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One of my friends that drives teams is paralyzed in one leg from a carriage wreck and the wagon running over him and pinching nerve.

He has draft teams, last one he bought was 17.2 hand belguim. He usually has Suffolks which do run shorter.

His horses were extremely well broke, he was able to harness them himself, still great difficulty however. He could lead them from his electric wheelchair and if they stood still well, could crawl up in the forecart.

Currently his son has moved back in with him and he harnesses and hooks the horses and he and his dad drive, his dad takes the reins.

It is basically impossible for a chair ridden person to harness up anything above a mini size animal. I mini they could, no problems as long as the mini is well trained.

As far as getting into the cart, depends on the disability.

The human will is by far greater than we can imagine, my buddy with his teams has continued to amaze me over and over. Human spirit can do things that are deemed impossible, just depends on how much spirit that person has.

I specialize in Special Needs transportation and over the years I've developed quite the rapport and friendship with many of my students and their families.

It would depend upon their physical limitations. Do they have relatively good mobility and use of their upper body?

Several of my students could harness and hitch a team of minis with assistive devices. "Grabbers" if you will, to reach under and over the animal to get the straps.

Safety has to be the first priority, though. I'd never turn one of my students loose in the barn to fend for themself. Somebody without the physical limitations would have to be present.

Actually, with a team of minis or a small pony, a low riding buckboard type cart could be designed with a pull up tailgate ramp that would allow the person using the wheelchair to get in and out pretty much by themself.

The old style chair stays...basically just channel with pins through the wheels that aren't safe for motor vehicles could be appropriate for a wagon, because keeping you IN the wagon in an emergency isn't always the intent. A lever activated channel/pin system that could be activated by the person themself would not be hard to develop. A simple machine, really.

Our physical limitations indicate what horse suits us best whether we use a wheelchair or not. Using a smaller horse rather than a large one is just an accomodation.

I don't quite understand your question. Is/are the animals that you are referring to the eight mules or are you asking a hypothetical question? First of all, it would depend on the size of your cart as to what size animal that you would be dealing with. I'm personally not a mule person (they are smarter than I am), but if you have a small cart that would accommodate a small horse or large pony, then I personally would go in that direction. I am assuming that by your question that you have no use of your legs? Or, can you pull yourself up and get around somewhat by holding on to things? It makes a big difference, although just about any horse/pony can get used to the chair. You have the option whether to use a neck collar harness or a breast collar one, the breast collar one just just might be a whole lot easier for you to put on. You could also, with a few adjustments and alterations, fix your harness so that you could put it on in pieces and connect rather than having to lift it all on at one time. If you are strictly confined to the chair, then you would need to figure out if it were better for you to stand up your shafts and back your animal into them and then lower the shafts or to tie your animal and push your cart up to him...whichever is easier for you...you could get him all hooked, (still tied) get in your cart and fasten your chair wheels, then pull a release rope that will until your horse and off you go. There a lots of ways to get around doing something if you have the desire and obviously you do. Good luck and don't give up.

That would be really hard. I broke my ankle during the time I owned my first horse...it's a good thing I was boarding her, because I was pretty much useless. You might be able to find a way to make horse handling practical when you're in a wheelchair or on crutches, but unfortunately I don't think you could ever make it safe. Even with horses you know very well, you need to always stay grounded around them when you're on your feet in case you needed to jump out of the way for whatever reason.

I apologize is some of this sound condescending. First, short horses or ponies. work with someone and a trainer to train the horses to pick up their feet with a different cue, other than reaching down their leg. Teaching horses different cues to pick up their feet shouldn't be hard. My horses pick up their feet when I tickle them at the knee or hock.

Other horse care depends on your ability to reach. If you cannot reach the horses back due to disability, you might want to work with someone to create a brush on a long pole. Work with someone to get the ponies or mules used to this.

Work with someone to get the ponies used to having their tack 'thrown on'. I am imagining, if you are sitting in a wheelchair you cannot lay the harness on the pony or mule. Once a mule is used to tack being tossed on him more than placed, he should be fine with it.

As far as the yoke goes, some of the older mules I worked with would stick their heads through the yoke. Teaching the mule to bend his head down and stick it through the yoke would be helpful. Working with the horse to put it's head down more for the bridle will also alleviate trying to stretch up to much.

The only other suggest would be to have someone out with you when you first start working with them in the wheelchair - if they are not used to it already. Basically just help spook train them to the wheelchair. Some equines find wheeled object very scary.

I am having a hard time with some of your questions determining if you are being serious or satirical - or possibly fishing ofr answers to help you with a book? Let me know.