Driving Draft Horses

[lilmissfit]

How soon do you begin driving your babies?

I have a 14 month percheron. I've been working on his ground manners and he leads well, loads like a dream, and gets better with every trip to the farrier. We have had our fly spray dance and he is now accustomed to that. It took a while before he let me put an actual fly mask on him, the 'zip' from the sound of the velcro freaked him out a bit. haha. We trail ride the other horses thru the pasture and woods and he follows along like he is one of the boys. He is so much happier than when we leave him. ;-)

I have been able to put an exercise pad on him since he was about 8 months old and cinch it snug. Tonight I put my miniature fox terrier on his back and he just looked around with a hey what are you doing up there look. :shock: I'm working up to put the driving lines on him. I have heard different techniques and such, curious to what folks on here do.

Thanks!

 

[sjr725]

he's plenty old to start driving. Start slow, just harness him up and lead him around. Soon you'll be able to walk behind him and drive him. Assuming you have a collar that fits him adequately, you can start asking him to pull light things - I use an old pallet, that has plywood nailed to the top and bottom so it slides nice in the arena. It makes a good deal of noise back there so be prepared and make sure you've got a whoa on him before you hitch him to anything! Sometimes I start just having them drag a small plastic tarp (only after they've been thoroughly sacked out!) I find is the noise of dragging something that bothers them more than the idea of pulling. You shouldn't really ask him to pull any amount of weight ( more than maybe you, standing on the pallet) until he's well past 2, but that doesn't mean he can't learn everything else. I like the first couple of times I actually hitch to something for my baby to be hitched with an old horse - I have rigged a single tree to the front of the small tractor and I'll have them pull that around the arena - it's heavy and it has brakes so they can't run off! Anyhow - just take it slow and don't expect miracles and there is no reason you can't get started now - did I mention, you need to sack him out regularly - every day- until he's not spooky, flinchy of ANYTHING.

 

[lilmissfit]

Awesome!
Thanks for the great advice and ideas. I'll keep you posted.