Pony driving people, help please!!

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lindsay1993

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Ok, so we have had Fluffy a while now and this is the cart and harness he came with.

fluffy%20cart_zpssc5q9xtt.jpg


I've had a few driving lessons and know the basics. Fluffy is a diamond and loves his driving, which has made things easier for me. We have only done 3 trips along our fields of no more than 20 minutes.

I'm worrying myself that things aren't right with his cart/harness. I can't find any carts similar to his to cross reference with and I have read so many conflicting articles in books etc that I'm confusing myself. My driving instructor is great, but her cart is so different to mine. Fluffy pulls this cart with ease and seems very happy.

My questions are:

1. Is the cart the correct size for him?
2. Have I got the tugs at the correct height?
3. The seat seems very high on this cart, but feels fine driving position wise. Is this right?
4. The wheels are car alloys. Most I've seen have thin bicycle type wheels. Is this a problem? His owners told me they go better off-road?

I know I sound ridiculous, but I'm worried that it's not right and I don't want to hurt Fluffy. We are planning on buying a brand-new cart from a respected carriage makers, once we've saved up for it. We won't be doing anything other than a few jaunts around our fields and up to the village.

Any other help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
I can't quite see if you have a swingle tree. If not, then you must not drive with a breast collar. It will rub him and be uncomfortable.

Cart looks a bit big for him. Currently the whole thing looks to be leaning forward, putting weight in the shafts where ideally there would be none. As you're trotting along, you're aiming for the shafts to 'float' in the tugs. When you get it right the tug buckles will 'chatter'. You will get better balance if you raise your tugs on the back band so that the shafts sit higher on the pony.

The wheels will make the whole thing a bit heavier than it needs to be, but on such a light vehicle he will hardly notice.

Lastly, your bridle looks too big. The cheek pieces are bowing. There is a risk of your bridle coming off unexpectedly, which is a serious safety concern, especially as you have no headcollar on the pony. You should always keep your headcollar on underneath the driving bridle for safety reasons.

Try to find someone experienced near to you to help you get off to a good start. They're a friendly lot.
 
Thanks for your reply.

No it doesn't have a swingle tree. It just has fixed hooks on each side. I have looked at getting a collar instead, I also have a friend who is a fabricator who has offered to make a swingle tree for me. We have another cart that was a gift, but it is far too big, so maybe I could get the fabricator to take the swingle tree of that and put it onto this cart instead.

I totally agree the bridle is too big. I have put extra holes in and now I can't adjust it any further to make it smaller. He is in a Shetland bridle for ridden work, so I will certainly get one before driving him again.

The headcollar didn't even cross my mind!! How stupid!

I feel like I have been led down the garden path a little by his owners as they assured me everything was 'made' especially for the pony and fit perfectly. Obviously this isn't the case.

My nearest driving club is over 40 miles away, so it's quite difficult for us to find anyone to help out.
 
Where are you OP? There are many drivers out there who don't go out with a club. Word of mouth around your local horsey establishments will usually turn up something.

You're right that it's easier to get a swingletree made up than to find a full collar to fit. They're notoriously tricky. You probably also don't want the extra hassle of teaching him to accept having one squashed over his face, as little ponies have small necks and big heads!
 
I'm in Northumberland, fairly close to Kielder. I don't know of anyone who drives locally. I have never heard nor seen anyone other than gypsies making their way through to Appleby who drive.

I had a look at buying a collar and was a bit confused by the measurements, they seem quite hard to come-by without having to also buy the harness with it as a set.

He's an odd size too. He's 11hh but is very short in the back, so it makes it difficult deciding whether to go for pony or Shetland size.
 
I have found that many pony sets are aimed at 14hh ponies... I would try Shetland sets, which always bury the minis. Driving sets generally come up quite big. I've got a 'cob' set that fits a 16hh welsh :)
 
Asked our resident pro Rara who can't post atm but said along these lines- cart too big and yes tugs too low, If you want one to fit properly I think you are going to have to go carriage shopping rather than putting swingle trees on that one but if you are only doing roads, fairly flat say once a week it might do the job ;). Depends how much you think you might want to do I think.
Definitely put a noseband (driving type) on when get bridle sorted as when driving too much in vicinity to rub bridle off on, which could for obviously reasons be disastorous :p

(I'd say shetland size too)
 
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When I started driving a few years ago I was lucky enough to have a very helpful experienced person nearby as it can be confusing! He told me to hold the shafts as if i was the pony then he sat squarely on the seat of the carriage and told me to lift the shafts up to a point where as I could hardly feel his weight, this was when the carriage was in balance and where the shafts would best sit on the pony, luckily we could move the seat back so the carriage was balanced therefore not putting as much pressure on the pony's back. Looking at your carriage it looks very much out of balance having the seat so high. Hope this makes sense! We saved up last year and purchased a lovely vehicle from a company in Sussex who fitted it and the harness to the pony for us. BTW what an adorable pony!.
 
Thanks everyone.

ester - Yes we have been looking at some on the George James Harness website. They seem well priced and have a lot of good reviews. I think we will probably get everything new, harness & cart. The pony really seems to enjoy it, so it would be a shame to not carry on driving him.
We do only do once a week, maybe no more than 1/4 mile along our back lane and into a flat field, a couple of goes round the field and then home again.
I think we will wait until after the summer and get some new gear before taking him out again. Daughter is improving and enjoying riding him & I hope we can drive him in the winter to keep him ticking over while she's at school.
 
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taraj said:
When I started driving a few years ago I was lucky enough to have a very helpful experienced person nearby as it can be confusing! He told me to hold the shafts as if i was the pony then he sat squarely on the seat of the carriage and told me to lift the shafts up to a point where as I could hardly feel his weight, this was when the carriage was in balance and where the shafts would best sit on the pony, luckily we could move the seat back so the carriage was balanced therefore not putting as much pressure on the pony's back. Looking at your carriage it looks very much out of balance having the seat so high. Hope this makes sense! We saved up last year and purchased a lovely vehicle from a company in Sussex who fitted it and the harness to the pony for us. BTW what an adorable pony!.
Click to expand...

That's a good tip. Thanks. I'll try that tonight.

It was my gut feeling that it all looked a bit wrong, but his owners were quick to assure me it was all perfect for him.

He's such a lovely little pony, couldn't ask for any better. It was a gamble getting him but it has definitely paid off!
 
He is fab, we've been quietly speculating on his colour ;)
Rara said there are plenty of instructors up your way too if you need further help, she doesn't know them all personally but just that there is a lot compared to other areas :).

Pretty much all harness used at trials (and at Rara's) is zilco :) You can also pick and choose bits of different sizes to get perfect fit.
http://www.chandellessaddlery.co.uk/ourshop/cat_711899-CARRIAGE-DRIVING-Zilco.html
 
ester said:
He is fab, we've been quietly speculating on his colour ;)
Rara said there are plenty of instructors up your way too if you need further help, she doesn't know them all personally but just that there is a lot compared to other areas :).

Pretty much all harness used at trials (and at Rara's) is zilco :) You can also pick and choose bits of different sizes to get perfect fit.
http://www.chandellessaddlery.co.uk/ourshop/cat_711899-CARRIAGE-DRIVING-Zilco.html
Click to expand...


I love the Zilco stuff..... it's sooo expensive! I like how you can pick the different pieces separately though. That's handy.

Speculating about his colour????
 
Hmmmm..... He's only got the pink skin on his face. I'm just going for plain old Grey!! I hadn't really thought about it before. HIs passport certainly says Grey. He has the odd black spot in his coat too, hardly noticeable really.

All my friends think he's ugly. I think he's rather cute!

I guess there will be some odd name for his specific colouration though!
 
Ok so suspect that before he went grey he had some sabino-type marking giving him a 'bald'/white face but not affecting the eye colour and the two white legs he has behind. Then we went grey ;)
so not that exciting but interesting to some of us :)
 


Here's a better one of him. Quite interesting actually. He even has dark little nostrils.

If you look just behind where the buckle of the cheekpiece is, you can see where his skin goes back to dark again.

My yard owner calls him ' that funny looking little chap'.
 
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Ah yes, I suspect had you made him go for a swim in the river behind you then you would have seen where his markings were :)
 
As others have said, you need a swingle tree with a breastcollar or you'll need to get a full collar, though the whole thing in general look too big for him so I would be inclined to get a new trap rather than buying a full collar or having a swingletree fitted to this one.

Again, bring tugs up so that the shafts "float" in them. It doesn't look like you can adjust balance so may have to do that the old way by adding weight or leaning back to bring the weight of the shafts off pony's back.

The wheels are small and heavy, they'll give the cart more of a drag - bigger wheels = easier job!

If you are looking for a nice trap on a budget I would recommend newline carriages. I have and old version shetland one that I am very pleased with. He looks lovely, hope you and your daughter have great fun driving :)

http://newlinecarriages.com/cat.php?cat=46xpfu5pz9rr
 
Thanks. They all seem good websites and at a good price too. I've had a look second hand online and the nearest one to me is 195 miles away!!!
 
Hello I'm in Northumberland too and I love driving my pony. Yours looks great and once you get the turnout tweaked there will be no stopping you. We do 'hacking' driving rather than competing or anything fancy and my pony is really good. He is a Highland so much bigger than yours. The hardest thing about driving is getting started but you can do it.
If you are on FB try Tradewinds equestrian for help. Or contact Rosie Mould at Longframlington as she is a qualified teacher.
 
Rosie Mould is a really lovely lady!
He looks like a lovely little pony, the only thing I would add is that your traces look long but if you are going to start again with new carriage and harness before driving him again then it is irrelevant.
I would also add that whilst Zilco is very popular it isn't always the easiest stuff to work with, I hate it and much prefer some of the alternatives. You can often pick up secondhand older sets of good webbing harness (Tedman Tedex is a good one to look for) that won't cost nearly as much as new but well cared for and checked regularly I find is more comfortable and easier to handle than the modern Zilco.
 
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