I’m working with a young stallion. So far he ground drives like a dream. I think the next step is adding weight to have him actually dragging something. Would you hitch to a cart or drag a heavy object?
Our first time hitching to an actual cart will be with one person at the head for back up and myself in the cart.
I taught an older horse years ago how to haul a sleigh, quite a fun time 
First time with a youngster though.
I’d teach him about the shafts first - lots of horses freak out when they first feel them on turns. Depending on the horse, I’ll use either light wood rails or a PVC pipe travois (be advised the latter can break and injure your horse REALLY badly, so use with caution!), sometimes first one then the other… Also, get them used to scary noises behind them. I always drag cat food cans on string and/or plastic milk jugs filled with pebbles - tied to ME, not to the horse! Vehicles can make lots of noise, so you’re better off if your horse learns that scary noises immediately behind him do not necessarily mean to get the heck out of Dodge RIGHT NOW.
This is all stuff I plan to work with Q on over the winter when he gets home from “boarding school”.
When our instructor hitches a horse to a cart for the first time, (assume everything else has been done) she has the owner ground drive while she walks alongside with the cart, one shaft in a tug, pulling the cart as the horse goes… If anything happens, the horse pulls faster and the shaft slips off the tug, and is still in the trainier’s hands. Then they reverse direction, and she places the shaft in the tug on th eother side and walks along. She’s never had a safety problem or wreck.
Not sure what I think about that, but it works for her.
One thing the books say is for the first time, you should have 2 people up front and a third driving. The two up front are supposed to have a line on the horse. Not sure how I feel about that either, but it sounds really dangerous to me. Oh, they are not walking close to the horse.
I never personally would hitch to a heavy object.
But then I’m a carriage horse trainer and an advanced Light Harness Horse Instructor.
As such I train horses and people to drive well balanced moving vehicles. Not to haul static objects and the likes of wood out of forests.
How much desensitizing have you done?
Pulling tarps, bags of cans, a tire (not necessarily a big one),
My horse had the tarp stuck every where I could find to tuck in his harness and driven.–head, fact, breast collar, over him, under him, between his legs–etc
Have you actually taught him to pull? Horse have been taught by us to give to pressure and all of a sudden you are asking him to pull in to the pressure or weight of a vehicle. First have someone use a rope run through the tugs and lean their weight on that rope–and then you ground drive the horse forward so he encountered that reisistance. The person should walk with the horse but let the horse pull his weight. Then have the person run the rope through a tire --do not tie the line, again having the horse pull.
Shaft work-- we use a pvc dray (or false shafts if you will) it is a 10 foot long pair of 2 inch pvc connected at the rear of the horse by a 4 foot cross piece. Drive the horse with this a good while–I got legs of iron having my horse drag that all over our neighborhood.
Then put the cart on as someone described above so the horse is not tied into the cart. Several times of that–usually keeping it short and positive for the horse. Then tie in the shafts with baling twine or ropes with quickrelease knots. All of this is with the driver ground driving the horse. Eventually securing the horse into the cart and adding the weight of a person just momemtarily. But if you have done your homework it will be a non-event.
Then still with the header all this time, drive the horse from the cart. I even kept the header with no line attached for a couple of trips.
Good luck. This worked for me.
I always work on the theory that if someone needs to know precisely what to do to put a horse to harness and because they’re thinking of having a go and have never done it before that it would be positively be dangerous to tell them on the basis that they might try.
If you need to ask then you need to get a trainer to do it for you.
I agree with the others about shaft training and desensitization- especially the later. I would spend a lot of time on getting him used to sounds around and behind him, to the point where he doesn’t flinch or tense up when something makes a funny noise behind him. Do this staring out just leading or lunging without blinders so he can see the scary objects, then slowly progress to long lining with blinders with the noises. This can save you a lot of time and money with a trainer if you have the horse broke by someone else, if you already have the horse bomb proof, used to all of the elements of pulling a cart, and long lining through fire, basically.
To teach them about pulling against weight, I don’t like the idea of hooking them to something to drag around- at least not initially. I generally attach a lunge line or two onto the breast plate, then pull on that while long lining- usually requires a second person. Once they’re good with pulling against resistace (which you need to teach them to walk on against it), scary noises behind them, and the feel of shafts at their sides, then I start to combine these elements- preferably noises and weight first, then shafts and weight, then shafts and noises once they’re rock solid with everything else. I don’t actually tie the horse to anything initially, but have an assistant operating these functions themselves. You long line +/- drag the noise maker, and your assistant pull back on the traces (they can also drag the noisy thing if they can do both at once or if you’re not quite as handy with the lines/whip). By doing it this way and not tying things directly to the horse, you can drop the extra elements at any time and the horse can become free of these other stimuli instantly should he spook or need schooling.
Once they’re used to all of those things, then slowly start introducing to the cart without actually hooking the horse to it. This is where I’d enlist the help of a pro if you are green. The pro can work with you and the horse to decide when it’s safe to move on to the next stage of the training.
I personally don’t think it’s a great idea to try to teach a horse to drive if you’re unsure of the steps, but I also think that most good horsepeople who are good at long lining and handy, can do some of the preparatory steps themselves and shouldn’t have to rely on a pro for every step along the way. We all have to start somewhere. Get a good foundation on the horse, then enlist experienced help when you get to the actual cart/hooking horse to objects phase.
We’ve long lined him with blinders, he’s had ‘shafts’ on his sides, and he’s had about everything behind him including the owners grandson in his very noisy toy car following me while long lining. I really like what Yip had to say.
AaT,
I guess what all of us are saying is that you can;t do enough of the ground work.
Understand you are getting opinions from folks with limited experience like yourself up to our Thomas who does this for a living.
When it comes to actually putting them to a cart, you can;t have enough help or hands. As you know that is the most critical part and if you haven;t done enough on the ground, it may be all for nought.
Puting them to a cart in my opinion required a trainer who does driving for a living.
Just be safe. That is what drives all our opinions.
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