Oct 29, 2008 - My first driving lesson

I just had to post a message about my first driving lesson. It was
soooo awesome!

I went to a farm/ranch that drives halflingers with a riding club I
belong to. I beleive the owner actually participates in the
different carriage events at shows. I know nothing about this, so I
hope that makes sense to someone.

The first thing we did, was practice reigning on her practice
board. She basically has 2 pullies attached to the side of her
barn. THere are ropes through these pulles and weights on the one
side. You hook the reigns up to them, and practice keeping good
pressure while you turn. It also allows you to practice reigning
while holding the whip in your right hand. She mentioned that
nowadays you have to always have a whip with you on your carriage.
I'm not sure if it is a law, rule, or just sound advice.

Next we got to meet the halflinger breed. If any of you think
brabarants are squatty, wide critters, then you need to see a
halflinger. They are 13.2 to 15 hands tall, and just as wide as a
draft. The look is very similar to a belgian (chessnut with flaxen
mane/tail)

We got introduced to the buggies she had. She showed us one that
she owns that was made in the early 1800s. It is a trap buggy, and
was very very cool. She then showed us her more modern cart that
she uses in the different driving events.

Next we got a lesson on hooking up the harness, and got to see what
a well behaved horse looks like. I was very impressed by her horses
manners. The horse stood perfectly still without having a halter,
or lead rope while the harness was being put on. I was very
impressed by that.

After the harness was on the horse, she showed us how to hook it to
the buggy, and then we got our lesson in actually driving the
horse. I actually got to drive the horse myself, and here were some
of my thoughts on it.

I was very impressed with how important it is that the horse respond
to voice commands. She said that lunging using voice commands is a
must for you to have a sound horse, that will know exactly what you
want them to do.

The other thing I leanred is how when driving, both reigns have to
have constant pressure. It was different from any of the neck
reigning stuff I have seen. You basically use pressure on both
reigns to point the horses head in the right direction. This was
easy for me to learn, because when I ride Lily under saddle, she
turns that way. She pulled a wagon for 2 years before I got her,
and I leanred right away that if I try to turn her by just pulling
on one reign, she tends to side step instead of turn. To make her
turn, I have to pull on the one side, while keeping pressure on the
other side. I'm not sure if this makes sense from reading it, but
it makes sense to me! :)

I had a blast and I'm very excited to do this more. Last Sunday I
finished restoring the harness I have and so now I just need for my
spare time and daylight to line up so I can actually start putting
the harness on Lily and ground drive her.

I had a great time and I know that driving is what I want to get
into. It was a lot of fun, and I love the relationship between
teamster and horse. Can't wait for Lily to teach me how to do it.
LOL