[RC] my endurance buggy horse!!!!(safety first) - Tx Trigger
While Jody had an exceptional experience hooking a
horse straight to a "buggy" without going through all the steps ahead of time to
teach a horse to drive, this is by far the exception. With any e-mail list
on what ever subject, you will have a huge range of experience with each
different subject. On Ridecamp, we have lurkers who I'm sure have not got their
first horse yet, and are just reading about the sport of distance riding, to see
if that sounds of interest. The flip side is members with decades of horse
experience. My problem with folks reading about just hooking up a horse to a
cart of buggy and heading down the road, is that if someone less experienced
with horses decided to try that with their lovely Arab "Bint ahn Runnin", and
things DO NOT go well, and it becomes a HUGE wreck. I've had horses all my life.
I've competed some with my former endurance horse in Combined Driving Events,
Pleasure Carriage driving shows, and driven just for fun in the streets of our
Southern CA neighborhood we used to live in. Being around carriage horses, I
have seen some horrible, horrible wrecks. As far as horse involved wrecks,
horses who were being driven are the worst. The horse will have total fear. Once
they take off, nothing usually stops then until they run into something, or go
down and get caught in harness or something else and can't get back up. A
ridden horse that takes off usually does not have that fear to keep them
running, but often just the desire to get where they think they want to go.
Horses being herd animals, they will often head for a group of horses. When you
have one doing so with a carriage bumping and bouncing, often flipped on it's
side by now, the herd usually does not want to stick around for the on coming
horse.
If you have an interest in driving, there are some
great resources out there for information. One of the best is a list like this,
just for carriage driving. Go to the link below, and clink on the link for the
CD-L (Carriage Driving List). Ask questions, seek help. Understand how to
purchase the best harness and cart or carriage for your used, and that is
SAFE. Last thing you want is some cheap eBay harness to break, or the
wheel to fall off that antique buggy you bought at the local swap meet. See
above for "wreck" information.
Sorry if this might seem a bit strong to some. But
I have a passion for Carriage Driving that is about as strong as it is for
distance riding. Both are wonderful, wonderful sports. But there is MUCH more
risk and safety concerns for driving than riding. Do it right, so you can enjoy
your drives.
