I want to teach our Shetland/Welsh pony to drive.  I bought him a cart and harness and have been ground driving him as often as I can.  He does well with being harnessed, the straps all over him, etc.  I'm wondering, however, if someone can give me ideas on a problem I'm running into.  When I ask him to "Whoa" he stops and spins completely around until he's facing me.  Obviously I can't hitch him until this little habit is stopped!  I don't want him to panic if he tries to spin and can't because of the shafts.  Any ideas?  The only thing I've thought of (other than lots more practice) is stopping him between ground poles laid on the ground or stopping him between two trees until he's in the habit of stopping straight and square.  Thanks for any feedback you can give me!

Thanks so much for the thoughts!  I often must ask him to back after whoa when simply leading him in hand because he tries to get ahead of me when leading and when I ask him for whoa (in hand) he'll stop and swing his rear end to the right (away from me).  When he does this I'll step around his head (to his right side) move his rear back to the left, step back into leading position and then back him a few steps.  (I used to have to lead him with a chain over his nose when we first got him so this is a big improvement from where we were but it still bugs me that he doesn't stop square even in hand.)  I'll keep working with him with your suggestions in mind.

His driving bridle is fitted with blinkers.  I wondered, actually, if this may be part of the problem with him.  I've noticed that as he spins around, he'll actually tuck his rear end in and down as though he expects to be hit or something?  He spins very, very quickly - I hardly have time to react before he turns.  I thought perhaps it was a fear thing?  That he doesn't like that he can't see me?  I've noticed he does better with the ground driving if I pretty much talk to him the whole time.  I tell him he's a good boy when he's going along fine and I tell him "gee" and "haw" when I turn him right or left.  If I stop talking he seems to get more and more nervous. 

Thanks, again, for your time and your input!

try changing the rein level.  are you using harness with the reins up at his back?  then he can spin easily.

if so, perhaps, lower reins to stirrup level (i ground drive with my english saddle on, western works too).  this gives you total control and he can 't swing back toward you because the reins fall at stifle level.  then everthing FH says.

 We train and drive miniature donkeys. Because they are seldom lunged, they are not trained to turn and face the handler when a whoa is given so they don't typically have this problem. You may want to use a technique that we use when we are beginning to teach a young horse to stop. Ground drive the animal parallel to a fence. When driving, always keep light bit contact with both sides of the ponies mouth. Say whoa, and wait a second or two for the command to register, and then gently steer the pony toward the fence. Remember to keep contact on the bit and let the fence assist you with stopping. The fence will also make it more difficult for the pony to turn around and face you.

Ground driving takes a lot of patience. If you are not using a surcingle, I would recommend that you get and use one. It is a great aid in keeping the driven pony between the reins.

Good luck and happy driving. It is a great sport. You may want to check to see if there are any local clubs in your area. Having a driving mentor is really important.

Mark Sellers
Horse Health Matters

FloridaHorseman:

And saddle stirrups need to be hobbled together under the belly with a piece of baling twine or similar to keep them from riding up with rein pressure

oh yeah, duh....i'm sorry i forgot to say that.  i always use a piece of baling twine from stirrup to stirrup under the belly to keep stirrups in place. that is important.

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions.  I'll try the suggestions regarding the fence and driving with a saddle at the same time.  I'm excited about getting him hitched to the cart but, obviously, want to make sure he's completely comfortable and obedient before moving on to anything more.  He has the cutest little western saddle I can use.  I'll be sure to tie the stirrups together under his belly so they don't ride up.  

 I thinks this link is useful to you.

http://www.wikihow.com/Train-a-Horse-to-Drive

Oak kitchen cabinets 

Thanks, FH.  I was thinking the same thing.  We have a brush pile that needs to be moved.  I thought initially I could simply lead him while pulling a piece of brush.  That way it's not attached if he spooks and I could just let go of the brush.  Maybe, though, it would be better to start with the tire idea - not so loud or scary to drag.  He's a pretty sane little pony.  Last fall our daughter rode him under a fully loaded apple tree.  When her helmet hit a branch the apples started fallling all on and around them.  He jumped and ran a couple of feet but then stopped and looked back.  So, hopefully, we can introduce him without incident to the idea of pulling something!

Thanks, Jacob, for the link. 

Not sure how far you have progressed with pony, but wondered if you have done any of your training work with an open bridle?  A safe driving pony is not afraid of anything behind him, wears blinkers to prevent SMART equine from reading your body language and "helping" because he knows the next step.  Not being able to see you, he must WAIT for directions, and this idea needs to be FIRMLY enforced.  Pony gets to mane NO CHOICES, has to wait for a command before moving or turning etc.

We do most all our ground training in open bridle so the animal sees everything going on, gets used to it and ignores it.  We may put a blinker bridle on for getting horse used to it, maybe do open one day, blinkers the next day, back to open.  Horse is NEVER afraid of things behind, tires dragging, cart, children and stuff going on around him, blinkers are not for that.  Blinkers do help focus his attention FORWARD, not allow him to see many of the distractions around him, over react to them.  Usually a scared horse will STAY scared, react strongly to things when wearing blinkers.  He doesn't go deaf when you put the blinkers on!  So much better for everyone to train in an open bridle, let him see stuff, then change over to blinker once the cart is attached.

I would strongly suggest you start dragging with a tire.  You will want to add some binder twines to his traces for length, and we have a singletree that gets dragged on the twine parts.  Helper may want to hold back a bit on the singletree, so it doesn't jump about.  Then you can add the tire with just running a twine or rope thru it and held by helper.  Helper can then drop the rope end and free tire if horse jumps or spooks at the weight.  Driver then goes back to tire, helper runs rope thru, you try dragging tire again.  Having tire able to be instantly freed, will prevent pony being "chased" and badly frightened.  May take a couple sessions of helper and releasing tire, reattaching the tire, before pony gets steady and willing to pull steadily.  You don't want his dragging item firmly attached to the singletree before he is comfortable and RELIABLE at going forward and doing WHOA as quick as you say the word.  NO WHIRLY turns, he has gotten over them because that twirl will just be really bad for pony, tangled in lines and traces.  Someone will get hurt then, probably pony, which will not make him like being driven at all!

I would not suggest dragging brush or logs, fence posts.  with ends blunt cut, they tend to dig into the dirt, then jump as pull continues.  The long ends swing WAY out on turns, make pulling FEEL weird with wiggling and jumping about.  Ends can snag on posts, jerking the pulling animal.  Logs and post dragging are best done by a TRAINED animal, not a newly started driving animal who might spook or run from the pulled object.  Tires can be sized to the animal being driven, small ones for ponies.  Round sides prevent much snagging on things, not heavy, just a steady drag behind him.  You don't want weight being pulled, a jumpy load, just that friction of resistance so he gets used to the pulling feel.

We use lunge lines for reins when starting, so driver can stand in the center and make the animal go around them in large 60ft circles.  We do this in the open riding arena so fence is not controling the diameter.  We can work horse at all the gaits, speeds of walk and trot we wwant, without getting exhausted, hanging on his mouth, as ground driving can do.  Few folks can actually walk fast enough to keep up with a good moving horse or pony, without interfering with reins.  We can see the side of animal, to tell if he is giving his mouth,  collecting as asked, actually doing different trots and walks.  He can drag stuff a LONG time out on that circle, getting the feel of light pull, gaining fitness, ignoring pull/rub of traces on his side and stifle as tire swings outward at faster gaits.   Technical name for this is long lining or long reining.  Have to say it is a big time saver in training here, save our body running behind horse!!

A last question here. Does pony tie well, for longer times? A lot of animals seem to miss that step in training, so they have never developed patience about things. Could be a step you would want to review with pony. Always a benefit to having an animal that ties well, for long times of several hours. 

Thank you so much for your post!  LOTS of good information.  I'll have to incorporate an open bridle and long reining into his training.  I could just attach the driving reins or two longe lines to his English bridle, right?, to practice the open bridle idea?  We have not tried dragging anything so far but will start with a tire (we certainly have a few hanging around the farm!). 

"A last question here. Does pony tie well, for longer times? A lot of animals seem to miss that step in training, so they have never developed patience about things. Could be a step you would want to review with pony. Always a benefit to having an animal that ties well, for long times of several hours."  This question made me smile.  A couple of weeks ago daughter and cousin went out right before dark to brush the pony.  They left him tied to the wall ALL NIGHT.  I nearly died when I went out to do chores the next morning!!!!  As I approached the barnyard I thought, "That's weird.  Why is the pony just standing there?"  I can say with good faith, yes, he does stand tied for loooooong periods of time with no problems.  I felt SO bad then thought, "Oh, well.  If he were on an overnight camping trip he would have been tied for the same amount of time."  I was just thankful we tie our horses to a tall, solid cement wall so there was no chance of him catching a hoof in the fence or trying to push through/go over it or anything silly.

Thanks, again, for your help!