Styles of Miniature Horse Driving in
Breed Shows
I just had a young lady email and ask me
to teach her about driving in breed shows. I urged her to find someone local
who could help her since we are relatively new to showing and so someone
could help her in person. She replied that there were no others near her in
her Alabama town. I started with asking her the style of driver she
believed her horse to be, and she did not know that there were different
divisions of driving classes in Miniature horse shows....so here goes my
explanation to her.
There are 4 basic driving divisions:
I will try and summarize the various
classes and style of horse needed. If someone reads this and has some input
for me, please feel free to share.
Watch these videos for examples of
Roadster horses:
In this class, the drivers wear caps and
racing silks. The crowd whoops and hollers and the atmosphere is fun. The
carts must be close wheeled are light weight and the speed is fast. The
horses never walk in this class and have 3 different speeds of trot.
In this class, you want a horse that has fast leg action along with good
action. Some horses have action, but can't move their legs fast
enough. The head set is not as important, nor is behavior. You want to
see extreme extension and some action. In many Roadster
classes, I see horses breaking gait and acting up. The cheering crowd often
facilitates the horses' excitement.
Watch these videos for examples of
Single pleasure horses:
The Single Pleasure movers are very rare
and hard to find in the Miniature horse world. It takes a specific
confirmation to move like this. The horse must be upright as far as how the
neck is set on the shoulder. The headset is high and that requires an
upright horse. The horse also must have excellent action. Again, behavior
and consistency is not as important as the style of moving. These
horses are very collected, rocked back on their hindquarters and have nice
hock action. In this class,
the horses must walk and perform at 2 different speeds of trot. The carts
have a basket on them and can be open or closed wheel. As the Miniature
horse has developed over the years, the action has gotten even more
exaggerated and the headsets higher. Many horses that used to be competitive
in this class have now moved into the Country Pleasure classes. These
horses remind me of Saddlebreds or Park Arabs.
Often I see horses start their driving
career as Country Pleasure horses for one or two seasons, but develop into
Single Pleasure horses as training progresses. I also have seen many horses
who were once competitive in Single Pleasure, age and get to the point that
their stamina demands that they return to competing in Country Pleasure.
In each show, an individual horse cannot
show in Country and in Single. The shower must decide which division to
enter into and then stick to it throughout that show. Both Country and
Single horses can enter Roadster classes.
Watch these videos of Country Pleasure
horses:
In this class, the headset is still
high, but not as high as the single pleasure horses. The action is still
fancy, but not quite as high either as the single pleasure movers. There is
good extension, but high action is not as needed. Country movers are fluid
and smooth. The
horse's behavior is important and the horse should look like a pleasure to
drive. The horses are required to walk and perform at 2 trotting gaits
called the country pleasure trot (the collected trot) and at the extended
trot ( also called the working trot). These horses remind me of the
Arabs of yesterday or of Morgans in their movement.
Western Country Pleasure or Classic Pleasure
Watch these videos of Western Country
Pleasure horses:
Kody
with Leia - good video with some explanations about movement and
conformation
I compare the horses in this class with
the modern hunter under saddle Paints. The headset is low and extension is
important. I think some people tend to belittle this division and
wrongly consider it to be for horses who aren't good enough movers for
Country or Single. I disagree and think the horse who is accomplished in
this class still needs great movement. It is just different. They need great
extension and ground covering, sweeping strides. Their conformation is
more like the Quarter Horse with a neck that comes out level and a poll that
is at the level of the withers.