Horse and carriages - what does your horse do if he see's one?

I went to a HDT once and the venue was also holding a ridden horse show at the same time. One poor girl was trying to hack her horse through the grounds to the show, down a track that was also being used for our marathon. The horse nearly had her off when she battled to get it past us while we were stopped at a halt, I was a bit worried about how she'd go on further down the track when she was bound to meet a flying carriage, but the horse didn't come galloping back past us with or without her so I suppose she made it. :o
 
From my v v limited experience of this, I went out in a trap once with someone driving her mare on a wide and quiet country road...four or five riders came towards us...we were in walk, so were they...they all went a bit pear-shaped and the domino effect took place, with one cob having to be persuaded out of attempting a full-on bolt and the rest of them all over the place..the rider of the cob was saying to him 'But you've driven in one of those, what's wrong with you?!!'.
The woman I was out driving with was saying afterwards that even horses that have driven themselves can freak at the sight of a trap because they don't see the trap itself when they pull one..don't know if there's any truth in that, but it seemed to be the case in this instance.
 
My mare rides & drives & i've ridden out with others driving & she doesn't bat an eyelid. Met a guy in a scurry a couple of weeks after we moved to our new yard and she had a good snort and just had to push her on past it which made me giggle! Daft tart! But when i've been driving if someone looks like they're going to have an issue we'll happily stop and let them come past us, or pull in somewhere so they can get past. Never been told off though!
 
Well last time my nag spun and trotted off in the other direction lol

That said I certainly dont dislike seeing people out driving! My pony is my problem, not theirs!
 
I used to do a little bit of driving and so I know how annoying it can be when others are rude, I love to watch carriage drivers at shows and things because I think it takes a lot of skill!

My first pony was a ride/drive so whenever we saw one she wanted to pull it :p

Mooney was broken to drive and then had a bad accident and would snort a little but would pass by

Conn hasn't seen one yet but i'm going to get a friend out to introduce him?

You're a vehicle in rights so why can't you go out?!
 
My lovely cob is one of those who really freaks at a horse and carriage, well for him anyway, he stands staring and snorting and then dances past sideways, but that's my problem not yours! You have every right to drive where you like so I'd just ignore people with bad attitudes!

In fact I was extremely grateful to the lady I met driving her horse because she was very patient with my stupid pony and let him take his time walking up to her and sniffing at the carriage. He's been much better about it since.

Carry on doing what you love and ignore them.
 
My old boy was 200% bombproof and was never ever fazed by anything; the only time I knew he was really scared was when we met a donkey pulling a trap. He just froze, eyes out on stalks, and shook and shivered, poor old lad, and just wanted to leg it round and head for home. He was absolutely terrified and it was the only time I've ever seen him like that. The ningcompoop driving the donkey just sat there like a turd on a dungheap, totally & blissfully unaware of the effect his outfit was having.

Dunno what the one I've got now would do; gawd only knows. He apparently was used for driving in his youth, way before I had him, so just might be OK, who knows.

The only horse I had who was totally OK was a ride & drive cob who'd done a lot of HDT; but apparently being broken to harness doesn't necessarily mean a horse will be OK to meet another one being driven.
 
My Clydie met harness horses for the first time at Horse of the Year and was not impressed at all - had a tantrum and declared them deformed!

This is her being a brat when asked to go near the harness horses - they were in the ring next to ours - this behaviour is after two days of being exposed to them.
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This is her being a brat when asked to go near the harness horses - they were in the ring next to ours - this behaviour is after two days of being exposed to them.

I've told her that she will be spending a couple of weeks at the trotting clubs grazing - the paddocks are in the centre of the training track so they will be wizzing past her for several hours each day.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
My old boy was 200% bombproof and was never ever fazed by anything; the only time I knew he was really scared was when we met a donkey pulling a trap. He just froze, eyes out on stalks, and shook and shivered, poor old lad, and just wanted to leg it round and head for home. He was absolutely terrified and it was the only time I've ever seen him like that. The ningcompoop driving the donkey just sat there like a turd on a dungheap, totally & blissfully unaware of the effect his outfit was having.

Dunno what the one I've got now would do; gawd only knows. He apparently was used for driving in his youth, way before I had him, so just might be OK, who knows.

The only horse I had who was totally OK was a ride & drive cob who'd done a lot of HDT; but apparently being broken to harness doesn't necessarily mean a horse will be OK to meet another one being driven.
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What else was the person( turd) driving the donkey supposed to do magically disappear, rather than sit on their carriage ( dung heap ) and wait while your horse had a meltdown.
 
I ride and drive and have met all kinds of reactions doing both :rolleyes:
Some horses are all 'no problem' when meeting a carriage, some utterly freak so when driving i always stop or assess the horse being ridden. It's only fair as i've experienced it from both sides and all it usually takes is a few minutes and everyone's fine.

incidental my current ride was a 'freak out' first time but now rather enjoys hacking out accompanying the carriage. he loves to chase it and somehow it now makes him feel awfully important :rolleyes:
this is his usual reaction nowdays, but if he hasn't seen it in a while will again have a mini-moment (i guess just a slow learner:p)
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Mine snorted a couple of times the first time we met a driving horse but I ignored her and rode past. She was 4, we were hacking alone. She's been fine since, she's even hacked out with one, and the only problem is her getting too close!

99% of the time I'm convinced the rider causes the problem.
 
Kat said:
99% of the time I'm convinced the rider causes the problem.
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No its like with pigs, some horses really lose the plot. The thing is, as riders we can no more expect a carriage driver to remove themselves from crazy horse's vicinity than we can expect a pig farmer to just move his farm out of the way. Expecting some consideration is fair enough, everyone has to share the world, but if you know your horse has a problem or extreme reaction to something it is up to you to find a way of coping or avoiding it.
 
Being driving ponies, and on a yard full of them our don't care. Pip gets slightly wound up by noisy horse 4-in-hands overtaking him, but other than that is 100%. Even the riding horses I think are fine, though I've only ever been with the carriages on the road or in the arena when they're in the yard so not sure how they'd be working with them.

It always amuses me the excuses the riders make for their horses bad behaviour as the sideways scoot past us standing still. It's fair enough the horse is spooked by a pair or team, you don't need to make an excuse for it!
 
The current Appy was fine with them until the day we met the same one three times on the same hack. She was great the first twice, then the idiot driving the hackney refused to slow from his racing pace trot, while coming towards us! :eek: She is ok with a friends mini shetland in his exercise cart and is getting better in general as we have a helpful chap in the village who has a bow top which he drives and is helping her to get over the panics. The Big Girl seems to fancy a go pulling the bow top, we are pretty sure that she has driven. The Old Cob (now retired) ride and drive, used to look as if she was assessing the ability of the driven pony :D
 
I only ever drive with a groom, if its a narrow road I will stop. Groom jump off and hold my horse let other horse pass. If road is two way traffic I carry on you wouldnt ask a tractor to turn around would you?
 
As my horse was bred at a driving yard and spent 7 years of his life there, he doesn't bat an eye lid when he meets a horse and cart - luckily - as we have a couple of gunho driving people around where we ride!! :eek: :eek:
 
The first carriage my horse met was at Windsor park when we were walking down a single track road (unmarked for anything to do with carriages) and a lady with 2 shetlands came cantering up behind us, constantly swishing/cracking the whip and screaming at the ponies to get on with it. As my horse started leaping and trying to run I called to say my horse was young, she didn't care and carried on almost galloping past us. How I stayed on my horse I dont know because she went crazy and in the end almost jumping a high fence into a field from standstill.

My horse was understandably freaked out, I had to lead her back, she shook for over a week whilst I would tack her up and ride.

Needless to say I'd guess she's pretty bad with carriages now! But we have only seen one from far away.
 
We have a lovely lady who does carriage driving in our area and I've probably met her 3-4 times on the roads we hack on across 8 years. Have to confess my pony just can't work out the horse with something behind shape so does start to stop and try to spin as she approaches but she's excellent she always speaks to him as she approaches (and says "silly pony, it's not scary" :D) and we get by fine with a little dancing from us :). I've always been hacking with other horses when I've met her so have yet to experience it solo and I think he would react a bit more but it would be OK. In a way the more exposure he gets to such things the better.

What worries me more is the gig type people, only one near where I live that I've spotted once on our hacking lanes and they tend to belt along and I'd really need them to slow down as they approach, I'm sure they would, but have yet to find that out as thankfully not met them yet. And beyond that my pony's biggest terror is those covered powered disability chairs - he REALLY can't get those at all and that's quite a hairy experience when we meet them on the road though once again in 8 years of hacking on the roads near the yard have only met that chap twice. It's not his fault though, just an unusual moving shape with someone hidden behind a plastic window!

So considerate carriage drivers are fine with me :)
 
If I was you and I came across someone like this I'd scream and yell at them telling them that saddles make my horse spook and can they kindly ride somewhere where I didn't have to see them :P
 
My pony freaks at them so I get concerned when hacking if on the road, but we all have to share the roads whether others like it or not, if your being polite and considerate to others that's all you can do, If they are rude and ignorant whether car drivers or riders ect, I get arsey :mad:
 
I can understand that some horses and ponies might be frightened, as it looks like a creature from outer space as far as they are concerned. It is up to the driver of the carriage to stop and ask and to let a frightened horse go past.

Luckily for me, my horse was born on a stud where there were driving horses as well so it has never been an issue. He didn't even mind the Kings Troop when they went past at a show, dragging their guns and making a loud noise.
 
Cobiau Cymraeg Wyllt said:
The woman I was out driving with was saying afterwards that even horses that have driven themselves can freak at the sight of a trap because they don't see the trap itself when they pull one..don't know if there's any truth in that, but it seemed to be the case in this instance.
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Mine does, he often looks round to check out the idiot in the seat :D
 
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