[drivingpairs] Pair musings
- From: Hzlax@xxxxxxx
- To: drivingpairs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 12:39:48 EDT
I very much prefer starting young horses in the pair. Maybe because I am a
confirmed pair driver. I don't do much single driving at all. I can teach
bending much better in the pair (figure eights - and I just wrote a long
article for
the Pairs website on it. We'll wait till Helen puts it up if you want to read
more on it- although I have mentioned it a few times already on the list).
But then, since I am a pair driven in my heart, I have no need to teach the
horse much single driving either, as I never plan to use them much single. I
want
to use them in a pair. This is the pairs list, so here I can admit it. Horses
are herd animals, they like to be in a pair. So why bother to drive single if
you have a pair :-). But yes, I also admit, sometimes they must go single.
If one doesn't want to pull at all, hey, here comes the tire to pull in the
ring, first light and slowly weight added. He'll learn to pull. Also, of
course,
I have the luxury that my wife does a lot of training under saddle, which
helps working out some single issues. But I also find driving a young horse in
the pair much safer. The older horse give the youngster confidence. He can't
just turn around and leave town, when he spooks, the old guy holds him steady,
etc etc. I have a student here who has four mules and drives them in pairs.
All of them are fine in the pair, she rides them too, and under saddle has had
occasional spooks, turn arounds, run aways etc. So she is under strict
instructions from me to never drive any of her 4 mules single. Too risky. But I
encourage her to pair them up in any configuration, and it works fine (They are
ready now also to be driven as four-in-hand, and I have trust and confidence
that
we won't have any problems at all. But I don't want to drive any of them
single. No sir, not me.)
So for me, friends, it's pairs - and up. The more the merrier. No problem
either to put a youngster in the wheel of a team. He has even more security
there, and learns best to go through water, up hills etc etc. Learning in the
group
is much easier than by himself, I think.
But I agree, if you do plan to use the horse single one day, or also in a
tandem, sure, then they also must learn to work single properly.
Hardy
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