Breaking to drive?

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katymay

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Im another one with a little fatty, diet is helping but lack of proper excercise isnt.

Im wondering whether to have a bash at breaking him to drive, so that I can excercise him during the day.

he is a very stock 10.3hh Dartmoor hill pony, lovely broad chest.

He is five, but very bombproof, doesnt spook at anything, his only issue is that he can be a bit nappy and sometimes fidgety when asked to stand and wait for traffic so I would need to work on this.

tempted to get a harness so I can start doing lots of walks with him getting him used to voice aids etc,

what do you think?
kate x
 
I wouldn't bother with a harness to start with, you need two lungelines and a roller, unless he has a saddle in which case run the lungelines through the stirrups and tie the stirrups together underneath.
 
ive just taken him out for a lovely long walk (only headcoller and leadrope) but did lots of walk on's, halt, wait, and trot on's, he was as good as gold, a few stop and im not going to walk on until ive been nosey at something in the field, but other than that a good start,
will try with the long reining over the weekend :)
 
The exciting news is that I have just spoken to his old owner to tell her my plans and see what she thought, she had him since he was a baby and knows him well,
It turns out she was thinking the exact same thing but lack of time forced her to sell him on, she has a brand new harness, books and DVD's and is giving me the lot for £20!
im so excited to get started on this :D
 
Good luck, it's such fun. Take it slowly, if things go wrong driving, they usually go really wrong. And don't be tempted to get him pulling anything without a helper.
 
Two of mine were broken to drive before I bought them, including one of my Shagya mares.

We watched training at the Hungarian National Stud, Babolna, where fillies are usually broken to harness before being ridden.

They used traces attached to a wooden cross, pulled along the ground with two people, one each side of the young horse. They were just walked and walked on gravel till they got used to the sound and feel of the cross behind.
 
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