DRIVING TIP OF THE DAY : SAFETY. Easy to say, hard to always do. If you are a driver, you are taking on a huge responsibility for your own, your horses and everyone else nearby safety. Clearly we train for it. Practice. Do whatever we can do prevent accidents. Or do we ? I have seen a lot of driving wrecks. Some were bad....others quickly fixed up, right back into schedule. Its really terrible when people or animals get hurt. MOST of these are preventable. Did you know that in any sanctioned driving event, a noseband bridle, a bit and a whip are standard REQUIRED safety equipment ? The noseband is because in times of panic, without one, its easy to pull a bit through a horses mouth rendering your lines and stopping power zero. A bit for the obvious. Riding in a sidepull or halter is your own choice, but not in a driving venue. Not allowed. For safety. No exceptions. A whip ( in hand, not sitting in a cute whip holder ) is also required safety equipment. You will not enter a ring to show without one. When stuff happens, you can use your whip to cue FORWARD. Its a basic driving tip that FORWARD will get you out of most trouble. Its when you go sideways or backwards that it can get scary. Train your driving horse to cue with a whip. Dont use it to punish, its to CUE. Step up, Step over. Step back. Step this way, step that way. A judge will also use whip skills in a pleasure driving class, turnout and esp. a reinsmanship class. ( how you drive ) Train your driving horses to be de-sensitized to a whip and other whips around you. Its REQUIRED for safety. Please, please, please, learn and try to follow the basic rules to drive. The ADS ( American Driving Society ) and the many good driving forums around are a wealth of information. The quickest way to get yourself asked to leave the grounds of a show ect. is to remove a horses bridle while hitched. NEVER do this. Also, please head from the box seat, not the ground. If you have to climb down off the box seat, get someone else to climb up and hold the lines. The helper on the ground should never stand directly in front of the horse, only on the side of the hitched horse, and do not grab hold of the bridle unless the driver asks you to. The person in the box seat needs to be a driver, and capable of managing the horse or team if something happens. NEVER tie up a horse with a cart attached. EVER. Horses can and do pull back and out of halters and rip off bridles. If you think a couple of horses racing loose past you is a potential issue, attach a cart to them. One word, carnage. Always avoid carnage. Please do encourage the general public to visit with you and see your horses. Please also TEACH THEM basic safety. Do not allow them to stand in front of your hitched horse(s). I dont care if they have never taken a wrong step.......TRUST ME, they will. Running over someones children is not a good thing. Be aware that the public knows nothing about horse behavior, and will put their children or themselves in harms way. Its our job to teach them. Ive been inside the ring when there have been runaways. In the stands when there have been spectacular wrecks......Nearby when peoples horses have been spooked by bee stings, kids throwing poppers under their hoofs, babies wandering out in front of teams of drafts. Runaways. Lots of runaways...... Always think safety. Train for it, so that its normal for your horse to be uncomfortable with a leg over a shaft, a trace pulling under them, a rein cranked under a tail. Prevent, prevent, prevent. SAFE DRIVING !
Posted on: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 05:18:55 +0000
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