driving people - recommend me a vehicle (for shetland)

[Spangie]

My shetland so far has taken to harness very well, he's pulled water containers and tyres in the school and on rough ground, so it's time to start thinking about a vehicle.

This will be the first carriage i've owned, so would love some recommendations - what to look for and what to avoid!

thanks!

 

[Goldenstar]

Go on the carriagelink second hand sales sight lots on there to look at.
Personally I would go for a fixed shaft four wheeler ( something like the Bennington fun bug or a hillam ( both have websites)
Or some sort of two wheeler .
In the long term a four wheeler with a turntable is nicest to drive but turntables can be problematic when breaking.
If you go on the BHTA website and onto their forum they have a small pony section I think you can leave a question there as a guest you will get lots of good advice.
Hartland make Shetland carriages do some web surfing but I warn you collecting carriages is very addictive.

 

[lora3786]

Hiya,
I've recently been in the same boat as you - I have just broken my mini shetland to drive and he's loving it - fingers crossed we're on track to do some indoor driving trials over the winter

I'm on my second carriage already lol - the first one i bought was through word of mouth (went along to a driving event to ask questions and someone had one they wanted to get rid of!) lovely mini bennington that i got for a steal really - but because i was naiive it turned out to be just too big for him (and quite heavy!), so recently sold it.

It depends what you want to do with your pony really - i was strongly advised that as he was new to driving i should get a 2-wheeler as 4-wheelers jack-knife easily if they spook or spin, plus they're generally lighter. If you are planning on doing lots of showing it would be worth going for solid traditional tryes as there are more classes you can enter, if not then i'm really pleased with my one on it's pneumatic tyres

Also depends on your budget - worth keeping an eye on sites like dragon driving for second hand ones, or ebay etc. Plus sites like Bennington often advertise second hand ones

In the end i decided to have one made to fit my pony - can very highly recommend it and my little man loves it, made by Janet and Nigel Sycamore (they're the mighty mini's driving team if you've seen any scurrying?) - so they really know what is needed for the little ones - perfect for general work, trials and the odd exercise vehicle class, nice and light and not that expensive (although i am quickly finding that driving is eating up all of my spare pennies! )

All the best for your driving career, hope you both enjoy it!!