Training & Instruction for the Sport of Carriage Driving
When you’re teaching a horse to drive, sometimes everything goes great until it doesn’t. Things may go great in the preliminary work, but then you hit an impasse. Those problems can be mild, as described below. However, if the problems go unchecked, or ignored, they may be a prelude to a runaway. This question was […]
It was my last chance for survival… I had just left an airplane at about 6,000 feet (1,800+ meters), and I was spinning on my back being slung around like a doll by a malfunctioning parachute rapidly diving toward the ground. There was no way I could possibly survive hitting the ground at that speed. […]
Snap shackles are fairly common these days in carriage driving. They making hitching and unhitching your horse quick and convenient, but the primary reason for using them has to do with safety. Learn a little more about snap shackles, including the ones I use in this Facebook Live video I recorded on Feb. 7th, 2019. […]
It’s seldom “just one thing” that causes a problem for your horse. I was inspired to write this little note by a post I ran across called “Trigger Stacking.” It’s a great quick read about how one thing going wrong usually won’t cause a problem, but when it’s combined with several other factors, things can […]
When a horse or pony bucks in a carriage, it presents a potentially dangerous situation. If the horse is able to get his hind end high enough, he can kick the carriage, or worse yet, the people in the carriage. To safeguard against that, a bucking strap can be added to the harness. However, that […]
Even the best horses have their spooky moments. When those moments occur under saddle, their usually pretty easy to ride through. However when we put the horse to a carriage, those spooks can a be more intimidating. As with many things in life, it’s not about what you’ve been handed, it’s what you do with […]
In my practice, I rarely use bucking straps (aka. kicking strap.) That doesn’t mean that I’m against them. I have several students who keep bucking straps on their harness because their pony has been known to have a buck or two here and there. The purpose of the bucking strap is to prevent the horse […]
