Driving Lessons

[Nanno]

I'd just put the bit on him with no fuss (or as little as possible) and then drive him like you always do. He may shake his head and protest a little at first, but then again he may settle right down and accept it quite happily like ours did. Finn and Sputnik were very resistant to being bitted the first few times, but they were fine once the bit was in place and drove better than ever. Sputnik was definitely more comfortable in the bit. They didn't like the idea of having to hold a piece of metal in their mouths at first, but once they realized the bits weren't hurting them and that they could still accept treats, they settled right down.

Using buckets as markers is fine. You could also use largish rocks.

Once you start driving along the road, Koby may decide to run onto the verge to avoid vehicles. That's not a bad thing as long as he doesn't bolt. Let him go on the grass or in the ditch for a while and I can almost guarantee that after a few times, he'll decide it's much easier to stay on the smooth road. We had that problem with Finn for a while last summer. He didn't even need the excuse of a car driving by. He would veer off into the ditch for no reason and Phil couldn't seem to get him back on the road. I told Phil to stop trying and just drive him in the long grass. It took Finn less than five minutes to figure out that it was a lot of work to pull the cart through all those weeds. He got back onto the road on his own initiative and only strayed briefly about two more times before giving up. He walks on the road now.