Friday, December 3, 2010

Ground Driving Training Begins

Daisy has been moved over to Jenny's! :) It's pretty exciting, especially because the day afterward we got a snowstorm that iced up our driveway and I wouldn't be able to ride anyway ;)

I've started teaching her to ground drive in the arena, per instructions that I found on google. Day one included sacking her out with the longe line and then letting it drag behind her as she walked so she'd hear and feel it rubbing on her as she walked and turned. She did so well! :) I'm very happy with it so far. She didn't move at all the whole time I was sacking her out, and she was really nervous about the line dragging either. She glanced behind herself often, but she still moved forward. Yesterday I just reviewed a bit before I rode, and she accidentally stepped on it once, but surprisingly she just stood still and wasn't even worried about it. Could she truly become a 'driving Miss Daisy' after all one day? I'm not sure. I'd LOVE to try, but I have no driving experience, and no cart. :-/

Yesterday after I rode I let her go and walked all over the arena with her following me; I hadn't even done a join up. Pretty cool :)
I'd say Daisy's happy there, with her horsie buddies ;)

 
Here's my short video of Day 1 training :)

2 comments:

Gudl said...

very cool! you three are awesome!

Unknown said...

LMFAO the cat is in hot pursuit there! If you need any help ground driving please do ask. I break several young horses to drive every year.

When you start actually driving her make sure you stand off to the side, not directly behind her.
With driving it's usually not the lines that bother a horse, it's the crupper/breaching. If you do not take precaution before hitching them the first time to desensitize them to the pressure the breaching creates (breaching is your breaks) some horses freak right out the first time pressure is applied there. I've also had my pony (the only one who did this) have issues with pressure on his chest from the traces. I took a good long time putting pressure on them before I drove him the first time.

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