Carriage Driving Advice

Gloi said:
I was a pretty crazy teenager and I think I could write a book about all the stupid things I did driving ponies back then. I'm glad the roads were quieter.
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Same on that my parents were nuts and clueless and my lord some of the things we all used to do.
A load of them used to go out on carriage convoy's on a Sunday do a pub crawl then go back and race around home made cone courses etc.

Mark broadbent I used to groom for in my late teens. And he was a friend of my mother's. He's not often mentioned these days but op he's definitely worth a visit and a couple of lessons.
 
Peregrine Falcon said:
I'm not sure if she hasn't any harness left now but if you are after anything let me know and I can ask her. Your not that far away from me.
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Thank you.

We're going to go for a lesson with Mark Broadbent and probably a couple of lessons with Sam at greyswood to get a feel of it first.

I'm abit worried about spending on harness when I'm not sure what I'm looking at, especially fit wise. I'm going to have to put my trust in someone more knowledgeable to start with I think.
 
There are well known harness sales twice a year at Reading. I bought a synthetic Shetland set there many years ago. Mark Broadbent is a good choice for lessons. He used to be based in Devon and I went for a couple of riding club visits there. It is good that your OH is interested, 'putting too' is much easier with two people. I worked for a carriage driving company many, many years ago and drove some original small carriages - they were quite hard to move around by hand. Good luck, I hope that you enjoy it. I had a lot of fun.
 
I really wished I could drive my pony. I always used to drive most of mine and I'm sure he'd be good at it but the roads where I have him are too dangerous.
 
Gloi said:
I really wished I could drive my pony. I always used to drive most of mine and I'm sure he'd be good at it but the roads where I have him are too dangerous.
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If it is just you to draw, you could consider the iBex and Saddlechariot vehicles - either much narrower, or for all-terrain, off the roads. If you have disability, and the pony and trap is your mode of transport - Equalities legislation impacts where you may go.
 
I've used zilco stuff for many years, specially the racing reins always been happy with the quality

That ss lady sounds thorough

I'd get them well lunged and do ridden schooling to make them straight and fit before sending off
 
Gloi said:
I really wished I could drive my pony. I always used to drive most of mine and I'm sure he'd be good at it but the roads where I have him are too dangerous.
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That is such a shame - I got back into it (after 30 years) by being gifted boil washed coblet who I was sure had been driven in the past & who went straight back in, showed he hadn't forgotten a thing & is the most traffic proof lad ever (no matter what we meet he just glares at it & squeezes past 🤣) BUT he's 24 with COPD, CPL etc and so our drives are short & slow if very safe. Bloody drivers, we were here first!!
 
Exasperated said:
If it is just you to draw, you could consider the iBex and Saddlechariot vehicles - either much narrower, or for all-terrain, off the roads. If you have disability, and the pony and trap is your mode of transport - Equalities legislation impacts where you may go.
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I have thought about them but the price put me off
 
I used a four wheeler with out a turnabout for starting out and starting horses when I got to that stage.
I quickly moved on to a four wheeler with a turntable and apart from starting horses the first one got pushed to back of the barn .

Two wheelers are difficult balance properly on the horse and are less stable.
It’s also harder for the backstepper to be quick
They are extremely uncomfortable for horse unless they perfectly balanced to horse size for that reason alone I would avoid them .
They lighter and that a hood and bad thing
Yes you can get in a muddle with a four wheeler with a turnabout in fact I will guarantee you will .
But if you have been well trained and your backstepper knows their role you will learn as you go on.

I drove for just less than ten years but as soon as my body was well enough to ride again I lost interest for me it the moment I could ride well again my desire to drive vanished .
 
Goldenstar said:
I used a four wheeler with out a turnabout for starting out and starting horses when I got to that stage.
I quickly moved on to a four wheeler with a turntable and apart from starting horses the first one got pushed to back of the barn .

Two wheelers are difficult balance properly on the horse and are less stable.
It’s also harder for the backstepper to be quick
They are extremely uncomfortable for horse unless they perfectly balanced to horse size for that reason alone I would avoid them .
They lighter and that a hood and bad thing
Yes you can get in a muddle with a four wheeler with a turnabout in fact I will guarantee you will .
But if you have been well trained and your backstepper knows their role you will learn as you go on.

I drove for just less than ten years but as soon as my body was well enough to ride again I lost interest for me it the moment I could ride well again my desire to drive vanished .
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‘backstepper’ - are you talking about xc, competition; or general pleasure driving, even concours?
For pleasure: might talk about a ‘groom’ accompanying you, but if just the whip, or the whip and a friend, or several friends sitting in a 4 seater ralli car / dog car, I wouldn’t expect any of them to be jumping out at all, unless emergency.
I’ve done a lot of driving, including commercial, and a two wheeler is not difficult to balance - when you get it right, the shafts of a heavy wooden market cart balance lightly on just one hand.
You might find balancing more difficult using quick hitch rather than full breeching, but that was originally for sulkies on the track, anyway.
As you say, a 4wheeler without turntable is incredibly easy to upturn - witness high stepper accidents in the show ring - and 4 wheeler with turntable (shafts or pairs pole) takes more length, manouvering and consideration than any two wheeler, so not sure why you might think 2 wheelers less safe for pleasure driving?
Two wheelers do pick up the movement of the horse, so if your vehicle is poorly sprung that could be less comfy for the passengers. If you need super stability, try the iBex!
Generally, people breaking for singles go from long reining with tyre, sled, drag with shafts, into a two wheeler, a pole and 4 wheeler if focusing on pairs, but personally would want the horse established as a single, first.
 
I think showing is a very different world from driving trials which is what GS did. I dont know any trials people who use 2 wheelers for the reasons she says. Mine who was broken by a pro was started in both as I only had the 2 wheeler at the time, but I dont think I ever drove in it myself and upgraded ASAP. They otherwise use 4 wheelers routinely, unless theres a reason to add a 2 wheeler in to the mix. I've helped with a fair few and 4 wheelers has always been the preference there as well, but that was going with an instructor to peoples yards so we used whatever they had.
 
Exasperated said:
‘backstepper’ - are you talking about xc, competition; or general pleasure driving, even concours?
For pleasure: might talk about a ‘groom’ accompanying you, but if just the whip, or the whip and a friend, or several friends sitting in a 4 seater ralli car / dog car, I wouldn’t expect any of them to be jumping out at all, unless emergency.
I’ve done a lot of driving, including commercial, and a two wheeler is not difficult to balance - when you get it right, the shafts of a heavy wooden market cart balance lightly on just one hand.
You might find balancing more difficult using quick hitch rather than full breeching, but that was originally for sulkies on the track, anyway.
As you say, a 4wheeler without turntable is incredibly easy to upturn - witness high stepper accidents in the show ring - and 4 wheeler with turntable (shafts or pairs pole) takes more length, manouvering and consideration than any two wheeler, so not sure why you might think 2 wheelers less safe for pleasure driving?
Two wheelers do pick up the movement of the horse, so if your vehicle is poorly sprung that could be less comfy for the passengers. If you need super stability, try the iBex!
Generally, people breaking for singles go from long reining with tyre, sled, drag with shafts, into a two wheeler, a pole and 4 wheeler if focusing on pairs, but personally would want the horse established as a single, first.
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I agree with you. I would never want to start with a four wheeler as a 2 wheel exercise cart will go with the horse if he rears and spins or something else untoward rather than jackknifing and turning over. (I was on a breaking yard for a while in my younger days, these weren't my animals, fortunately)
 
Goldenstar said:
I never ever drove without someone else apart from in the schooling field and that was when I had someone on the yard a few metres away .
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That’s maybe the difference in experience, then.
I’ve done plenty of solo driving with our own sec Ds; also jogging trotters round the roads when someone’s groom was hospitalised - any ‘shying’/ hoof out of place with pacers, they do it at c. 30mph - you would not want a four wheeler!
If private driving with a single, using public roads and tracks, or showing, and particularly when yoking up etc. on your own, I do feel a two wheeler has more to recommend it.
One holidays I drove for an omnibus summer service in the town, although did have a clippie and plenty of passengers for company, and three really good pairs of horses to drive.
 
rabatsa said:
No RDA carriage driving group will have this harness going spare as these carriages do not conform to their safety requirements.
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Are they not? That’s a shame, because I believe that is what they were developed for. Because they don’t accommodate a carer to accompany the whip?
 
Goldenstar said:
I was trained never to drive alone .
How do you manage an emergency with no one to go to the head ?
It’s ok on private roads but if you drive on public roads and have need to open gates you need a second person.
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Same. I did in the school with a rock steady pony, but never, ever, ever would I put other people at risk by being out on the roads solo. Your backstep is there to get down and to the head ASAP when it goes wrong. And even with the most reliable pony and safest set up it can go wrong and when it does its so much worse than similar with a ridden horse. My mentors would have hit the roof if they found out I was merrily going down the road with no backstep.

Its not just when it goes wrong either, its gate, junctions where you cant see round, all sorts of things.
 
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I'm Dun said:
Same. I did in the school with a rock steady pony, but never, ever, ever would I put other people at risk by being out on the roads solo. Your backstep is there to get down and to the head ASAP when it goes wrong. And even with the most reliable pony and safest set up it can go wrong and when it does its so much worse than similar with a ridden horse. My mentors would have hit the roof if they found out I was merrily going down the road with no backstep.

Its not just when it goes wrong either, its gate, junctions where you cant see round, all sorts of things.
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well, I understand your concerns given increasing volume of activities on many public routes, possibly generational differences, and by the same token many riders today will not hack out alone, or would not cope without a cell phone. I appreciate that driving to you is not something you just grew up around, also that I am probably older than your mentors / instructors, and they are to be commended for focus on safety.
But however do you think whips have managed to drive horses all these years?! Or riders on their own, either? Of course things can go wrong with any horse activity imaginable, and if you only ever want to drive in company - fair enough.
 
Plenty of 'old' people/grew up around driving people also won't drive out without a groom, I don't think it's a generational thing. I don't think its comparable to riding alone.

One of our competitors had an accident this time last year, no one even knows what happened beyond them being hit someone just found the pony and carriage. Obviously the same can happen ridden but a loose pony is a lot less of an accident risk than one attached to a carriage.
 
ester said:
Plenty of 'old' people/grew up around driving people also won't drive out without a groom, I don't think it's a generational thing. I don't think its comparable to riding alone.

One of our competitors had an accident this time last year, no one even knows what happened beyond them being hit someone just found the pony and carriage. Obviously the same can happen ridden but a loose pony is a lot less of an accident risk than one attached to a carriage.
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Fine, you don’t drive out without a chaperone. Some drivers never venture outside a schooling arena or private park.
Other people do, they always have done, and I happen to be one of them.
 
Gloi said:
I am a bad person who drove alone on the roads for years as I rarely had anyone to go out with me. I managed gates okay.
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Of course you did, because when you’re on your own - you have to! And I bet you’ve really enjoyed all those miles with your pony, too.
 
I drove a small pony, she was 10.3hh. I drove alone as with a tiddler you can get off a small cart to the head quickly.
 
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