22 August 2005
I'm whacked! Our driving club ran a taster day for new drivers yesterday and I was on the go, talking and teaching, from morning till teatime. But it was very good fun and everyone went home looking enthusiastic! i was very pleased with the turnout of people. We knew at least 22 "beginners and improvers" were due to come and we got more, some from 60 or 70 miles away in the next county. It was great that we had people coming as families, so we had a lot of children there between 6 and 18 years as well as young adult couples and of course the older couples who were thinking of what to do with horses now they were getting a bit too stiff to ride a lot.
Mr T was our patient "model" pony for harnessing up, along with another Fell, Rob, and a Shetland, Bracken (who just gave carriage rides to the children and smaller adults). We were able to make a good deal of progress in explaining neck collars vs breast collars, SBB saddles, breeching fit, order of harnessing up, putting-to, and getting into the carriage safely with someone as helper with the horse.
Everybody who wanted to ride in a carriage got to do so before lunch. I made a point of demonstrating how body position as well as seat position could influence the balance and ride of the carriage. Mr T was very tolerant of all the trotting about in his own little arena and thoroughly enjoyed being the centre of attention. He was as fit as a flea despite his long "lay off" and never broke into a sweat despite the very hot sunshine. Obviously grazing out with Ruby has kept him up to the mark physically (yesterday in our practice run he behaved like a half broken three year old but at least on the day his innate common sense prevailed!) Christopher put my spare reins on and practised driving Mr T.
After lunch we got a bit more technical (those who were real beginners mostly went home before then, on reading the timetable on the noticeboard!) We talked about lines of draught, high and low swingletrees etc. We had three different modern vehicles to fit the two Fells; two that were too small, but interesting due to smaller wheels and fixed balance (or lack of it!); and four different sets of harness. EVEN the British Driving Society Area Commissioner said she'd learnt something when she phoned later in the evening! I said, "What was that then?" and she said, "Lines of draught - I knew you should pull from the axle but I didn't know WHY!" I asked everyone to handle the five vehicles, pull them about by the shafts and judge how easy they thought they would be to pull. Some even got their partners to climb in the carriages while they held the shafts, so they could judge how much the balance changed during getting in and out, and when the driver was on the seat. You could tell by the expressions of surprise that people were really taking in all the dynamic information they were getting through their hands and bodies!! (You could also tell which " drivers" didn't quite trust their spouses to hold those shafts steady when they were up on the seat! we kept an eye on them just in case anyone felt puckish!)
I got one of my "familiars" who doesn't mind being a guinea pig in front of strangers, to pull a vehicle with small diameter wheels over a 4" block of wood, then do the same with a vehicle with larger wheels. Everyone could see how much easier it was with the bigger wheels (although he claimed that the effort had made him a " member of the National Trussed"). Then we talked about balanced draught, which nobody had ever heard of but which was easy to demonstrate with a coloured rope held taut from pony shoulder to axle/swingletree. We had a carriage with axle draught and also one with a high swingletree at shaft height (the height familiar to many of our USA list members I expect). So between our two fells and their neck and breast collar harnesses, we had all the combinations and could show how different setups were correct with different types of harnessing. I did explain why the neck collar and axle draught is our best option IF we can afford the collar, and the hames, and the spare collar for when our equine changes shape...
Finally we let people have a proper drive with our "dual control" system (spare reins for the owner driver just in case of confused beginner steering!) They could also drive through a cones course, set nice and wide. Mr T thought this was his chance, and kept wanting to swoop off into a canter. Eventually when everyone had had their turn at driving (and some of them tried English coachman/Achenbach style too) I offered Christopher another drive, but this time he felt shy of all the other strangers and refused, although he was happy to come with me as passenger when I let Mr T rip through the cones course! T had an absolute blast, cantering almost the whole course. This has always been his treat after schooling, and before going home and unharnessing, so when someone else asked if they could have a drive, I am afraid I said no, we had finished. But they didn't seem to mind as they knew they'd been a bit slow at coming forward! Everyone seemed to go home happy and with smiles on their faces, and full of enthusiasm. I've had lots of nice thank you phone calls, and we got several new members for the driving club.
It was really interesting to see, too, how intently Ruby and Mr T exchanged information at the end of the day when they were reunited. After all the long distance field-to-yard whinnying, they both pricked their ears sharply, arched their necks, and sniffed deeply at each other's noses for several minutes. I wish I knew what they were passing on to each other (other than, "have you had anything better to eat than I have!") Then Ruby squealed and Mr T did a VTO and they both hurtled off round the paddock, bucking and kicking. Looks as though HE'd be willing to do it all again, even though I feel stiff as a board!