Teaching our Pygmy goat to drive

[Weeg]

Hey guys! Hope the goat exerts here can give some insight!
We have a friend who is staring a pony party business, and I have decided to try to teach our Pygmy goat to drive. He's stubborn, and not even halter trained. I know nothing about training goats other then I've read that Pygmy goats can do it, and I'm committed haha!
First things first, halter training. I need tips for this, I watched a few youtube videos, and am doing additional research, but wondering what you guys think. All the tips I can get! I am going to use a homemade halter for now, but am going to order a real one as well, because we'll need that anyway.
Next, driving. We aren't planning to put a lot of weight in his cart. For older kids, we wont even hook the cart up, just decorate him and lead him around, that will be perfect. For little kids, they can ride around, but even though I have done no research on how much weight they can pull, I'm guessing no more then 70 pounds.
Like I said, all the tips I can get haha! We have horses, and some horse training experience, (my horse was greenish when we got her, and with some behavior corrections and minor training, she's a great mare now) so you can see some of my experience.
Thanks in advance! I appreciate it!

 

[Weeg]

@JadeFarms, I saw in another thread that you have trained goats? Any insight?
Haha, this probably isn't the everyday goat question. Lol!

 

[JadeFarms]

I’ve always wanted to do this, never got the chance to because of coyotes.
When I hook it up to the cart I would make sure to have treats in hand. Let it have a treat right as you hook it up. First start with leading it, every few steps give it a treat. Then start making it walk a longer distance without a treat. Soon it’ll learn how to walk without a treat. That’s just what I would do, honestly I’ve never done it so I wouldn’t know exactly how to do it.

 

[Weeg]

I’ve always wanted to do this, never got the chance to because of coyotes.
When I hook it up to the cart I would make sure to have treats in hand. Let it have a treat right as you hook it up. First start with leading it, every few steps give it a treat. Then start making it walk a longer distance without a treat. Soon it’ll learn how to walk without a treat. That’s just what I would do, honestly I’ve never done it so I wouldn’t know exactly how to do it.

Yes, for this stubborn guy, were going to need a lot of Timothy pellets lol!
How abbot halter training? I honestly feel like that will be the hardest part. Thanks for your help!

 

[JadeFarms]

Yes, for this stubborn guy, were going to need a lot of Timothy pellets lol!
How abbot halter training? I honestly feel like that will be the hardest part. Thanks for your help!

It is hard to be honest. YouTube helps a lot. They will pull but do not let go of the halter. Once they stop pulling you’ll need to walk them on it while using a treat to lead them. It will take time but they’ll learn. Goats are extremely smart, just stubborn.

 

[Weeg]

It is hard to be honest. YouTube helps a lot. They will pull but do not let go of the halter. Once they stop pulling you’ll need to walk them on it while using a treat to lead them. It will take time but they’ll learn. Goats are extremely smart, just stubborn.

Awesome, I'll try this. My plan is lots of treats, and luck lol! Thanks!

 

[JadeFarms]

Awesome, I'll try this. My plan is lots of treats, and luck lol! Thanks!

Let me know how it turns out.

 

[cassie]

My method for halter training anything from cows to horses to goats is to just put a halter on them and start leading them. They would throw a fit but they would get over it. I imagine that methods for training a horse would work on a goat. I have never tried it but I can tell you that I have seen many pictures from the 1800's of children riding in goat carts.

 

[Weeg]

Day one of training went great!
I gouda with him, me being the poll lol, for about 5 minutes, then he started to get the hang of it. Once he realized we were going to the grain room he was stoked lol! I got a cup of Timothy pellets, and whenever he challenged me and tried to pull, I became the post until he came to me. Then I gave him a handful of pellets. He was doing really well by the end, I think he'll be a fast learner! I'll do some more training on Thursday, thanks for all the help, I'll keep you posted!

 

[RiverOtter]

If you just google "cart goat" all manner of results come up. There's even a goat carting and packing forum.

It's actually really easy. We used to train all our buck goats to pull a cart so they had more than 5 minutes of work a year, lol. Then we didn't own our own buck for a while, but I just picked up a stunning little fella and I'm thinking he might just get a second job like my old crew. Basically, we just got them to love taking walks with us, then we did it with a cart, and slowly increased the weight.