Breaking to Drive...

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Boodle

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Just something i've been thinking alot about recently.
As some of you know I have a 14.1hh 16yr old Welshy x NF bay mare, Boo. She is laminitic and suffers from arthritis, primarily in her hocks but now in other places.
I like to keep her ticking over and enjoying life, but I feel that she's getting bored of hacking. Shes only allowed to go out for a max of half an hour due to the weakness in her fore foot, and the concussion hacking causes. So im finding it difficult to vary our route and keep her interested. And, admittedly, short hacks in walk around the same places as ive hacked for the past 11 years can get abit.. repetitive. So I thought a new thing, a new skill, learning something else, may keep us both interested.

And so I was thinking... what about driving her.
She's a welshy so has a bit of substance about her.

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I admit, this is a whim! I have no experience in it, and dont have anyone local or on hand that could help out, but Boo is very laid back and nothing fazes her so I dont think itd be too problematic.

What I want to know is
a) What are the implications of this given her arthritis, would it cause more or less strain as opposed to being ridden.
b) Has anyone self taught themselves and their pony, and how did they go about it.
c) Is there anyone who wants to come help?!
d) Am i being totally silly and childish and should I forget this idea all together.

Thanks in advance.
 
She would definitely drive, but i don't know about physical implications to her, that would be best for your farrier/vet to answer. I have broken in my 2 NFs when they were 14 and 13 and also my Welshie who was 4 at the time. I had never driven before so learnt from scratch. Luckily i do have a neighbour who has drievn for over 60 years, so he told me what to do.

All of them are different when they are learning to drive. Bramble took 6 weeks, mainly because i needed time to adjust but so did she, Teazle took just 3 days, yes 3 days
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and Dollar took about 4 weeks. I have never (touch wood) had any problems with the way i've started them, and believe me they are all very different.

For Dollar I did the following-

*Long reined in normal tack for 1 week, making sure he understood walk on, whoa, stand, trot on, etc. I also long rein around scary objects and make noises such as shuffling my feet, etc.

*Long rein in harness without the blinkers for 1 week, doing the same as week 1.

*Long rein in harness and with blinkers for 2 weeks, emphasising on the walking past scary objects and making loud noises.

*Put to the cart.

I was taught to never ever to make the pony pull a tyre or pallet, because they have no support (no shafts) and my neighbour when he broke 2 horses in this way had bad accidents both times!!!!

The way i've broken my ponies in has worked a treat, and i shall always do the same.

If i was near you I would help in an instance. Good Luck and if you ever need any advice I'm only a PM away!
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Huge thanks Claire!
I think I'll give Farrier a ring tomorrow, and pop into see the vet, need more bute for the YO's old horse anyway.

Where did you get hold of the harness and cart? And also did you have help in fitting it?

Sorry for so many Q's.
 
For a starter harness i got off ebay for around £60, in fact this one-

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-Nylon-Driving-...1QQcmdZViewItem

Just watch the bridle, as i don't use mine as the blinkers are horrible (i use a leather bridle instead). The cart is just a simple breaking/exercising one I got from a private seller for £200. Thats all you want to start with and only get a 2 wheeler, never a 4 wheeler to start with.

I fitted the harness with the help of a book and then my neighbour checked it for me, but i now know how to.

And don't apologise for the questions! We're all here to help each other
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Here are a few piccies for you-

Teazle, a few weeks after i broke her in to harness. Like i said she was very easy, first day i long reined her, second day i long reined her in harness and blinkers along the road and the 3rd day i put her to the cart and off we went. Shes my best driving pony and i shall be competing her in driving trials when shes back in work.
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Dollar the first time i put him to the cart (note the cart, thats the sort you want)-
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And a few months ago-
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Agree with claire although I used a tyre and didnt have a problem but I can see her point of view. I just didnt know any better
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But you should only drive a pony who is really sensible in traffic.

My pony doesnt like the driving bits so I am going to drive her in a snaffle when I get round to doing it again!

Plus when driving you should have someone with you which can sometimes make it difficult but as you can ride your pony you can always do that instead of driving.

I learnt to drive trained horses before I broke my pony to harness and I think this is really important. It doesnt take long to get the basics. So I would recommend some lessons for you first.

I suppose the only possible problem is that you would have to work on roads which my not be so good for her feet.

I am a complete amateur but it can be a really relaxing thing to do especially on a warm summer evening.
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Have fun
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Thanks Claire, I'll almost definitely ebay it, unless I can find a cheap harness on adtrader. And adtrader will probably be where I find the cart, if i can do this.

I love Teazle and her cart... she looks so good. (that reminds me, hows the pregnancys!?).

And thanks Dozziesmummy... thats really helpful. I did think about the concussion on her feet, hopefully by next year her fores will have healthy new horn growth when we could start going out for longer periods of time. But even a little jaunt out with her pulling a cart would be lovely, especially for my Mum as she suffers wiyth stress and anxiety and I have never seen her so relaxed as she was when my friend (who has since moved away) took her out with pony and cart.

Plus side, Boo is incredible in traffic. Doesent flinch at the heaviest of traffic!
 
If you're intrested, there is also an article on driving in this months Your Horse on breaking to drive. It may be of use to you
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Oooh, GabbY8tIa you reminded me that I havent read this months Your Horse!
I'll go check it out now!
Thank you!
 
i hate to be a wet blanket but i would be very doubtful of driving anything that had dodgy hocks (no offence to Boo!) - the additional strain could cause problems and more unsoundness.

i was laways taught that good hocks were very important indriving ponies (although i stand to be corrected as we only drove for fun etc and not very competetivly)
 
Sallie Walrond's book is good, I'd recommend that.
That's all the help I had when I broke my Connie to drive
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I have to say that I wouldn't put anything to a cart until it had dragged a tyre/log, as although my mare was generally unflappable she was worried by the sounds behind her, and it took about a week of dragging for her to be totally ok with it. You just need another handler to walk behind with the rope of the tyre looped through the traces (tied together at the ends!) and holding the end of the rope. That way if anything happens to freak the pony the handler can let go of the rope, and the tyre is released.
Hope that makes sense!!!
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Thanks for the input baggage, I would definitely not go ahead with anything without some advice from both vet and farrier.
Our little shetland has/had UFP and we were advised to put him to harness as it would help strengthen his hocks, simply through work. But I suppose Boo's hocks dont need strengthened, rather, kept supple. And thinking about it, i can understand the strain itd put on her hocks. Hmm! Something to think about.

Bounty - Ah i see, so strictly speaking the tyre or log isnt actually attached to the horse, but the horse is baring the weight of it.... sounds like a good idea to prevent any injuries... cant imagine having a manic horse running about with a tyre or log trailing behind them! Not a nice thought!

Thanks for the advice.
 
Honestly, be REALLY careful about getting her to pull something, its all very well saying it can be released quickly but if a horse freaks it will go. My neighbours horse went through 4 barbed wire fences before it got trapped in the 5th one! It was on box rest for 6 months and had awful scars after.

Its totally up to you if you do this, as everyone has their own views/techniques, etc, but i will never ever do it. Dollar was extremely sharp when i broke him in, but because i made noises by dragging my feet and dragging the whip and making other noises when long reining, i never had any problems.
 
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