I have ground driven and had some lessons - but nothing with a cart. Have thought about getting a cart for a horse - just hauling it around would be tougher. But, this is why I posted - and I thank you for the different opinions. I am going to try out his horse and see what it is. They're not pressuring me to trade - and have offered me money - but I do like the horses he trains and sells. All I know is to show. I've never had a "fun" horse. Even though I've only shown once in the past three years - my horse was still a "show" horse. I am ready to venture to something different. I'd honestly love to give cowboy mounted shooting a try.
Those are the classes the other horse does! He won the buckle at our area fair this year for the extreme cowboy race and two younger kids placed in their age division. I think it'd be fun. Plus, I do have almost 30 acres of woods that I could go out for a trail ride.
Awesome!! The barn owner said they are gonna build a course in the indoor this winter for everyone to play with
I know you're from around the same area - there are a ton of barns that offer clinics or open practices for it.
I've had a ton of minis in my (relatively) short life thus far and they've all been wonderful and easy to manage. But. I managed them like minis and not horses. If they went out on grass they got muzzles and had an exercise program. All of them had great feet and never needed much other than a vitamin and slow feed hay nets in the winter. I love minis though. They're great snugglers. If you're familiar with horse management then get a driving pony. The amish have a ton of them. Broke to the hills for driving and tend to be very low maintenance.
I'm going to go against the grain here and say get both! I love driving but don't want to give up riding. Minis, in my experience are less expensive to keep than a horse if you manage them correctly and don't end up with a too fat mini that has health issues. I think a pony, a true shetland would be perfect or, you know, a mule or donkey!
I went the mule route a couple years ago....it was an odd situation - but it didn't work out. A good mule I'm sure would be great. I cannot get two- I only will have one empty stall. I converted my barn from three to two stalls for the purpose of not allowing me to get too ahead of myself!