When John and Karen FitzGerald of Hakalau prepare for the Merrie Monarch Festival parade next week, they’ll load Ruby and Ehiku, two of their five horses, into a trailer for the trip. But the horses won’t need saddles.
When John and Karen FitzGerald of Hakalau prepare for the Merrie Monarch Festival parade next week, they’ll load Ruby and Ehiku, two of their five horses, into a trailer for the trip. But the horses won’t need saddles.
All they need is a harness and a cart.
The FitzGeralds trained horses in dressage and roping for decades before becoming founding members of the Hawaii Carriage Driving Society. These days, with carriages having as much practical use as an oil lamp, people drive for fun.
Since its inception just over three years ago, the group has hosted clinics to teach newcomers the ins and outs of carriage driving. They’ve put on American Driving Society-sponsored competitions. Members participate in parades around the Big Island, from Kohala’s King Kamehameha Day parade to the Merrie Monarch showcase, which starts on Sunday.
“It’s kind of an old art form,” John FitzGerald said. “It’s a way of keeping something alive.”
“When we started driving we were on Maui,” he said. “I didn’t have any carriage or cart to pull, so what I would do is pull a travois attached to a tire.”
After the FitzGeralds moved to Hawaii Island, they purchased Ruby, a Halflinger-Morgan cross, from Ohio. They also purchased Ruby’s harness and a single-axle cart. Later, the couple bought a secondhand double-axle carriage so they could drive Ruby and Ehiku as a pair.
Ehiku, a quarterhorse from Parker Ranch, also is a roping horse and a dressage horse: a one-equine showcase of how versatile a horse can be.
FitzGerald’s philosophy is that any good riding horse can be taught to pull a cart or a carriage. It’s easier to teach a horse to pull than to carry a rider, he said, because you don’t have to help it get used to having weight on its back.
For some, driving is much more accessible than riding. In 2010, FitzGerald drove in the Merrie Monarch parade with Sandy Tomiyama as his passenger. Tomiyama, who makes lei for parade participants, has a spine problem and cannot ride horseback. But she can still sit in a carriage.
“You can (still) enjoy your horse and the camaraderie of it,” FitzGerald said.
There’s considerable overlap between members of the Hawaii Carriage Driving Society and other horse groups on the island; some people are also part of the Hawaii Island Dressage and Eventing Association, others are in the Mauna Kea Polo Club.
Just about any breed of horse can be taught to pull a carriage. HCDS president Gary Grisham drives a pair of large Friesians. Others hitch up miniature horses and ponies.
Elaine Partlow of Pahoa drives Tattoo, one of her eight mini donkeys. At 250 pounds he’s on the small side, but Partlow’s larger jennies (female donkeys) aren’t interested in pulling. Geldings, on the other hand, like the attention.
Partlow had trained donkeys in the past, but had fallen away from the hobby when she found out about the group.
“I thought — aha,” she said. “It’s more fun to do it with other people. Just to go up and down your own road’s not very exciting.”
Partlow and Tattoo were a crowd favorite at last year’s Merrie Monarch parade, with people up and down the route cheering for the little donkey alongside the larger horses.
“I made sure I trotted him,” Partlow said. It wasn’t difficult, she said: “Just to keep up, we had to trot.”
After the last driving competition, Parlow decided to add a new trainee.
“I ended up buying a pony,” she said.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.