team drives how bout riding

Peyton:

I am no rider and my wife and daughter (both riders) regularly make fun of my posture and technique. But I ride my horses daily during the spring, summer, and fall back and forth to pasture. I ride one horse and “pony” or lead the rest. I find it much easier (and more fun) to pony horses rather than lead them. Our horses follow where our goats have grazed and consequently they get a new paddock every evening and then they are in loafing yard during the day. Lots of back and forth.

All the horses are ridden with a halter and lead rope. I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of carrying around a bridle going back and forth to pasture. I started driving them single with their halters (not working, just messing around) and made the transition to riding them that way. I use verbal commands and cues from my lines to direct them. It is nice to able to hop on a horse with no gear and go anywhere. I will often trot out to pasture on a horse to gather goats or ride a horse to the woods to mark timber. It is one more use for our animals and I encourage you to stick with it.

Good luck.

George

No reason they can’t do both, I’d say. Mine sure do. One of them, in fact, is one of the better riding horses I’ve had the pleasure to own. Maybe that speaks more about the type of saddle horses I’ve endured in the past, but this mare of mine is really a nice Western trail horse. She neck-reins, sidepasses, has a nice jog (when she’s in a good mood) and a decent canter. Sure-footed and has a long ground-eating stride. Not so easy to mount from the ground… but the first thing she learned, when I started riding her, was how to scootch up sideways to whatever stump, bumper, mound of dirt, fence or milk crate I was standing on. Over the years I’ve made halfhearted attempts at teaching her to kneel. She’ll go down on one knee for me but I haven’t yet gotten her to understand how to stay there for mounting.

@HeeHawHaven 33441 wrote:

The standard donkey puts up with someone on his back. My wife is working on him, i leave him alone.

Hhmmm…what’s that saying about having to be smarter than the donkey…??? :p

I took draft classes in college and after putting 4 weeks into them with a harness we waited for a good snow, strapped on a brain bucket, 2 lead ropes to their driving bridle and a leg up in the round pen. They got it rather quick and we never had a problem with anyone coming off. If owners wanted them to take a saddle we took our time bitting them around a little and they all took to it well.

Gulo – is that your place (Thompson Farm)? Nice site – especially relate to the picture of May 24 snow storm. Winter is reluctant to move on here in the north.

Also – any idea where one might get a print of some of Soper’s art? Some of those I would like on my walls.