Ground driving at 3 or earlier, light work at 4 seems reasonable to unprofessional me. By all means have the baby go out working next to mom if you have a safe place to work. In our draft horse club, drafters are started very early. The old timers believe that training begins at birth. No one wants to mess with a wild 2 ton horse later on. The foals are often seen trotting beside their dams while the dams are working in either in a farm or carriage environment. Babies are ground driven in furrels during our plow days. Yearlings are dragging those wood farm "sleds" around. On a personal note, I also deal with small equines and I like to see them then started a little later with the harder stuff. I trained a rescued miniature mare last winter to drive. She is 4 years old. But when her baby teeth fell out over the summer, I immediately slacked off working her as often, figuring that her malnutrition had led to developmental delays. Since she was already driving and level headed, I switched her to be a leader in my tandem, figuring that at least she wouldn't be pulling as hard or as often. My guys LOVE to be worked - even the babies like to be "worked". We play dress up in the harness and "pony" them from the cart. Occasionally one of the 2-year-old's slip out when I'm fetching an older one (they crowd the gate) and walk right over to the hitching post! Too cute. At Harmon's - they have a couple of youngsters also. "Brooks" - a young belgin draft - also hovers at the gate waiting for his turn....... Martha D Silk Purse Farm, VA http://www.minihorsecde.com/SilkPurseHome.html ------------------ How to get started in Combined driving: http://www.minihorsecde.com/ Need a driving mentor? http://www.minihorsecde.com/mentors.html _________________________________________________________ To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.shtml `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````