If you would like to bring a driving related clinic to your area, give me call and let’s chat and see what you would like to set up! Clinics and seminars can be for one day or a progressive two day workshop.

• Clinics can be organized in various ways, and each one is different, depending on location and topics covered. For groundwork and driving clinics I might travel “light”, while “Intro / Demo” clinics require me to haul horses and equipment.

• I may organize the entire clinic from start to finish, or a local “host” will help and take over certain duties and responsibilities, in exchange for a portion of the clinic profits.

Rates vary greatly depending on topic and how the clinic is organized:

• My starting clinician fee is $850.00 / day plus travel & fuel, and lodging & meals.

Keep in mind that driving clinics require a certain size of arena due to the space each horse and cart, or team and wagon takes up, as well as appropriate (firm) footing. Indoor arenas are preferred, so the weather does not force a cancellation.

Some of the topics to consider:

• Groundwork for the driving horse – Improve your current driving equine or learn THE first steps in teaching your horse how to drive.

•  Introduction to driving the single horse – Harnessing, hitching, line and whip handling. Horses and cart can be provided.

•  Driving instructions for all levels of drivers – Forward motion, driving with contact, driving with precision, driving with speed and much more!

• Addressing specific driving problems – Is it the horse or is it the driver? (with own horses)

• Driving the team – understanding proper alignment, line adjustment, driving the outside horse around a corner versus pulling the inside horse around, and much more. Participants to provide their own teams and equipment.

Local Clinic Options

Group Driving Clinic

These group workshops cover the very basic skills a driver / teamster needs.  Exercises are tailored to all levels of participants.  We will focus on your line and whip handling, driving with focus and precision. How loss of forward motion and your horse going on the bit impacts your driving. The difference of “driving “ your horse(s) around a corner and “pulling” them around a corner. We will also work on transitions and speed control.  There will be obstacles and patterns to keep it challenging and fun! The small group size assures you get plenty of instruction. Teams and singles are welcome.

Limited to no more than 6 participants. Arena fees vary greatly, therefor they are not included in the clinic cost.

Half Day Clinic: $100.00 (plus arena fee)

Day Clinic:     $190.00 (plus arena fee)

Horse(s) and equipment can be provided for an additional fee.

Groundwork Clinic

These are progressive group workshops! Groundwork establishes respect, trust, leadership, and confidence. It teaches horses to follow a feel, get soft and learn to think versus react, and deal with pressure. It teaches the human to read and communicate better with their horse, it develops your leadership skills and makes you aware of practicing safety.

Groundwork with halter and lead is where it all starts, no matter what you like to do with your equine partner. It is THE starting point in my training process when teaching a horse how to drive!

Limited to 8 participants. Arena fees vary, therefor they are not included in the clinic cost.

Half Day Clinic cost: $80.00 (plus arena fee). Covers the basic exercises and are great for young and green horses or folks new to the concept of groundwork.

All Day Clinic cost: $150.00 (plus arena fee). Covers the above and will progress to more advanced exercises and including simple obstacles.    

Progressive Spring Training “Teach your Horse how to Drive”

This progressive 6-week or 12-week workshop will only be offered in the spring.

To accommodate the many different levels and interests, this training workshop has two parts to it. You can choose to only participate in the first part, or you can continue and work towards the final goal of hitching and driving your horse. We will meet for weekly sessions as a group. I will help you evaluate your horse; we will work on your skills and communication, address any issues, progress each time with adding new exercises, and send you home with new homework.

You will NOT have a finished, experienced driving horse at the end of this workshop, but rather it’s designed to get you introduced right, give you a good start, practice safety and gain knowledge, so you can join drives, club events and clinics, progress, improve, build experience, have fun and stay safe!

The two parts are:

• 1) A 6-week progressive training part for those wanting to improve their horsemanship and possibly in the future teach their horse to drive.  It won’t require the investment in a harness or equipment. You will work with your equine through all the first steps designed to teach your horse how to drive. That includes groundwork with halter and lead, sensitizing and desensitizing, single line driving, line and whip handling and two-line ground driving. Regardless of what your future plans are, this will improve both your and your horse’s skills!

• 2) The 12-week program covers the above steps and will progress to more intense ground driving in many situations, dragging a tire, ground driving and pulling tires, progressing to blinders and eventually hooking to a vehicle. This will require the investment in a proper harness and vehicle appropriate for your equine.  The 12-week training workshop is also a valuable tool to evaluate a driving horse that you own, but are not certain about his / her level of training or background, and / or to develop or improve your own driving skills.

It takes time, commitment and some physical fitness to train your horse, and each horse and person learns at a different rate. Offering this workshop in a group setting within a time frame creates motivation and commitment to work with your animal in preparation of each session; it encourages learning from each other, working together as a team to accomplish goals, as well as getting your animals out and exposed to different environments.

Private driving lessons from our place are included in the cost of this workshop.

• They are designed to get you out and driving a broke horse. That’s essential for you, the driver, to learn how to harness, hitch and drive the single horse, It’s crucial for the progress of both you and your own horse.

• If you only participate in the first part, you will have an opportunity to find out if driving a horse and everything that is associated with it, is something you are interested in before you make an investment in equipment.

• It will help you get proficient at your line and whip handling, so you can take your horse through all the necessary preparation of from groundwork to driving.

End results will vary depending on what level of training your horse has at the beginning of the clinic, your own horsemanship skills, and how much productive homework you put into your project. Not every horse is suited for driving and not every person develops the necessary skills to train their own horse!

2024 Training Workshop Cost:

6 Week Program: $750.00 Includes: 1 all day groundwork session, 6 weekly 2.5 hour group sessions, 3 private driving lessons from home base with our horses

12 Week Program: $1350.00 Includes: 1 all day groundwork sessions, 12 weekly 2.5 hour group sessions, 6 private driving lessons from home base with our horses.

Please note: Arena fees included. Additional charges apply for use of our horses and equipment during your horse’s training process, such as for team ground driving or bringing equipment.