Once the horse is 100% comfortable with all the harness it is time to long rein him in full harness. Once he is comfortable with this, attach traces to his harness and have one person lead him amd another two to hold the traces. The leading person trots the horse along and the other two people hold on and get ‘pulled’ along. Some people recommend getting the horse to pull a tyre, but these can bounce and hit a horse’s rump or legs causing him to take off. If you do choose to use this method great care should be taken to ensure there are no bumps to spook the horse.

Some people get the horses to pull railway sleepers, others prefer to use hay bales.

One person should get the carriage near the horse and bang and clatter it a bit to ensure the horse is comfortable with the noise.

Once your horse is ready, under the instruction of an experienced driver it is time to get your horse pulling a sledge. Your guide will take you through the steps of going about it correctly.

Once your horse is doing all of this calmly and confidently’ it will soon be time to put him to. But before you do this, get him used to the shafts against his sides to avoid problems by getting two wooden poles, old broom handles will do, and stand behind him ( out of the kick zone of course (even if you trust him with your life, he may still be spooked by wooden poles touching his sides)). Carefully rub the poles against his side, to recreate the effect of the shafts.

Once all of these steps have been sucessfully completed, the time has come to put the horse to. For this activity you need at least three people, one to hold the horse, and the other two to carefully lift the shafts over the horses back and gently slide them into place.

Once you have him put to, slowly walk him forward so he can feel the shafts against his sides.. With time and careful handling, you will soon be able to put weight on the carriage and then you will progress to actually driving the horse, teaching him to obey your voice and rein aids and you will be truly off and away!!!

good luck and happy times with your hose!!!

top tip: you will go so much further if you talk to your horse. Dont feel stupid about it, say whatever you like in a calming tone and he will trust you much more.

For more information on carriage driving visit http://www.hddg.co.uk/ to check out other carriage driving aspects and events

Your can read part one of this article here.

Suffolk Police said it appeared that several people had been run over at the town’s Nowton Park, with one person potentially in a critical condition.

The police said that up to another 10 people may have been injured, many with back or abdominal injuries.

They are now appealing for witnesses.

The police said that the person most seriously injured was a woman thought to be in her 40s.

They added that she “is believed to have sustained life threatening injuries”, and is being taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.

Seven other injured people have been taken to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.

The police added that the up to 10 other people who were injured may have made their own way to hospital.

source: bbc

By Eniola Odurinde. Special thanks to Kay Walton for her help and technical advise on this article.

Carriage driving is fun!!! You can have lots of fun with a carriage horse, drives, rallies, shows, training days, there is a long list of things you can do.whether you just want to brush up on theory or have several years driving experience and want to break a young horse to drive, this article will take you through the basics.

If you have a four year old that has been broken to ride but you also want to drive him/ her, you can send him away to be broken. If you prefer to do it yourself and live in the excitement you must have at least three years of competent practical experience, with regular lessons from a qualified instructor. If you are doing this for the first time, it is strongly advised that you work together with an experienced driver and horse person because a novice horse driven by a novice driver is often a troublesome and difficult combination.

The first step to teeaching a young horse is to long rein him. Long reining is where you stand behind a horse close enough to control him, but not close enough to get kicked, holding two long lines. Long reining teaches the horse to respond to rein and voice aids. If you do not have experience in long reining, it is vital for your safety as well as that of your horses that you practice with an experienced driving horse first.

Commands for long reining

Walk on: To walk, trot on: To trot, steady:… to slow down, whooa…: to halt and stand: To stop. Back: Or come back or go back to perform rein back.

The next step is to introduce driving harness. With calm quiet horses all of the harness can be put on at once ( excluding blinkers as these can be very scary) but the tail strap should be done up slowly. Once the horse is used to the harness it is time to introduce the driving bridle. The blinkers will be the scariest part but if the horse never accepts them it is possible to drive without blinkers.

A horse in blinkers should NEVER be left unnatended.

You can read part two of this article here.

The venue is beautiful, set in glorious countryside in the grounds of Hampton Court, near Leomister an old castle with expansive gardens worth meandering in.  Weather permitting it will be a great day out for all the family.

You can find out more information about Herefordshire and Distric Driving Group by visiting their website. A full schedue of events at the spring show can be viewed here.

The spectators where then invited to leave the gallery and join the whips,
grooms and horses/ponies to have a chat, ask questions, pat the animals and
even have a ride in their carriages.

Sarah Wildy, LHHI carriage driving instructor then explained to us how to
harness the horse and put to the cart, demonstrated hands on by one of the
members of the group on her horse.
Meanwhile Kay was busy putting cones all over the arena, as the next part of
the demonstration included weaving through cones at some speed.
When the drivers had all completed this task, we were once again invited to
get on the carriages and join in the fun.

A great deal of enjoyment was had by everybody and it was certainly an
informative event for horse lovers of all ages.

Carriage Driving

A very popular equestrian sport gaining rapid ground is horse carriage driving. The reason is that most people can learn the skill and the experience itself is a very exciting one. The feeling is one of immense exhilaration and control upon watching the horses pulling the carriage with the reins in your hand.

For those just starting out, the accent should be on finding an experienced horse well versed in pulling along the carriage. This will enable them to get to know the different nuances of horse carriage driving. In addition, the one starting out should take the assistance of an expert driving mentor who would be able to provide guidance to make a good start. This sport may be exciting but can be fraught with danger if the ropes are not picked up properly at the right stage. Some are of the opinion that they can get a horse to pull a carriage pretty easily within a week or so. Nothing can be more exaggerated and farther from reality.

So what exactly is this sport and how does it evoke such a following?

Cajoling and orienting a horse to pull the carriage is no mean task. It needs tremendous patience, planning and intuition to know how things are going along and take proactive steps to combat any problems that may crop up along the way. You need to build a trust quotient with the animal to get the best out of it and that is why there is a requirement of somebody experienced to stand by you during this process. There is no room for exuberance or experimentation of any sort.

Some of the common reasons for accidents occurring in this sport are as under:

* The driver lacking in skill and ability
* Some carelessness & a casual approach on the part of the driver
* The driver not understanding his horse and lacking the animal sense
* The horse or pony itself not being trained adequately
* Sudden bout of indiscretion or a temperamental outburst on the part of the animal
* The carriage itself malfunctioning
* Inadequate fitting of the harness

While you have a good choice of equines of various breeds and it is a purely a question of personal choice as to what you end up selecting, some of the time tested breeds such as Hackney, Morgan do have the edge over other breeds. In the ultimate analysis, it is the love for carriage driving that motivates people to select any breed and not many are very particular about it.

As a broad rule of thumb, it is advisable to keep away from horses that have the tendency to stomp or bolt as these suggest a problem with the temperament of the horse and may not be suitable for beginners. Generally, people always wish to only drive the horse they already have in their stable and have owned it for some years. But they need to evaluate whether their horse would be up to this task and should not take the chance of thrusting the animal into this sport without a proper evaluation of its capabilities and physical condition.