Carriage Driving

Sarah Blanchard, Heike Bean

Description

"A book that will take the most novice beginner and permit him or her to progress to any level of driving with a clear understanding of how and why things are done."
--William E. Miller, M.D., President, American Driving Society

"[The authors] obviously know their subject well and treat it with much sensitivity and wisdom. I only wish I had this book before I started my driving program."
--Sasha Rockefeller

The modern bible of carriage driving . . . now back by popular demand

Widely renowned as the definitive book on training the driving horse, Carriage Driving offers an easy-to-follow, practical guide to this increasingly popular sport.

The philosophy is simple but remarkably effective: If driving is as much fun for your horse as it is for you, he will be a willing partner in the endeavor. With that in mind, Carriage Driving focuses on building a strong physical, mental, and emotional relationship with your horse. Equine mechanics, selecting the right bit and tack, harnessing, and ground training are just a few of the topics addressed.

Drivers at any level will benefit greatly from this groundbreaking book, which has stood for more than a decade as the preeminent resource on training a balanced, responsive, and safe driving horse.
Preface.

1. Understanding Your Horse.

2. Equine Mechanics.

3. The Bit.

4. Finding and Fitting the Right Harness.

5. Choosing the Right Carriage.

6. Auxiliary Reins and the Whip.

7. Basic Ground Training.

8. Hitching.

9. Handling the Reins.

10. The Lateral Bend.

11. Longitudinal Bend (Development of the Topline)

12. Transitions.

13. Impulsion, Straightness and Collection.

14. Driving for Pleasure and Competition.

15.Pair Driving.

Bibliography and References.

Index.

Sujets

• Animal Sports
• Sports
• Driving (horse)
• Equestrian
• Recreation
• Sport équestre
• Sports équestres
• Sports équestres
• Sports équestres

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 21 avril 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470332665
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

CARRIAGE DRIVING
CARRIAGE DRIVING
A LOGICAL APPROACH THROUGH DRESSAGE TRAINING
Updated Edition
HEIKE BEAN and SARAH BLANCHARD
ILLUSTRATED BY JOAN MULLER

HOWELL BOOK HOUSE
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 1992, 2004 by Heike Bean and Sarah Blanchard. All rights reserved
Howell Book House
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., 10475 Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, [phone], fax [phone].
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at [phone], outside the United States at [phone] or fax [phone].
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Bean, Heike.
Carriage driving : a logical approach through dressage training / Heike Bean and Sarah Blanchard : illustrated by Joan Muller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87605-898-5
ISBN 0-7645-7299-7 (paper: alk. paper)
1. Driving of horse-drawn vehicles. 2. Driving horses-Training. 3. Carriages and carts. I. Blanchard, Sarah. II. Title. SF305.B36 1992 91-37323 636.1 4 -dc20 CIP
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
PREFACE
1
UNDERSTANDING YOUR HORSE
2
EQUINE MECHANICS
3
THE BIT
4
FINDING AND FITTING THE RIGHT HARNESS
5
CHOOSING THE RIGHT CARRIAGE
6
AUXILIARY REINS AND THE WHIP
7
BASIC GROUND TRAINING
8
HITCHING
9
HANDLING THE REINS
10
THE LATERAL BEND
11
LONGITUDINAL BEND (DEVELOPMENT OF THE TOPLINE)
12
TRANSITIONS
13
IMPULSION, STRAIGHTNESS AND COLLECTION
14
DRIVING FOR PLEASURE AND COMPETITION
15
PAIR DRIVING
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
INDEX
PREFACE
All forms of driving increase in popularity, there has been a great need for a book that focuses on the step-by-step training of the driving horse.
This is a practical book, written for all driving enthusiasts, from novice to advanced, and for their horses. You won t find much here about style and beauty, and we don t address the subject of correct appointments or examine the hundreds of different styles of horse-drawn vehicles.
We are solely concerned with the correct training of the driving horse, the use of the right equipment and how these affect your horse s well-being and progress in training from the first lessons right up to competition. The beginning driver should be able to use this as a complete manual for training a sound, safe driving horse; the advanced trainer should find thought-provoking discussions of the way a horse should be trained; and we hope everyone will be able to use this as a reference manual for new ideas and answers to problems.
Limited space prevents us from covering all topics as thoroughly as we would like, but we hope that, through this book, you will come to a new understanding of your wonderful equine partner-and that both of you will benefit.
H EIKE B EAN
S ARAH B LANCHARD
CHAPTER
1
UNDERSTANDING YOUR HORSE
Our horses are made up of the same materials as we are-blood and bones, tissues and skin-yet they are very unlike us. The evolutionary processes that have shaped the horse (the hunted herd animal) are very different from those that have produced the human (the cave-dwelling hunter). To successfully communicate with our horses, we must always keep these differences in mind.
THE NATURE OF HORSES
Our domesticated horses are very close to their wild ancestors and even closer to their present-day feral cousins. Horses are far better equipped to live in the wild than in our enclosures and buildings, yet they do manage to live with us, and even thrive, in relative harmony.
We seldom make it easy for them, however. The same abilities and instincts that make it possible for horses to survive in the wild are those that often seem to cause what we think of as problems in our domesticated horses. To the horse, however, it is we who create the trouble with our unnatural demands.
Our horses physical structure and natural behavior patterns can work either in our favor or against us; it all depends on how well we understand their needs and instincts, and how skillfully we adapt these traits to our own training goals.
The horse s basic nature dictates both the things he will easily learn and the things he will never learn. In your day-to-day relationship with your horse, you are his teacher (whether you want to be or not); for him to succeed as your willing partner, he must also acknowledge you as his superior. If you don t understand his social nature and his physical capabilities, you will never be a good trainer.
The horse is not a piece of sports equipment, and he has not been put into this world simply to be our slave and servant. To gain his cooperation and trust, we must learn as much as possible about him.
The Horse as a Herd Animal
First and most important-especially from the horse s point of view-the horse is a herd animal, accustomed to living in a social hierarchy. In the herd, every animal has its place. That place is determined by heredity (dominant mares tend to produce dominant foals), character (active animals are generally more dominant than placid animals) and physical strength. A herd member is usually very content in his place in the pecking order, as long as he feels that the dominant partner or partners are clearly in charge. However, as soon as he senses weakness in his superior, the horse will challenge the relationship and perhaps fight for a new position.
This trait is vital in herd life. Each herd member must understand and accept the hierarchy, but each must also challenge any sign of weakness. For the herd to survive, the strongest and most attentive animals must always be in charge, to guide and protect the group.
Although the horse has been domesticated for thousands of years, this instinct remains strong. Every horse needs to understand his place in the herd, even when some of the herd members are human. In his relationship with people, your horse will create a hierarchy, whether or not you realize (or appreciate) the implications of this.
We can use this trait to our advantage, of course, since the horse that fully accepts his trainer as his superior will be quite willing to learn and obey. The horse that does not respect his teacher will constantly challenge the relationship. If you do not know enough about reading your horse s likes, dislikes and intentions, he will have no inclination to learn anything from you, and will (literally) walk all over you.
As a herd animal, the horse is also very aware of the general mood of the herd. Fear is quickly transferred from one to every other member of the herd, even when the individual herd members do not know what the cause of the trouble might be. In a relationship with humans, this means that a horse very quickly picks up the emotions of the handler-and he often acts accordingly. A good trainer always practices self-control and always understands how he truly feels. It is nearly impossible for a trainer to mask fear or indecision from his horse. On the other hand, a calm, unhurried partner (horse or human) can help to instill calmness and confidence in a young or worried animal.
With any horse, we must remember that these are built-in behavior patterns. These instinctual reflexes stem from the horse s success at survival through many thousands of years; although much of our training involves adapting the horse s behavior for our own purposes, we will never entirely eliminate the patterns.
An Animal of Prey-Not a Predator
The horse, after all, is an animal of prey, programmed to run away at the slightest sign of danger. Any wild horse that ignores a rustling in the bushes becomes a predator s lunch. In his natural environment, the horse who survives is the one who pays attention to danger signals and is always ready to flee.
The horse is superbly constructed for running away. He has survived because he has managed to avoid being eaten. Keen hearing and a sharp sense of smell; eyes that can scan a wide area and work together or separately; and powerful hind legs for running are all important adaptations keyed to survival through flight. The herd members help, also, by giving every horse many extra pairs of eyes and ears to locate danger.
Gender as a Factor in Behavior
Many people do not realize that mares are really more dominant, by nature, than stallions. The lead mare of a herd is the group s social director and protector, d