"If you blindfold a horse then wrap it in bondage gear and...

[GirlFriday]

... parade it down the street then there is a slim chance this may happen." - quote from a comment I found searching to find what happened to the carriage horse which went down in the New Year's Day Parade. Made me smile at a non-horsey view on equestrianism.

Serious question though - do those who drive train their horses to stay down/still in the event of this kind of incident? Only seen still photos in passing... but it looks remarkably calm http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...e-collapse-marty-waterloo-place-a8138246.html down in a very full-on location. Driving-wise I've only seen a marathon horse go down for real and it was fortunate to get back up before seriously injured (although it had skinned both front legs at the least and I was a bit horrified they carried on). But I'm guessing that at slower speeds remaining still and waiting to be freed would be a life-saver on occasion? I've driven a sum total of once myself but am curious...

 

[Dave's Mam]

The partner looks very calm too.

 

[popsdosh]

The partner looks very calm too.

Possibly because they are a very laid back pair ,only an idiot would take carriage horses you were uncertain of into a parade in london. I have a friend who does 2 funerals a week in London the horses get used to it very quickly but they always take extra help when a new horse joins the team.
I also bet there will be more than the average view count on this thread!

 

[YorksG]

Our first horse was a ride and drive cob, who had retired from pulling a landau in Blackpool, he once fell when I was riding him, trapping my leg between the saddle, him and the road. He stayed down until I managed to get myself out from under him and get to his head, when he calmly stood up, I checked him over and he appeared fine and we walked off together until I got back on, he had no ill effects what so ever. I presume he had been trained to stay down until someone got to his head and told him to get up.

 

[dollyanna]

Generally my experience of driving horses and ponies is that they are much better trained and responsive to their handler's voice, and therefore less likely to panic, simply because of everything they have to accept in order to be put in a carriage in the first place. Some do try to train for accidents, but often it is just because they are used to listening and taking vocal direction in the face of seeming craziness (obstacle driving for example they are often asked to canter apparently straight into solid objects only to turn at the last moment but are expected to not back off the speed but to trust their driver), so if in doubt, stop and listen for further instruction. There is a beautiful example of this with some of the massive heavy horse teams in the state on youtube - during a display multiple horses go down but they all remain calm and listening, preventing an immense catastrophe.

 

[nikicb]

I found out after having owned my mare for over a year that she was previously driven. It doesn't surprise me in the least especially given her build. Apparently she was driven very happily solo (sorry, not familiar with correct terminology). She was then put next to a gelding who bolted, dragging my mare along, losing the vehicle along the way somewhere, and they both came crashing down. I don't know what happened to the gelding, but she has a halfpenny size bit of fur missing from a hind fetlock and that was her only injury. If anyone saw her recent horse agility video, you will see she is still completely unflappable. I could imagine she would react the same as the horse in the picture quoted above. I hope he was ok.

 

[Gloi]

I would be dead now if my young driving pony hadn't behaved himself many years ago when the trap turned over after catching a wheel on something. I managed to somehow get tangled up to the trap and was on the floor but fortunately he stood still until someone got to him and sorted things out. Think I still have a bit of PTSD about it. Good pony, young Fell stallion.

 

[Leo Walker]

Generally my experience of driving horses and ponies is that they are much better trained and responsive to their handler's voice, and therefore less likely to panic, simply because of everything they have to accept in order to be put in a carriage in the first place. Some do try to train for accidents, but often it is just because they are used to listening and taking vocal direction in the face of seeming craziness (obstacle driving for example they are often asked to canter apparently straight into solid objects only to turn at the last moment but are expected to not back off the speed but to trust their driver), so if in doubt, stop and listen for further instruction. There is a beautiful example of this with some of the massive heavy horse teams in the state on youtube - during a display multiple horses go down but they all remain calm and listening, preventing an immense catastrophe.

This. I havent trained mine to do anything in case of an accident, I'm not sure how I would either, but the relationship you have with a driving pony is incredibly close. Mine knows loads of vocal commands, he will turn left or right from a voice command and I ccan vary the angle of the turn by what other words I use and/or tone of voice. I noticed Monday that hes now starting to pick up on my non verbal clues as he was making beautiful, foot perfect transitions when I was only thinking the command. We are only a few months into the working relationship as well. I know for the first couple of months its like we were talking to each other in different languages, but its falling into place now. I cant imagine what it must be like with a really established partnership.

 

[Charlie007]

Not sure if they are trained but I watched a video of the budweiser shires I think it was. They ended up in a heap in an indoor arena. Each one waited patiently to be untangled and go to its feet. No hint of panic. Amazing to watch

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Usually you wouldn't drive a horse/pony unless its well trained to the voice commands, I've never heard of training to keep still if down.

However, most sensible equines will stay put in an emergency till it knows its free (not all!) from going down after a fence, falling in harness, getting cast, stuck in various places in fields and the like.

 

[Goldenstar]

A good driving horse is taught to stand and stand and stand all mine would stand without tack on the yard for longish periods of time .
In emergency panic will kill a driving horse they must stop and await rescue for there own safety and the safety of everything and body else ,loose horse and carriage is a terrifying thing to see there’s some scary clips of you tube of thing going badly wrong
Blinkers continbute to their calmness in emergency but they are a mixed blessing once the horse is loose .

 

[yhanni]

A friend of mine lost a horse - he was driving a pair and one of them tripped onto his knees, the other carried on but only for a few strides. Unfortunately it was enough to do catastrophic damage to the knees of the faller and he had to be PTS. My friend was devastated and never drove again.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

I volunteered with Bradford industrial museum's heavy horses a long time back and remember being told that if one of the horses went down in harness it was important that they were kept down, and I could do this by putting my weight across their neck if they attempted to stand.

I was told it was because if they broke a shaft either in the fall or in their attempts to get up, it could easily end up causing serious harm to the horse. Between that and the harness it was safer to wait a few minutes and get the horse up safely and calmly, without the harness.

 

[Equi]

When I’m training my drivers as someone else said they get trained to stand stock still with the carriage on unless told to move, so when the carriage is being put on, taken off, fluffed about etc they must stand still. If an accident happened humans instinctively say “woah” or whatever your stop word is (mines ho!) and the Horse then stops in most cases.

I’ve had a few things happen where it’s been required, one my very green gelding was in a new setup and we had just got to the gate of my yard in walk when the tug snapped. Thankfully he stopped and stood still until I could get to his head and unhitch thankfully not spooking and running ahead and going into potential traffic!

 

[claracanter]

Not sure if they are trained but I watched a video of the budweiser shires I think it was. They ended up in a heap in an indoor arena. Each one waited patiently to be untangled and go to its feet. No hint of panic. Amazing to watch

Yes, I saw this. It looked like it was going to be very serious but the ones left standing were just led calmly out the way and those on the floor lay still whilst they were all untangled.It looked like nothing got hurt. Incredible trust and training.

 

[katastrophykat]

We’ve had two ‘accidents’, one where the swingletree of a (brand new, used for the first time and checked over by two seperate people) came loose from the carriage, when I had OH, his Mother, Stepdad and son for a pleasure drive along the coast the first time I met them. My horse was 5 at the time and suddenly found a metal bar clashing against his cannon bones/fetlocks at the back. He stopped in seconds and calmly, OH held the swingletree tight as well as he could until we could get off the road, went back to find the offending missing bolt, reattached and continued.
So it came as no surprise that when I turned over my competition vehicle in an obstacle this summer and smashed my leg, Gunner continued cantering (we were going a fair speed to be fair and he was fitter than I thought!) until he reached a natural stop in a corner of the field, even with the carriage on its side and a- pulling him towards the box park, which would have caused serious disaster, and b- a shaft under his near side hind which skinned the side of his hock and judging by the damage, he stood on the shaft pole multiple times before stopping. However, totally calm, totally relaxed while being removed from carriage and harness and has gone straight back in since without batting an eye.
There are very few people that will drive horses or ponies with a panic button, it’s just never worth the risk.

 

[pennyturner]

There's something about being 'caught' that subdues the most panic-prone horse. I think it must be the same response which stops the zebra from fighting once it feels the lion's jaws.

Had one bolt with a carriage once (and yes, I do mean bolt). The flight ended only when the darn thing jumped a fence, with the carriage behind. However, once trapped by the harness, with one leg either side of the barbed wire, it was as docile as a lamb, whilst I removed the harness one buckle at a time to free him.

Agree about not driving one that's prone to panic - I would have shot that one if he were mine; just not worth it.