If no one has ever taken the opportunity to tell you that you are and ass Thomas let me be the first. 
LF
You are of course entitled to your opinions but I don’t have to agree with them … and clearly I don’t
OMG, someone being called an a** on the driving forum! Where are my smelling salts?? <RidesaHaffie swoons> :eek:
Lost Farmer, you bring an interesting perspective to this forum that I enjoy hearing about as I think many others do. I don’t use my horses for farming and yet driving my horses is a way of life for me, just as farming with your horses is for you. But I guess I don’t see where plowing fields is any more of a valid experience with horses than what I do, especially given that my horses live on an Air Force base where there is minimal need for plowing. :lol:
I also think Thomas brings valuable experience and perspective to this forum. I appreciate the depth and breadth of experience of many of the people who post here and I think this forum is richer for having all of us weigh in with our various voices. Within the equestrian subculture of the 21st century, the driving community is very small and I personally enjoy hearing as many of those valuable voices as I can, even if I don’t always agree with them. We’re all united in our desire to keep the ages-old skills and routines of driving alive, even though we all have different ways of interpreting and using those skills… and viva la difference!:yes:
Thanks Ridesahaffie for a little perspective here.
LF I love hearing your stories with your horses and a working farm and really like the photos with the mountains. 
Driving for me is a leisure activity for my own pleasure. My life style like so many of us here does not lend itself to farm work. My horses are driven 2 or 3 nights a week. Is there room for improvement for them or me? You betcha—:yes: That means occasionally we get more “training”. It really is what one chooses to do with their horse and what level they strive to achieve. You have wonderful ponies who drive in parades (I shudder to even think to attempt that:eek: ) and pull heavy loads to feed your cattle. My horses do a pretty good job at CDEs–something that your ponies might have problems with. Do you care? Not a hoot as your horses have a different job. You offer a different perspective. It simply is different strokes, different folks. :yes:
Thomas–love it that you like Arabs or Anglo Arabs!!! Thought you were a stuffy sort!!! You bring a whole different view to our discussion.
It is all in the semantics. By using a horse I mean do something hooking 3 times a week is using. When people get in trouble it is usually when they forget that the horse needs a job. Ever see an athlete that was in good condition that never was pushed until they broke a sweat? I bet Lance Armstrong pushed a little harder than a quick walk around the park. 
As often as we hitch to work we hitch to play. My 8 year old drives all the time. (Never without me on the vehicle.) He catches grooms and has the ponies mostly harnessed before I get home from work.
As for the CDE’s I would love to give it a try. Try finding one in boondocks Idaho. We would stink the joint up in dressage as I don’t have a clue about it and the ponies even less. Cones we could handle and the marathon obstacles would be like some of the combinations that we go through to do chores. Could we compete with the big guns? not a chance. Could we make believers out of some? I would bet we could.
My mentor and friend is 75ish and has been breaking horse before most on this BB were conceived. He broke everything he could find to drive. (goats, oxen, donkeys, mules, draft horses, light horses, ponies, dogs, he even has pictures of a chicken he started to a small cart.) He farms with a team but also does parades, furnerals, weddings (is there a difference? :winkgrin:) and even horse pulls. Horsemanship knows no discipline. Anyhow, this old duffer was approached about starting a few horses to carriage for a high brow Spanish breed farm. The horses were to be started here then moved to the south to compete. His farm started horses were able to go down and compete with respectability. He had never driven in some of the double and progressive braked vehicles but his horse still were broke and exposed to many things.
Use your horses be it going around a ring, plowing a back 40, or going to town. Use will make them better. I am hoping to go on a wagon trail ride out through the desert in May. I have a friend with a good young team that has been well started but not seasoned. He is afraid that they aren’t ready for a wagon train. I keep telling him they will be better on the 3rd day than the first.
LF
[QUOTE=Cartfall;2267764]
Thomas–love it that you like Arabs or Anglo Arabs!!! Thought you were a stuffy sort!!! You bring a whole different view to our discussion.[/QUOTE] When I competed I was the only person driving fei with hot bloods. And my best ever fei pair consisted of horses that were also advanced and intermediate eventers respectively. T/B’s are in my blood… They are my first love and will be my last :yes:
I have dumb bloods too - because as I said earlier its horses for courses and each has its use - even shitlands and hafflingers :winkgrin:
(Though still can’t get my head round falabellas)
Perhaps we all ought to do a short biography somewhere here.
