Driving questions/commands?

[MyMia]

Ok, this was kind of odd. When I clean stalls, I park the wheelbarrow nose in to the stall with the handles sticking out in the run-in area. Mia, being the nosy busy body that she is, always comes to inspect the job, and twice she's acted strangely around the wheelbarrow.

The first time, she backed up to the wheelbarrow and picked up one leg at a time--it looked like she was trying to sit on the wheelbarrow. I thought it was funny, but didn't think too much of it.

The second time, she backed herself up to the wheelbarrow, but this time was closer to the handles. It occurred to me that maybe she'd been trained to drive and was trying to get herself between the shafts of a cart?

Mia was a rescue who didn't know how to be ridden. She's a Saddlebred so it's conceivable that she'd have been trained as a driving horse, although I know absolutely nothing about driving, so I have no idea how I'd even check to see if she was indeed trained as that. Is there a command I could give her to see if she listens and reacts? The only thing I know of is gee and haw (and I'm not sure which is left or right, or even if they use those commands for driving!). Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

[Vacker Hast]

This is just a very fast response but you are correct in the commands "Gee = Right" and "Haw = Left" and these are driving commands that are always used today.

I'm sure that IrisGreen, Rod44 or even HoustonFarrier can give you some good advise. Do you know how to ground drive? If so you can try that and see how she does. While just leading her around you can stop her then put yourself to her side and ask her to "Step Up" she should take one step forward but many people teach this during ground work so it's not a tell tell sign but you could see what she does.

Stacy

[WashingtonBay]

Maybe she's going to poop in it. I know I've tried leaving my barrow right in the spot where mine like to poop... just to see if one day I'll get lucky and they'll decide to make life easier for me :D

[IrisGreen]

I don't know about racing horses but most commands are similar to these:

Gee: Right (Remember the letter G is not in the word left so it must mean right)
Haw: Left
Step Up: Take a step forward
Should back up on command or with little pulling.
Should be able to stand calmly and wait.
Should know how to step over.

For tight turns or U turns some people put "round" in front of Gee or Haw. So, you would say "Round Gee" to make a tight right turn and have the horse side step and pivot around the cart with out moving the cart.

I think the best way to see if she can drive is to ground drive her. Put a surcingle on her and some small rope lines and try it out. You can get 50 foot of soft small rope in a bundle at most hardware stores or TSC. Cut it in half, tie a clip at one end and you have yourself a set of 25 foot driving reins for $10.

If you can saddle her then you can use the stirrups to keep the lines from dragging or getting tangled under her if you don't have a surcingle. Try this in a round pen or controlled area. See how she responds when you ask her to move forward. Depending on if/how she was trained the "start moving" command could be anything. Some just use "walk" some use the horses name as the command to start walking. "Walk on" is a popular command too. I think most everyone uses "trot" as the command to get in to a trot so she might know that too.

If she was used for driving she should also be pretty comfortable with ropes and stuff around her and on her to get her prepared for having a harness on. So, she shouldn't be spooky around ropes and tack.

I hope this helps. Ground driving is a great exercise anyways. Even if it's just to get the horse listening, fallowing commands and staying calm. You can really see what your horse is made of when ground driving and if they really trust and listen to you when your not on top or beside them. Giving commands from behind them and them listening is not that easy. lol

[IrisGreen]

That's a good idea Vacker :) Sorry, we posted at the same time :)

[MyMia]

Thanks for all the help (and laugh, WB!). I've never done any driving, ground or otherwise, but it does sound like a good thing to try. When this snow finally stops, I'll have to see what she does! She's pretty good about halters, tack, etc, and she was taught to ride shortly before I got her so having a saddle on her isn't a problem (she's still green, though--I don't get to ride as much as I'd like!).

Some more questions about the responses--IrisGreen, when you said "step over" do you mean sideways? If I'm on the ground and want her to move over, I just kind of push her in her side and she moves. Would I do something else if it's a "driving" command?

Also, the "step up" command is for one step only, then stop?

Last one (and the most stupid, but I'll ask it anyway)--are the commands for driving the same no matter what? For instance, if you're logging with horses vs carriage driving, do you say/do the same things? There's a local guy who sometimes logs with his Belgians down the road, and I'd considered asking him what he thinks the next time I see him but didn't know if it would be the same.

Thanks again!

[RipSpark]

My mare drives but I can tell you she would think you were crazy if you tried to say those commands to her. I am in no way saying those are wrong, lol just that she doesn't know them. So it is possible the horse can drive and wouldn't know those commands. Someone probably has a better answer but I agree try line driving her(although some horses know how but have never been hooked up).

[sarhound]

Yeah, it depends on who worked with them in training-- all of our boys know "Get" as "turn left" and "Come" as "turn right." We use "Step" when we want them to trot with the carriage. They all know "Whoa" and "Back."

The horses that I drive know a little different lingo--my boss would cringe if he heard it. I tell them "Up one more" when I want one or two steps forward, and "Hang a U-ie" when I want them to do a U-turn in the middle of the street. It didn't take Prince, Dale, or Ned very long to figure out what I meant. They also know "Wait" means to not take the turn in front of the approaching car...gotta watch out for the gawking tourists who aren't paying attention to the carriages.

[IrisGreen]

lol! Yeah, Driving commands are pretty open to the trainer or owner. Some horses are wonderful at driving and don't know any traditional voice commands. The one's I listed are "normal" commands but that doesn't mean everyone uses them or the horse even puts two and two together and knows what the voice commands mean with out help from an aid or rein. Most trainers try to use the same commands so drivers can go from one horse to another using the same commands. But, once the horse is bought the new owners usually change the commands some to there personal liking.

Step over, is just side stepping. Just like you would poke your horse to get theme to move over on the ground but more controlled. You should be able to move the front or the back over individually depending on where you poke them. It comes in handy if your backing them up to a carriage and need them to get into place to be hooked up. You don't want them stepping over any time you poke them by accident because you are putting harnesses and stuff on them, so they should ignore any poking, rubbing, or adjusting of the harness. So you only want them responding or moving when you give them the voice command to move in the direction you want (step over, step up, back, etc.).

Step up is one step. It's good for a driving horse to know so you can ask them to get into the collar but not walk off with the cart. You just want them to take the slack out of the tugs so you can make sure everything is adjusted correctly. This can also come in handy for other things like trailer loading. Also, some horses when you stop tend to back just a little to take the pressure off the collar while stopped. This means when you go to make them walk again they take a big step forward and jerk the cart as they hit the collar to start pulling. If you ask them to step up first and put them in the collar then ask for a walk there is less jerking when you go to walk forward. It's a much smoother ride and gets the horses ready for work again when you make them get back into there collars.

I think your best bet would be to just try ground driving her. You will know once you try if she has drove before. She might get a little excited at first that she's doing something she knows but you should be able to tell if she has done it before. Some horses prefer driving to riding so they get happy to be hooked up and go for a drive. Its like grabbing your dogs leash and they know there going for a walk:)