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| King |
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| Percheron/Arab Gelding 1980-2006 |
| Our first horse, Valentine |
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| Valentine and her foal, Damascus |
While the very first horse
used by Yellow Rose Carriage was Valentine, the Standardbred/Arabian cross, the horses used today are much different.
Instead of the lighter-weight Half Arabian/Standardbred horse like
Valentine, we have switched to Draft or Draft crosses. We have used
Percherons, Belgians, Shires, Clydesdales, Suffolks, and various crosses.
The Draft or Draft cross tends
to be quieter by nature, and is ideal for pulling the carriages. Another plus
for these large horses is that the larger the horse, the more awe-struck is the public.
It doesn't hurt that the Draft breeds really enjoy the attention also! Currently
the largest horse on the string is 18 hands and weighs around 1800 lbs.
| Isaac, Anne's personal horse |
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| Percheron Gelding |
After Anne purchases a driving prospect, she lets them get used to the sites and sounds
of the farm. Once she works them and determines that the horse can be safely
ground driven around the farm, she takes them out into the industrial park near the ranch.
“There are lots of “horse eaters” around the industrial park,” said Anne. “Things like large trucks, machinery, blowing paper, loud noises…anything we can expose them
to, we do it. The biggest horse eater downtown is the dreaded street sweeper. Most of the drivers of those machines are very
courteous and avoid the horses whenever possible, but it’s a little hard to find a street sweeper in an industrial park
to help in the desensitization process!”
| At a desensitizing clinic |
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| Anne riding Isaac |
Every step of the way Anne is observing and evaluating the
horse’s natural reaction to each new site or noise. She prefers to see
some sort of reaction, rather than none at all. With each reaction she can evaluate
the horses individual fear response. If they simply startle, spook in place,
dance or scramble a little, but don’t try to run, Anne figures they have the potential to become a Yellow Rose Carriage
horse.
| Tacey |
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| Registered Percheron Mare |
“If the horse tries to bolt, jump sideways, run backwards, or any
type of dramatic action, I won’t even keep them,” says Anne. “It’s
not worth it. All the desensitizing in the world cannot cover all of the possibilities
of what could startle or scare a horse downtown. A dramatic horse isn’t
worth taking the chance of injury to our customers, drivers, equipment or the horse itself.
We go through many horses to find the ones that we feel will work for us.”
| Jack |
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| Clydesdale Gelding |
Anne watches the horse and looks for the horse to improve quickly. If they are leery of something initially, by the third or fourth time past it, they should be more accepting
and much bolder.
“I usually give a new horse 3 days of actual time in the industrial park,” says Anne. “I consistently find that the third day out is “D-Day”.
The first day everything is new to them, the second day you start to see more of what the horse is really like, and
on the third day they’ll really show me what they’re made of.”
| Midnight |
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| Reg. Percheron Mare |
The traffic, sirens, flares, and noise aren’t the hardest things to train a horse to
get accustomed to, it’s the standing still. Standing still is critical
for the carriage horse of Yellow Rose. When in the tight, downtown environment,
there isn’t much room for leeway. The horse must be willing to consistently
stand still for traffic lights, in traffic, at the carriage stand, and when other horses are pulling away from him.
To read more about our horses, CLICK HERE ...
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