I've ground driven horses a few times, and only with horses that had known how to ground drive. So I've been a bit hesitant to ground drive Cinder since it would be a bit of the blind driving the blind. But A has a ton of experience ground driving, and cart driving. Her best friend in elementary/middle school's family breeds and shows minis and has multiple national and world champion driving wins. A knew how to drive a horse before she knew how to ride.
Our trainer had given her set of long lines to A a while ago and I asked if I could borrow them and have A give me and Cinder a ground driving lesson. We started with the lines attached, and A up at Cinder's head just giving guidance before she set me free. It took me a minute to figure out how to hold the lines and not get too tangled up, but Cinder was good about me fumbling around back there.
Our first attempt was pretty good (see above video) but when I tried by myself earlier this week we were much more all over the place. Part of it was Cinder was more confident and cocky, wanting to prove she knew what to do and didn't need to listen to me as much. And I think I was a little nervous not having another person there to help if things went south. Turning left is harder than turning right, but that might be me messing it up rather than Cinder. We did do a little trotting and she didn't try to take off with me like I thought she would, so yay! I'm hoping to ground drive her twice a week, and start doing it with a bridle instead of her halter.
I don't know how to drive either and I really want to learn! Dante was ground driven as a 3yo by the colt starter so I think I could learn with him, though maybe after he has a refresher with someone else lol
ReplyDeleteI drove once. It didn't go well. Nearly hit a tree! In my defense I was trying to drive a shetland pony, and you can't tell them what to do.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good plan to try for twice a week. Can't wait to hear how it progresses!