Thanks for the reply and I was wondering.............

1. how did you find the people in TN?

2. what kind of training did they do for you?

3. what kind of horse were they training for you?

4. if you are in AL and they are in TN, how long was the drive for you?

Happy trails and Happy New Year!

Shay Murphy @ Sundance Equestrian Center Woodbine, MD has many years exp.of breaking horses for carriage companies.

410-489-7863

I have not talked with her in about a year so hopefully this is the right # if not, she used to advertise often in the Equiery. Or you could call the tack shop in Mt Airy to get her current #.

rose, thank you and thank you again. Short story on my gelding; rescued, gelded, given a second chance at life, taught me a lot patience due his abusive treatment before me and let me know how much personality and brain he has.

So far I've, ridden him some (and bucked off some) ground driven him a fair amount without harness, just a circingle and long reins.

Let me give some thought to your offer.

Happy trails and Happy New Year!!!!

Hi Derenger,

I am from Pennsylvania and we have Amish families in out neighborhood, in fact they live on our road.  As with any horse trainers you hire you should get references......from the Amish, do not get Amish references, they will all protect each other.

I have witnessed some of the most abusive practices come from "Amish trainers".  This is beyond just working a horse hard....I know of one fine fella that chained the horse's head down to his right felock because it wouldn't stop pawing the ground.  The vet bill was around $400.00 and this guy was kicked out of the training barn he was working out of.  He also had a habit of training harness teams  by running them down the back roads and through the fields as fast and as long as they would go.  Then he would come tearing back into the stable and unhitch them, all lathered and shaking with their eyes rolling and put them in the stall and walk away.  I witnessed this myself, my friend (the stable owner) and I took care of the horses and she kicked him out of the barn the next day.  The last I heard this guy is still training.....he put up his own barn.  We put the word out on him in our area but.....he is still in business.

I am not saying that all Amish are this cruel to their horses.....the ones in our neighborhood give their trotters adequate care...but nothing more.  I have an Amish man who does tack/leather repair for me and I talked to him once about training a buggy horse.  Believe this or not but the Amish feel that their work teams and buggy horses are comparable to a "tractor" .  A horse to them is the same as a lawn mower or garden tiller.  When you are done with it just park it, turn it off and walk away.  They do not have bonds or feelings about their horses....they are just machinery to the Amish.

These horses are never vaccinated for anything, the vet will not be called unless the horse is already "down" and they do not worm their horses or feed anything more that a some oats and hay.  When a horse is all used up they just take it to the kill auction and get another one to take its place.  They keep their best horses for celebrations and church services.

I have also seen some beautiful trotters that the Amish have trained and some of them care for their horses better than others.  They all do have the same mindset though.....

So.....if you go that route....get good references and ask the non-Amish neighbors what they have observed in their neighborhood.  I would also check with all of the vets in the area and the Humane Society....I'm not kidding.

Best Wishes for the New Year with your horse.

Deranger,

1.  Found the man by chance.  I go on the Buffalo River trail Ride every year, and always visit Ethridge Tn. to buy butter, peanut brittle etc. and this man who owns a saddle shop (oh yeah, bought one of those too) was telling me his brother broke horses to drive.

2.  He taught her to drive single, double and ride.  Not very impressed with the riding though.  She acts stupid when I get on her, but it's o.k. she's too big anyway.  I can't attest to her driving double since I've never tried.  But she drives single really well.  And it's a BLAST!!

3..She's Percheron/TWH and BIG

4.  It takes me 4 hours to get there. 

Hi Beth, thanks for the info and your insight into horses and the Amish.  We have a lot of Menonite families in our area and I understand what you are saying about their way of life and animals.  I've seen the results of Amish treatment on some Percherons that I assisted in rescueing a few years ago.  Not pretty.  But let's be fair to the Amish, there are good and bad people in the world and your words of caution do not fall on deaf ears.  In some ways I admire the Amish/Menonite way of life and in a LOT of ways I don't.  If I chose to send my "big boy" out for training and he was going to be away from me for a while, I would make VERY sure that he was going to taken care of while he was being worked with and not abused in any way.

happy trails.

I think I've decided to take the driver training on myself at this point.  With some help and advice, maybe I can get Rascal into harness.  With the advice of a couple of people outside of the forum, I think I'm going to keep him at home for a while and see if I can't get him ready for harness by Spring. I'm going to try to find some used nylon or reasonably priced biothane harness with a collar and hames and go for it.  I will probably need some answers to some questions at some point, so I know I'll be back here asking for advice to a problem. 

Happy trails.

Just finished reading a new to me book that I will be referring to alot I think, and wanted to recommend it

The Power of Positive Horse Training "Saying Yes to Your Horse"

by Sarah Blanchard

Thanks for the tip on the new book. 

Since I've decided to take on the task of teaching my big boy to drive, I've found a lot of resources  right in my backyard.  Not literally, but figuratively.  PA is the backyard I'm referring to and the amount of driving that goes on in that state is remarkable.  Harness makers, breeders, wagon builders, carriage repair and so on.  Found a wealth of knowledge in the Lancaster Farming paper.  Lucky me, my neighbor has a subsription!

Anyway, just thought I would share.

Happy trails.

deranger

www.showstoppertack.com  has some harness pads on markdown now.  I just ordered a couple of them. 

Thanks for the "heads up" and I'll go check them out.