Ground driving Oak

Are you sure you are doing it right?

Oak is an eight year old Haflinger gelding. He was saved from slaughter only to be put up for sale again because he was proving to be a troubled pony who would probably never be kid safe. I have had him since mid February. I have no idea what his training history is and he is very distrustful of humans, so I have gone back to the very beginning with him. I will eventually update his page "Rowan Oak" with his story.


We are doing some ground driving because his last owner did a few sessions with him already. I think it is a great activity to do with a nervous horse like Oak. It helps him get used to movement and pressure on his flanks and behind him. I don't feel like I am good enough at it to really use it as a training tool to teach aids though. I feel like a klutz.

 

Oak Training Log

Location: Arena

Duration: ~ 30 minutes

Activities:Brief lunging session, sacking out with the ground driving reins, and then ground driving. We practiced steering and transitions from walk to trot.

Comments: Our second ground driving session was much better than our first. He was not reactive at all to the reins, and was very calm despite the high winds. Our steering was better -- less drunk, but still lacking finesse. I wish I had more experience with driving because it is like the blind leading the blind.

Sleepy pony