Could I break her to drive?

[Montyforever]

I've got two mares, one that has been driven in the past and I'm planning to restart her to drive again once I've had a lot of lessons and feel confident myself. But she's got athritis and is the kind of horse that will happily just wander around the field eating, I've also got a welsh a mare who is 7 and loves to work and really tries her little heart out for people, she can't be ridden (never took to it apparently and agreed with previous owner never to ride her) which doesn't bother me but she has calmed down a lot in the 2 years I've had her, I've only tried to longrein her once and we ended up in a argument as she didn't seem to understand it and worked herself up.
I'm going to attempt to longrein her again soon and see how she goes and would love to break her to drive eventually so basically my question is .. Does anyone think it's worth giving my welsh a a chance to see if she's grown up enough to cope with it? She loves working and I would love to give her something else to do as she's still young. Ta in advance

 

[tonitot]

No cause she's useless

 

[Montyforever]

Tonitot - shush! Just because she doesn't like you x

 

[Foxhunter49]

There is a lot more to breaking to harness than most people realise and if this horse has never accepted a rider, and you gave up when she threw a temper tantrum over being long reined I doubt that you would be able to actually break her to harness.

 

[tonitot]

Oit Mysti loves me, look how good she was when I lunged her the other day

 

[Montyforever]

It wasn't a tantrum she threw when i longreined her before, I just think she didn't understand what I was asking and she got a bit wound up because I should have had someone by her head really. My mistake not hers plus it was about 2 years ago now and in that time I've really got to know her better obviously won't take her any further if i can't get her to longrein well just wanted to know if anyone has had similar problems

 

[Montyforever]

Lol Toni she's just keeping you on your toes ..

 

[LissyBear]

As Foxhunter49 says there is an awful lot more too breaking a horse to harness than people realise. It is also far more dangerous than a lot of people realise. What I will say to you is if you are detemined to give this pony a job I would strongly recommed you get a professional to break her to harness, it really is money well spent, as forgive me if I am wrong but I am guessing that you are a novice to driving. Far too often very experianced riders try to break their pony to drive and it usually ends in disaster. It is far more advisable to learn to drive yourself with an experianced driving pony. Unlike a riden horse driving horses seldom recover mentally from a bad experiance/driving accident.

Do you have a local driving club you could join? The driving community are very friendly helpful people and will go out of their way to welcome and help a new member.

 

[tazzle]

My advice to see if she would be good to drive is to see how she is on roads, in traffic and with all sorts stuff flapping round her, over her and especially around her her legs.

A driven horse really has to be happy with all sorts stuff before you even begin to do the harness / longlining so imo you be best to check out all that before you make plans to introduce specific driving elements.

 

[Montyforever]

Lissybear im having weekly lessons at the mo and would definatly get help probably where I'm having lessons as I think they take horses in to break to harness wouldn't attempt anymore than longreining myself!

 

[vickyb]

I broke my riding pony to drive and I spent many hours long reining in all situations, but most especially along roads. She was a quiet well behaved pony and it all went well, but along with everything else, you have to be confident that your pony is sufficiently well trained to cope with this sort of thing (i.e. traffic proof, obeying voice aids etc) otherwise you will have no chance of control once they are between the shafts. A friend of mine broke three ribs when a just broken to harness pony panicked and overturned the vehicle. There is nothing quite as frightening as being sat on the box seat behind a misbehaving horse!

 

[LissyBear]

Cooooool! It is great fun!! I have just started long lineing my Palomino section A. I bought her to break to drive then thought she was a little too dappy to take to driving so broke her to ride and she has surprised me with how well she has taken to traffic etc, plus she has really grown up in the last year so I think she will take to driving after all. I am glad she had the extra year to mature as a potential driving horse.

There are lots of things you can do at home yourself to help with their education. For example...

1) Place a blinkered bridle on her head and let her loose in the stable. It takes a long time for them to find their coordination with blinkers and she will likely bump into walls a little first but it is better that she gets acclimatised to blinkers on her own and not whilst being asked to work.

2) Once happy with blinkers introduce the saddle and crupper. Again, the crupper may feel odd and it is better for her to get used to this in her own time whilst not being asked to work.

3) Introduce breeching in stable etc. etc.

These are a few things you can safely do at home without the pony associating it with the "Harness Breaking Process" and without the assistance of another.

Have fun

 

[tazzle]

that is is you decide to use blinkers lol........... some people do, some donts.

and even the ones that decide to use them long term will back the horse into harness without them .... that way the horse learns it is ok to see the vehicle behind them and not be scared.

..... this avoids the scenarioo where a driver forgets and takes the bridle off before removing vehicle from horse and it takes fright .... for a horse used to it, it is just not an issue !!!

 

[LissyBear]

I was not suggesting that one would break in blinkers but mearly offering something constructive that could be done at this stage. As Montyforever stated she/he will have proffesional help when the time comes. If the pony ever finds itself in the showring then it would need blinkers and needs to get used to them at some point.

 

[katastrophykat]

I'd just start her again as you would a baby- mouth her, teach her right and left and start longreining... With assistance!

Once she is longreining happily send her to the pros and see how she goes. You can but try!

I'm doing all the longreining work with my baby, then all the pro's need to do is put him to. Less time for him to be away from home, less money for me to fork out!!

Best of luck.

 

[tazzle]

I was not suggesting that one would break in blinkers but mearly offering something constructive that could be done at this stage. As Montyforever stated she/he will have proffesional help when the time comes. If the pony ever finds itself in the showring then it would need blinkers and needs to get used to them at some point.

Of course ... I too was just providing information .. well that was the intent