[drivingpairs] tandems and pair carriages

>Welcome to the new member - Keith -- are you from the US?  There has been a
>lot of discussion on this list lately on starting tandems; you might be
>interested in looking a tthe archives for last month.  There is a nice photo
>of list-member Sterling driving a grey tandem in the recent Whip mag. (hey -
>all you just starting up tandemaniacs - how is it going??)  when i thought
>about tandem (briefly!!) all i could imagine was that my little grey mare
>(aka the shark) would kick the stuffing out of a horse behind her.... Does
>that ever happen???????


guess i missed the tandem topic......starting a tandem is tons of 
fun....mickie bowen helped me start my 12 hh ponies this winter and 
we had some tandem clinics with them to encourage others to go home 
and attempt to kill themselves...but they must have been 
successful...no lawsuits yet ;)
to start them i first had to figure out how the harness went on, then 
used a mulititude of snaps and lengths of baling twine and started 
long lining....eventually we hitched them to the carriage and we had 
people walk along side them until they were comfortable and then i 
drove them around in the arena for a few days until i was sure i 
could steer and stop and then it is just like working with any other 
horse....just introduce them to a new thing everyday until you are 
ready for CDEs !

I took them to MLM pleasure show first and Caroline wrapped herself 
up the in the reins at the first cone and i had to put my groom 
down...plus by the end of the show everyone knew her name and thought 
Lemmontree ghostie was a saint.  But then at gladstone we went prelim 
and actually finished all three phases..plus dressage and cones went 
great !  only one time penalty in cones and we were the last turnout 
to go so little ghostie trucked through that bog of a cones course at 
200 mpm ~!  ~ yes...i'm very proud of him ;)  Caroline and ghostie 
had both been driven single and were very safe for beginners at that 
point but neither of them had ever been to a cde or even an overnight 
horseshow.  I think taking them both together made it less scary for 
them than if they had gone alone.

If anyone is interested in any tandem lessons....mickie Bowen is 
available to teach here at Irish hobby Farm in Bluemont VA with her 
welsh cobs.  I have not set up any formal tandem clinics for the 
summer so just call or email for lessons or you can bring your ponies 
and horses and we can help you get started.

Plus...rumor has it that there will be a tandem div at fall gladstone 
if there are enough entries so get those tandems ready !!!!


>
>     Carriage : I have a Bird in Hand Flyer - with lots of extras, still a
>little under $5000.  Nice enough to be used for more than marathon, but
>still tough & handy enough for the cross country.   -- I really like this
>carriage -  the one probelm it presents is that there really is no good
>place for your groom to sit behind you - so in dressage & cones you have to
>either ask permission for the groom to be seated beside you, or (as i do)
>make the poor guy sit on the box backward  & cling on in terror.  brave of
>him & amusing for spectators.

as far as carriages go.....Tracey higgins imports the 
bellcrowns...they are super light and not very expensive... and 
Harvey lagasse of journeys end carriage has a new line of Lessing 
carriages that are very reasonable, light and pretty.

-- 
Wendy Ying,DVM
Irish Hobby Farm
Bluemont, Virginia
www.irishdraught.us
wendy@xxxxxxxx

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