Have YOU ever considered carriage driving? If not, WHY NOT?!

We have had drivers in the past - the last one is still with us but is now retired - but I really cannot say that I enjoy driving. I always feel as though I am far too far away from the horse's head and feel as though I am falling out of the vehicle as I try to reach the head. I do like to watch private driving classes at shows but have never been a spectator at carriage driving comps.
 
gillianfleming said:
Crockshard do you ever compete in Scotland? Whats your ponies name?
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Scotland? Bloomin' eck! I'm in Kent!!! Furthest I got was Bedfordshire... My main pony is Little Miss Pumpkin - aka P-k (like J-Lo but much cooler obviously). And she was paired with Little Miss Munchkin originally.
I also drove a section A pair - Timmy and Beau - Eastways Timeless and Spartan Beaugeste.
Have you seen someone in scotland with a nutty pony who rears to the command of Hup then? :):)
Have you heard of Amanda Saville - Chariots of Fire Demos??
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We have had drivers in the past - the last one is still with us but is now retired - but I really cannot say that I enjoy driving. I always feel as though I am far too far away from the horse's head and feel as though I am falling out of the vehicle as I try to reach the head. I do like to watch private driving classes at shows but have never been a spectator at carriage driving comps.
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I do know what you mean... I'm not sure how I feel about driving the bigger guys either - I feel quite safe with small ponies though! My sister freaked out the first time she sat in the carriage with me, got out screaming that it was way too weird, pony too far away, felt total out of control... We were walking up the driveway at the time. I wasn't doing any of my usual mad stunts at the time.... However, she since took to backstepping like a duck to water, running and leaping on and off at trot, leaning like a pro... I'm not saying it's for everyone though! My mum comes out with me, with the dog in tow, and either works on her tan or smokes incessantly and complains about the cold. It's the sharing I love! I took my whole family round the village on christmas day last year - singing carols and had the ponies wearing antlers - now that was memorable!

Would you consider watching driving trials if you knew about where/when they were being held? As a general interest question.... Yorkshire has a thriving indoor driving circuit - great on a rainy weekend and there always seems to be a bacon buttie to be had!
 
shelley8697 said:
I drive and have done driving trials with anything from a Welsh Section A to Welsh cobs!
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Yay! Good for you! Fun, isn't it!!
I'm still trying to convert the masses like an evangelical christian ...People, join the driving cult!! Or at least come and see what the fuss is about ;);)
 
jinglejoys said:
I would if I could use my saddlechariot and no blinkers or bit ;)
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Jinglejoys, how do you find that works for you - are you comfortable sitting on it?

I had a go on one, and neither I nor the owner could make it comfortable, and the shafts were prone to coming off of their safety catches at most inoportune moments,without any help from the emergency string :eek:
 
crockshard said:
Yay! Good for you! Fun, isn't it!!
I'm still trying to convert the masses like an evangelical christian ...People, join the driving cult!! Or at least come and see what the fuss is about ;);)
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I love it and have broken them to drive myself for years. I have done a few for others.... Really would like a team of piebald shetland! I have a 4yo Welsh cob that I have broken to harness, he's worth his weight in gold as he is such a sensible lad...
 
I learnt to drive and broke my pony to drive but dont drive anymore. I got too much hassle from the travelling fraternity.:( Does she trot? How much for your pony? They would follow and hassle. So much so that i hated taking her out just in case they were around.

To join a club and get experience meant transport which i didnt have. I could transport trap and pony separately but not together so costs were involved.

The other issue I had was always needing a co-driver!

But despite the downsides, which stopped me, I would recommend it. There is nothing as relaxing as an evening drive in the countryside.:)
 
Naturally said:
Jinglejoys, how do you find that works for you - are you comfortable sitting on it?

I had a go on one, and neither I nor the owner could make it comfortable, and the shafts were prone to coming off of their safety catches at most inoportune moments,without any help from the emergency string :eek:
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Ah the saddle chariot! I always wanted one of these, but never did as I knew they'd NEVER let me compete with one!! Interesting to hear about the design flaws though...
 
shelley8697 said:
I love it and have broken them to drive myself for years. I have done a few for others.... Really would like a team of piebald shetland! I have a 4yo Welsh cob that I have broken to harness, he's worth his weight in gold as he is such a sensible lad...
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I'm gearing up for a team of skewbald miniatures... We just need Butternut to grow to the same size as Pumpkin! Do it - I'll look forward to competing against you :):) I love the Welshies though. My next project is my 3yo Hanoverian X ID/Tb. Sara Howe thinks I need to move on to something with longer legs as my dinky ponies are limiting my potential.. (I don't think she realizes that its the pony who is awesome - I just let her get on with it..) But Novice Horse Club then hopefully national if she's any good. I'm just not looking forward to the outlay on more harness and carriages. And I'll need a bigger lorry. And side stabling. And maybe a caravan. And a full time groom obviously.:)
 
crockshard said:
Would you consider watching driving trials if you knew about where/when they were being held? As a general interest question.... Yorkshire has a thriving indoor driving circuit - great on a rainy weekend and there always seems to be a bacon buttie to be had!
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Yes I would. I'm not sure about indoor particularly, although the bacon buttie sounds nice. I find that indoor schools tend to be just as cold as standing outdoors and more boring. I will say that I have never seen any advertised locally - but that could be because I haven't looked.
I actually quite enjoyed sitting on the vehicle when Dad was driving and didn't feel as out of control as when I was driving myself - wierd really, lol.
 
dozzie said:
I learnt to drive and broke my pony to drive but dont drive anymore. I got too much hassle from the travelling fraternity.:( Does she trot? How much for your pony? They would follow and hassle. So much so that i hated taking her out just in case they were around.

To join a club and get experience meant transport which i didnt have. I could transport trap and pony separately but not together so costs were involved.

The other issue I had was always needing a co-driver!

But despite the downsides, which stopped me, I would recommend it. There is nothing as relaxing as an evening drive in the countryside.:)
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The standard reply to these people is.. no sadly. She's 37 years old, her breathing is terrible and I think she's on her last legs anyway, and she's having a rare good day - most of the time she's pretty lame. And she's vicious. And infertile. At least that's what I tell them about my ponies.
Transport seems a bit of a bug bear - I did post earlier about solutions people have come up with for pony and trap in trailer - mostly involving standing carriage up on end at the front of trailer, then putting pony in afterwards...
 
crockshard said:
I'm gearing up for a team of skewbald miniatures... We just need Butternut to grow to the same size as Pumpkin! Do it - I'll look forward to competing against you :):) I love the Welshies though. My next project is my 3yo Hanoverian X ID/Tb. Sara Howe thinks I need to move on to something with longer legs as my dinky ponies are limiting my potential.. (I don't think she realizes that its the pony who is awesome - I just let her get on with it..) But Novice Horse Club then hopefully national if she's any good. I'm just not looking forward to the outlay on more harness and carriages. And I'll need a bigger lorry. And side stabling. And maybe a caravan. And a full time groom obviously.:)
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Wow... I have thought about giving up riding and driving full time as I'm not very balanced in the saddle any more! Have skinny short legs with a large top half! (size 12/14 bottom size 20/22 top) odd shape.... lol
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Yes I would. I'm not sure about indoor particularly, although the bacon buttie sounds nice. I find that indoor schools tend to be just as cold as standing outdoors and more boring. I will say that I have never seen any advertised locally - but that could be because I haven't looked.
I actually quite enjoyed sitting on the vehicle when Dad was driving and didn't feel as out of control as when I was driving myself - wierd really, lol.
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Sun 3 Oct 2010 Askham Bryan College nr York
Sun 7 Nov 2010 Askham Bryan College nr York
Sun 5 Dec 2010 Askham Bryan College nr York
Sun 2 Jan 2011 Askham Bryan College nr York
Sun 6 Feb 2011 Askham Bryan College nr York
Sun 6 Mar 2011 Askham Bryan College nr York

Sun 17 Oct 2010 Tickhill (Riseholme)
Sun 21 Nov 2010 Tickhill
Sun 19 Dec 2010 Tickhill
Sun 16 Jan 2011 Tickhill
Sun 20 Feb 2011 Tickhill
Sun 20 Mar 2011 Tickhill - training day

Well, the indoor events near me (all part of the same indoor league) are fiercely competitive, and it's all three phases condensed into one day - from a easy viewpoint... I agree, indoor schools can be freezing! But October shouldn't be too bad?!
Plus the outdoor event have now finished until next spring - unless there are some local local club events happening near you?
www.northwest.f9.co.uk this might be your local club - but it looks like events are done for the season now....
 
shelley8697 said:
Wow... I have thought about giving up riding and driving full time as I'm not very balanced in the saddle any more! Have skinny short legs with a large top half! (size 12/14 bottom size 20/22 top) odd shape.... lol
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My sister was always the natural rider - I was better at the "making the pony do what I wanted it to do" while she looked pretty... But I'm a smidge competitive by nature (can you guess?) and after my first (driving) club show and numerous rosettes and trophies (and OMG I have found something with ponies I might actually be good at and don't feel like a sack of potatoes doing..) I caught the bug and ended up doing lots of driving trials - having only wanted to wander around the lanes with my obese shetlands! And then I got a gorgeous warmblood and started riding properly again after having a retired SJ mare who had such bad hocks (and KS) she couldn't do anything other than light hacking, so now I'm back doing dressage as well with Leo. But I'm never going to be THAT good even if he could be. At 5'2", I'm no Carl Hester and Leo is alot of horse. But I love riding too much to give it up, but I may give up competing unless I can keep doing Walk Trot tests until I'm 80!!
Oh, and I love being able to make loads of noise while I'm driving obstacles!
 
My OH drives his 2 x Pecherons, they are big (18hh) here is one dressed up for santa..:) I have a pic of the two of them somewhere, they are impresive going along, a bit to big and slow for me though :rolleyes:
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My daughter was groom for karen bassett until a month ago. She travelled all over the world with her. I would love to break my comtoisxbreton to drive but its money that is stopping me. I would need a large harness as he is big chested and then the cost of the carriage. I love going to catton to watch everyone and really would love to go careering round all the obsticles but not on the back step. I've seen my daughter do it :-)
 
Yes, I used to drive in the states (had Hackney ponies, a Miniature and a few Morgans that drove-- some of which I started in harness). When I came to own a horse here in the UK, I had intentions of getting something for ride/drive. My Welsh cob mare was bought and I never got round to getting her started in harness - and the main reason was that I wasn't surrounded by driving people to help! I did get a list of LHIs in my area, and did contact by email. But I simply couldn't at the time afford to buy harness/gig and pay for training (I didn't want to entrust non-driving folk to help me break to harness).

Then another obstacle was that I didn't have transport to get to rallys, shows etc - and even the location where I was wasn't the best for getting out driving so I really needed to be able to have transport. Now transport isn't an issue, but I don't really have a suitable horse. I keep thinking as of late that if I could afford livery on another, I'd get a small pony for driving and I'd be away....
 
I'm going on a driving training course for riding for the disabled next week, and I cannot wait !! I've always wanted to have a go - bet I'll get the bug and have to get hold of a trap for Shy next :eek:
 
crockshard said:
There are fewer than 120 drivers taking part at a national level.
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Not quite :p 122 people at Windsor with in some classes only about 60% of people qualifying although others at 100%

crockshard said:
There is also a thriving young drivers network, International Competition for juniors, and it really is the most fabulous fun - and a really friendly lot of people.
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I went with FC and Pip also went to Hungary with the juniors this year, channel cup back in the UK last and Austria with Pip the year before :) LizzieJ came to watch in Hungary this year, interesting if she thinks they are friendly people :p Pictures in PG if you look hard enough. Also some from Windsor posted by Humbugsy (I think that's her name :p )
 
Can't even spell my name right! The cheek of it all!

Yeah, more than considered.... not that I've ever had the chance to compete HDT but driven rather a lot, mostly commercially. And watched young rara a bit... lol
 
Just getting my little sheltie going, but just started to groom for a friend at local shows and pleasure drives. I love it and cant wait to get my little pony going
 
Cost has stopped me, its something I would love to have a go at but owning a horse and having those lessons would cripple me!!

I only know one place that teaches it round here too, and i wouldn't particularly go there at all!

I would like to do that really fast one, where they go between the cones.... love watching that!!
 
i have a sec D yearing who i plan to put too when he is old enough, but i am lucky in that even though i have never driven in my life my YO competes a lot with his ponies and he has offered to help me out when the time comes.

the only thing that i am concerned about is the cost, but i will cross that bridge when it comes. actually been thinking of breaking my Sec B to harness as we dont have a rider for her and she is such a bomb proof fantastic pony that i think that she would be ideal for it...but again its the cost that slowing me down on that one
 
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