laura
Novice Novice Pony
Posts: 4
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Post by laura on Aug 30, 2008 19:34:56 GMT
Hi everyone, think there are a few people I know already on here!! Thanks to Kaz for sending me the link! I live in Co. Durham and breed Dales ponies with my family - we have Nipna Dales pony stud, and do mainly showing. Currently have 3 stallions and numerous others!! My ponies are Dartdale Grey Bobbie II, a grey Dales stallion who came to me at the beginning of the year - I have high hopes for him (although he thinks otherwise!!) in the showring - our best result this year was ridden champion at the DPS Spring show Have done numerous other shows this year with him although with not the same results...he gets extremely excited about showing and consequently finds cantering in a group highly entertaining, meaning we are usually at the wrong end of the line!! I absolutely love showing him though as he has a huge character and is very entertaining! A couple of pics of him - we think he has probably driven in a past life but have yet to try him! At the NPS champs: Last weekend: My other pony (and the reason for me joining this forum!) is my Dales gelding, Lowhouses Sonny. He is a lovely gelding who I broke in to ride myself. He is 7 this year. Literally in the last week I have decided to take int upon myself to teach him to drive (after watching a driving class at a show and being bitten by the bug!) He is literally only just beginning to learn to drive; he had a harness and blinkers on for the very first time on Thursday, and did not put a foot wrong, he was an absolute star and wasn't remotely bothered by it all! I am also a novice when it comes to driving, so will be definitely taking lots of advice and getting lessons (anyone know any instructors in County Durham area?!) Would love to eventually do private driving with Sonny A couple of pics of him - With his blinkers on, as you can see he was clearly extremely bothered by it all (I'm sure it's not quite on properly but wanted him to get used to the feeling of it. Will not be doing anything else with harness or blinkers until I have taken professional advice!) and ridden: Sorry, such a long introduction, off to have a browse now ;D
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Post by happyhorsedriver on Aug 31, 2008 0:25:24 GMT
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Your ponies look fab I use to drive a dales (my boy Hieland Laddie in my sig) they are great horses to drive good luck with the breaking in. ;D
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Post by rabatsa on Aug 31, 2008 9:27:37 GMT
Hello and welcome. Your boys look lovely, good luck with the driving.
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Post by goodgollymissmolly on Aug 31, 2008 16:01:20 GMT
Hello and welcome. I love your ponies, I have Shetlands.
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Post by wally on Aug 31, 2008 18:58:44 GMT
I used to ride a little Dales mare, she was an absolute hoot, such a sense of fun. Folk used to think she was a plod! I often wonder why folk think our M&M are plods. We trained her to drive and she was great. Sadly she was PTS due to moon blindness, such a loss, such a sweet mare....never met a hairer horse mind! Your guys are stunning, love the grey, but you can keep him due to turnout issues! Bad enought with a piebald! Can I ask about the tradition of tail ribbons, is there any code? I often see them with red, white and blue ribbons, what's the reason??
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zoonie
Single Horse
Posts: 176
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Post by zoonie on Sept 1, 2008 11:04:11 GMT
Hi there! Welcome to the board. I love your grey - he is an absolute stunner and I can picture him looking a dream in harness. Great to hear you're planning having some lessons - it really isn't as straight forward as people think and you wouldn't want to risk anything upsetting those beautiful ponies. I think Pat Cooper is not too far from you - she could be contacted through the North East Driving Trials Club www.nedtl.co.uk/ or the BHDTA board - she is a very good teacher and very popular. You wouldn't go far wrong with her. There are a lot of good competitive drivers in your area who may be able to offer assistance - don't be afraid to approach any of them for help, they are all very friendly and supportive.
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laura
Novice Novice Pony
Posts: 4
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Post by laura on Sept 1, 2008 19:24:37 GMT
Ooh thanks so much! wally - the tail ribbons originate from when Dales ponies were used as working animals. I believe their tails were docked/shaved/tied up out of the way (something like that anyway!) and then when these working animals were shown they had ribbons in to decorate the tails. The tradition has carried through but now has a secondary purpose of telling judges which is a Dales and which is a Fell pony The red, white and blue seems to be a more modern thing, you can actually have any colour ribbon but it seems more popular to have those colours now Thanks for the link zoonie! will try and get hold of Pat
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Post by rabatsa on Sept 2, 2008 6:51:09 GMT
Pat by preference will teach you to drive two handed. Insist she teaches you coachman if you want to do private driving or showing with your boys as she is only interested in driving trials. She is ideal to get you started but then use someone else to add polish.
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Post by wally on Sept 2, 2008 12:20:51 GMT
Echo Rabatsa, coachman style in the ring is a must.
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Post by happyhorsedriver on Sept 2, 2008 13:00:12 GMT
I echo that too but far to many people are driving two handed in the show ring now!
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zoonie
Single Horse
Posts: 176
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Post by zoonie on Sept 2, 2008 16:16:00 GMT
I can understand purists wanting everyone to drive coachman and I agree for the showring it makes such a difference to the look of a turnout however if we are to encourage people into our sport and we should perhaps be a little more tolerant. Once the turnout is aspiring to greater things then coachman is definitely much smarter. I think a lot of ponies and horses I see at local shows would 'go' much better if driven two handed and I believe this comes from drivers trying to master their rein handling before concentrating on the way the horse is working. The most important thing is for beginners to learn to be safe and confident and Pat will certainly show you how to do that.
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Post by rabatsa on Sept 2, 2008 21:50:34 GMT
I was not pulling anyone apart but Laura seems to be "into" showing her ponies and I am guessing that that is the direction her driving will take. From training RDA drivers, both disabled and able bodied I have discovered that those that learn coachman first can easily drive two handed but those that learn two handed find it hard to adapt to coachman. Maybe it is just the drivers that I have had dealings with..... No matter what kind of driving safety should come first, then fun. Whilst confidence will be built with experience.
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Post by wally on Sept 3, 2008 8:05:59 GMT
Coachman is much safer than a rein in each hand.
When I am training real babies I always drive coachman as you can have much more control of the length of the reins in emergencies. A rein in each hand is fine for schooling a more experienced horse and in the fields, but on the road I would NEVER drive two handed.
Any good driver should be totally at home with both methods and be able to use both methods appropriately with style.
There is a good reason coachmen drive coachman style, and it would, I guess, have come from vast experience from hours and hours on the box seat.
A rein in each hand for trials seems to be the norm now, but not many coachmen would have done much at gallop though obstacles.
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mikeb
Single Horse
Posts: 162
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Post by mikeb on Sept 3, 2008 11:43:39 GMT
As a pupil of Jane MacInness - I'm obviously of the everyone should at least learn coachman style point of view I generally drive coachman on the road and always if it's a road where there's likely to be traffic but as I don't have much in the way of off road driving around I do school on the road and will drive 2 handed. Some people however really do find it difficult to master - especially perhaps those from a riding background and it is definitely easier to get a horse going correctly 2 handed. Whilst I agree that once you get to a certain point within the showring then it is a big part of the overall turnout I think that in lower levels especially novice whip class etc there should be a bit of leniency. At hopetoun this year in the novice whip class there were 2 people driving 2 handed and the judge (John Cowdrey) made everyone drive part of the show in 1 hand - which to me seemed like he was just trying to prove a point. IMO this attitude is merely going to put people off from going back and trying again. And what's more dangerous - forcing someone who isn't really familiar with it to drive one handed - or someone who is happy to drive 2 handed doing do?
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laura
Novice Novice Pony
Posts: 4
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Post by laura on Sept 3, 2008 19:38:33 GMT
Oops, seem to have sparked a bit of debate here!!
As a total beginner to driving I don't know the 'ins and outs' of the pros and cons of coachman and 2 handed driving. However, as Rabatsa rightly says, I am into showing and would eventually love to do private driving classes with Sonny. If coachman is the method of driving shown in the ring then that is the path I will take when learning. Sorry if that is showing my naivety but surely you have to do what is appropriate for your discipline?
I imagine it is similar to someone turning up in the show ring with a jumping saddle on (for example) - alright it's not exactly "wrong" to do so but equally it is not a professional turnout and way of going into a class? Yes it may be harder to learn to drive one-handed but surely if the eventual aim is to look as professional as possible then you just do what's needed to be done?
Like I said I don't know much about driving at all so apologies if this post doesn't really make sense!!
Off topic - is Jane MacInness an M&M judge mike? There is a J MacInness who judges M&M's and I wonder if it's the same person.
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