Driving! Omg!

I had to celebrate somewhere! My girl can pull a cart!!! My mare Diamond, (which you may have seen my posts before), has been a rehab retrain project with my Mom/Trainer spearheading it- teaching me both how to train this mare and how to ride lesson horses in preparation to ride Diamond. The goal for her to be my future mount to compete with in Dressage or Eventing, with possibly dabbling in some western disciplines like Cutters. Diamond hasnt recovered enough for us to be confident with her holding a rider while being comfortable, (she can use more muscle), but we did notice that she was fearless around carts as another equestrian at the barn does both Driving and Saddleseat. With that in mind, we worked hard to teach Diamond to trust us in new situations and my trainer trained her to follow voice commands to walk, trot, canter, and halt from a longe/lunge line. We were successful and she quickly graduated to being able to drive on long lines. After maybe 2 weeks of her aceing that, today we introduced her to a cart! She did so great, we felt comfortable attatching one! She lead just fine with it connected to her, (minus her discovering it felt weird turning- which she figured it out), that we felt safe trying her at a walk- then a trot. What a rockstar!!!!! By the end, I- Me, the beginner, was able to start learning to drive her- which was the end goal that we thought might take a few days worth of tries! With her driving, I can soon exercise her without my trainer until she's fit to take a rider. No one expected her to be such a quick learner in this discipline. ♡ Im even more excited as the cart is the only new equipment! She's driving in her competition bridle with a baucher- no need for blinders, a double bridle, or lots of leather! Im so proud!!! I cannot wait to start this sudden new surprise activity with her!!!! Ahhh!!!! ♡♡♡♡ This all has me thinking, what do you do with your horse outside your main discipline? Share with me your fun outlets!

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Do you cross discipline train your horse? (Dressage, Reining, Driving, Barrels, Eventing, Endurance, ect)

42 votes

We only do our preferred discipline

Ive tried a few disciplines with my horse, but primarily stay with 1

I regularly participate in 2-3 disciplines with my horse

I regularly participate in 3+ disciplines

Im hoping to try and learn more than 1 discipline with my horse