Howdy, I am an experienced dressage rider who, due to health reasons, cannot ride any longer. 
I have a horse that I love with all my heart and am considering learning to drive with him.
I can’t find a lot on line about driving trainers near me - I’m in Columbus, OH. I have a trailer and could travel to a trainer. Any one know of a good trainer in Central Ohio?
No names to help you. You might look in the American Driving Society magazine the Whip for advertising to find a Trainer of horses and drivers. The Carriage Association also has a magazine, the Carriage Journal that has advertising to find such Trainers. Thirdly is the Driving Digest, with lots of advertising for all things related to Driving. There are good Amish trainers of horses in your area, but most are advertised in the local Amish magazines and word-of-mouth. All Amish are not created equal, so get references from folks they trained horses for. Ask to learn what methods and how horse will be worked as the training program. It might not suit your horse and you, so you keep on looking for another.
The CDE stuff is most likely to be found in the magazines. Such driving Trainers advertise where the audience they seek will read and find them.
Checking the ADS site, you can check for your State, find local driving Clubs to contact and ask for more information. Under Members on the top of the Home Page you find Regions. Ohio is in the Central region, so here is a link to those States and your Regional Representative. Go down the page to the list of States, click up Ohio, which should show the Clubs for you to find folks. Hope this is helpful.
http://americandrivingsociety.org/Members/Regions/Central.aspx
Get on Facebook carriage driving groups
There’s several saddle horse trainers in central OH. ASHA.net has a barn finder. So does AMHA. Most saddleseat trainers drive as well as ride. It may not be where you want to end up, but it could give you start.
I know a woman in Fredricktown, in Knox County. She trains stock horses to drive, but could help you get broke to the cart. She’s safe, knowledgeable, and reasonable. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll get you her info.
What part of Columbus are you in? I’ve sold my cart, but could help with the ground work
Have you tried getting ahold of Peggy Brown? It looks like she is still active doing clinics.
Not sure, but I think she may be north of you, closer to Toledo. I really learned a lot auditing a couple of Centered Riding clinics she did several years ago. If I recall, at the time, she had a very competitive Haflinger she was driving.
[QUOTE=AQHA4me;8916618]
I know a woman in Fredricktown, in Knox County. She trains stock horses to drive, but could help you get broke to the cart. She’s safe, knowledgeable, and reasonable. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll get you her info.
What part of Columbus are you in? I’ve sold my cart, but could help with the ground work[/QUOTE]
Great, thanks! I am in Westerville. I’ve been playing with a little ground driving and that is going well, but I don’t really know where to go from here. 
[QUOTE=fjordmom;8917391]
Have you tried getting ahold of Peggy Brown? It looks like she is still active doing clinics.
Not sure, but I think she may be north of you, closer to Toledo. I really learned a lot auditing a couple of Centered Riding clinics she did several years ago. If I recall, at the time, she had a very competitive Haflinger she was driving.[/QUOTE]
I have not but I will look into it. Thanks!
http://www.blackswampdrivingclub.com/otheroh.htm
This site has info on Ohio driving clubs.
I drove a single horse for about 8 years or so, and rather enjoyed it, but I was younger then.
Some practical thoughts: Whole new pile of equipment needed; driving comes with its own set of risks and accidents can be ugly. You don’t say why you can’t ride but when considering vehicle, getting in and out can be tricky. Some people I know discovered that when actually sitting there w/ only two reins, they were not comfortable with the idea of really driving. Get some input before buying a vehicle; they need to “fit” the horse - height and angle of the shafts, mostly.
I’m not trying to discourage you, just some food for thought.
How large is your horse? I still have some miscellaneous harness parts laying around
Shoot me a message. I’m 10 minutes east of you, I can fill you in on the local CDE scene and hook you up with the trainer we all use in Granville. Most of us came to driving from foxhunting, eventing and dressage. Welcome to the Dark Side. LOL
We have a super group here in Central Ohio, go to shows together, help each other navigate and do a lot of fun social drives and trail driving!
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