whipless

The Saddlechariot has finally done what I wanted it to do.
(actually it has done a whole lot more, and this very odd Blog will tell you what I have been doing driving across England, well to be technical Wales, with Obama in a vague rerun of Cobbetts Rural Rides entitled "Rural rides Again"

I was driving through Brecon in my 0.3 horsepower wheelchair and three teenage boys said, "wow, that's cool." Moments like that make life worthwhile. Why should wheelchairs look depressing? I may add that in a wheelchair I am a complete fraud. Stiff and creaky I may be, but wheelchair bound I am not. I was just test driving my modified wheelchair accessible Saddlechariot, with Obama, a super little rescue pony, who I have trained over the last ten weeks.

To drive a horse drawn vehicle solo from a wheelchair is pretty unusual. To drive solo through town centres in a horsedrawn vehicle is unusual. To drive without a bit, whip, blinkers or a groom is unusual. To drive solo, from a wheelchair, bitless, whipless, groomless, blinkerless, through a town centre with a pony who had done nothing till ten weeks ago, is to put it mildly, bloody unusual.

That I can do this in safety, easily, and can show anyone else how to do the same thing, is surprising. Only two factors are necessary to make this possible.

Firstly, a safe horse drawn vehicle. The standard Saddlechariot is unique in having an instant release system. If you want safety, the ability to get the animal out of the vehicle instantly, is essential. With a scared or panicking animal, there are no circumstances where the animal is safer IN a vehicle than NOT IN a vehicle.

The standard Saddlechariot is a two wheel vehicle from which the driver is able to get off easily, and release the animal instantly. You can step off in safety at a canter. This option is not possible for those in wheelchairs and with restrictred mobility, so I developed the wheelchair version. You can still release the animal instantly, but with a trailing third wheel, you don't need to get off. Here is the video of the wheelchair version.

It is obvious that the second factor needed for solo wheelchair bound urban driving is a well trained pony. I am lucky enough after 8 years working with ponies to have met up with Nick Sanders of Rowanoak . I first met Nick just as I was developing my whip and bit free training system, and discovered a man who had been doing it for years.
With Nick's encouragement, help and advice, I trained Obama, a six year old, untrained rescue pony from Equine Market Watch over a period of ten weeks to the stage where I can drive him from a wheelchair, on my own, in town centres. It would be nice to claim that I am a brilliant trainer with a unique empathy with animals, but it is simpler than that.

The video shows Obama in Nick's sandschool, where to be honest, you can get away with murder, because it is a closed, secure, environment. To the right is a picture of Obama, taken straight after the video when I drove Obama into Brecon to discuss fitting a damping system on the third wheel caster bearing. It is so much easier to drive the vehicle into the workshop, rather than trying to explain engineering on the phone, but you need an animal who trusts you. This is where the training system starts to really pay off. In ten weeks, Obama will go anywhere.

It isn't a case of "Wow, isn't he clever, he trained an animal to do this in ten weeks without whips, bits, spurs, blinker etc." I couldn't have done it with an armoury of weaponry and torture instruments. Just think how you would respond to someone who wanted you to do something you had never done before, who approaches you fully armed, with protective hat, and boots, shoves you out in front of him, and hits you if you suggest you are scared.

People can and do train horses like that, and it is seriously impressive. You have to be really forceful, or vicious, to get the pony to go into danger in front of you. I haven't got the skill, or the courage to do it. So I use my head, and I think about what I am asking the pony to do, and I do it gently, and I carry no weapons, and I don't try and frighten Obama.

I want Obama to trust me. Why, if I want trust, would I carry weapons and use threats? I trust Obama because he doesn't bite me or kick me, he doesn't even threaten to bite or kick me. If this is true of me trusting Obama, the reverse must be true. If I carry weapons, and threaten to use them, and do use them, how is this going to build trust?

So I train without whips and bits and spurs and without any of the leather straps which riding shares with some of the more exotic bedroom practices, not to show how clever I am, but because i am lazy and a coward. We have been blinded by chivalry into thinking there is something heroic about sticking metal spikes on your boots to make kicking your horse more "effective".

I have a dream, my 20/20 vision, that by the year 2020, people will see the catalogue of torture instruments sold to "control" horses, as an embarrassing aberration, like badger baiting.

Come to Rowanoak , and Nick and I can show you just how easy horsemanship is, if you are kind. Approach your pony, unarmed, as a friend, and things are easy. And if you are in a wheelchair or have limited mobility, think what fun you could have behind a pony. Come and have a go.