My husband is interested in finding a trained driving horse. He is an experienced horseman – many years ago did jumpers, eq, polo, foxhunting – but he has only driven a few times. For that reason, he’s looking for a a ‘been there done that’ kind of horse that he can learn with. What sites are the best places to look for a driving horse? We’ve been browsing equine.com, dreamhorse.com, equinenow.com but haven’t seen too many that fit the bill. Are there different sites that driving horses are advertised on?
well trained driving horses are a rarer commodity
One of the easiest places is the standardbred rescue groups
Many stbd’s available
most trained well to drive, but usually not the finess of show driving
and if they have raced they may need some transition time
the other place is to contact trainers of the type of driving you’d like to pursue
The Morgan breed and Saddlebred breed also have many horses trained to drive and the breed assoc may be able to direct you to trainers or breeders
Saddlebreds also have many rescue groups that can direct you to horses trained for driving
If would help us to direct you if we had an idea of your location
Many of us know of trainers or sources local to us but not on WWW sales networks
If I were looking I’d focus on buying through the network of driving clubs. Many of these are quite small and don’t always have websites, but you can find their contact info via the American Driving Society. Find your most-local driving club(s) and call the contact person of each and talk to them about what you are looking for, and then call the people they refer you to, etc. who will be area trainers and owners.
Plus it would be nice to have a network of people you can share driving tips with and go to events with maybe.
Standardbreds are often a good affordable option - they’ve driven for ages and are often quite good tempered and used to things like traffic and hustle/bustle.
You can look on the online sites, too, but take what you see with a grain of salt. Some people’s idea of “it drives” means it pulls the cart around the farm, but God forbid you ask it to walk faster than a snail (or halt for more than 2 seconds, or trot slower than a runaway train), it will have a tantrum. That can be true with word-of-mouth finds, too, but I feel word-of-mouth and referrals carry a little more weight, especially in the context of a driving association.
Thanks, Drive NJ. Our location is northern New England. There are a few Morgan breeders around here that we can talk to, but I think that in the ideal world it would be nice to find one that he could ride as well. This would dictate a LARGE horse, such as a draft x. It does not have to be fancy, just sensible and safe for a new driver.
Ditto your location, since I know a half dozen people I could refer you to in southern New England…
ETA: there should be a good bunch of driving clubs up in northern New England to touch base with: http://www.americandrivingsociety.org/regn_northeast.asp
well draftX can be a funny thing
Yes they are big and yes many of them have had both riding and driving training BUT many of them have had what I call poor up-bringings
They have not had discipline until well after they know their size and it makes for a challenging personality
We have two draftX and had both trained to drive (they were riding broke). One boy took to it fairly easily and the other has needed a lot more time to be comfortable driving (he is mentally very immature for his age, and needs a lit of hoof-holding)
When we were buying there were very few draftX on the market that were not aged or very young or had issues
The good ones get kept for a long time
There are many draftX from the midwest but that does not allow you much option to try before you buy
http://www.carriage-barn.com/
this is one place that brings in good trainers for clinics and may have more contacts to get you started
There is a woman in Maine, Robin Cuffey, who specializes is standardbred re-training
Dont discount them as small horses - they do come in all sizes
A friend of ours had one well over 16H who was often mistaken for a warmblood
She also wrote The Essential Guide to Carriage Driving
http://www.trot-on.com/
When I was horse shopping recently I came across a lovely 17 hh standardbred gelding who looked nicely broke to drive and also decently broke to ride. Too big for me, and I just looked and his ad is gone now.
Canadian Horses (Cheval Canadien) are popular for driving and are like a larger drafty Morgan in appearance. I’ve known a couple who also fox hunted and evented. That’s another breed you could look into.
Ask lots of questions, but there are many on there that have been in the show ring for a few years. You’ll pay more for a good one, but there are quite a few good ones on there, and most ride too.
If you haven’t done so already, you might join the CD-L. Go to www.carriagedriving.net and follow the prompts there. It comes as an email digest and posts include a variety of gossip, news, for-sale ads, etc.
I want to second the suggestion of contacting Standardbred rescue centers. We just adopted two mares from the Standarbred Rescue Foundation and I cannot say enough good about the work that they do and our lovely mares. I had horses all my life and have been driving for many years and after having minis for quite a few years, we decided that the grass at our new farm was making it very difficult with those little guys and we went back to full size horses and the Standardbred was suggested to us and at first I was skeptical but I am definitively a fan. They are smart and very eager to please, both are older and were retrained so I have no experience with one just off the track, but the Foundation is very responsible in guiding potential adopters, they have quite a few lovely one at the moment.
The trouble with rescues & sale sites is that “most” of the horses being offered will have a problem. If they need to be retrained from the get go , you are taking a chance with your funds, hoping it will work out, the same with buying horses off websites. I always tell people not to buy other peoples problems! The best way to buy a driving horse is to work with a driving trainer! The best way for this to happen is to go and meet a trainer, he/she should take you out with a horse and see how well you drive and what type of horse you need. You should both talk about where you are currently and what your goals are for this new horse.
Once you have a solid trainer helping you, you can count on there experience to see things in a horse that you may not and would get you into trouble down the road. IMHO it’s the best money spent!
Most good driving horses are made and not bought, if you work with a good trainer you can find a nice horse that you can bring along nicely. But you will find many driving horses out there have hidden problems.
Robert
Driving is an expensive hobby. I’d honestly suggest spending time learning if your husband really likes driving before investing in all the necessary equipment plus the horse.
I’d suggest doing whatever is necessary to find some way for him to drive (ideally extensively) before making the leap. Morgans, Saddlebreds, and Standardbreds all are routinely trained to drive. Morgans also have “hooves in each corner” … i.e. they are driven in breed shows and compete in CDEs. So, a Morgan barn might give your husband exposure to a variety of types of driving.
We’ve had great luck with our driving horses, but I drove before. Plus we met up with a really great person to help out. (I’d been away from driving for so long that I’d forgotten a lot! :o)
I also just did an advanced search on equine dot com for New England and driving and there are a few very nice possibles there.
[QUOTE=xitmom;4814313]
Thanks, Drive NJ. Our location is northern New England. There are a few Morgan breeders around here that we can talk to, but I think that in the ideal world it would be nice to find one that he could ride as well. This would dictate a LARGE horse, such as a draft x. It does not have to be fancy, just sensible and safe for a new driver.[/QUOTE]
Morgans are 95% trained to ride and drive! The local VA /NC club is www.vcmhc.org You may be able to find help there! A great resourse!!
Elise
[QUOTE=tandem4u;4816544]
The trouble with rescues & sale sites is that “most” of the horses being offered will have a problem. If they need to be retrained from the get go , you are taking a chance with your funds, hoping it will work out, the same with buying horses off websites. I always tell people not to buy other peoples problems! The best way to buy a driving horse is to work with a driving trainer! The best way for this to happen is to go and meet a trainer, he/she should take you out with a horse and see how well you drive and what type of horse you need. You should both talk about where you are currently and what your goals are for this new horse.
Once you have a solid trainer helping you, you can count on there experience to see things in a horse that you may not and would get you into trouble down the road. IMHO it’s the best money spent!
Most good driving horses are made and not bought, if you work with a good trainer you can find a nice horse that you can bring along nicely. But you will find many driving horses out there have hidden problems.
Robert[/QUOTE]
THANK YOU FOR WRITING THAT.
I just witnessed a passenger get thrown from cart and get a serious injury (two days in the hospital) last weekend with a little pony (A LITTLE PONY, MIND YOU) that the driver had just got, that was anything but suitable for driving yet! Sketchy past home and history -rescue story type of thing. First time out, and turns out it is a bit of a runaway.
It happens SO often. Buyer beware.
My friend has a fantastic 16.2 hh Hackney horse mare for sale that is a dead quiet beginners horse. completely uncomplicated and drive and rides on trails and in the ring. was trained by Larry Poulin.
she also has a very nice 13.2 hh bay pony mare that sells with an nice leather a and h harness and meadowbrook cart. rides and drives, loves kids.
I am putting pix on my website tonight
Just a reminder to keep the recommendations and requests general to comply with the site’s no-advertising policy–we’ve removed some comments for that reason. xitmom, if you’d like to put up a more specific query to garner responses with specific suggestions, please check out our paid “Horse Wanted” classifieds section.
Thanks!
Mod 1
For a genuine “been there and done that” he’d be better off using networking contacts such as driving trainers or driving club members who can let him know if there’s a good reliable older horse coming up and get in early and before it’s advertised.
I personally think the chances of finding one just browsing round general horse advertising web sites is as likely as finding rocking horse excrement!
I just saw an adorable Morgan gelding listed on a show horse sale site. The gelding is shown put to a Meadowbrook, and apparently has shown, and also does ridden dressage- I was shocked to find him on a site that appeals to Saddle Seat folks- and, of course, I’m not looking…
They are out there! You can find some awesome horses in the mix of those who have been on the road with the Amish- even for a shorter period of time. God knows I see a bunch of them every time I’m driving around out there…
