Learning to drive (horses, not cars)?

[Nepenthe]

Hi all
How would I go about learning to drive horses, with a longer term view of getting one of my horses broken to harness? What sort of price range would the lessons be?
And would my horse be too big (she's 1/2 Shire 17hh) to actually fit in a trap - they all seem to be for 14 - 15hh cobs?
Thanks in advance.
N

 

[gillianfleming]

Best place to look is the BHDTA website or the BDS one and think they show areas where members/instructors are.
Course he's not too big, my friend drives her 16.3hh and one of her old competition horses was 17hh.
Not sure about the price of lessons though sorry.
How exciting, its so much fun.
Have a look and see if there are any driving trials near you, they are great to spectate at.

 

[Toffee44]

Not sure of lessons. However have a look about you might be lucky enough to find people who drive who are willing to teach you. I was taught to drive by a old horseman in the area with assistance from my cob who had obviously done a lot more driving than we though he had

 

[gillyfilly]

Hiya

Any size pony horse can pull a carriage - dont worry about that. I've had professional lessons from Pippa Bassett and they were brilliant - quite expensive, about £40 an hour, but well worth it. I only had one a month, but once you start, you'll become addicted. She broke my boy in as well - took to it extremely quickly. I asked her to do it as I feel safety is very important with carriage driving, and as I really was a beginner, I wanted to do it right. One bad experience could ruin both horse and driver.

Join your local carriage driving club also - even if you help out at events to begin with, you're learning all the time and the carriage driving fraternity love to help and encourage others.

Good luck