Could someone help me with a question? When I am backing up my mini in harness and want the back of the cart to go to MY left, which rein do I ask with? Mini has a very nice straight back up installed and now it is time to work on backing through some obstacles. I do not want to confuse him with my inept guidance as he puts up with enough from me already :o.
The cart is a pleasure cart (2 wheels) if that makes a difference. And please don’t tell me it’s like backing up a horse trailer :lol: cause I can’t do that with any grace, either.
Thanks!
With a two wheel cart it’s more like backing a car. If you want the back to go left, the front needs to go right.
I used to do three point turns with my ponies and a two wheel cart. But I couldn’t tell you how I did it. It was pure instinct. The nice thing is if you choose the wrong line, it’s pretty quick to figure it out and correct the problem.
I think you’d put the pressure on the right line to back left, but I could so easily be wrong.
Rebecca
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Thanks Rebecca! I know I’m overthinking this, lol. I’ll try right line to back left next time I take him out and see where we end up.
A suggestion that might help is to back the cart yourself and think about where the pony would be and where they would need to move. You can practice just backing it into storage or through obstacles.
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I’ll do that, thanks!
With a two wheeled cart the front of the horse and back of the cart move in opposite directions. If you are swinging the shoulders left the back of the cart is going to swing right. If the shoulders go right, the back of the cart will swing left. How you ask for the turn with the reins will depend on if you are asking the horse to turn towards the bend or yield away from it. Basically: are you asking nose and shoulders to go left or is the nose looking right as you push the shoulders left?
