If you’ve been paying attention to our Instagram lately, you will have seen that Jasper has taken another step towards officially becoming a driving horse.

We are now ground driving with a travois!

So let me answer what is probably your first question – what the heck is a travois?

The travois can be thought of as a short of sled, dragging behind the horse. Today, the travois is (or should be) used as an extremely important step during the process of training a horse to hitch to a cart.

Benefits of Using the Travois

There are a few key reasons why I make sure not to skip out on this step, and encourage you not to skip it either:

• The travois allows the horse to feel what it is like being confined in between the shafts of a cart
• By attaching the breeching straps to the travois, he is able to feel pressure coming up from behind him, like a cart would when going down hill or at an abrupt stop
• It gives us the chance to experience new, potentially scary, things while mimicking being attached to a cart without fear of having an accident in the cart
• The horse is able to learn how to turn with the pressure of the shafts on their body
• The noise and movement behind the horse allows them to get used to that of the cart

All in all, the travois allows your horse to experience just about everything new that they will experience when hitched to a cart without risking a negative reaction while in the cart. I am more easily able to coach the horse through any sticky situations on my feet, do not have to worry about being trapped in a vehicle during any spooking or bolting, and am setting him up for success by giving him all of the tools he will need when hitched to the cart later on. It is a confident booster for the horse.

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How to Build the Travois

For Jaspers specific measurements: I took two 10′ long 1 1/2″ thick PVC pipes and connected them with a 3/4″ left over piece of PVC. After measuring the length and width of my carts shafts, I matched up the pieces and screwed them in. I then secured that with duct tape (in camouflage color of course) and taped the ends of the long poles as well. I also added two screws into the middle bar so that the traces can hook on as if it was a single tree. You could also add eyehole hooks here to more easily attach the traces to the travois via quick hitch release shackles.

*Tip: You want the pipes to be able to move with your horse, much like a single tree does, so do not screw them in too tight.

When you watch the videos of walking behind Jasper when hitched to the travois, you can see how it moves in a back and forth motion with his stride like the single tree would. This is important because it means the majority of weight is being carried by the breast collar, NOT the saddle.

The 10’ pole length works well for most horses of all sizes, you will need to measure the width of your horse to determine how spread apart they should be. The nice thing about the travois, is the width does not need to be perfectly accurate, as the poles will flex (as long as you did not screw them in them too tightly) and allow you to use it on multiple horses so long as they are relatively similar in size. Of course this miniature horse travois would not fit on a giant warmblood — but I have used it on many different sizes miniatures and shetlands since this article was originally published.

You will also want to measure the length of your horse from their point of shoulder to about a foot behind them to determine how long your false shafts should be and where to set the middle “single tree” pole. If you have a harness, you could use the measurement of your traces to determine this measurement as well.

I also added a footmans loops, purchased from a local hardware store, under the false shafts so the hold back straps can be secured in place on the false shafts. You can add this somewhere in front of your horse’s flank space on the false shafts to be able to properly attach it.

Lastly, I suggest adding duct tape to the front ends of the poles so that if they rub your horse at all, it is soft and padded and will not cause any harm to them.

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Jasper’s Experience in the Travois

At the time of writing this, we have worked in the travois a total of three times. On the first day we stayed in the outdoor arena where Jasper is most confident, and honestly sleeps through most training sessions. When introducing him to something new I always stick in our arena or where ever Jasper is most comfortable and relaxed. Jasper was not phased at all, and even stood like a champ while I hitched and unhitched it.

On day two we started in the arena, and then hit the trails around the property. Again, he was game. We even did some trotting around the driveway. Normally Jasper does call out to Wallace once or twice, but he didn’t at all. He was very focused on what we were doing and I couldn’t have asked for a better pony! We even walked down the little road in between our drive ways and stood in the driveway calmly watching some cars drive past.

On day three, I took a leap of faith and journeyed out with Jasper through the neighborhood roads for a sunset walk. I cannot stress enough how much of a rockstar this pony is. The roads were very quiet but a couple of cars did drive past us. Each time I asked Jasper to ‘woah’ and he stood there patiently as they drove by. He only shied away from something on the road once or twice but kept walking on. He NEVER called out to anyone at home. You should have seen his little ears perking up at all of the new things to look at!

I honestly believe this is where Jasper has the most fun, when we get to go out and explore new places and he gets to be the leader with me coaching him from behind.

I am very confident that we will have many miles of good times and memories out on these roads!

While I was not able to get any video during any of the cars passing us because my focus was on making sure Jasper remained calm, I was able to put together this video of our trip!

We walked (and trotted only very minimally) roughly a mile out and then a mile back home. I need to download one of those mile tracking apps next time so I can keep track of our walks!

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Your Questions Answered:

“What did he find most scary about it? Noise, feeling, ect. Things to watch out for?”

@joy.the.pony

Honestly, Jasper never had any issues at all (so far). I anticipated him being resistant around turns or to wanting to scoot away from it, but he did none of those things. He even stood without moving a single hoof while I hitched it by myself. This could have been because he was already used to pulling a tire and I have also walked him with the cart shafts around his body like I talk about in my last blog post. I like to believe it also has to do with all of the patience works I’ve done with him to remain calm when experiencing new things! He is a touch sticky in the shoulder around tight turns, which is to be expected. I should also note that I ground drove him around it laying on the ground, walking over it, and allowed him to sniff it before hitching.

“How the heck do you set that thing up?!”

@chelseacurcio

It’s easy! Once you have it build following the steps I mentioned before, it stays in one piece. To hitch it to the horse is just like a cart. The long poles go through the shaft loops, the traces attach to the middle bar in the back, and I even wrap the wrap straps around the poles like I would if they were shafts to a cart. The only thing I need to add is a loop on the pipes that can act as a footmans loop so the breeching wrap straps do not slip backwards.

“Do you have to carry it behind Jasper or does it drag?”

@my.photogenic.animals

It just drags on the ground! I have another smaller one I have build previously that sort of hangs off of him, but I like this one much better. It is actually much easier to use.