Gene Fletcher Professional Farrier
I CARE ABOUT YOUR HORSE
I see training horses like building. The first thing you need is a good foundation. After that the more time and care you put into it, the better it will be. A foundation is the most important thing in training. A lot of people out there try to just build without a foundation, and it will stand a little while; however one day it will fall. Of course I'm talking about when a person just bucks out a horse. There is nothing keeping the horse from falling apart. All you did is just told it what to do, and it may listen for a while, but what is keeping it listening to you? Not much! Maybe fear. But as it learns, it will become unafraid, or if you beat it, it will defend itself.
Where most problems start is lack of communication between you and the horse. If the horse doesn't understand you, then you can not teach it. Horses communicate with their bodies. People communicate with their mouths. Right away we have a problem. The second thing that most people do is they try to tell a horse, "no", or what not to do. This is impossible without understanding each other's language.
You go to Japan and eat at a restaurant. You don't speak Japanese and the waiter doesn't speak English. You get done eating and you stab your chopsticks in the food. This waiter told you "no", and you didn't respond. That waiter may get mad after a bit and things may become aggressive. In your head, you think this guy is a jerk and you don't want to be around him anymore.
Welcome to the world most horses live in! This waiter just tried to tell you what not to do, and you can see how this can cause problems. Now, let's see what happens when this waiter shows you what to do. [Same thing] You eat, then stab chopsticks in the food, but this time the waiter shows you what he or she wants by taking the chopsticks out of the food and putting them on the table. You now have communication! You can test this by putting the chopsticks back, and the waiter will repeat the same. Now you know what the waiter is asking. You just have to choose whether or not to follow it. A reward may encourage you to continue doing things his way.
I was at a clinic one day, and a lady asked the trainer about her horse. She had a problem where every time she would cinch up her saddle the horse would turn and bite her. What is the main problem in this situation? The problem isn't the horse biting. That is a whole new problem that has turned over into this one. The trainer's first words is precisely what I would say, " Try not to cinch up the saddle all at once." because pain is one of the biggest issues that people don't consider. They always think it is just the horse acting up. However, the second thing the trainer said was to knee the horse so hard that its eyeballs would pop out of its head. That is where you are causing bad things to happen. You just started a fight that, most of the time, the horse will win one day.
The thing was is that this trainer is trying to use muscle on muscle. The horse bites you; you kick it. Nothing is being learned here except you kick and maybe the horse will what to defend itself. Wouldn't you? There is no communication here. There is only fighting which isn't always communicating.
Now the big problem is that the horse is turning its head and you can fix it very easily. Depending on how skilled you are, you can cinch with your right hand and when the horse starts to turn, you can take your left hand and with a flat hand, jam your fingers into the horse's throat catch and keep him from turning its head more. Now do not push the head, just form a wall and keep the head from turning farther. If that is too much for you, you can take a riding whip in your left hand and keep it by your side. When the horse goes to turn its head bring the whip up and out to create a wall that runs parallel with the horse.
I use the horse’s body and mind (not head) to influence the horse. The best trainers in the world will take a horse and make it love the game it’s playing (reining, dressage, jumping, etc), because that is, after all, what we are doing. We are playing with the horse. If you can get your horse to love what it is doing, it will perform the best it can for you, in my opinion. In teaching horses to do anything, we use aids. We define an aid as a methodically applied directional pressure used to create a shape. Aids need to be logical to the horse. That means they must make sense to the natural instincts of the horse.
Horses have two lines of influence, a PRIMARY LINE and a SECONDARY LINE. These lines are imaginary. You can use these lines of influence to create horse logical pressures that indicate the shapes we want the horse to take. These primary and secondary lines are natural areas of attention for the horse. The primary line of influence runs the length of the horse, along its backbone. The line runs from the muzzle all the way back to the tail. You use this line to move the horse left to right. In nature, if a cat were to attack a horse and come at him from the right, then the horse would move left and if the cat were to attack from the left the horse would move right. The secondary line of influence runs through the horse's shoulders from side to side. Using this line allows you to move a horse forwards and back. If a cat attacks a horse in front of the shoulder, the horse will run back. If a cat attacks a horse behind the shoulder, say at its flank, horse will run forward.
Now that we have a way to move the horse, how do we use it? First is where to stand. Most people prefer to stand in front of the horse and pull it around. But what happens if something scares the horse behind it? It is going to run you over. Plus if your horse likes to rare, then one day it might come down on you head. I've seen that one. It smashed the girl's helmet right in two. You don't want to stand too close to the hind end, or, if the horse wants to leave, it will kick at you. The safest place for a person to stand is right by its side, right on the secondary line. Just like the picture above. Notice how I'm not holding the lead line. That is because I have control of this horse,s body and no longer need a line. Standing at the horse's side will limit your chases of getting hurt.
I use whips to help me in my training. Now before you start thinking that I just go around whipping horses, read on a little. A tool is only as bad as how is it used. I use a whip as safety for me, as in a case where a horse might be very frisky and might be a kicker. Now a lunge whip will give me a means of touching the horse while keeping a safe distance. Another use is when I'm in front of the horse and need to bring attention to the rear, like asking a horse to move forward.
Moving a horse forward. When attemping to move a horse forward most people try to pull a horse forward. Which doesn't work out because now you have your muscle against the horse's, a loosing battle. You have to be smarter than the horse. The easiest way to move a horse is to push not pull. How do we do that? You can stand at the secondary line and, with a whip, slowly bring it up to the horse's haunches until the horses moves forward. In this position, the horse only has two doors because you are blocking two of them. If you are on the left of the horse, then you have the left side blocked from letting the horse go left and the back blocked with the whip. The horse only has two options -- to go right or forward. If you have a wall or fence on the right of the horse, you have just blocked all doors but the door in front of the horse. So the horse will move forward.
Another reason to stand at the secondary line is because not only is it the safest place to stand but it is a neutral line and is a friendship line. If you are communicating with a friend and you are walking around, where do you try to stand? Beside your friend; and, if your friend speeds up, then you do too. Standing at the secondary line not only gives you control of of the horse, but you are also asking it to be your friend.
This being said, if your horse is frisky then you would do the same thing to ask the horse to go forward, but at a distance. Keep your horse on the outside of the pen and you and the lunge whip in the center. Position your shoulder along with the horse's, bring the whip up and behind the horse, and the horse will move forward.
To stop the horse, position yourself in front of the horse as seen above. By doing this, you are blocking off the front of the horse thus stopping the forward motion. I'm using the butt of the whip , in the chest, to encourage the stop. If your horse is frisky, you do not want to step in front of it. You should place a whip in front of the horse instead. If that does not work, then you need to run the horse into something to make it stop. Then incorporate the whip, then yourself as the horse learns.
Notice how in these pictures you don't see me holding the lead line at all. That is because with this I'm controlling the horse's body and do not need the line. In fact, this horse can go all over with no halter or lines. The owner of the horse takes him for walks in the woods with her, and this horse was not an easy-going horse either. He broke my girlfriend's tail bone before I started working with him. He was quite spoiled and had no respect for people whatsoever. If you came up to him in the pasture, he would turn his butt at you and take a aggressive stance. Now he needs no lines, and he goes with us everywhere we have gone.
The owner had him in the woods one day, and they came upon a bush of "never-ending birds". The horse had no halter or lines, and he really wanted to spook. However, the owner kept his attention on her as I showed her and the horse never ran. They made it back to the house together.
Now you can stop and go. If you play with this enough, you can just move your horse one stride at a time. The hard part of this is to not use the lead line because most people have become so dependent on it. Sometimes I make my clients hold onto the last six inches of the lead and that's all or have them throw the lead over the withers of the horse, as in the pictures.
Once you have the stop and go down, it is time to refine it. You want to get the horse listening more to your feet, not your whip. To do this, you first step one foot forward. Then ask your horse to move forward. Do not move the first foot tuntil the horse moves it foot. Then you both move the second foot at the same time. This will help you progess to not having a whip to move you horse because the new aid to go is your foot moving forward, not the whip. You also want to work on the stops now that the horse is watching your feet. Instead of turning all the way around to stop the horse, just turn 90% and place the whip in front to stop the horse, Then just stop and place the whip in front of the horse. Finally just stop, and the horse will stop with you. Now, you are just walking like normal, and the horse is just following with you' the basics to going line-free.
The maneuver seen above is called a turn away. You start by taking a straight hand and pushing on the horse's throat catch as seen in the first picture to the left above. Now you do not want to just push the horse around with your hand. With no release of pressure, the horse will not respond. You simply place your hand in the position and put X amount of pressure on the horse's throat catch. (X being what ever the horse needs to respond.) You keep your hand still, like a wall, and allow the horse to move away from the pressure and get rewarded by the release of pressure. Just step and repeat until you have made a complete circle. Most horses will try to step forward to get out of this maneuver, so be prepared to stop the horse from moving forward. For best results, just move one step at a time until you and the horse have the hang of it. Then try 1/2 a circle, then 3/4, and finally a whole circle.
This maneuver is called a turn in. This move really tests to see if your horse is moving with you or not. You can start this move by turning away from the horse and position the head of the horse if it does not follow with the lead. Then push the horse around with the whip, just like riding a turn position. Then move forward. Do one step at a time, and before long you have a full circle. Practice enough, and you will not need the line or whip.
Now you are trying to figure out why you should try to do this. You are saying, "I had my horse moving and stopping before." Yes, you did, but there is more to this picture than that. First, you now have control of the horse's body, and with that, you have gained more respect from your horse. Second, you've got your horse listening to your feet when you move and stop. When you get in the saddle, how do you ask the horse to move??? With your feet. If you are working a green horse, you just eliminated some guesswork. Third, with the last two maneuvers, you have the horse listening to your shoulders. When you are riding your horse, you look and turn your shoulders where you want to go. Again, little guess work later.
You can now work on lunging. You want to wrap your horse's legs before lunging. In my opinion, polo wraps are the only way to go. You want to wrap the legs so you are pulling the back of the leg inward. Don't put on too tight or too loose. Think of it like applying an Ace bandage because that is what it is. I don't like boots because they will not protect like a polo wrap. If you don't wrap your horse, there is a possibility of the horse pulling something on its leg. A half hour of lunging can equal a long time on the trail. It is harder for anything to run a small circle than a straight line.
You have already started the basics in lunging with the turn in, which is a very, very small lunge circle. All you have to do is move the horse away from you until the horse is out where you want the horse, from a triangle with the line to the horse's head and the lunge whip to the horse haunches. Now, to stop the horse, simply place the whip it front of the horse by not turning with the horse and placing the whip behind you. To change directions, just block the direction you don't want to go with the whip, pushing the horse to the correct direction.
Try to keep your horse calm on the lunge line. Do not push the horse. Teach the horse to walk first on the circle. Just keep slowing the horse, or just do nothing. The horse will stop running and trotting when it gets tired. Try to keep things gentle, and encourage the horse to walk. It is easy to get your horse to move faster, so teaching the horse to be calm is going to be beneficial to you in the training process.
When I was in school, there were riders who were scared to ride some horses, so they would try to run them down in turn-out, before the ride. Guess what the horse did? The horse ran. "Why?" you ask. The horse sees a person, and the person makes the horse run. The next day the horse sees the person, the person makes the horse run. Are you seeing the pattern? The person is teaching the horse to run everytime they see the horse. I can take the same horse and turn it out, and it will run and run and run. I will let it wait to calm down and keep it calm. When I get on the horse, guess what! It will be calm.
Try to lunge your horse in an arena or in a wide open area. This will be better training because there won't be walls to hold the horse up, and the horse will have a better connection with you. I do not like round pens for that reason. All you do with a round pen is teach a horse to stand up against a wall. There is no real connection with you. Round pens do have their good parts, like your first mount. Now, if the horse takes off, it can't go too far. I don't like the metal round pens. They are not safe for you or your horse. A horse can flatten one of those gates like a pancake and sometimes gets caught in them. If you are going with a round pen, it should be wooden.
When you are lunging, you want to move around with your horse. Keep facing the horse as the horse is lunging, and keep your hand with the line pointed at the head. If you are having trouble keeping your horse going, bring the whip up towards the haunches to drive the horse around, and don't forget to drop the whip when the horse is moving to keep the horse sensitive. You always want to go back down to asking a horse to do something. This will give the horse a chance for it to make up its mind what to do, and keep your horse sensitive to your cues.
Now that you have your horse calmed down, how do you stop the horse out on the lunge line? This is accomplished the same way you stopped them when you were walking them. You block their frontal corridor, but this time you're going to place the whip in front of the horse instead of your body. Just like when you stopped the horse by walking beside it, you want to face the opposite direction of the horse. To do this, you just stop moving around with the horse and put the whip behind you, parallel with your shoulders and block the front of the horse. If this does not work, wave the whip; and if that does not work, run the horse into a tree or wall or something to get the horse to stop. Then repeatedly keep asking and make the horse stop, and keep asking then make the horse stop and the horse will figure out what you want in no time.
In order to get the horse to trot, again you ask with your feet first. You should move your feet in a little trotting motion, then slowly bring the whip up and increase pressure until the horse trots. With some horses, you may have to tap them with the whip. You always want to start with your lower pressures first every time to give the horse the option to move from the lesser pressure and to keep your horse sensitive to your aids. Cantering is the same thing as the trot. Just increase pressure until the horse does it. LIke I said earlier, it is easy to get your horse to move. It is slowing and stopping that you need to work on.
After you have mastered lunging, it is time to start tacking up the horse and lunging it with the tack on. Tack I use for training a horse is halter, lead line, chain, cotton lunge line, 39" or 42" riding whip, 12' lunge whip, polo raps, surcingle, saddle blanket, saddle, bridle, snaffle bit, dropped nose band and side reins. I like to break the tack down too. I'll put the tack in the middle of the Arena or pasture and let the horse get used to it on its own, allowing the horse to sniff the tack and play with it. The best training is very boring and takes time. It is not a crowd pleaser, and you'll probably fall asleep watching it.
The first thing to go on the horse is a surcingle. This will allow the horse to get used to pressure around where the saddle cinch will be and help us with other pressures later on. When attempting to put the surcingle on the horse, make sure the horse is on a lunge line and in a wide open space to allow the horse freedom, so it can get use to the surcingle on its own. That is the best way to do it. Allow the horse to move away if the horse is scared of the surcingle. Just keep moving with the horse, and the horse will give in. Once you have the horse on the lunge circle, the horse can get used to the feel while it is moving.
Next is the saddle blanket. Put the blanket on the same way as the surcingle until the horse will stand with it. Then put the blanket under the surcingle and lunge. After that comes the bridle and snaffle bit. They go on under the halter. I don't monkey around with hackamores or anything like that. I don't feel there is a need; and, if you train with a snaffle and ride with one when you go to the show ring with a curb bit, your horse will really stop. I don't believe in using any other bit. I think the rest of the bit world is a waste of money. If you can't get your horse to stop, you need more training for you and the horse, not another bit, and if you say your horse won't take a bit, get its teeth done by a equine dentist.
The picture to the left shows you the way to tack your horse for the lunge line. Notice that the reins are under the halter and tied tight to the surcingle. Before you put the horse on the lunge line with the bridle, take the horse to the work area and attach the side reins as seen to the left -- one end to the surcingle and the other to the snaffle bit. Keep your side rein loose and slowly tighten it every day until you get the head set where you want it.
The side reins are going to (1), get the horse to accept the bit and (2) help balance the horse by lifting the horse off its fore hand. When your horse's forehead is vertical to the ground you have achieved both "forward motion "( lifting the horse off the fore hand with propulsion in the rear)" and acceptance of the bit. The horse should now "look for the bit"; so, if you lengthen the side reins, the horse should drop its head to find the bit.
Finally, I put the saddle on without the surcingle and lunge the horse with the saddle. Apply the saddle the same way as the blanket. Work the horse on the lunge line and make sure that the horse gets use to the weight and stirrups.
Now comes getting on the back of the horse. Tack the horse with halter, lunge line, bridle, blanket,and saddle. First, I start with a mounting block or log, etc. I bring the horse to the block. Then I stand on it. Make sure if the horse freaks out, to pull the head to you and the butt away. This stepping on the mounting block will get the horse used to you being higher than normal witch is enough alone to freak a green horse out. Do this until the horse is use to it. Then try leaning on the horse a little at a time on the back. Next, throw your body over the horse gently, and finally throw your leg over and sit in the saddle and just stand there with the horse.
If you get on your horse and then just go, you will teach your horse to go before you are in the saddle. So when you get in the saddle, just sit for 30 seconds. Then go. The next step is to get a partner to lead you and the horse around while you incorporate your aids you want to use in the saddle. After that, move to the lunge line and finally ride free, once you are confident that the horse understands your aids, especially stopping.