Deryn: I in no way mean to imply that your method doesn't work. In fact years gone by that was the prefered method of training. But then horses were bred to be "beasts of burden" which resulted in a calmer attitude in life. Todays horses, especially those that are shown, are bred with a lot more energy and with that comes a little more questioning attitude. All the pairs I have put together in the last 40 years have not been with the aid of a break horse. For me to get a horse in harness as a single take me about 90 days. It is a very slow process in which the horse is taught what I am asking to do. I have not had a single or pair become an uncontrolled runaway EXCEPT when I have tried to follow the process of an old timer. There is something they use in that mix that I don't understand so I have stayed with what I have had success with. My ground driving is not always in a circle. In fact they do learn a 20 meter circle, lateral movements, backing and if it is a nice day a hike down the road. They learn that reins can be wrapped around their backside, under their belly and around their hind legs. More than anything they learn to trust me without questioning. They are taught early on 'If it scares you stop' I will get them out of any problem they are in. By maintaining a good line of comunication with the horse I can tell when they are ready for the next step and I will proceed only at that time. In the end I have a partner that will literally listen to what I say and respond. I have never had a teamster drive any of my horses that they aren't impressed at how well they move out and how willing they are. Everyone who has driven my horse are more than impressed at how lite and responsive they are. Seven year old kids can drive a high powered stallion and actually get him to do what is asked not just go in circles. ....................................... Al FreeLists Mailing List Manager <ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: drivingpairs Digest Sat, 17 Apr 2004 Volume: 03 Issue: 075 In This Issue: [drivingpairs] Teaching ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "The Stewarts" Subject: [drivingpairs] Teaching Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 07:06:40 -0500 I didn't mean to insinuate that I would take a young horses totally unprepared and put him with a breaking horse. I do the ground work. You never know what a horse will do the first time it is put to a carriage, no matter how much preparation you do. If Albert has never had one totally unexpectedly break in two, he is lucky. 99% of the time, everything goes well, but you have to be prepared for that 1% (perhaps it is even less than that). The horse learns it is okay to have something fastened to it and behind it. Then you can proceed with your training however you feel best. Attempting to ground driving with the horse constantly turning towards the driver is teaching what? Every time you work with the horse, it learns something. Wouldn't it be better off learning to go forward quietly? We have not been fortunate to have a breaking HORSE available very often. All our ponies were started with an old pony who taught them the ropes. Only one of our young horses was so lucky. She did exactly what I expected her to do when put with the big horse. She stood there and didn't move. She knew how to drive in long lines well. If I had put her to single, what would my options have been? She HAD to move forward. With the breaking horse, she had no option. He walked on, and she skidded a few steps and then walked with him. I'm not even sure if she had two drives with him, but I had no problems single from then on. Deryn ------------------------------ End of drivingpairs Digest V3 #75 ********************************* _________________________________________________________ To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Aspice Morgans Albert Seminatore Roswell, NM E-Mail: alsemus@xxxxxxxxx WebSite: <http://www.homestead.com/_horses4sale/horse.html> --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos: High-quality 4x6 digital prints for 25¢ _________________________________________________________ To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.html `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````