| Author | Message | ||
     Kenina Platts |
i live between newark & lincoln, and have a small private yard, i love driving and would welcome carriage drivers to my yard, livery or if you wish to just park n drive, | ||
| Janet Pilling |
I was showing a 3yo in-hand and the judge was very taken with him. Placing him first she said he was 'very correct' and asked his breeding. When I told her he was Friesian/Arab/Welsh she was surprised and when I explained it was a contrived cross as he was bred to drive she was frankly horrified. I told her both his parents had been very successful competition ponies and that he would one day compete at Windsor - she wasn't to be swayed and grudgingly gave me the red rosette muttering, I can't believe this pony is destined to spend his life in a cart!! I'm sure she envisioned him doing a milk round :o) - he is now in the Advanced class! | ||
| Christopher Priestley |
Fiona - send this link to people who think good horses or ponies should not do driving. http://www.eurodressage.com/auctions/psi/2003/rep_rotano.html I've found people expect driving horses and ponies to all be somehow inferior. There is some ignorance (if not prejudice) about driving and it really gets my goat sometimes. I agree - a bit of good press about the wonderful variety of horses and ponies that do driving would help a bit. | ||
| Fiona Powell |
I've been phoning people to try and find a pony to break for driving. I want a showy pony and some sellers say, "He's too good for driving!" and put the phone down. We need to do some PR? | ||
| Nic & Libby Castle |
Having seen a couple of livery yards advertising on this forum as "Drivers welcome" it really made me think. Georgina has a shetland, he drives, aswell as being ridden. Unfortunatly we don't have the land to keep him at home. You would think it would be relatively easy to find him a warm, cozy home? No! In Cheshire livery yards with any space are few and far between at the best of time. We ended up in the unfortunate position of the yard we are on talking of closing so had to find our lad somewhere new. We went round various yards in the local area with space only to find that, upon mentioning driving, suddenly those free stables are "reserved" or "not suitable". The more honest owners just say "We don't allow carriage drivers on the yard because....", this is followed by a variety of reasons including "All horses are scared of carriages." Please forgive me if I am mistaken but we regularly see horses ridden, without blinkers, at events with carriages all around them. Don't get me wrong, yes some horses are scared of carriages but, as a compassionate driver, you must do your best to make allowances for other people on the yard. Is it just in Cheshire or has anyone else had this problem? As an end to this sorry tale it looks like our lad hopefully won't have to move. We are lucky we have a lovely yard manager who says she wants more drivers on the yard. She welcomes the fact that we do something different and that it gives the other horses something else at home that they may otherwise only see at shows. |