KBR Horse Net
Close-Up Feature:
"Starting on Top"
(How we Teach the Drafters to Drive)

We've talked with a number of people who have a number of different training methods for starting young drafters. But what we've found that works and is easy to do in a small operation is to simply start them to ride like any horse, then advance them from riding to driving.

These guys are so easy going, we just work them for a bit in the round corral, then mount up and ride in the small enclosure. They don't seem to want to buck, they can't run off anywhere, and we just make it a fun exploration as they get used to being urged forward, stopped and backed up. I would typically ride bareback with just a halter and leadrope.

Willis and Millie (18 Months old)


Once we got walks, trots, reverses, upward and downward transitions down (usually by the second or third day), we would graduate to the large riding arena. Pretty soon the horses would be solid in the more open spaces and then we would ride all of the lanes within the stable. (Millie was so good, I just barebacked her down the road to town.)

Since we typically start these guys pretty young (18 months), we try to keep the lessons short and fun and avoid any high impact stuff. We keep them in halters until their teeth have grown enough to comfortably accept a bit. At that point we will but on harness and do some ground driving in the large arena. Typically it only takes the horses a few minutes to adjust from being ridden to being driven.

Second day:
Basic "plow steering" in the round corral

If the horse is having no problems being ground driven (walk, turn, whoa, back), we will attach some weight to the harness; either a sled or harrow. We will usually start someone at the head with a 12 ft leadrope since sometimes the horses think they're supposed to halt when they feel the weight on the tugs and it's easier to reinforce "walk on" having someone suggest to the horse to move forward with the leadrope. After a couple of starts, the "head" person can leave and the horse will start on his own. (Note: We don't put the really young horses to heavy work until they have sufficiently matured.)
Basic ground driving

We prefer using the harrow over the drag as we can vary the amount of "load" the horse pulls by adjusting the depth of the harrow tines, and it also gets some work done around the place!
Learning to pull weight:
Sharon teaching young Dan to pull; Lance Moss riding the harrow for "ballast"

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