- Leading
- Tying
- Saddling
Things I work on every day:
- Grooming: This helps the horse get used to being touched and handled, as well as provides relaxing bonding time.
- Picking up Feet: This is a skill that takes time for most horses to master. Picking up their feet daily can help make it a routine activity for the horse. When teaching this, I try to only give the foot back when they are standing quietly. In the beginning, this may only be a second or two, but the time can be gradually increased.
- Round Penning: This is a great way to warm up the horse's muscles and get them mentally prepared to begin learning. Lots of directional changes, speed changes, and halts makes this exercise more beneficial for the horse and prevents it from becoming mind-numbing circles. It is a great time to work on vocal cues, which are helpful for later training under saddle, and builds respect and trust.
- Tying: I tie training horses up after sessions to get accustomed to being tied and help them build patience. If time allows, tying before AND after training sessions is very beneficial to the horse and can help break buddy sourness and barn sourness.
- To begin, I 'tie' by wrapping the rope around the round pen panel a couple of times. This gives tension on the rope if she tries to move away but if she panics it will slowly let out rope. This prevents the horse from hurting themselves from pulling back when they are still learning how to give to pressure. Once the horse is good with wrap-tying, I start tying them up in the stall after I work them. I always use a quick release knot just in case. I do not hard tie to the round pen panels because they are not strong enough if the horse pulls back hard.
Flicka is a 9 year old Quarter Horse mare, with no previous training. The owner has worked with her on standing to be haltered and allowing people to pet her. She has not been taught anything else, so I have a lot of work ahead of me!
We backed the trailer up to the round pen gate so that we could unload her right into the enclosed arena. That way I could start working with her on leading in a safe and controlled area and I didn't have to worry about trying to get her back and forth from the stall to the round pen when she doesn't know how to lead! I have two small pens attached to the round pen for this reason. I can chase horses into the stalls if they don't want to be caught, or if they don't yet have leading skills.
We backed the trailer up to the round pen gate so that we could unload her right into the enclosed arena. That way I could start working with her on leading in a safe and controlled area and I didn't have to worry about trying to get her back and forth from the stall to the round pen when she doesn't know how to lead! I have two small pens attached to the round pen for this reason. I can chase horses into the stalls if they don't want to be caught, or if they don't yet have leading skills.
Day 1: My first task is to teach Flicka to lead. It is difficult to move horses from pastures to stalls to arenas if they can't lead. Plus, all future training is easier to accomplish when the horse has good ground manners.
Flicka's first instinct when she doesn't understand something or when she gets upset by pressure is to throw her head up and back away. When forward pressure was applied on the lead rope, she threw her head up and backed quickly away. Some horses are quick to realize that if they come to the pressure, it goes away. But for Flicka, more pressure on the halter just made her pull back harder. Playing tug-of-war with a horse is not very effective and the horse always wins!
To help her to understand what I am asking, I begin by asking her to move her hindquarters away from me. This introduces pressure on the side of her nose and jaw. To get her to move her hindquarters away, I walk towards her hip and give pressure by swinging the end of the lead rope. I keep her nose turned toward me so that it is less likely that she can kick me and it makes it a natural response to step her hindquarters away. At first, I am looking for basically a forehand pivot (front feet are mostly stationary and the hindquarters move in a circle around them). As the horse begins to understand the concept, I start to lead off from the pivot. I usually can get a few steps before the horse realizes the pressure change and stops. Then I go right back to pivots.
Flicka's first instinct when she doesn't understand something or when she gets upset by pressure is to throw her head up and back away. When forward pressure was applied on the lead rope, she threw her head up and backed quickly away. Some horses are quick to realize that if they come to the pressure, it goes away. But for Flicka, more pressure on the halter just made her pull back harder. Playing tug-of-war with a horse is not very effective and the horse always wins!
To help her to understand what I am asking, I begin by asking her to move her hindquarters away from me. This introduces pressure on the side of her nose and jaw. To get her to move her hindquarters away, I walk towards her hip and give pressure by swinging the end of the lead rope. I keep her nose turned toward me so that it is less likely that she can kick me and it makes it a natural response to step her hindquarters away. At first, I am looking for basically a forehand pivot (front feet are mostly stationary and the hindquarters move in a circle around them). As the horse begins to understand the concept, I start to lead off from the pivot. I usually can get a few steps before the horse realizes the pressure change and stops. Then I go right back to pivots.
I also introduced her to lunging. She really struggled with going forward and too much pressure caused her to bolt and take off. I decided to try lunging another day and we switched to round penning.
Day 2: After the challenging day yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised when she practically starting leading right from the start. If there was too much pressure on the lead, I'd have to go back to moving her hindquarters to get her moving forward again.
Tried again at lunging. This time I put a rope halter on her. This helped a lot in keeping her from bolting off and I was able to get her to start moving off in a circle.
I also started working with her on picking up her front feet. It is so much more challenging to teach an adult horse, weighing upwards of 1,000 lbs, how to pick up their feet and hold them up! Flicka was not thrilled with this and did all the behaviors that are much easier to handle when they're babies: pulling foot away, leaning into me, backing away, hopping on three legs, etc.
Day 3: After warming up with leading and lunging, I introduced Flicka to the saddle pad! She did really well with this. I always begin by letting the horse sniff the blanket and then rubbing it on their shoulder and back. If they are good with that, then I start laying it over the back. I threw it on her from both sides, on her butt, up on her neck, she was completely fine with it. Another one of the horses in training injured my back and doing heavy lifting is off limits right now, so I have to take a break from working on picking up her feet.
Day 4: Introduced her to the saddle and bridle! She was fine with the saddle, but was a little unsure about it when I cinched it up. I always do this step while holding the lead rope, not tied up, in cause the horse panics. She backed up when tightening it up but otherwise no issues. She took the bit pretty good as well. Lunged her to help her get accustomed to the feel of the saddle and girth. No bucking and she seemed pretty comfortable with it.
Day 5: Started with lunging with the saddle and bridle. Then I hooked up the long lines for ground driving to begin to teach her about bit pressure. Right away she turned pretty good but panicked when pressure was placed on both reins. She bolted a few times
Day 6-10: Continued to work with her on ground driving, improving her turning, and working on stopping without panicking. I also began to desensitize her to mounting. I desensitize on both side by slapping the saddle and pad, shaking the saddle, flopping the stirrups against her sides, putting pressure down on the stirrup. This is to get her ready for her first ride. I don't want to swing into the saddle and have her spook because the saddle is making noise, or the stirrups are bumping her sides, jumping next to her. I want her used to a lot of activity on her back.
Day 11: She has really improved in her ground driving. She will now stop AND back up WITHOUT panicking! This is one of the skills I want before I get in the saddle. I want the horse to know how to stop and stand still. Now that she is fine with me jumping next to her and lots of saddle noise, I start putting my foot in the stirrup and bouncing. This puts weight onto her back and prepares them for mounting. She was not comfortable with this.
Day 12: Ground driving great with back, halt, and turning. Continued work on foot in stirrup. She backs up and looks to run away.
Day 13: Slight improvement with mounting practice! I was able to put foot in stirrup with some weight. My lower back injury has healed up so we are back to working on picking up her feet.
Day 14 & 15: Mounting practice and feet pick up. I am getting a lot of exercise bouncing next to her with one foot in the stirrup! I am definitely more sweaty than she is when we are finished for the day.
Day 16: I was finally able to stand in the stirrup! She stood calmly while I stood in the stirrup over her back. I was beginning to think she was never going to accept this step, so this is a huge relief. I know that now she is mentally ready for her first ride. She also picked up both of her front feet without trying to pull them away! This was a great day!
