# First steps to Driving



## orchid park (Jun 1, 2008)

Hi americancowgurl31391 

We are located in Australia, so couldnt recommend any breakers LOL, however any breed can be driven it just comes down to the horse themselves whether or not they have the temperment.

To start you only need two lunge leads, a bridle and lunge roller, and a whip. This is all you need to start from the ground. (The whip is purely used in place of leg aids, as you now only have hand, voice and whip).
This is the method we use - 
No.1 always have a second pair of hands when you have a harness horse. Never do it on your own.
No. 2 start out by long reigning / ground driving (If your horse is already mouthed).
No. 3 then move into winkers / blinkers (these have eye blocks to stop the horse seeing the vehicle attached).
No. 4 Then progress to him pulling a tyre or weight of some kind etc so he gets use to weight and the sound.
No. 5 Now I begin to add harness for the horse to wear

Hope this helps, would love to hear how anybody else out there starts them.


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## chasin the dream (Jun 2, 2008)

i agree with above poster! ^^^^^


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

Great post. I wondered the same thing. Thanks for the info posted


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## orchid park (Jun 1, 2008)

No problems, glad it could add some insert for you.


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## grayhorse (Jun 18, 2008)

*This is Great*

Wow :lol: Iam so glad to hear from someone who is driveing, Quest that my Andy pulled when he was younger but has not in a number of years. I have done hours of ground work on long reins with Delbert, that my QH but have not had him pull anything yet, he has also been undersaddle just a short time. I am a BIG believer in ground work and long reins. I have found a small buggy I am redoing and a harness that I am haveing fixed up at the saddle shop to fit either one , but have not gotten in back yet. Really looking froward to getting it all put togather and see what we can do. I hope Quest will remember and take to it easy, Id love to talk to you more about the buggy and harness. 
Grayhorse


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## orchid park (Jun 1, 2008)

Hi grayhorse,

Sounds like your keen to get into driving. 
What sort of buggy do you have? We have a few different kinds in Australia.

If you are already long reining your horse, you should move onto having him drag a small weight like a tyre. I usually have someone drag the tyre beside me for the first few times (so I know the horse ok with the sound) then i move onto having the horse drag the trye.

The photo of my pony, is in a unique vehicle to australia called a sydney brass sulky. It has a curved wooden floor, dash, shafts and wingboards. Also has alot of brass works (hence the name). 

I would be happy to chat with you regarding your harness and vehicle.

regards,

Laura.


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## grayhorse (Jun 18, 2008)

LAURA so sorry it took me so long to get back to ya things here have been a little nuts lately.
The buggy is something like a doctors buggy , but no top on it, I would put up a pic but for some reason I am able to get them up, I have tried a number of things and It must be me, I could send one to ya maybe to your email, threw my email for the pd, this computer here at home is dail up and just too slow to do anything much, send me and email at [email protected] and i'll send ya a pic or to
grayhorse


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## orchid park (Jun 1, 2008)

I have just emailed you.


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## ponyup04 (Jul 22, 2008)

I love this site for new articles and advice on driving. You might like to try it.
http://horses.about.com/od/horsesportsexplained/a/harnesssafety.htm


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## stevefromnfld (Aug 12, 2008)

Hi there guys,I was reading your posts,I'm fairly new to driving,I have a basic idea of how to start,and supposedly the mare we bought was mostly used to plow a garden,and haul a cart with firewood,.
She's half Nfld Pony and half Morgan.She's a beauty,nice and strong for her size,around 900 or so pounds.Good hoofs too,like,,,they're kind of big.
She hasn't been used for a couple of years I guess,but I bought a used harness which I have a little work to do on,and I need a larger collar.I have a good set of winkers too.
Anyway,in the next few weeks,I was hoping to find a proper fitting collar in my area,I have some leads to follow up on before I buy a new one,but when I get it all together,I was wondering if I could email you Greyhorse,and check how you're doing with it?
Or,I could just ask you on the forum,that'ld be fine too.
Anyway,I hope it's working out for you.
I found so far,(I'm not a horse expert by any strech,lol),but I find that the slower I go with things,the quicker she ,Twinkle ,trusts me,and from the time we bought her,in april,she's gone from a high headed,white eye,scared horse,to a much more trusting and relaxed horse.
She doesn't trust some people,mostly men ,but she trusts me pretty good now,and the more I do with her,even grooming and spendinmg time with her,she really seems more and more like a human,lol.But I know I still have to watch her as she can get scared and accidently hurt me.But so far so good.
Anyway,jsu curious about the driving.
I have a fair bit of work going on these days,but when I get some of it finished,I'm going to spend some serious time starting from the beginning with the driving.
Also,I'm good with wood,carpentry,and can weld,so I'm going to make a nice little cart for her.
I have a big 4 wheel cart I was given in my barn,but need new wheels,so I was thinking of making a 2 wheel cart,,,here they're called box carts,used for hauling kelp,rock,firewood,etc,so,my nieghbor has a small one for use with an atv,but he said I could borrow it to use for a pattern to make a larger one for the horse.
Anyway,hope you're all doing good,talk to you guys soon,Steve


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