©

 Je Suis Pres

Fraser School of Driving

255 Boulder Road, Deer Lodge, Montana  59722

Phone  406-846-3686

Email - info@drivehorses.com 

 

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The Fraser School of Driving is open year round. We have lots of places to drive with awesome views of the mountains, but if the weather turns bad we have a spacious indoor arena where we can conduct your lessons.

Rates: our rates have changed for 2008; the old rates will be honored to anyone who has already booked their lessons.

  • The Experience: $100 per hour for 1 to 2 hours driving horses. This is for the people who want the experience but have no intentions on doing more.

  • Basic Training: $75 per hour up to15 hours of lessons. Fifteen hours of lessons is our minimum recommendations for learning the basics. We suggest a three hour lesson per day which will include plenty of hands on driving, harness & hitching and informal class room to include question and answer time. This is about as much as most people can absorb in a day. There is a lot to learn!

  • Advanced Training: $50 per hour. This rate applies to our students who have completed the Basic Training and want to continue developing their skills.

  •  Commercial drivers should consider at least 40 hours of professional training before you risk the lives of the trusting public.

  • $400 per day clinic for one person or several people in your private group. For people who want to spend the entire day learning as much as they can about harnessing, hitching and driving horses. This will include lots of hands-on driving experience; how to get a better response from the driven horse; question and answer time; harness choices; vehicle selection; safety considerations; horse types and abilities; the horse's way of thinking and responding; what the horse needs from the driver; and other instruction that might include a video review.

Partner Rates:
   Partner rates can apply to a spouse, family member or friend who will share the lesson time. The first person pays the full rate and the second person pays $30 per hour of shared time.
Room and Board :
   We can offer our nice bunk-room and meals to a limited number of people, or there are motels and restaurants very close by. Go to the Links page and scroll down to the Deer Lodge pages for Motels. Call for resident student rates. The benefit here is additional question and answer time and conversational
Schedules:

   We can be flexible in our class times and dates, so call and talk with us about what schedule works best for you.

Lessons:
   The lessons vary with each student. Everyone has different interests and levels of ability so we work with each individual to offer them what they need the most. We teach driving with contact - this is the safest and most responsive way to drive a horse or multiple horses. We will briefly cover harnessing, fitting and adjustments, but we focus mostly on hands-on-driving. We are very flexible in the lessons and we try to accommodate your individual goals and requirements. We can also teach you how to best present your horse through grooming techniques and equine enhancement. You may drive a single horse or a well matched pair. We offer lessons in driving four horses, but only after you have accomplished driving a pair.
Gift Certificates:

   We offer gift certificates by the hour or by the week! We can make available as many driving hours as you would like to give. We have sold gift certificates to:

  • a wife who gave her husband the gift of driving for their anniversary. He drove horses as a kid and wanted to re-live the experience. You should have seen the smile on his face! He had so much fun his wife paid for another hour.

  • a friend who wanted to say Thank You to someone, and she knew how much her friend wanted to learn how to drive horses. The recipient couldn't say no to the gift and decided to take more lessons.

  • parents who were learning how to drive from us and could see the value of professional training, so they gave their daughter the gift of lessons. Last winter, they hosted a driving fun day for the enthusiasts in their area - father and daughter both drove a team of horses and had a wonderful time!

  • several husbands who wanted to give something special to their wives.

  • a husband who wanted to make his wife's dream of driving horses come true!

  • a wife who gave her husband more lessons because she knew he wanted more experience driving his horses.

Horses:
   We usually have a variety of horses to drive including draft horses, cross breeds, light horses and ponies. If you have a well trained horses, you may bring them for your lessons. We may charge $75 for an evaluation to be sure your horse is suitable for your lessons. If your horse needs additional training it will be an additional $50 per hour in addition to your lesson. If your horse is fine there will be no extra costs except the standard boarding rate of $20 per night. We have hay but it is alfalfa mix and that might be too rich for your horse, so bring what you normally feed and we will adjust the rate. We have some wonderful driving horses for sale - so if you are looking for quality - see our list of Horses for Sale.
Equine Enhancement:

   We can teach you how to make your horses look their very best! It is surprising how proper conditioning and presentation can benefit you in the show ring, the sale ring, parades, or anytime you drive in public. We can also teach you to train your own horses, but this will take time to train you first. It is not likely you can learn it all in one or two weeks.
 

Clinics In Your Town:
   Alex will travel to teach a driving clinic or teach private lessons in your area.
   Cost is $400 a day plus his expenses which includes standard mileage rate to and from your location or air fare, food and lodging for the time he is away from home. If he has to haul horses for lessons, there will be an additional fee.
   This would usually include an 8 hour day for lessons plus an hour lunch break.
   You can set up the clinic how ever you choose. We do suggest a limit of 10 people for the day so everyone can have some hands on experience.
   If you have any other questions feel free to call 406-846-3686 or E-mail, we will be happy to answer your questions about the school or lessons.

 Telephone: 406.846.3686  Last modified: February 2008

Je Suis Prest translates as "I am ready".  It is on the Fraser Family Coat of Arms which we have redesigned to suit our needs. The Coat of Arms is copyrighted and no permission will be granted for its use to anyone other than ourselves. No photos or any part of this site may be used without written permission.

Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Fraser School of Driving. All rights reserved.