the selfish reason why I like pleasure driving.

Day two. Well after training pleasure driving horses for roughly the last 20 years or so. With modest success until recently. More on that later. I finally figured out why I like it so much. The reason is pure self gratification. See a driving horse isnt like any other horse, or event. You take a 1200# animal, hook them to a twin horned projectile that you site on 24" off the ground behind their hocks, and try and control them with a snaffle bit from 16' behind. No legs, seat, sometimes no voice cues, just the reins, from a position where visability is compromised at best.
They arent born lopers or joggers like pleasure horses, maybe they have that long low sweepy long trot that you see with a great hunt seat horse. But you never see one trotting around the pasture as a weanling or yearling with a cart attached to their ass.
When you break one to ground drive, then pull the shafts, drag the sled, and then finally hook them up to a buggy, aside from the fact that you hope they are great minded, it all you. Patience, perserverence, some insanity and blind faith that they won't kick the shit out of you, and when they put their heads down and do that sweepy long low trot, you know, with out any doubt that they only drive because of you. Its taken me a long time to figure this out. I have been really lucky, in all my years of driving, I have only had one buggy wreck while hooking one up at a show. Ironically Ive had none at home. Some of the horses that I've trained have come pretty untracked with someone else driving them, I usually recognize that possiblity early on and stop driving them. I am a bit of a chickenshit. Luck has definitly been on my side. What made me realize this today, I was driving a really cool Appy, that came to me the first of December, and he has just been a real joy to hook up, and I finally realized that's why I like the driving. Now that I've gotten the good stuff off my chest. Oh and I did train the AQHA select world champion driver, Even though It was not in my barn at the time, I broke it to drive and qualified it last year. That gray mare was broke enough that a drunk elephant seal could drive her as evindenced by her win at the world show. Your very welcome!!!!!.
Anyway, now I want to know why the AQHA doesnt have driving in their judging seminars. I'd really like to know that the judges that whose opinion I am paying for, actually know what they are looking for. Believe me, walking your horse to the arena in a halter and then hooking it up to warm up and drive is not the answer. Driving horses should be bomb proof. You had better be able to hook one up anywhere on the show grounds and drive it around. Scooters, golf carts, tractors etc, should not even warrant the twitch of an ear. Most of the drivers that I have trained are owned and driven at shows by amature's, and they had better be broke because I dont want the death of some grey haired vixen on my hands. I think some credit is due, where credit is due. It takes a pretty broke driver to get hooked up single handedly, at 7:30 a.m., when most of the driving classes occur, and then go to the show pen and show and win. During this last years world show, I was practicing passing and showing and driving with a fellow competitor in one of the warm up pens, both horses were studs and both were obscenely broke. We park trotted, road gaited, passed and passed again, all with our horses side by side, sometimes close enough to reach out and pet ones head while being passed. Not one time did they twitch an ear, look scared, spook, raise up out of the bridle, etc. It was exciting and very self gratifying to have two such individuals in the arena at the same time. I finished the excersize very proud of the work that I have done with my drivers, and I'm sure that one of those trick ponies that gets lead to the arena in a halter and hooked up wouldnt have been able to handle. It was a pure driving clinic. Well enough bragging and fluffing ones feathers, I'm leaving at 6:30 in the morning for key west. Too many other horse trainer in Hawaii at this time I've decided to go the other direction. Will talk to you tomorrow about some other inane subject.