Lesson Wrap-up: 06May2025 - Our First Driving Lesson!

 Missy and I had the opportunity to take a driving lesson at home when Jen's local instructor agreed she could come teach both of us! 

Spoiler: I had a blast.

I got the opportunity to audit Jen and Disco's lesson first, which was extremely educational and gave me an idea of what to work on once we have the basics under our belt.

Look at this little stud muffin!

Disco has much more experience with driving than Jen or myself have, since he was driven frequently by his lessee in Canada, even in a show! It's so cool to see things click as she figures out how to speak his language (what's French for "trot on!"??) and how to apply familiar dressage concepts to sitting BEHIND the horse, rather than astride. 

They were smoothly navigating through the cones as a team by the end!

Our driving instructor is a wealth of knowledge, and intersperses her lessons with stories that are equal parts entertaining and warnings of what NOT to do. 

She clearly has a deep understanding of and fondness for horses to match her passion for driving. 

When it was our turn, I requested her help giving a professional once over of my cart, harness, and fit. With the remaining time, I asked that she make sure I was giving the basic commands and cues correctly. I had put to Missy 4 times prior to this lesson (if you include the first time when I never got in the cart), so we're very much a green horse and green driver in this sport! However, I told her I felt comfortable with walking, trotting, steering circles the size of half our indoor (just a bit bigger than 20m), stopping, and taking a couple steps straight backward.

This was the first time I had someone hold her head for me!

There was a LOT of information packed into this lesson, so I'm going to use bullet points. Writing this out is mostly for me, so feel free to just scroll through the photos!

Cart Inspection 

• One floorboard is rotting, so it will have to be replaced, but it is fine for now if I drive with my feet planted wide on the metal support bars. (I will need to get it replaced because I will need to learn to drive with my feet closer together than that allows. Something about I'm a "lady"? Huh, news to me.)

• There was some movement in the wheel bearings, but not enough to be concerning with the level of driving I'm doing now. I will have my (patient, supportive) husband repack the bearings if needed.

• The swingle tree needs to be greased. (It squeaked every time it moved, which means it's wearing down with every stride.)

• The lack of whip holder was... annoying. Missy tends to start shuffling around if she thinks I'm even slightly cueing her with the whip, so being able to leave it on the cart would be much more convenient when putting to.

• Once put to, the shafts might be slightly narrow for her hay belly, but they obviously weren't rubbing on her side.

• Overall, the cart was deemed sturdy enough and suitable for the task at hand.

The offending floorboard

Harness Inspection

• Off with the overcheck! Even though I had it adjusted extremely loosely, many shows (other than breed shows looking for high front leg action) do not permit overchecks. If I WERE to use one correctly, I would need to have a separate, slim overcheck bit in addition to her driving bit (as opposed to connecting the overcheck to her regular driving bit like I had it).

• The cheek pieces needed a half hole punched to raise the bit just a smidge. (She managed to get her tongue over the bit once during the lesson.)

Put that thing back where it came from or so help me... 

• The browband that came with the bridle is too small for Missy. She needs 1.5-2" more room, so the bridle doesn't crowd her ears and the blinker wires comfortably fit under the browband. (This placement helps push the blinkers out away from her eyes.)

• She loosened the throatlatch a hole, saying that since I have a gullet strap (an excellent thing to have!) it didn't need to be so snug. (Insert horror story of a horse scratching off a bridle that DIDN'T have a gullet strap and proceeding to run around bridleless while still dragging the cart and getting in a wreck, here.)

• A minimal adjustment to where the breastcollar hangs was made. There's a very slim area below the base of her neck but above the point of her shoulder where she can support the pressure of the breastcollar comfortably. In the future, I could consider an ergonomically shaped breastcollar that dips down in the front and arches up over the point of the shoulders. (Pyro will likely require that due to his conformation.) The instructor liked the padding on my current one though. 

• The saddle (even with the lack of tree) was deemed suitable for the light work I am currently doing. The padding DOES provide some spine relief. 

• Missy's forward girth groove sucks all girths up behind her elbows, but I still need to be careful to place the saddle and girth back behind her withers and clear of her elbows as best I can.

• The breeching is aaaaaalmost too small for Missy's big stock horse booty. To make it as comfortable as possible, she lengthened the back strap, which gave Miss a little more room. Her crupper was taken up slightly to accommodate that change.

Photo simply to break up the wall of text. Note the orange knife on my belt, another safety feature in case I needed to quickly cut Missy out of her harness in case of emergency. 

• The thinner biothane ground driving lines I was using have swivel snaps on the bit ends. Our instructor cringed when she saw them, saying they are a possible failure point, so I brought out my other set of lines that came with the harness. Those are a little beefier (~1" wide), which should be more comfortable to hold while driving. However, they do not have a buckle to connect the two reins, making it difficult to avoid dropping them. (Insert horror story of lines dragging and getting wrapped around a wheel, causing a major wreck and loss of championship, here.) After the lesson, I remedied this by punching a hole in the end of each rein and looping a slim hair tie through them (yarn would also work well, I'm told). This will allow me to slip the hair tie over my pinkie while driving, easily keeping the lines tidy and out of harm's way.

• I was instructed to remove the rings on the hip strap intended as rein guides, as they would restrict my reins too much. Going through the rings on the wither strap and terrets on the saddle is sufficient. 

• The traces definitely required the extension I had added, but they needed to be taken up another hole to bring the end of the shaft in line with the point of Missy's shoulder. (I had the point of the shaft a good 6-8" too far back.) Corresponding adjustments letting out the holdbacks were made.

Showing how far back the end of the shafts were from the point of her shoulder. You can also see the gullet strap running from throatlatch to noseband in this photo.

Ready to drive!

The Fun Part... Driving!

• Missy was a little herky-jerky when we started off, leading to occasional slack in the traces. She may have just been a little unsteady as we got going, but she may have also been a little stiff from being in her stall all day. She came out of her stall ready and roarin' the day prior, so I didn't think about it, but she will likely benefit from a little hand walk warm up before being asked to pull the cart in the future.

Stepping off

• When Miss wants to jig, putting her on a circle, squeezing and relaxing the outside rein, and talking to her can help her settle and stretch out in the walk. Just trying to hold her back is more likely to wind her up. I want to ensure she feels like she can stretch out and move naturally.

Wanting to break into a jog and retract her neck

• It was her first time feeling the shaft all the way up to the point of her shoulder. The sensation of shouldering into it made her feel like she couldn't bend, but that will come with time and consistency on my part.

Bumping into the shafts a bit

• When I squeeze and relax my hand on the rein, I can't give my whole arm forward afterward and throw away the contact. The half halt should be very small and gentle, maintaining the feel of her mouth just like when riding. If I drop the contact completely (and am not talking to her), I essentially disappear from her point of view since she can't see me nor feel my weight/leg. 

• The whip is my leg. If I feel one of my legs moving in the cart, I should use the whip on that side. ("I see those knees twitching!") As we change directions, I can touch her with it up behind the girth where my new inside leg would be to help support her into the new bend... just like when riding. My current whip is too short to effectively reach past the widest part of her barrel without dropping the contact. An appropriately sized whip would allow me to reach all the way to her shoulder without too much movement of my arm. 

My current whip is clearly FAR too short, but we made do for the lesson.

• Miss had some mild feelings about the whip and wanted to interpret it as a cue to go forward rather than bend, lol. Since she's so very sensitive, I can gently touch her/lay it on her side, rather than needing to flick it. 

*firebreathing dragon(mare) noises*

• When turning, I need to not only turn my head to look where I'm going, but also my SHOULDERS. I can wiggle the inside rein a little, but I have to give the outside rein (not try to pull her around with it)... just like when riding. (You may sense a common theme here.) When I turned my body, she immediately turned smoothly right along with me. Wild how that works.

Shoulders turning = mare turning

• When giving the verbal cue to transition up into the trot, it should be two words: "trot trot". Hilariously, Missy offered a western pleasure jog the first time I cued her up.

(Western) pleasure driving

• The instructor observed that Missy has a very active mind (something I heartily agree with) and the more I put her to work and get her thinking, the more Miss will settle in. Missy was very quick to pick up on the goal of driving between the cones, generously correcting at times to pass through cleanly in spite of my unskilled steering. 

Missy: "Ope, I'll just duck us inside this gate."

Still managed to kill a cone or two

• I CAN in fact switch the whip over to the outside of the circle to act as my "outside leg" (just like when riding). 

*cartoon car crash sound effects*

• As we started trotting through a serpentine of cones, Missy displayed she was happy to break into a canter. Our instructor pointed out that when she broke into the canter as we changed directions, it was because I quickly pulled her from turning one direction into the next, causing her to lose her balance. I needed to do a better job of straightening and balancing her before asking for the new direction.

Breaking into canter due to a loss of balance

• Fun fact: Missy cantering in the cart doesn't make me nervous. I have so much faith in this mare and her ability to work with me and make safe decisions, that I simply laughed and drove through it. 

Whoops!

• When I use my half halts on the outside rein to ask her to become steady and balanced, she is better able to smoothly perform movements like the trot serpentine. 

Finding her balance

A moment of straightness before the turn

• The last concept our instructor introduced was asking Missy to stretch out in the walk just like she would during a dressage free walk. I had to balance letting out the reins without dropping the contact, and eventually she relaxed into it nicely.

A prompt down transition, no issues slowing the cart with the breeching

reaching out...

...and lowering her poll.

• We ended with me gently gathering her back up into a halt.

A little BTV, but listening

All the praise for a job well done!

I came out of the lesson with an appreciation for dressage-based driving, as well as a clear idea of concepts to work on going forward. Once the longer browband, longer whip, and whip holder to mount on the cart arrive, I am confident we'll have Missy as comfortable as possible in her harness, and I'll be set up with the tools to effectively apply the driving aids. We hope to have our instructor back next month, and I can't wait!

Well done, mare <3