[drivingpairs] Re: books/harnessing up

Well Nancy,

I hate to say it but I'm everyone's worst nightmare.  I'm a beginner driving
trying to train beginner animals.  I live in a fairly remote community and
there's not much for clinics available.  I can hook up with some experienced
driver's in my area but often we don't have the same *time slots* available.
The other thing I have difficulty with is that the local drivers are all
very traditional (no insult intended) and most are driving big drafts with
collar and hames and the odd team of Fiords here and there.

I want to use a breast plate for my team because I can custom make my own
harness from front to back if I do.  If I use collar and hames I have to buy
the collar and hames and it's tough to fit my guys.  I have two pony mules
and while they are pony height they are very bulky throughout the body and
neck.  Very difficult to fit a collar for.

I'm trying to train Jack, an 18 year old pony mule to drive single and when
I can finally get near him I hope to train Rocky, a 6 year old pony mule to
be his team mate.  I also have a big, 9 year old molly mule, Mattie and a
yearling sport horse, Daniel that I would like to drive.  They would be
great single and could possible be paired.  Certainly would be an odd
looking team but they are the same height and almost the same stride
(depends on the colts mood if he wants to drag ass or keep up with the
molly)

Considering the fact that I'm not a competive person and only hope to drive
them for my own pleasure I don't care what the pair/team looks like as long
as they can work well together.  That's why I was asking if a tandem can be
different heights......is it possible to hook a big animal in the wheel and
a pony in the lead???  The quiet ones that will be in harness first are the
18 year old mule and the sport horse yearling.  The other two will be a
little while before they will be ready.

I'm hoping to get together with my neighbor and hook up the large ones to
some of his drafts but he doesn't have anything pony sized......I have to
admit I would hate to hook up a pony horse to a pony mule....the strength
difference could be a problem and a spooky pony mule could drag a pony horse
all over the country.

Cindy



----------------------

From: Nancy Lindley <nlindley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [drivingpairs] Re: books/harnessing up
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 13:26:15 -0400


Hi Cindy,
 You know, I thought of a whole ton of books tha I adore, but when I thought
about it, I don't think any of them give a spcific kind of 'how to' harness
up... there are some variables, per type of harness/ cart... maybe someone
will think of a book for you, but myself I would try to root out a local
expert & check out different harnesses & configurations.
 There are some great web sites out there, that might offer soem help too.
What kindof horses are you putting together?  and are they previously
trained animals, or are you just starting them yourself?
 Nancy in NH
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

_________________________________________________________
To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: 
http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Other related posts: