Like you, I drive minis. I have 2 driving minis and my husband has 2 driving minis. I also have a mini donkey that I drive. We each have a mini that we use in a miniature horse driving drill team: www.minimystique.org and the other two we use for combined driving events. Best fun I've ever had with a horse :) I also do some show driving (the very few shows with driving classes and then sometimes in AMHA shows). And parades and trail drives. We both enjoy driving more than riding (hubby doesn't like to ride at all).

The mini donk is new to driving and I just have fun with him, drive around the neighborhood, ect. Might take him to some combined driving. I took him to a driving darby but he didn't do so well haha ;) He is nervous about differenece in the ground, so shadows were bugging him and the tall grass was too tempting! It was funny and everyone loved him ;)

I just bought a Fell pony who rides and drives. Another forum member is bringing him to me, he's at her place right now until this weekend. He's done a little combined driving, and that is what I plan to do with him :) Will also ride him as well but it's mainly the driving I bought him for :)

I've taught some to ground drive, and I work with them green, but i've never broken them to cart, I send them to my trainer for that. She's awesome :)

Jessi

I have been driving for about 28 years and have driven small ponies to standardbred. I have been on hiatus lately from driving but hope to get back into it this season. And yes, there have been a few wrecks. The horse ran away with the sleigh and left me in the snow after the sleigh tipped. Another time I tipped the sleigh but the horse (different one) was kind enough to hang around. Tipped a cart, small pony and all, had a different horse go in a deep narrow ditch that required us getting out of cart and unhooking before the horse could get out. Fallen out of cart several times due to partridge scaring pony; first blowout tire was a non event but with a different pony almost put me in the hospital, my husband has a bolting haflingler story to tell. Got ran over by the cart once after I fell out. There are probably a few other stories I could pull up but I don't want this to get too long. I now wear a helmet when I drive.

I am realatively new to drivng. I have driven friends mnis and ponies and horses.  I even drove for a friend at the state fair.  I am training my big horse to drive and we are needing to get hooked to the cart but weather keeps delaying it.  I have an instructor helping me and she is really having me do a lot of training shaft work.  She feels this is safer for the driver and gets the horse going without you being in a cart behind .  She did have a bad wreack that accurred the first time she hooked her arab.  He went up in the air and over onto the cart.  He had to be cut out of the harness.  Every one survived and is OK but he is ot making a driving horse.  I have another friend that had a wreach when she had hooked up a horse and did ot have a header and went to get into the cart he spooded and going forward caught the wheel of the cart on a post then just ook off.  He went through the fence on her perimeter across the road through the neighbors barb wire fence around that field back throu the barb wire then back through her perimeter fence then collapsed in her driveway.  The cart, harness and horse were pretty tore up.  The horse required minor surgery but was OK.  The cart had to get new shats and the harness is sporting a bunch of repairs.  Her story really scared me as I was self training my horse at the time and hade been hooking himup and leading him by myself.  So I found and instructor to help and we have done a lot of work.  I think I an however still scared and she does not want me to get my horse scared.  Writing this I realize I need to go back and drive some real broke horses to get my instincts for success on track and confidence up.  I really want to drive at shows and have several horses that will make goood drivers.  I do the all around at shows and my horses do everything.  Including halter showmanship English and Western rail  andpattern classes, trail classes ,reining ,speed classses and leadline with the grandkids.

I also trail ride, sort and my sons rope  I also ride dressage. I believe a truly "broke" or trained horse can do anything you ask.  Of course they all have some things they are better at then others.  I hpe to see more posts in this I think sharing ideas really helps me. My horses are all registered Pinto and Paint.  I would like to get a pinto pony or mini eventually

I drive a 2004 F250 and my husband drives a 2006 F350 (ha ha JK!) 

txspots:

I drive a 2004 F250 and my husband drives a 2006 F350 (ha ha JK!) 

Call me slow, but I actually had to read throught this a couple times before I got it, lol!

Oh, I think the minis and ponies are the most fun to drive!!!  They are sooo cute and the ones I have had experience with are genuinly hard workers :)!

I am recquesting some advice.  I have two harensses.  One is leather but very poor quality.  I have been using it to train.  My horse is 16 hands and a big boy but not a draft type. He is pulling the shaft trainer well but does get nervouse over gravel.  He also is pulling a pipe witht he traces and does well with it.  My other harness is biothanes and has no breeching.  My instructor is encouraging me to buy a custome made leather harness.  It will cost about $700.00 I am willing to spend the money if my horse is going to be a good driving horse.  he has not yet been hooked to a crt and pulled it.  D you think he is showing enough desire to be a cart horse that I can count on him?  I know this is a weird question.  But I do not want to buy a harness and then find out he won't do the work.  

If your trainer thinks the biothane harness is in good using condition, I would find a harness maker to just make the breeching and any other pieces that may be missing (back strap, holdbacks, etc). That way you will have a  safe harness to work with while you finish training your horse. As for evaluating your horse's harness worthiness, I don't think that can be done without seeing your horse work over a period of time. In other words, your trainer would be better qualified to answer that question. (you are paying him/her for their knowledge). Keep in mind harnesses do have a resale value but it is unlikely that you will get $700 from your harnsess should you choose not to continue with your horse.

I agree with Tonvic. Just wanted to add, had my mini stallion, Chianti, learning to drive via my trainer who is excellent. He did awesome ground driving, pulling the drag, ect ect ect. But when it came to the cart (which he was fine following, being next to, ect) he flipped out. She goes very slow and started over, but to no avail. So while he did great up to that point, he is NOT a driving horse. So, ya never know! :)

PS I prefer betathane harnesses over leather, and leather over biothane. I would never use nylon.

Jessi

My husband's arthritic hip was what triggered us to send our 7 year old Tennessee Walking Horse, Cruise (15.2h) to a trainer last Spring for 5 weeks training under harness.   He was a well broke riding horse so was used to shadows, birds flying up, ground variances, railroad tracks, etc.   He was a quick study and doesn't seem to mind pulling our Meadowbrook cart.   We purchased a biothane harness from the recommendations of many because it is lighter weight and WAY easier to clean.     My husband has since had hip surgery and is back in the saddle, but we will have to make sure "Cruise" gets out in the cart once a week just to maintain (when the snow goes away up here in Canada).   The great thing about carting is, when people come out to our place who love the horses but would never get up in the saddle (nor would I put them up there), they thoroughly enjoy hoping into the 2-man cart for a ride around the valley. 

 We have had one 'mishap' in the first year of this new experience.    We had a regular route for months that took us past our neighbour's farm.  One day we were riding past and lo and behold, our neighbour had purchased 12 GOATS who stood at the fence "baa-baa ing"  away.    Cruise became very scared and we had a heck of a time getting him to go forward -- he would back up (into the trees) and at one point he got almost stuck because he had 'jacknifed' to the point the shafs had moved up so far he was immobilized.   I jumped out and managed to untangle him while my husband held the reins (I volunteered - I felt safer on the ground!)    Anyway, I held the horse by the bridle and managed to turn him around.  I fell in a hole and he managed to step around me and I got up in time before the cart rolled over me.   To this day I'm amazed at how he maneuvered himself so he wouldn't step on me!   We got him going again and took him home.  THEN, we walked him back over to the neighbours and stood there with halter/lead and introduced him to HIS new neighbors.   He was getting much better, but then the neighbor got a LLAMA  ... so had to do it all over again.   He's getting better but still gets excited/nervous when we pass that farmyard.  

I must admit, I feel much more comfortable and in control in the saddle.   My husband still likes to cart on occasion but now that he's able to ride again that is his preference too.  But, we have invested time and money and it is a nice option when at the end of a day we can hitch up the cart and go for a ride together and talk about the day's events.   We just have to do more of it to boost our confidence (and the horse's).

Pam  

My husband and I have 6 haflingers who are all trained to ride and drive.  Our trainer is very experienced and I trust him.  We currently have 2 show carts, 2 "everyday" carts , a hitch wagon, and a white 2006 Vis-a-Vis for wedding rides.  We have only had one mishap in which our experienced, older teenage kids were hitching and took the bridle off before the cart and the harness. . . . bad idea!  The horse bolted and took my son for a pretty eventful ride around the perimeter of the farm which included the road at one point.  The horse returned to the original hitching area, took us the rest of the season to get her head back to the right place but she did and she is awesome.  My son learned a good lesson and was physically unharmed.  Fortunately that is the only mishap we have had in 13 years of driving and that was definitely human error, the kids and ours for becoming too comfortable and allowing them to hitch themselves.  

Hi, we have a standardbred who was quite a successful pacer in his day.  We have owned him for about 2 and a half years now and basically he is and can be very good but when he's bad he's horrid.  I went out with some friends who were riding there horses and are nervous nellies, it was a terrible windy day and yes you are right why on earth would I go out on such a day.. I probably thought I was better than I am...  Before this happened I was getting quite confident with my driving.  We were trotting up a hill and my friends horse started to canter and I stopped my boy straight away.  He got very excited and wanted to keep  going, I am trying to get him to walk but he was stirred up and was rearing and carrying on.  We were stuck 5 km out of town and eventually I got onto my husband who came to rescue me.  Looking back I know I should have kept moving him forward and if I kept trotting him on he probably would have settled down eventually.  Hes main problem is when he does get excited he doesn't get over it very quickly he will keep being excited.  I couldn't keep trotting on because of my friend, so since then have gone out by ourselves and he has been perfect but he has really knocked my confidence.

 We live in australia and have no one close by with harness horses.

My questions are............ when a horse does get excited and a bit springy in there step is it best to trot them on a bit and then see if they will settle to walk on.   I know it was me that cause alot of this as I was pulling the bit and of course he rears and then just got more and more cranky with the whole situation. 

 Most times if anyone saw him they would think what a quiet old cart horse, actually had a comment from a fellah today who said just that...........  " oh has he got any energy..................  if only they could see him sometimes. 

Found this website  today so hope get more and more threads on harness found everyones very interesting.

 I am pretty new to driving but have a lot of riding and general horse experience.  I am working with an instructor to train my horse to drive and he is doing well.  She has told me to keep my horse moving if he starts to get excited.  I do not drive on the road at all..People drive way too fast on our local roads and are just crazy in general about how they respond to horses. I also have a cue I can use to help my horse relax.  It has been a life saver in several situations.  I started it when he was very young but I think having  a relax button can make a world of difference.  I give my horse a massage during his grooming and I sing to him.  Over time this little ritual has given me the relax button.  I start his song and he settles down,  I use the "I Ride Old Paint" song because he is a paint but I think any similar song would work.  My horses is also pretty calm and actually lazy but can get pretty forward at times.  He also does most western events and HUS and dressage.

Also I want to let everyone know he is doing great with the cart.  I ended up using the leather harness and it is working fine.  We are still very mush in the beginning phase but things are looking real promising. 

Elaine, IMO, it's best to keep them moving, but not just letting them go on out. I make them work, get their focus on me, get them mentally working. Have them working off their hind end, do serpentines, bending, half halts, ect. My TB (riding, not driving) requires that, and I have a driving mini that REAAAAALLLY does at times lol! Works well for me anyhow!