I have driven pairs (ponies & Morgans) for several years. Haven't had one pair yet that really pulled well together without some encouragement from the driver. I think Hardy's description of "Emil 8's" is very good. Unfortunately, with 3 that drive now, I don't have a pair going to try it on. (I need to fix that situation since I really prefer to drive pairs. Dana, since Hardy isn't here, I'll resend his description. I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Don From Hardy: Emil 8's - sorry long - but important :-) I was away a few days, so am sorry to come back to this only now. Yes, I think there has been some very good information given. I too switch my horses from side to side so that they do not become one-sided and develope both sides of their body. I switch them almost every time I drive. But yes, they do have their "better" side and naturally I use them that way when going to an event. I also agree with the post which said, to put them with their stiffer side to the pole, meaning when you have a horse that bends better to the left, he should go on the left side, and the one that bends better to the right, should go on the right side - at the show ! At home quite often the other way around to get that stiff side worked more. But at the show, obviously each time the inside horse has to bend more as he makes a smaller turn, so let's use his better side at the inside of the turn and his stiffer side on the outside. So if you have the fortune that both have different sides as their better side, then great! If both have the same side as better side, well, then not so great, then I still use the stiffer of the two on that side to where he can bend better. A general word here for making them bend better, which I think I have posted before, but doesn't matter, as we probably have new people on by now: I find that teaching horses to bend goes better in a pair than as singles, as with the pair the carriage helps! In all the turns drive that INSIDE horse forward, with the whip on the inside (of the turn) and forget that outside horse, even if he lags a bit behind. When the inside horse pulls, that will make the pole wanting to go to the outside (if you don't understand this, just pull on your carriage yourself on just one side in front and you'll see how the pole will go away from you), making the turn bigger, giving the carriage the urge to move "out" of the circle. Great, because then you can counter that by taking up a bit more inside rein, and voila, you get that neck of the inside horse bent to the inside! And since most pairs have the tendency automatically to carry their heads a bit towards the pole, never mind that outside horse, he carries his head already into the turn by himself. That's how you get your bending! And besides, that inside whip with which you drive your inside horse forward, at the same time also encourages that inside horse to bend around that inside whip if applied at his side where the rider's leg would be. Or, if you apply it a bit further back, no problem either, as there it encourages that inside hind leg to step underneath the body. Both good for the bending. So then, the best excercise for this for a pair is large figure eights! 40 meters diameter, first at the walk, then at the trot. (Emil 8's for those of you who remember him, except he did it with 20 meter circles, which is great too, but only once they can bend and are more advanced already, so we better start with 40 meter circles). One circle to the right, making the right horse do the work - and giving the left horse time off - just drive your right horse in that circle, and then followed by the next circle to the left, now making the left horse do the work, just drive him, and give the right horse time off! So we alternate between left and right circles, and left and right horse having to work and having time off. Great for them, great for the bending, and as automatic side effect: They learn how to lengthen and shorten stride by themselves, as each time the outside horse has to lengthen and the inside horse has to shorten stride. And when they learn that, voila, all the spectators are happy to see another pair going so often in stride with each other! Horses are like humans, they want to be in stride if they can. You and me would want to be in stride if we take a long walk together at the beach or in the woods and carry on a conversation. It walks and talks nicer when one is in stride. Same with the horses, they want it. So the Emil 8's teach them how they can adjust their strides, and then they apply that. You can drive Emil 8's for an hour or longer if you like. It's good for them! But make sure, you drive that inside horse and get some bending. If you can't get bending at the trot, then do it just at the walk until you get it there. Then keep everything relaxed and then start doing nice and easy trot, and it WILL come there as well! As long as you keep them relaxed and drive that inside horse. Try it, you'll like it and it works! Trust me and do it! Good luck Hardy _________________________________________________________ To Unsubscribe, change to Digest or Vacation mode go to: http://www.drivingpairs.com/dpmem.shtml `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````