Muffy Seaton: A driving force

The adage "don't put the cart before the horse" may be old, but it's still true. Just ask local carriage driving expert Muffy Seaton. She's spent most of her life training, driving and judging carriage driving competitions around the world.

Seaton and her husband, Doug, moved to Central Oregon from South Carolina, where they still own a horse farm and training facility. Seaton brings a wealth of experience as a combined driving competitor and educator. Her credentials reflect years of learning from equestrian professionals, passing difficult tests and putting in miles at the reins of carriages being pulled by one to four horses.

"I'm one of 10 people in the U.S. that hold the British Driving Society Light Harness Horse instructor certificate," said Season. "It takes years of going to England to pass all the criteria. It's stringent and very involved. Kind of like an advanced degree for an instructor's license."

To pass the tests students must be able to drive a four-in-hand and teach what they've learned. She's also an American Driving Society judge and United States Equestrian Association judge.

Seaton's time in the saddle taught her how horses think. But seeing horses pulling carriages opened a new world to her. She and a friend went to Holland in the 1980s, where the U.S. combined driving team was competing.

"We didn't even leave the stands for lunch," she said with a big smile. "They brought in the Royals of Holland's four-in-hand coaches. I didn't know you could do that with horses. That trip got me hooked!"

When they got back, Seaton's friend talked her into training her Welsh ponies to drive. Training a horse to drive was new territory, but her earlier riding lessons taught her how to quietly coerce them into learning. She soon found it took much longer to train a horse to drive than ride.

"You only have that connection through the bit into its brain. You can't pat them on the neck," she said. "They're herd animals, and aren't used to being out there by themselves. They have to trust you. That's true of any animal or person. Trust has to be there before you can learn anything."

Years of experience training horses taught Seaton that blind obedience can evoke a sense of powerlessness.

"They've got to trust I'm going to protect them. They're out there without any guidance except what I ask them to do."

For Seaton that trust bond is the coolest part of driving - and it's kept her interested ever since.

When asked how she became a driving expert, Seaton gives credit to the variety of ponies sent to her for training.

"They were all different," she said. "I had to get into their heads and gain their trust before they could learn. That's the basis of my teaching methods. I do clinics and lessons for the horses' sake, not people. If the person knows how to make the horse happy, then the person is happy too. Horses don't get up in the morning and say I'm gonna be bad today. There's always a reason, and it's usually human-caused."

Seaton believes the horse's only job in driving is to pull the carriage. It's the driver's job to tell the horse exactly where to put their feet so they don't lose their balance.

"First of all, they're a flight, herd and prey animal and if they lose their balance, they don't want to fall down. In their heart, they feel like they're going to be eaten by the wolves," said Seaton. "So many people think you just steer when you're driving. It's not like driving a car. If somebody was always pushing you over, it would be scary. They think wolves are everywhere. Especially if you're by

yourself."

The Seatons still compete in combined driving competitions. The three-day event begins with dressage and a memorized test judged on accuracy, way of going and the horse's manners. Day two is a marathon approximately 21 kilometers long. In one section, there are mazes to navigate. The object is to get through as fast and accurately as possible.

The third day is a course through traffic cones with balls balanced on their tops. The team is penalized if a ball is knocked off. There isn't much clearance.

"We have a 139-centimeter carriage wheel-width and the cones are set at 160 centimeters apart," said Muffy.

The time allowed to complete the course is short, and penalties apply if the time is exceeded.

Soon Muffy and Doug will return to South Carolina. Seaton will be teaching clinics and instructing clients who bring their horses and ponies to their farm, called Shepherd's Purse. She'll be judging carriage-driving classes in Florida, and at the Friesian Worlds in Ohio and the Massachusetts Equine Affair. She's also judging a pleasure show in North Carolina and teaching a clinic in Texas this October. Their plan is to sell the farm and move to Oregon permanently, with winter trips to Florida to keep showing. They'll return to Oregon at the end of May.

"The thing I like best about driving is the journey of bringing horses and people along," said Seaton. "It's not winning big ribbons; that's just the icing on the cake. The progression of building the trust bond is so fascinating. I want to impart that to my clients. It's so exciting when you get that bond."