Carriage Tales

1.21.22

Since it is chilly and sometimes downright cold, I thought of some stories of my days running a small carriage business.

I know... right off, some are thinking how 'cruel' I am- forcing my horses to work hard, pulling a heavy carriage all day long.  I can tell you right now, to just stop thinking that way. In no way are my personal horses being "abused", mistreated, or forced to do much of anything.  My horses were only asked to "work" 4 hours total and possibly even less when considering the weather. They were clean, well-cared for, and never ever 'forced'. I often wondered how one could 'force' a one-ton animal that said NO.

Ever since I first began thinking and learning about how to teach a horse properly, it's been an ongoing study of the equine mind. At the few horse businesses, I have owned and managed, I have always "trained the brain''. It's so simple. Teach the horse so it understands what is wanted, answer all of the questions a horse might have, and allow it to relax enough to absorb all that is required. Granted there ARE some horses I have had to deal with that had some severe mental troubles, thanks to being mishandled or whatever humans may have done to it before we met. That's when we would go back to before pre-kindergarten for horses, and begin again. That is what takes time as one has to be able to correct all of the fears, confusion, misunderstanding, and hysteria inside an equine mind.

 A bit of history:

Anyhow, back to the subject of the day. (See how easily I get off on other thoughts?  lol)  

 I have been driving since early 1989 and fell in love with the sport. Sadly, the horses I owned at the time were too heavy to do a whole lot. When one's chosen partner weighs in at easily one ton, it's difficult to expect them to gallop or canter for miles on end. The Heavy/Draft horses have a rotten cooling system and subsequently will overheat easily. I wasn't willing to risk that.

Both of my Percheron mares enjoyed learning new things that I thought perhaps combined driving might be fun. Dressage and cones, sure... but those marathon courses were a bit much on a hot/humid August day. We sure had fun giving that a try and I learned a lot about it all.

Enter Carriage driving- we were asked to come 'deliver Santa' in our hometown one Christmas- actually the day after Thanksgiving. We said sure- it'd be fun- and hurried to buy a safe/sound carriage. We found one, and both mares were wonderful.

We were hired to deliver Santa to many towns close by and I think those were my favorite evenings. One year, we were asked to pick Santa up, drive along a river road, drop him off, wait till the "Christmas Ceremony" was concluded, and then give him a ride to the Santa House in town. This was not a problem- my girls and I had done the drive a few times- and we knew that the town was very responsible for keeping us safe.

 We arrived early and were set to roll - but where was Santa? (I used to tell kids that I personally knew Santa and hoped that they were all being as good as they could be.)  I was getting a little concerned that we were going to have to arrive with a 'non-Santa'... but he arrived in a town police car, thank goodness.

I was driving my smaller mare, Kara. She was so steady and easygoing. Nothing kept her from doing her 'job'.  We got Santa in the carriage as he was a little unsteady on his feet. Oddly enough, our Santa smelled a bit like whiskey... Sitting was probably a wise option.

There we were, Kara, myself, and Santa rolling along when all of a sudden, he began Yelling " HO, HO, HOOOOO"!!!!  I mean- YELLING. Of course, upon hearing "HO"- Kara immediately put on the brakes, stopped the carriage, and waited. Her head was up high, ears pointed backward, waiting to hear the "walk-on" words. I asked Santa to sit down when the carriage was moving as I didn't want him to possibly fall out. Luckily, he did- but the minute he noticed kids running across the grassy area, once again: " Ho, Ho HO!!!!"   Immediately, like a good horse, Kara slams on the brakes and stands. At this point, I'm laughing at the whole thing. Kara knows all too well that the sound " HO" means to stop and stand... Santa obviously had no clue and being slightly drunk, decided he'd better yell his Santa greeting to everyone. 

I think it took us about 15 minutes to make a 5-minute drive to our drop-off place but we got there. Someone was there to guide Santa to the tree-lighting ceremony. I asked my then-husband to hold the lines for a few minutes while I got off the carriage. I walked to Kara's head and told her what a wonderful mare she was being but she really didn't have to obey Everyone ... only me.  Of course, she had no idea but I hoped she'd at least try to understand. 

In the meantime, Santa's ceremony was over, and off we went to the Santa House in the middle of town. We got there with no more yelling ho ho ho from the back of the carriage and we decided that perhaps Santas' ummmm....  loudness had slowed down as the whiskey wore off?  As we pulled into the parking slot saved for us, once again, a standing Santa was busily yelling his favorite phrase and waving. This time, fortunately, he was holding on. Kara had learned in a short drive to not pay attention to some human behind her screaming that "stop/stand" word, and it was all good. I think we ALL had a marvelous time that evening.

Below is not the exact Santa ride but you can get the idea!