Training & Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
Each year the United States Equestrian Federation recognizes the top horses in each discipline and level the horse is competing at. For the second year in a row, Loretta earned the top spot in her division. Loretta earned the 2024 Combined Driving HOTY at the Advanced Novice level [FEI 2*] after having won the 2023 […]
Maintaining perspective while training horses for carriage driving can be a challenge. This is especially true when you’re trying to improve your dressage scores in combined driving. We have ideals in our minds that we’d like our horses to live up to, and when someone misses the mark, it’s tempting to say “poo-poo on you.” […]
I got a great little success e-mail last week from one of my west-coast students, Deb Holmes. She’d just finished up the Equestrian Institute Combined Driving Event in Ethel, WA where she won her division. The note read: RE: “There’s no place like home” Andy, Thank you again for all your words of wisdom, catchphrases […]
Driving corners and turns in a dressage test shouldn’t be that difficult, but it’s the one place that people most often get it wrong. They either drive so far from the corner that they bearly use the ring, or they bury their poor ponies in the corner. Unfortunately, there’s no guidance in the rulebook other than […]
The more they stay the same! I was asked an interesting question this morning about my upcoming class on driving cones. “Will the content be applicable to both lower and upper levels?” The answer is an emphatic “Yes!” The strategies for driving cones don’t change from one level to the next. Sure, the times and clearances […]
Every spring for the past, well I don’t know how many years, I’ve traveled to Green Mountain Horse Association (GMHA) for their Combined Test and Arena Driving Trial. For me and my students, it’s a perfect way to start the season. GMHA is a relatively small horse park in comparison to other horse parks that […]
