First time in a carriage; breaking a pony to drive: what we do and why we do it.
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- čas přidán 19. 02. 2014
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Showing this young pony's first ever time in a carriage. This is Mr Darcy's introduction to carriage driving - taking a horse on the roads for the first time. We explain the importance of doing your best to prepare horses for things, making them as bombproof in harness as possible, and show how this very green, newly-broken horse reacts when meeting large lorries for the very first time. We show him working at all paces, proving that it is safe to canter horses on their first time in harness providing they have the correct initial training. Darcy is driven out on the road, going both uphill and downhill; he knows what the collar and breeching feel like on slopes as well as on the flat. He can also slow the carriage down when going downhill (although we have brakes on the carriage we do not use them all the way down the hill, yet he does not panic when the carriage pushes against his breeching). Darcy also meets lots of traffic as there was an incident on the A303 and the traffic was diverted over the bridge onto the other carriageway.
Lots of people focus on getting a horse into a carriage in a quiet space, and only drive them initially in an enclosed arena. However we feel this is not the best way to prepare a horse - if you don't feel confident enough in your training to take it out on the roads, what would happen if a lorry drove past the arena, if a strong gust of wind blew a plastic bag across the menage, if a pheasant jumped out of the hedge, if you misjudge a turn and the carriage knocks against the fence? You cannot ever guarantee that the "safe area" will remain 100% calm and quiet on the day you put to for the first time, so rather than try and control every external factor (which is impossible to do), surely it is better to prepare your horse for a variety of things so if something unexpected does happen, the horse will not panic? It has been written in many published books on breaking that you shouldn't let the shafts touch your horse when going round a corner for example, so it does not spook and start kicking, however in our opinion you should do the groundwork properly to ensure this does not happen, so that your horse can feel the shafts on his side when first put to and will not get upset. Trying to prevent him from turning and feeling the shafts on his side is futile because if he shies sideways (which you cannot prevent him from doing) and then feels the shafts, it will come as a big shock and then most likely lead to him panicking.
Our aim is to train horse to be safe, confident and happy in any sphere of harness work, and this means introducing them not only to the carriage itself and the basic premise of being driven, but also the big wide world around them, such as traffic and other hazards. The relationship between horse and driver is vitally important as well; the horse needs to trust the driver in order to have confidence in him and therefore confidence in himself. That way if you do meet something unexpected, the horse will trust the driver enough to cope with it happily, even if it has not seen it before.
Horse Drawn Promotions - Breaking horses to harness.
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As you say, it is very good to be prepared for the unexpected. He is coping with all that heavy traffic very well for his first time in carriage on roads. Well done once again
Oof,I love this channel. Have been binge watching it for days.
How nice to see things done right! No gimmicks, quick fixes, instruments of torture (side checks, over checks, elongated hooves.)
Nice cob pony.The one comment I would like to make.The horse has to have the right temperament to start with.You can never make them brave if they have flighty personality.I have harness horses for nearly 30 yrs.Trained my own.Great videos .You make many excellent comments.From theUSA
A wise old cowboy once said "proper preparation prevents pi** poor performance." There it is, right there. 😊
Brilliant 😊
Lovely pony; he does look very happy. He's lucky his owner was smart enough to get him done right. Hello to all, from frozen Canada.
Just to let you know I’m still out here Barry and am very very grateful xx thankyou
this is really beautiful training! thank you for putting this on line. i learned so much.
Amazing and wonderful to see. Definitely want your DVDs when they are ready.
is that farther christmas practising with a horse ,before the christmas rush with the deers.
looks very good
Thanks; we had him in to train before Christmas and after he'd gone back home with his owners they sent us a lovely photo showing him in the carriage all dressed up in tinsel and reindeer antlers, taking Father Christmas to school on his first outing with them!
This is a skill I would love to learn
Is that a little hackney pony?!
What a little star.
Hi. I know this is an old video.....but do you remember how long you spent with Darcy before you drove him out on the road? X
i want to see the reaction of the horse the first he feels the harness. in this case i think the horse is already used to pulling a carriage
Really quite fascinating stuff, do you have a more complete video on training horses to be driven? I've worked around horses before, indeed I had a little mule jenny who was quite fond of me and I of her, but I'm the first to admit I've never trained any before, and one of these days I'd like to have a horse or a pony to pull a cart and perhaps a small wagon to help work around my farm and to pull me along on light errands to town and back. Is it even very realistic to want to do these sorts of things with horses these days?
I don't drive a car, not yet anyway, but I've checked and the powers that be have informed me that it would be quite all right to drive horses if I had any, provided I have the big warning triangles on the back of whatever was being drawn by horse-power.
+Shipwright1918 Hello, thanks for your comment. We don't believe there is an "A-Z" method of training horses to drive, as they are all individuals - the best way to train one may be the worst ossible way to train another. However we are in the process of producing DVDs about our work that will be for sale, showing some of the groundwork we do with a specific horse and explaining more about our training philosophies. There are many people who still work with horses (i.e. use them for work, rather than simply pleasure driving), so it is possible to do. As an example, we recently trained a Fell pony to drive; his owners wanted to use him to harrow their arena and also to go logging, so we taught him to do that as well as work in a carriage and he's now helping them on their farm. A pair of Clydesdales we trained recently will be working on their owner's smallholding in Scotland doing odd jobs, feeding the sheep, harrowing etc, as well as possibly taking produce to market and giving rides. in our opinion as long as the horse is trained properly and you have the right equipment (i.e. carriage/harness etc) there is no reason why the horse could not do as you have said. Some modern carriages even have brake lights and indicators to make them even safer if you are driving on the public highway.
Great Videos! how does one decide if they want/need a single driving horse or a team? or tandem? It seems you hitch and drive alot of different hitches, but it doesn't seem that it is always about the amount of weight being pulled. Is it just driver preference? need to exercise several horses at a time? or is there other criteria ?
Hi Lawrence,
We drive some teams out for general exercise if the days are short (winter time, disrupted by arrivals / departures / farrier visit etc.) yes, but some horses are to work in different combinations at home so must be trained for that. It is not usually about weight unless the ponies are very small (miniatures) as normally people will buy a cart to suit their single horse if that's what they want to drive. For training purposes, some horses drive in a pair with one of our schoolmasters to build confidence before driving single.
I have a hackney pony named Mr. Darcy. :0
Some hi Viz would be advisable. !!
With weels is a lot more easy for horse
Rein in each hand, tut tut tut, and where is the whip?
Michelle, your comments make us assume you are new to our channel and do not know how we do things here at HDP. Allow me to explain.
We do not use whips here, except for desensitising. You will see us use 'bobbers' (the stick of a whip with a sponge ball on the end) to touch a horse whilst driving, but we prefer never to use pain in any aspect of our training.
As for holding a rein in each hand, we do not appreciate the way you phrased your condescending remark and are going to presume you are not experienced at all with training horses to drive; or else you would realise how uneducated your comment sounds. So called 'rules' for rein holding and carrying a whip were not created with training inexperienced horses in mind. It is a much safer and kinder way to hold the reins for a horse that may need a lot of rein adjustment as they learn their job. One handed driving can come later - these students need the forgiveness in the movement of two hands whilst they are learning.
Was there a heavy load sign on the back of the carriage? That pony was earning its hay that day.
There is no difference in weight having Barry on this carriage by himself, compared to a 12 stone driver (i.e. the owner) and a 10 stone groom (i.e Sam) on the back (as most people do not drive alone, so there would normally be 2 people on board).
Barry Hook obviously a top class horse trainer but never gives away any training techniques or tips just talks about how the horse has improved due to his training . Talks non stop but explains nothing in detail .
Hi kavick4, see you've commented this a fair few times! We try to give tips where possible, but it's the old problem of 'a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing'. If someone was to watch a video and think to themselves "oh that's how you do it I'll go do that" and it was not the correct approach for that horse (as all are different and it takes a lot of experience to choose the right methods - and even then we sometimes get it wrong!) then it could lead to accidents and injuries for all involved. What works for one horse could be the exact opposite thing another horse needs.
@@barryhook2 Fair comment and thank you for taking time to reply . I have spent many hours watching your videos and all credit to you , your definitely an expert horse trainer with perfect results . I can appreciate you stating there are stupid people around who watch one piece of film then attempt it themselves mostly in the wrong way . I put my comments on a few of your films which I wish somebody had done before I spent hours watching them expecting some tips or useful advice , I do realise you are protecting your business to some extent by not revealing training tips but I prefer to know how the journey happened from start to end result not just see the final destination with the odd short clip or two that was taken at the beginning . I am sure there are many people who take great pleasure in watching your films and long may you continue but I prefer my watching to be more educational learning than pleasing leisure . Best of luck , no disrespect or bad feelings .
You need to be better seen ! Wheres your high viz gear
The Amish do this all the time.
Daniel GenX6887 Harrison and they are evil to their horses. The worst ever. I got two Percherons that were Amish “trained”. They were Amish beaten.
@@trishayamada807 The Amish are horrible with all animals. Especially dogs and horses.
@@Linda-hs1lk some aren't kind, yes. My mare was broke by an Amish trainer who is wonderful. His livelihood however is breaking "English" horses to drive/ride and is very patient and firm but very fair. My horse came back very confident, well trained, and lovely. I've had her since she was 2 years old, and I had her broke to drive at 11, so I know her very well and could tell she had not been battered about.
Horse on concrete
Was thinking the same thing. That's bad for their legs cantering them on the road.
Animals are not vehicles.
VeganRevolution, funny how you acclaim to be at one with the animals, but in all honesty you haven't a clue about working breeds, never harnessed a horse that's thrilled and happy your taking it out to trotting the lanes, they love it, your world it would be stood in a field getting fat and full of laminitis eating to much grass out of boredom.... Stick to fighting vivisection and dog fighting and leave working animals to do what they love and his in thier nature, true partnership with thier... Dare I say it... Owner
Do you want them to die bc just like elephants when they can’t be used they’ll be reduced to zoos without horses America would never have become what it is we owe everything to them
seth garrett agree with you. If we didn’t continue to ride and drive horses, there would be no use for them other than for food, for humans or other animals. You can’t make a horse do anything it doesn’t want to, nor would you want to force them to do anything they are not fully capable of doing. There is a trust needed and a horse that’s lost its trust is dangerous. My horses loved their “jobs” and they were a real pleasure to work with.
Typical stupid reaction from someone who hasn't got a a clue what he's talking about. Vegans are hypocrites. They kill more animals (rare ones) than we do for their precious 'vegan' food.
VeganRevolution : Animals were vehicles before VEHICLES were vehicles... Check your history..