Everything Horses and Livestock® Magazine February 2018 Vol 3 Issue 1

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

down around the tail and back up to a buckle. It keeps your harness in place. If all is well after the harness is on, tie them up for 10 – 15 minutes. Stick around to make sure all is well and they don’t get themselves in a bind. After your tie up session, untie and hand walk them with their halter and rope.

By Delana Hay Jilek

In my November 2017 article, we discussed how to desen- sitize and start your miniature horse for driving. How is your project going? By properly com- pleting your ground work, make sure they can stand patiently before moving on to the next step. If they are still being too fussy, keep working on our first steps until this is achieved. If they are ready, it’s time to put their harness on. CHOOSING YOUR HARNESS AND DRIVING BIT

Harness comes in several different materials, leather, biothane and nylon. Biothane and nylon are great because they are easy to keep clean. To clean them, take your water hose and spray them off after each use to remove dirt and sweat. They also come in many fun colors. You can choose red, blue, black and purple to name a few. Leather harness gives you a more refined and finished look but takes more maintenance. Clean your leather harness with glycerin and follow with a leather conditioner. Choose between breast plate or collar style harness. Either is fine and is your choice. You will need to measure their height for correct fit. Size A fits 34” or less and Size B fits 34” to 38”. Choosing a driving bit for me is easy. I start them in a Half Cheek, 3 ½” snaffle mini driving bit and continue to use it from start to finish. Most minis are so willing and want to get along, they don’t mind when you harness them. They don’t even seem to mind the crouper. A crouper is a part of the harness that goes from the back line of the harness

Photo Credits: Otha Robinson

You can do this next step yourself, but if you have a helper, training will go easier. Start by running your driving lines thru both rein turetts on the harness saddle. Turetts are the two rings on top. Once your

driving lines are ran through, it is now time to get behind them. Stand a little off center and say step up, then smooch to encourage them to move

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