Making the Most of Poor Air Quality Days: Low-Intensity Training That Builds Better Driving Horses As driving horse trainers, we all know there are days when Mother Nature tells us to change our plans. Whether it’s wildfire smoke drifting into the area, high humidity, dust, or poor air quality alerts, those are not the days to ask our horses for strenuous exercise. Their lungs are every bit as important as ours, and protecting them today means having a healthier, happier partner tomorrow. The...

Building Power from Behind: Hind End Development, Nutrition, and Gut Health in the Driving Horse One of the most overlooked aspects of conditioning a driving horse isn’t found in the harness or the carriage—it’s found in the hindquarters. Whether you’re training a recreational driving horse, a commercial carriage horse, or a Combined Driving Event athlete, true power comes from behind. A horse that is properly developed through the hind end will be stronger, more athletic, better balanced,...

Why Foundation Training Matters Before a Horse Is Ever Hooked to a Carriage One of the biggest mistakes people make when training a driving horse is rushing to hitch them to a vehicle before they have truly mastered the fundamentals. While it is exciting to see a young horse pull a cart for the first time, that first hitch should never be the beginning of the lesson—it should simply be the next logical step in a long, well-prepared training program. A horse doesn’t know that a carriage can’t...