Training Harvey the Heavy Horse

[@JanWestern]

When I watch you driving Barry I feel as if I'm there with you and whoever is driving with you (Rhi or Mel). My heart is in my mouth, my stomach churning, so what a testament to you to be able to train a horse to be safe, confident and happy! You would make a wonderful therapist with your common sense attitude, knowledge and skill, how I admire you your wonderful job too as it must be such a rewarding feeling giving the horses the confidence they need to do their intended job. And so true what a gorgeous stallion Harvey is ❤

[@sandrasmith16]

He is such a nice boy. He is just not bothered by anything. The fact that he is going to have a variety of jobs to do means he won't get bored and will enjoy his work.

[@RoseThistleArtworks]

What a wonderful horse! He looks like he has such a calm, hard working personality to start with, but with all the diverse training he is getting, too, must make him worth more than his weight in gold.

[@rossarmit9964]

Brilliant had the pleasure of meeting this horse , great to see him so happy. Different class as normal.

[@Dewdaahman]

first, to be amazed yet again, safe, confident, happy.. thank you Barry..

[@tashdog1]

Still keep watching this one.

[@susanbrown2909]

Always look forward to your videos,and the experience you impart. I grew up in southeast ...I used to be round horses as a girl,? I was always down at the local stables just to be around horses...I clean out the stables just for a free half hour ride on them. Thanks Barry...

[@jgrace2015]

That’s a great point about traffic. Years ago there were pedestrians, horses and carts, cyclists, cars, trams etc. Even pedestrians would be a challenge what with ladies and their skirts and parasols, gentlemen in top hats etc. Plus no Highway Code so people going wherever there was a gap! In comparison I guess traffic today is better and perhaps easier to anticipate what you’re likely to experience in some ways.

[@t2t433]

Hi watching this barry made a very good point in saying there were more things to frighten horses years ago than there are today. Cause a horse raised in the countryside then went into the city for the first time would meet loads of other horses and carts and such and it may also meet the equipment that was used for laying tram and rail tracks . I have a picture of a horse going over some board or something while the tram tracks are being laid, nowadays there would be a diversion in place so the horse wouldn't meet that. I also believe in putting a horse in a situation that it may not ever ( or may not routinely come across ) so that when it does it is not scared also to put it in that situation every so often so it gets reminded that it is not scary.

[@barryhook2]

Exactly - very well put!

[@Muttsrus-bk7yd]

What a nice, pretty horse.

[@marilynmcclintock2974]

Sweet. Grandma Sue in central Indiana and Izzi Too

[@Tw0_yukk]

I love horse

[@karineekg]

Beautiful!

[@Ronaldo46267]

Parabéns ótima doma

[@gg_vard]

Around 13:36 you can see the Greek flag is upside down 😶 🇬🇷

[@barryhook2]

Thank-you for letting us know! We were asking for help with flag orientations that the other day on Facebook. Apparently there is an American flag in the corner upsidedown too haha I'll fix them when it stops raining!

[@Firebird894]

Is it hard to teach a riding pony a good one who has been ridden most of his life to go in harness or pull logs around the farm for you? Just small ones light work and pulling a cart. I am completely new to driving and trying to watch and learn everything I can. Iv'e trained riding ponies and I was told it would ruin him as a riding pony with the way I ride him he's very flexable and responsive and we do a lot of spins and turns and rollbacks and stuff like that but it looks to be a harness pony needs to go straight can they learn the difference when in the harness gear to go straight then but when under saddle still be what they were? I hope that makes sense I get a lot of mixed opinions on it.

[@annajohnson4720]

Do you have any horses in the U.S?

[@barryhook2]

Any of our own horses? No. Barry has trained some horses in the USA and Canada, but only at clinics.

[@marionevans8687]

Have you ever run into a problem with the people in the cars or trucks, such has honking or yelling at you or being disrespectable.

[@Eva-cn2bu]

wouldn't it be possible for him to have his eyes uncovered? he seems really focused and not spooked at all

[@barryhook2]

Yep, Harvey regularly takes his bridle off when he's tied up to the wall waiting to be put to or taken out, so blinkerless work should be no problem to him should his owners want to take him blinkerless. The main issue in the UK is that some misguided insurance companies will not insure a horse for driving work on the public highway without blinkers. They are classed in the same bracket as 'safety equipment' and you would be seen to be taking an 'unnecessary risk'. However the vast majority of the horses we train would go blinkerless just as well as they do with blinkers.

[@Eva-cn2bu]

@@barryhook2 thank you so much for the answer Sir! I had no idea about British insurance companies being a problem. Over here (in Poland) we don't have many carts, but horses are often driven in open bridles, even when there two of them in the harness (I found out you've been asked a lot about this and you pointed out one of the reasons for using blinkers is when there are two horses with one being significantly more responsive than the other one). And I can't remember hearing about an accident with such a cart - I do recall some accidents with a horse in blinkers. The problem is - people who don't take enough time to sack their horses out properly chose what they believe is "the easy way". A horse that knows there's a lot of crazy things going on on the streets but nothing will hurt him should stay calm and focus on his job anyway. But a horse that doesn't know the usual street noise can be even more frightened with blinkers because he can't see what's happening. I've always felt like driving in an open bridle is at least worth giving it a try. Maybe there are horses who seem more calm not seeing what's behind them, but I couldn't help wondering wouldn't it be possible to have their vision reduced less radically. If horses natural vision was about 300 degrees out of 360 (I'm not sure it's the right value, but let's say it is), wouldn't it be also effective to reduce it to 180 degrees (just so one can see the horse's eye looking from the side). When I see most of blinkers, I feel like they're just too close to horse's eyeballs...

[@DonnaRatliff1]

Maybe he's getting tired?