A friend of mine has met a new mare and asked me for some ideas about teaching her to drive. Being hitched to a cart and taking her person for a ride in the cart or wagon. I asked about her personality and learned she's very "barn sour". This means she isn't confident in who she is, to leave her herd. Horses are prey animals and move in herds for protection. Even when they're in a pasture, you will see them all grazing in the same general areas. You'll have those rebels that wander off to graze somewhere different- and those are the confident horses.
So, this mare is scared to leave her pals- even when in a ring, I suppose. My friend was driving home and I didn't ask her much. Generally, these barn sour horses won't be confident enough to be a good driving horse unless they are hitched with a friend of theirs. Not many folks know how to drive one horse, let alone two. I do, however. I've taught many spooky horses to drive using a more steady horse for their teammate.
What a person should do when working with a horse like this mare is to come up with things to present to her so she can learn. Items like flapping a towel around them, eventually working up to acting like some kind of banshee. Yeah- it's funny but it does work. I used to say that if your horse thinks you are a nut case- it's good. Then nothing you come up with will be alarming to them.
Tossing buckets about, kicking cans about, working up to banging on garbage cans- empty, of course... and more.
Have fun with it, make learning fun! If the said horse doesn't accept these things and can't get used to their person acting crazy, then my guess would be it won't be a safe driving horse. That horse is out front, all alone... it better be brave as can be!
