# How to....



## lillie (Oct 26, 2009)

please could i ask, how does your ponies partsight effect her in everyday life and in riding? and what is her temperment generally? i think the first thing would be to do a lot of longreining ( i mean often, if she takes to it, not long sessions, just a half hour or 45 minutes, and if she is happy doing that, i would go for weeks or monthes until she is confident of meeting everything, before moving on to the next stage) to see how confident she is of meeting things a greater distance from the person holding the reins, and without a human legs and body, to guide her. she might find it quite a bit different to be out front alone. i would start by having someone walk at her head to give her guidance if she finds it confusing. they can drop back to the side as she gets more confident. i find it often helps to set out some cones to walk between- it gives the pony something to aim for and helps thier confidence. it would be a good idea to find out if there is a local driving instructor or member of a carriage driving club, who is sensible and knows what they are doing, who could come out and access the pony for you, and help out. please tho, dont be tempted to rush her.


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## savvylover112 (Jul 17, 2009)

Hello well this is a long run thing anyway because his eye has not fully healed it is just I would like to know for when he is ready and everything. When riding him out and in his daily life it used to effect him but now he is back to his usual self. He is a confident little pony who seems to do nearly everything of his own accord and he is not spooky or anything at all. I was thinking that longreining would be a good idea but I did not know how long to keep going like how many weeks or whatever to do it with him to get him used to it thank you very much for the reply


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## lillie (Oct 26, 2009)

i always reckon on about a dozen times of the horse doing everything happily before going on to the next stage, as its easier than having to go back and regain thier confidence and trust , and sort it all out, if things go a bit wrong. one of my georgeous girls that i lost a few years back, had to have her eye removed, and after her initial getting used to only having sight in one eye, she was brilliant.


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## savvylover112 (Jul 17, 2009)

Yes he is nearly back to himself I took him for a hack round the road today and he was great so we are getting there


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## jimmy (Aug 26, 2009)

he sounds good with the bit good in traffic i,d do a week longreining if your happy at how he,s going tie him to something put the harness on and fasten him in the cart do that for a day or two keep going out lifting rocking pushing the cart so he gets used to it,then when your happy with that pick a quiet sunday morning take him out walk with the reins 1st then if he,s going right gently get on the cart have sum1 with you just to steady his head and encourage him to turn


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## savvylover112 (Jul 17, 2009)

Thanks you two great advice and yes he is brill with traffic no problems at all people speed round my roads and I try to slow them down and they don't and Patch doesn't care at all


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## jimmy (Aug 26, 2009)

just one other thing savvy wrap some rags around the end of the shafts then if u turn too tight the shaft wnt dig in and hurt him


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## savvylover112 (Jul 17, 2009)

oh thank you I would never have thought of that thank you very much I am working on getting him fit again right now and I am in an exam year in school so won't have much time so when I get my christmas holidays for two weeks I will start him off


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## lillie (Oct 26, 2009)

all due respect jimmy, ( and i do have rspect for anyone who drives those roads to appleby) but i have to disagree a bit. ( i bet you thought i would!) as you say, you have broken horse to drive for many years, so you know whats waht and can react quickly and efficiently in a hurry, but this girl and her father havent, all of the equipment is going to be different for them, so i think its better to go slowly; lets face it , if things go tits- up in a cart, it can be much more complicated than ridden. if the pony has done all the longreining then you could probably do it a bit quicker, ( always have two of you when you are doing any of this) but i would still break it into stages, so before putting into a cart, get her to pull a small car wheel tied to long traces with baling twine that you can cut quickly if she panics. get her pulling it over lots of different surfaces so that she gets used to different noises behind her, and over some uneven ground; do it all gradually, so as not to spook her. when she is doing that without hitch, rig up a sledge type affair using 2 poles (shafts) tied to a small builders pallet. it will look a bit like the things the indians used to pull behind thier ponys- cant think of the name at the minute. i have mixed views about tying clothes at the end of the shafts; i know someone who does that, but the downside is that if you need to unhitch the pony quickly, its harder and takes more time to get the shafts out of the tug- stops. but jimmy is right that you dont want the ends of the shafts near the ponies head ( i know someone once, who found they were attatched to a cart being pulled by a horse with no bridle where they had got the shaft caught in the throatlash- scary!!) the throatlash on harness is generally fastened tighter on a harness bridle so this doesnt happen. so i would say with the pallet training method which i am going to tell you about, make sure the "shafts" are only about six inches through the tugstops. the "shafts"ends on the pallet will be at a higher angle than whenyou are in a well balanced cart. have someone at the ponies head they can help the pony turn left or right which is when the shafts will come into contact witht he ponies side. sometimes they dont like that so have someone to help her get used to it. and they and you can keep watch that the "shafts" are staying in position. fasten the pallet to the traces with baling twine to a swingle tree if you are using a breast collar on your pony; you dont want to rub her chest sore. and again the twine can be cut if you need to get her out of the pallet in a hurry. and then after she has pulled that for a week or two i would then put her in a cart. i am not trying to scare you, but please remember that if the horse gets spooked or bolts in a cart, the cart can turn over and that will really cause a problem as it starts going all over the place and turning up behind the horse, especially if you have been thrown out so its not got too much weight to stabilize it. this is the reason i always say take it slow and steady, and then you are learning at the same time as the horse, and are both better prepared if something does go wrong. i would also say always have someone with you so that in a problem situation the person can go to the horses head, and the other person is still in the cart handling the reins, and mostly, remember that all of this is fun to do, just think ahead and try to keep it as safe as possible. good luck, and want to hear how you get on please?


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## jimmy (Aug 26, 2009)

you make things very complicated lillie,but like you said about wrapping the shafts it wont be a prob un yoking if you tie the tugs to the shafts with baling twine traces as well,then if things do messs up or if they dont you can cut them out when you finsh


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## lillie (Oct 26, 2009)

well jimmy, it probably does come over as complicated, but its not complicated when i do it, its just that i am trying to think of every angle that a first time driver would need to consider, and trying to cover all possible problem areas. and it might take longer but its all fun to do ! as you know, with many things in life, if it's over too quickly you end up feeling let down or cheated ! ( sorry couldnt resist- just a little joke!) but i do want to ask you, because it might be useful to me, when you say you tie the shafts to the tugs, do you mean you tie them to the outside of the tugs, which i can see would work, or are you putting the shafts through the tugs at that stage?


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## jimmy (Aug 26, 2009)

loop the twine through the tugs and tie the twine to the shaft i always do it when breaking learned it ater a horse upskittled cart and himself in the road and i had 2 cut an exspensive set of harness to get him out[it proved you do pay 4 your education] did you geet the pm i sent you about the square accommodation if it suits you woul be begging it


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## jimmy (Aug 26, 2009)

that feeling cheated [must be a woman thing]lol


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## weefoal (Apr 4, 2009)

> just one other thing savvy wrap some rags around the end of the shafts then if u turn too tight the shaft wnt dig in and hurt him


Hey Jimmy I have seen you post that a couple times. It seems odd to me. If a horse is properly harnessed the shaft should never dig into the shoulder. That usually happens when people have the shaft past the point of the shoulder (where is should NEVER be) 

Also a horse that is taught how to pivot before ever driving normally has no trouble turning a cart. I have seen though horses rushed into a cart have trouble. 

One of the driving trainers here made a fake cart from PVC pipe. Wish I had a picture of it. It was so easy to make but does give them the feelign of having something behind them etc. 


Kay


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## lillie (Oct 26, 2009)

hey jimmy, yes that is a good idea - thats what i thought you meant. and that accident you mention is just the sort of thing i am talking about- the more you can do before the cart goes behind the cart the better, hence my wheel or pallet, i can just worry about me and the horse getting it right without worrying about expensive equipment, or heads being split open. thats why i do all of the other stuff first. glad you saw my joke, and yes i looked at and replied to you in private message, but i didnt think it sent to you, so will do it again. and weefoal, hi, that plastic tubing idea is i expect very similar to what i do, i use the wheel for a bit of weight, just to get them used to the idea, about 10 times , and then do the pallet thing to add the shafts, but i think its better to have a bit of weight, if it's too lightweight its a bit too bouncy and unstable, but your trainers probably had a bit of added wieght on the "cart" bit of the fake cart? i think we think on similar lines!


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## jimmy (Aug 26, 2009)

well wee foal i,ve seen it happen so many time generally with new drivers,and if a cart is bought and its not bang right for that horse theres not many can afford to swop and change and most riders learnig to drive do try and turn them too tight


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