Customer Reviews

Breaking and Training the Driving Horse: A Detailed and Comprehensive Study

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this book several years ago when I decided to break my hunter to drive. The initial harnessing of my horse was literally "by the book" due to the wonderful pictures. I had horse, cart, and harness; but the harness didn't come with directions of what to hook where! This book saved the day. I highly recommend it.

This is a very well illustrated book and helpful for beginners. I'm in the process of breaking my pony to drive and have used the book a lot to figure out what straps get attached where! The written explanations and tips are good with a definite emphasis on safety at all times. This is a good training manual.

Book centers on light horses, however heavier breeds can benefit from the training tips. The black and white photos were a bit dark, but sufficient to illustrate the author's points. Illustrations of where the harness parts fit were the best part! Covers mainly carriage-type harness, but touches on other types. A book that was sorely needed in the equestrian field.

There is one significant part of this book with which I must take issue. After one succeeds in harnessing and then hitching the green horse to the cart, do NOT, under any circumstances, follow the book's advice to then lead the horse with the empty cart behind. I did this and the horse was so alarmed by the noise behind him that he took off with me running alongside, hanging on to the bridle, trying to get a badly frightened running horse to stop. We finally came to a fence, much to the relief of us both. Since then, I've spoken to several 'driving' trainers and all of them, without exception, say to never, ever lead a horse with an empty cart behind. If I had been unable to keep up with my panicked horse (and it was a miracle that I could) he would have wrecked and most probably his driving days would have been over. Following that horrible event, he had to go back to square one in his training and be brought slowly forward again.

I am currently breaking in my miniature mare using this book. The diagrams are clear and shows you where the harness GOES!!! I highly recommend this book for any beginner and those who have been out of the game for a while and need a refresher!

I have trained four horses to drive, am just starting on my fifth. This book is with me all the time because I don't want to miss a step or make sure I have gotten into a sloppy habit. Driving is a great sport and it is a good idea to learn from the best and that is Doris Ganton.

Did I read the same book as the rest of these folks? Wefound the "illustrations" to be amateurish drawings with very little clear detail and the photos were from afar and grainy with no discernable detail. The sections on how to harness, and particularly the fit of the harness, were poorly organized and without enough details. Basically, the book is very wordy but without giving enough clear step-by-step instructions and sharp diagrams and photos to really make the reader certain that they are proceeding correctly.

In reading and preparing for the first few lessons I felt secure that I had JUST enough information from the book to carry out her instructions. In practice, we got as far as the training shafts. We constructed them per her measurements, and tried to follow all of her instructions. Unfortunately for a rank novice there was not enough detailed information about how long the traces ought to be on a correctly fitted harness or how far and high from the horse's back legs the cross member should safely be positioned. Our first session in the "poles" was nearly disasterous. We were left with many questions regarding the correctness of our harness and/or should we have modified it in some way to make the exercise more successful. We found ourselves peering at the grainy photos straining to glean some detail that might explain why our set-up didn't fit her description. In reviewing the material we found that should we survive to hitch the horse to a cart, we would be uncertain as to similar details about distances, heights, lengths, etc.

Unfortunatley with this book, it didn't give me the information I was looking for. I have driven before, but have never broken a horse to harness, and wanted to make sure I was taking all the right precautions to do it right the frist tim.. I felt this book left alot of questions unasnwered, especially with the grainy and unclear drawings. The insctructions were very unclear and there was no concise "to the point" aspect about them. Honestly, I basically got a review of what I already knew, and felt this book would not be a help for someone breaking her horse to drive. If anythign it is a usefull reference for those already having experience in driving. After reading through it, this book is going in ebay.

Doris L Ganton presents all of the wonderful information in this book in a clear, easy to understand format complete with pictures and detailed drawings to depict exactly what she is talking about. Great book for the first time driver, or someone new to training. This is an excellent buy!

I have actually trained my horse according to Ms. Ganton's book and it took virtually no time at all. I did not use a bitting rig - as my horse was already being ridden. I had virtually no driving experience and found the book easy to understand and the techniques simple. This is an excellent book for the novice driver. As an added note: my horse was always ridden bitless and no bit was used to teach him to drive. He goes bitless and blinderless. Aside from her strict use of blinders (never used by fire horses back in the day and used very little in Europe and horse farming)I will use her method with every horse I teach to drive.