breaking a cob in for driving?

[cob&onion]

I have a very laid back 4 yr cob, she is 100% in traffic and nothing phases her. She is broken in to ride and is going well. I would love to brake her into driving as i think she would be ideal and it would be something i would be interested in doing.
Obviously i would seek professional help as i don't know anything about driving other than having a little go of driving my grandparents pony when i visit home (they live 2 hrs away and are quite elderly so wouldn't be practical for them to teach/help out)
So i have a few questions:
How does driving her affect her under saddle? i intend to do a bit of dressage and a few cob classes aswell as hunting in the future. She goes nicely on the flat - will driving affect the way she works under saddle?
What age is best to introduce/break into driving? she is a cob and obviously still growing and don't expect her to fully finish till she's around 6.
What sort of groundwork will benefit her driving wise (long reining, wearing blinkers etc)

Thanks

 

[Goya]

I'm no expert but I have learned on the "driving Back to Sport" course that the drivers ride their horses and school for dressage just the same as for ridden horses and it makes them better driving horse.

 

[tazzle]

driving is fun

many people school their driven horses by riding anyway even if they dont acutally want a ride and drive specifically. Driving should not be detrimental to riding, driving horses still need to "engage" like a riding horse.

The horses do seem to adapt to the two ways and the differences involved in how we ask for the same movement.... eg back up. Obviously we dont have legs / seat as well as reins to give the back up aid but we substitute voice with the reins. We also cant lift or open the rein but we do have the driving whip if we want as an aid.

It amazes me the horses intelligence to know several different cues for the same action





You can introduce driving at this age if you want, imo theres not a "best" age just when the horse is mentally capable of doing it.

The best you can do imo at this stage is getting her confident in all traffic etc and moving forward and responsive evenually on the long lines. No need for blinkers yet ....... a lot of people dont put blinkers on until the horse is comfortable with harness and whatever its pulling being behind.... some people dont ever bother with blikers at all, open bridles are becoming more popular

You can practice long lining round obstacle courses, also getting her used to things around her legs ( like the lines) .. that way she less likely to panic it gets leg over a trace.

 

[Miss L Toe]

A lot of competition drivers have their horses ridden as they can be schooled properly, so there is no problem. He need plenty of handling, and must be trained to voice commands. also to stand still when harness is put on and is taken off.

I looked in to this as I though I was getting too old to ride, I got Heike Bean's book on driving [dressage approach] which was fabulous, also Sally Woldron has written good books.

The main difficulty is that you need two people one of whom knows what they are doing!
The second difficulty is getting good roads to drive on, preferable a private estate or quiet roads.
Third , the harness: for a good strong cob you need good strong harness, I went on to synthetic stuff
http://www.ponyandcarriage.co.uk/ho...ng-buy-harness-leather-synthetic-new-used.htm

I got my harness second hand but pretty much as new.

The carriage.. please avoid Chinese carriage for a strong horse, they may be OK for little Welshies, but a good cob deserves a good carriage.
The Fun Bug is good as it fits a range of horse sizes, other than that one, go for a two wheeler.

PS it is addictive, and can be very competitive, the BDS are in to showing, and the the SCDA and others do driving competitions.

 

[Goldenstar]

I work all my driving horses a lot under saddle they hunt jump do dressage as well as drive.
Driving does not allow a horse to use its body in the same way as a riding horse lots of leg yielding and shoulder in helps this.
You can break to drive at any age we broke an eleven year old with no issues.
Traditionally they are broken young but not a lot of pounding round in trot on the road is advisable when young driving puts different stresses on the horse.
I would buy a couple of books on breaking to drive and there are some good DVD,s they need to lunge and long rien well be very obedient to the voice they must stand when you tell them and I mean stand we can untack ours and leave them standing on the yard and they are expected not to move, until we come back I would expect them to stand for half an hour if I asked them that's an important thing to train.
I would go for it you need an experianced person to help you ask round locally there will be some one it's important to get training yourself when things go wrong with a horse and carriage they can go very wrong fast you need good training your self.
Having said that I learned with a broken leg but I was lucky and had a fab school master.
Go for it have fun!

 

[Littlelegs]

Hi, i'm no driving expert but I have worked with them for a short period, & as tazzle said, many are schooled under saddle. These did unaffil dressage ridden quite often & were often hacked for fitness work. They soon learn the difference, If you're like me tho you'll be the one sat in the carriage trying to drive with your legs & seat long after the horse has got the idea lol.

 

[cob&onion]

Thanks for you responses!
Will have a look into those books too.
Anyone else?