in your pony under instruction from an experienced person, they need to be trained to a tee and use voice commands.
It is not advisable to allow an inexperienced child to drive an inexperienced pony in scurry imho. You have to start with the basics and work up. There are grass roots events for carriage driving, go along and volunteer as a steward, most people will help you out with any questions. Carriage driving events do have cones, also obstacles and also dressage, so it is three phase.
Heike Bean has a book "Dressage Approach to Carriage Driving" which is essential as is Sally Waldron. Don't waste money on any others.
The pony may be sent away for harness training, but then it needs to consolidate and then move on to scurry, to be honest, I think you will find cone driving pretty challenging, and that is just the start. our local BDS group go to local shows and as well as showing they often do cones for fun.
Maybe get a driving pony to learn on, and have fun with, then think about doubling them up, also you need good facilities and time to train them. Plus a lorry!
So thats one single carriage, two double carriages [show and scurry] Two harnesses with two single options, three reasonably well trained people, and two well trained ponies.
 
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Thank you for all your advice. I would certainly take it slowly so as to allow them time to learn and understand what is expected of them. I would like to do scurry eventually with my husband but not for a few years.
Mrs Mozart I would be afraid of upsetting their bond which would be selfish of me...I suppose i have the advantage that they are young enough, my daughter is quite tall so will only have maybe 5 years on him so he will only be 10 then himself!
As they both suffered with laminitis for the first time this year, I wonder whether driving may also help keep the weight off them and keep them fit as they are too small for me to ride:)
Hmm I will continue to ponder but thank you for your input :) x
 
Driving would be a great way of exercising them and keep the laminitis at bay hopefully. Its always hard when diddies suffer with it, as you can't ride them to keep them fit. Young ponies that get lami really need to be kept an eye on.

I would break them to drive - can't see how it would break the bond with your daughter really if you don't go crazy. Give her a year or two and she will probably want a whizzy thing anyway!
 
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