Driving Pony to Riding Pony

[Eska]

I’ve had my lovely little lady two and a half months now; she’s 6 and 15 hh. She was bought to bring on my riding and bring my mother back into riding. So we were looking for something a bit schooled but capable of basics and able to pop a small jump. We had been told she was a ride and drive. Unfortunately, turns out she is not a riding pony at all but has actually been used as a driving pony who, by her behaviour of while been ridden, has had a saddle thrown on her back and has been hammered around. So, we’ve been duped.

We’ve begun schooling her as though she is a youngster who knows nothing. However, there are some driving habits to break, she doesn’t bend at all and crosses her front legs when she turns. This has improved in walk somewhat but having no luck with trot. This pony is also highly unbalanced and doesn’t know what a jump is (we’ve abandoned all plans for jumping until we sort out the basics). She also associates asking for impulsion with speed.

Another issue is that she is very strong and when she doesn’t want to do something throws her head in the air and crosses her jaw. She has tanked off with me a couple of times, fortunately I managed to stop her, slowing down can be an issue outside. We have changed bits, the action of the jointed snaffle caused her to flinch and made her head throwing worse, and we are now riding her in a bit with poll action, but is having little effect. She was previously driven liverpool bit. We have had all usual checks done, back, teeth, saddle etc, all clear.She is fantastic on the ground and we can do anything from there, so no problems there.

Can we please have some advice on what to do? Or bits? Or anything really as to what we can do, she is really a very sweet girl and we don’t want to give up.

Thanks to anyone who read through all this!

Eska

 

[SuperH]

One of mine is ride and drive. She was solely a driving pony until fairly recently (18 months ago ish), then she had a year of being ridden, then 6 months driving, then I have had her 6 months and been riding her again.

She is now fabulous to ride, the only driving habits we haven't managed to remove are she likes to walk in the middle of the road and she really isn't keen on canter, much preferring to do a wonderful power trot.

The best bit I have found for her is a full cheek snaffle as her steering was pretty erratic. We have been doing lots of schooling while hacking (neither of us are hugely keen on schooling in the field) learning leg aids etc. She responds very well to voice aids. I've not lunged her yet, we have been having fun hacking this summer getting to know each other, I will probably do some lunging over the winter with her.

Are you getting lessons with her? A good instructor will help you a lot. You could also get someone to school her for you if you feel a little out of your depth, that could be money well spent if you think she has potential.

 

[Goldenstar]

The pony need restarting from the beginning .
Ride and drive means all sorts of things but it's always best to assume it means knows what a saddle is and sort of knows humans sometimes get on said saddle and the horse can move while rider is on the back .
If you don't have the experiance to restart the pony someone will have to retrain it for you.
Was it not obvious when you tried the pony it had not been trained ?

 

[JLD]

I am in a similar situation except pony came to me by default as needed a home. I know he has done quite alot of driving then went to a novice driving home. they was an 'incident' which I strongly suspect was more due to driver than pony, he was then sent to a riding school ( aged 5 ) having barely been ridden unsuprisingly this didnt work out. and he has pretty much sat in a field since. He is a really lovely genuine pony and I am starting from scratch. we are doing lots and lots of in hand walks . some long lining and when I get a saddle sorted we will start some ridden work. He is a total saint with my 3 yr old daughter in a cub saddle, but is not used to being told what to do. he was also 'ride and drive' !!

 

[Eska]

One of mine is ride and drive. She was solely a driving pony until fairly recently (18 months ago ish), then she had a year of being ridden, then 6 months driving, then I have had her 6 months and been riding her again.

She is now fabulous to ride, the only driving habits we haven't managed to remove are she likes to walk in the middle of the road and she really isn't keen on canter, much preferring to do a wonderful power trot.

The best bit I have found for her is a full cheek snaffle as her steering was pretty erratic. We have been doing lots of schooling while hacking (neither of us are hugely keen on schooling in the field) learning leg aids etc. She responds very well to voice aids. I've not lunged her yet, we have been having fun hacking this summer getting to know each other, I will probably do some lunging over the winter with her.

Are you getting lessons with her? A good instructor will help you a lot. You could also get someone to school her for you if you feel a little out of your depth, that could be money well spent if you think she has potential.

I’ve been getting lessons which have helped but every time we encounter a problem the instructor, whom helped us find her, keeps saying it this problem or that, so I’ll guess we’ll have to find a different instructor to help since they keep blaming everything on her driving. We had a fabulous schooling session this afternoon without the instructor and she worked beautifully, almost bending correctly the whole time. It’s not a matter of experience as we were looking for a bit of a project for my mother, just not quite like this.

Glad to hear someone has had success with this situation.

 

[Eska]

The pony need restarting from the beginning .
Ride and drive means all sorts of things but it's always best to assume it means knows what a saddle is and sort of knows humans sometimes get on said saddle and the horse can move while rider is on the back .
If you don't have the experiance to restart the pony someone will have to retrain it for you.
Was it not obvious when you tried the pony it had not been trained ?

As I stated we've already restarted this pony from scratch. We tried her over a few days without incident but at the time there was no school type area to test her in so it was hacking, I also had my instructor test her and they said she was fine, no balance issues showing up or anything that is now occurring. We have schooled horses before but never anything like this little lady.

Thanks for your reply.

 

[Eska]

I am in a similar situation except pony came to me by default as needed a home. I know he has done quite alot of driving then went to a novice driving home. they was an 'incident' which I strongly suspect was more due to driver than pony, he was then sent to a riding school ( aged 5 ) having barely been ridden unsuprisingly this didnt work out. and he has pretty much sat in a field since. He is a really lovely genuine pony and I am starting from scratch. we are doing lots and lots of in hand walks . some long lining and when I get a saddle sorted we will start some ridden work. He is a total saint with my 3 yr old daughter in a cub saddle, but is not used to being told what to do. he was also 'ride and drive' !!

"Not used being told what to do" sounds very familiar. I haven't done any long lining due to not wanting to accidentally reinforce any driving habits. He sounds adorable, I hope he works out for you!

 

[JLD]

it is quite obvious he is better at long lining than me !. he keeps turning round and looking at me as if to say 'what on earth are you doing ?' !

 

[Umbongo]

Sounds like she needs starting from scratch as though she hasn't been ridden before.

I helped to re-break a driving pony into riding. It was a good few months before we really got anywhere.

He did all the things you have stated, tanked around the school, strong and very on the forehand as well as wandering into the middle of the road while hacking!

After a good few months with a sympathetic instructor and lots of down time out hacking etc, he turned out to be an amazing riding pony and had introduced jumping after about 6 months once he had developed the right muscles.

 

[Umbongo]

Just seen you have re-started her. Just might take a while! Good luck

 

[bramblesmum]

I have a ride and drive pony she was ridden first then driven then a mixture. Luckily as she already rode she didn't get the habits you mention however I did find it easy to bit her in a Pelham with two reins when riding just for the similar action they do make cracking riding horses as tend to be unflappable good luck x

 

[gillianfleming]

My boy is ride and drive and like yours is very strong to ride. I tend to vary his bit between a liverpool, a butterfly and a pelham with 2 reins.
He hates a single jointed bit and is far too strong to ride in a double jointed bit.
I'm lucky that i've know him since he was 4 when my friend got him, he's now 24. He schools beautifully thanks to the work my friend put in.
He does bend when ridden and also when driven.

 

[dollyanna]

My first pony was a driver her whole life, from the age of 2 until 12 when I got her (also aged 12). Canter was an unknown, she could trot at around 30mph, couldn't bend, walked in the middle of the road, had the most unbelievable run out at jumps, but was a beautiful person. She was on working livery when I got her but I think that hindered as much as it helped. She went best in a mullen mouth snaffle with biscuits at first, we tried various things over the years including a kimblewick and a pelham with double reins, but ultimately she hated single joints and after 5yrs or so settled in a french link. We spent hours schooling her in walk and trot, circles, transitions, trotting poles, as well as hacking. Canter was just a motorbike round the school for some time, but gradually it all came together, and she turned out to be the most priceless pony, one of those that everyone tries to buy from you for whatever you ask. She was 14hh and cobby, but could jump over 4ft thanks to her driving bum, she beat all the JA ponies at pony club because she kept her head and just did the job, she could do lovely flatwork and lateral moves, she was so bombproof that a fire engine overtook us with sirens blaring and she never flinched. The third year I had her she won the PC overall cup at the annual show and held it for 3 consecutive years (until we moved away). It takes time and patience, but I wouldn't hesitate to do it again, she was a incredible pony. Bear in mind this was my first pony and I was a child - although I had good instructors. If she didn't understand then her go-to position was to just run in trot, but it is just misunderstanding. If you can hold that in your mind then it helps - it is easy to think they should know it but mine had no idea of any of the riding aids, just like a baby. The thing that helped us was learning to ride using my voice, because that was something she did understand and responded beautifully to, and once I made that breakthrough things became much safer because I could ask her to slow or stand by voice without needing to rely on reins or seat which she didn't "get". Have fun!!

 

[yaffsimone1]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=20171&d=1378290806

This is my riding pony Red, he was a driving pony and took about 3 years to re-educate. (not driven by me)

As you can see he is short in every way but a powerful little thing. He was started in a D ring snaffle to assist with the steering issues and remains in that snaffle to this day. He is extremely forward going, wants to race everything. His technique used to be putting his nose into his chest, grabbing the bit and dragging me about, this is where I quickly learnt to keep my legs on (some may ask why do I do that with a forward going horse) it was to keep his head up and out of his chest. A quick tap and his head would pop up giving me more control and arms a rest!

Lots of schooling and groundwork was the key, albeit he hated it (would grind his teeth, set his jaw, snort, grunt.....he was checked for pain and was fine, he simply was a typical obnoxious gelding) He likes to jump but does have a tendancy to rush and 100% bombproof in traffic.

Unfortunately even with all the schooling he was very heavy on his feet and was diagnosed with sidebone last year (vet thinks due to the concussion of being driven hard on the roads), it was decided he would stick to light work with no more jumping.