Starting pony to drive naturally - Hampshire

[littleunsmum]

Hello All,

Is there anyone who could give me advice/confidence boost and possibly details of someone who could help me start my pony to drive.. Bitless AND Blinkerless!!

I really want him to drive in this way (as long as it suits him) but it is really hard finding driving people who agree with this way, let alone someone who will start them with you..

I know there are people who drive bitless so who started their ponies?? Or did they have to do it themselves??

I'm assuming if I contacted the experienced/traditional people who you send them away to (not that I want to send him away) they wouldn't accept him and would probably laugh at me..

I'm in S/W Hampshire if anyone can help..

Many thanks...

[lizpurlo]

Hello, littleunsmum - and what a great pic! I presume this is your potential driving pony?

I'm nowhere near Hampshire, sorry, but I have done a lot of driving, and breaking to drive, in the past. So my thoughts, for what they're worth!!

Have you ever driven before? If so, that's great, and if not, I'd strongly recommend that you get some lessons with a good (BDS approved) driving trainer. There is no better way to start, they know all the pitfalls, and you'll learn all the right stuff and have fun driving a beautifully trained pony before you start on your own. And you'll get such a lot of helpful information about buying cart and harness and so on. It honestly is money well spent.

How is your pony's temperament? The most important thing is that he or she isn't twitchy or nervous or spooky at all. The default setting has to be eating out of the hedge, not heading off down the road because a plastic bag has flapped in a gateway.

In the past we have started driving horses both with blinkers and without. If you start without blinkers in an open bridle it may take a little longer to accustom him to the 'thing' coming along behind him - but if you eventually want to use blinkers he'll generally accept them fine. The highly dangerous alternative is suddenly taking blinkers off a horse used to them, and is a classic cause of accidents.

What do you want to do with your driving turnout? If you're intending to do road drives, and you want to go bitless and open bridled, then you'd definitely have to contact your insurers first and advise them. Some may not want to insure you as if (heaven forbid) you were involved in an accident, it could look as if you were negligent by not having your pony under proper control. (And I have that particular t-shirt.)

Driving is great fun, and I wish you well, but the problem is that when things go wrong, they go horribly wrong. I don't think anyone will laugh at your plans, especially if you seek out help and advice from a reliable source first. People do drive bitless with open bridles - there used to be someone on this board who did just that, and very successfully too, and it looks as if you have a great relationship with your pony already, which is a good start. Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

[alonerawnut]

I can't give advice of someone who could help, but I can give you some info of how we trained Bonnie (our old NF mare) to drive:

1. Barbara, who owned Bonnie, had a very strong bond with her: if something went wrong, Barbara could use her voice to tell Bonnie to stop and she would stop! I think that kind of bond and trust is the most important thing when preparing to drive, as you're not right next to or riding the pony.
2. We did a lot of long-lining first, to get Bonnie used to being ahead and understanding the signals from the lines.
3. We then long-lined her in the harness, so she could get used to it.
4. We graduated up to pulling a tyre along the ground, with a line looped through the harness, so that if she had panicked we could let go of that line and she wouldn't be attached to the tyre.
5. If you can practice turn on the haunches before you get to the cart, I think it'd be very helpful, since that's how they have to turn once between the shafts.
6. I'd also recommend getting a helper who can make unusual noises behind you as you long-line, so you can train your pony to just keep calmly moving forward.
7. Barbara had driving lessons with a friend, who is very experienced. This lady then helped Barbara harness Bonnie up to the cart for the first time. Bonnie took to it straight away - the lady couldn't believe she'd never driven before!
8. We started on quiet roads, with one of us leading Bonnie (in a position where she could see us past the blinkers) until we were happy that Bonnie was ok, or in tricky situations (other horses passing, tight turns etc).

We chose to drive Bonnie in blinkers and a straight-bar bit, because although she would work just off our voice commands, we were driving out on the road and (as lizpurlo said), if something had gone wrong, it would have gone disastrously wrong and we would need to be able to stop Bonnie if she had panicked, to save her life, our lives and other road-users' lives. The blinkers helped because Bonnie was very nosey and loved looking into people's gardens, cars etc!

I would definitely check your insurance - you may have to drive on the road in a bit and just enjoy driving bitless on private land. If you can't find someone who's happy to train you bitless, you might have to train with a bit and then graduate up to bitless once you and your pony are confident with the controls / tack etc.