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So this is Magic, she's an
Andalusian mare we've been training.
We're just bringing her down through the village now, we've got some
ladies riding in front of her which is always a good thing
to be able to show; the fact that
she's not rushing to catch up with the other horses
she'll still do as she's told, not calling out to them either,
you never know if you're going to meet any riders or any horses while you're out on a drive
so its a lovely thing to be able to do with them, take them out in company.
If you watch here we're coming down into the water,
no hesitation when she goes in.
You've got the different pull of the carriage
so by that I mean it gets heavier as it goes into the water (the drag of the water)
gravel on the bottom makes the wheels sink which makes it harder work for her. But she'll pull it on now, no plunging
just doing her job, and its slightly uphill going up there.
We've got Magic in a different carriage today,
this one's got solid wheels.
So she's been in both pneumatic tyred and solid wheeled vehicles - this one's
a little bit more
rattly,
because of the solid tyres. But she's got no problem pulling this,
working well, still being driven in
a soft piece of rubber.
So we've asked Fletcher to canter her into the water today;
see she's going in with no hesitation at all,
going forwards,
which is exactly what we want to see.
And on the exit this time,
I've asked him just to bring
her back a little bit when she comes out
just to show that she'll pull it up this slight slope after being asked
to come back to a stand still.
You can see there,
standing then pulls it straight on again.
Now we've got Magic's owner on the reins.
So it just shows that the mare will do
what she's asking; obviously she doesn't know the mare -
she knows her from owning her but she doesn't know her in terms of how she goes in harness.
The last time she saw her was when she sent her away
to be broken to drive previously
and things didn't go so well
consequently she's got to
learn how to drive the horse.
Even though she made a mistake there the mare's still willing to pull it
on uneven ground.
So that's a lovely thing to see.
Sat up behind, just
following this lady driving her horse.
This is the Andalusian
the problem we've got
we need to keep
her on the reins
as much as we can and she must listen to what we're saying,
when we give instructions on how to drive this mare because
this mare wouldn't move forwards when you asked her, she wouldn't do anything, she froze
and its a very difficult thing. We take it for granted maybe
which is our fault,
how to drive the horse
but its now having to teach the owner
how to drive the horse.
If you put just a little tiny bit too much weight on the reins
she'll stop dead
and not go on.
Or that's what the horse was like 2 weeks ago.
Since then we've been
developing its head carriage, we're able to put a bit more weight on the bit
and that type of thing.
I'll just wave these cars on.
It's a very very delicate thing to do; we don't take any notice of it
because
we do it all the time
you know having to get the horse's head carriage right, the balance
but apply too much pressure
and you'll unnerve the mare and she'll start to doubt she can pull the load.
That's the way we read the horse.
On the other hand
not enough firmness with her and the mare would be
capable of taking a liberty.
i.e. she would not do as she's told. She needs to do as she's told
so trot on when she's told,
obviously when you're out in the traffic the horse has got to
obey every command you give it.
We've got it to that stage now where it does everything
we want it to do
its safe,
to take on the road
everything's there, now we've got to try and train
and do our best to train the owner in the time we've got.
Or retrain the owner to drive this horse how she needs to be driven for her to continue
to be safe
on the public highway.
And that's what we're doing at the moment.
At the moment everything's going just fine,
and we've had stop/starts, she's had hill starts,
as you can see on the film you know
she had to stop at a junction, pull out,
and she's managed it just right. If you had too much weight
on your hands at a junction she wouldn't pull on
and its a very very awkward
situation to be in;
when we know, and we're trying to pass that experience
which is what it really is, onto somebody that
doesn't have it. All we can do is do the best we can
so that's the purpose of taking
3 hours out the day to do this.
That's why we don't teach
the very reason we don't teach is because we're going to take 3 hours out the day,
possibly 3 and a half
to show this lady how to drive her own horse.
Obviously she needs a backstepper or somebody with her when you're driving a horse
that's obviously a need
especially so with this one.
The things I don't like
that the lady is doing, she will keep
tickling the horse with the whip.
But the horse doesn't need that. You don't see us doing that, its on the voice;
just tell her to trot on and she'll trot on.
She'll trot, she'll walk
she'll do everything you need - in training you never see us put a whip on her.
So that's one thing we've got to alter. But if we turn round and say to her now
put the whip away
you don't need to use it
that's going to unnerve the lady, so its a catch-22.
Getting everything all right.
The interest I have is not in the lady,
I don't mean that with ny disrespect, its in the horse. The horse has had a bad start
we've got her right, let's just hope
that that's kept going.
I will tell her when we get down, to ease off on the whip
carry it if you must
I know the British Driving Society say carry the whip,
but if the horse will go on voice commands why do we need a whip?
If the horse will answer immediately
you see when I'm driving it or Fletcher's driving it
we never use a whip, just tell her to trot on and she'll do her job. Tell her steady
and she'll come back. It doesn't need that
but
this is the problem; you've got a different style of driving
and the horse has got to adapt to it; we don't own the horse, all we've done is
get it to pull
and do its job, so its really awkward.
Very very awkward.
Now we've instructed her not to use the whip, she's put it back in the stock
a lot of people disagree with that and say the correct way to drive is with a whip
my answer to that is
all our horses know what a whip is,
they've been touched in front of the pad and behind the collar with a whip,
and they've also been touched everywhere else with the whip so its not that they're afraid
of a whip in any way,
but if the horse will go on the voice, why ever would you want to hit it with a whip?
On this road here
there's a bit of a rise
so you can see Magic's coming along here
still only being driven in a soft piece of rubber, going willingly up the hill,
not being hit with a whip
or struggling to pull the carriage - she's getting into the collar at the trot because she's been asked to
which shows that she's happy to do it.
For this mare, that's a lovely thing to see.
What I'm saying with this mare is
what we've done, you're happy with? O: I'm ecstatic with her.
B: The point is, its down to you now. That's an awful thing to pass over to somebody
because we've got
a lot of experience
because of the time we've been doing it.
So we're asking you now to take a horse on
that you no longer really know
in the point of the training she's received
her response is different, everything's different
its like having a new horse.
And you're in a new discipline. And you're with a horse that if you put 1/2 lb too much weight on the reins
the mare's going to stop or wonder what you require of her.
On the other hand you've still got to drive the horse,
be in charge of the horse
to be on the public highway
that's your duty, to be able to take the horse
we know what
we've done is right, she's safe
she does the job and everything
and its a lot on your back
and that is the...
it's not like you live round the corner
where you could
come every day.
O: I bought my mare Magic, I bought her as a 6month old weanling with the express purpose of riding and driving her.
Started riding her, was very pleased with her, and I sent her away to be trained
for driving. I brought back a very traumatised horse that wouldn't drive -
she was very panicky, very worried about everything
so then I had a decision; do I only ride her
or do I continue with what I'd set out with.
So having seen Horse Drawn Promotions on the internet
I spoke to Mel and Barry
and
brought her down here.
She came initially for a week to see where they could go with her and if it was something they could manage
and here we are at the end of the time, you can see on the videos I've got
a very happy confident horse,
No obvious signs of that trauma, although I'm aware that its still in her memory.
A happy confident horse to ride and drive which is what I always wanted.
So I'm a very happy lady and I've got a very lucky horse.