Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine May 2018 Vol 3 Issue 2

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

down the driveway, pasture, or anywhere you would drive your cart. Make sure and whoa, stand quietly for a time, and repeat. In every training step, I concentrate on whoa and stand. Both commands are huge important to keep you and your mini safe. On average, I have found that it takes anywhere from 3 days to 6 weeks for them to be comfortable dragging these poles. If your pony can not handle the pressure of dragging the poles, then go back a step to the ground driving. All this monotonous ground work, will lead to a mini that is a true pleasure to drive. Always remember to end your sessions on a good note. Praising and encouragement goes a long ways. Don’t miss our next issue for more Miniature Horse Driving. – Delana “Dee” Hay 785-418-2770 deehay@centurylink.net

By Delana Hay Jilek

In our last issue we finished our session with harnessing and ground driving. Only move on when you feel they are ready to proceed to the next training step. If they need more time ground driving, continue with this step until they seem comfortable. The next step is to teach them to drag an object. My go to for this step is 2 – 3/4” pvc pipes. I have drilled a hole in each pipe to add a snap using a string to hole them on. This makes it easy to attach the pipes to the

well as works to desensitizing them to something dragging behind. You can put a string at the bottom to hold the poles together or let them stay loose. Some people prefer to add a short piece of pvc at the bottom to form a travois. I prefer them loose. The dragging poles will bother some and not others. Most of them will accept the poles within a few minutes. The dragging poles help desensitize them to the cart. As you are line driving your pony around, the poles touch their legs working on desensitizing them. Do not back them with the poles. Continue to drive them around the yard,

rein turetts on the saddle of the harness. These poles resemble the feel of the cart shafts as

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