Sunday, December 23, 2012

Teaching: Allowing The Feet To Be Picking Up


For this I use the approach and retreat method. That is if a horse will not let you touch his feet without kicking I will start by holding him with a halter and lead rope in one hand, with the other hand I will hold a cane or long smooth stick and start rubbing the horse on its legs. I will start up high on the flank and rub downward towards his discomfort zone as I get near where previous experience tells me that he will start to act out I retreat back up the leg. Again and again I will go up the leg only to come back down a little further into his do-not-touch me area.
Note that I start the touching with a whip, and then switch to a walking cane.

 I will go to each leg in turn, rubbing up and down until I can put the cane on the horse’s foot without him trying to get away from it. While their maybe some horses out there that this will take more than a day’s work, but in my limited experience I have never ran into one that we could not get to this point in an hour or two.
 Rear and front.  If the horse kicks at the cane I just move up to where he is not concerned, and then start over again.
 After the horse will stand still for me to touch all four feet with the cane I will start the same process all over with my hands. After he will let me, without getting antsy, run my hands up and down his legs I will star picking them up with the cane. Now I will have the hook part of the cane pointing down. and will hook each leg in turn at the bend of the hock and lift. I will hold the foot of the ground until the horse stops kicking it; as soon as he stops kicking I release the foot to the ground. Over and over again I will do this until the horse allows me to hold each foot up in the air as long as required to shoes him.
Now we move to the round ring and after a bit of trotting around the ring with a few directional changes I let the horse come into the center with me. I pet and rub on him just as I have in all out previous lesions, but this time I go to rubbing down his legs while standing at his side. As long as he stands there I will keep rubbing and reach to pick the foot up off the ground by hand. If he kicks or moves away from me I pressure him to run around the ring, I will run him several laps, and ask for some more changes in direction, then invite him back to the center of the ring. If he does not come I will force a faster gate and more changes of directions, then invite him again. When he does come back to the center I rubbing on him then go back to the foot we just broke off from.

This goes on and on until he will stand in the center of the ring and let me whack on all four feet with a hammer as hard and as long as it will take to put shoe on. It is your job to teach the horse to stand for shoeing, not the farrier! As soon as he stands for each foot to be lifted and pounded on, the lesson is over.  However, you will habve to repeat it from time to time to reinforce his new habit.

Teaching: Trailering


If your horse will not go in a trailer it is the approach and retreat method along with the release of pressure concept that will get him walking into it without a second though every time you ask him to load. Never attempt to pull him or push him into the trailer, he will win that fight unless you have lots of man/woman power.

Do not get impatient while you are teaching your horse that a trailer is not a horse dragon that is going to eat him alive. He is afraid and very claustrophobic; you are asking him to do something that he would never dream of doing on his own. So instead of getting upset with his reluctance, understand it and work with him. He will come around to your way of thinking.



 Use a whip, which will reach from where you are standing to reach back to his rear, after leading him as close as he will come to the door let him stand and feel at ease. Then start tapping him on his rear just hard enough to be unpleasant.
 As soon of the horse starts to move forward stop the taping, praise him, rub on him, and start again. Walk him away from the trailer and back around to it, let him pass the door several times as close as you can, you can do this by lunging him on a short rope around where he has to pass between you and the trailer.

Then direct his path so that he is lined up with the entrance of the trailer, and ask him to go in, if he comes further then he did be for let him stand and look. Talk to him, sooth him, and then move up your rope until you are standing next to him. Start you taping on his rear again, holding tight the lead rope to make his retreat difficult, but if he retreats so strongly you cannot hold him near the trailer just go with him, but continue taping his rear. Do not stop tapping his rear until he moves forward, and then release the pressure. Pet him, talk to him, and then ask him to go forward again with your taping. Continue this until he steps up in the trailer.

The first time he steps on the trailer the noise of his hoof will frighten him, and he will jump back.

 Just hold him close to the trailer with lots of kind words and rubbing, and then ask him to do it again. When he puts his foot on the bed of the trailer just let him stand their a few seconds then ask him to back away. Repeat this, let him put that first foot in the trailer, let him paw it then ask his to back away. After sever times of his putting one foot on the trailer, ask for the second foot by taping his rear. If he back away just continue with your taping as before until he starts forward again then stop the taping let him rest, rub on him, then ask him to go on in with the taping.
 After a bit of this he gets it in his head that he is going to have to step up on that trailer and will put both feet on the bed. When he does just let him stand there as you tell him what a good job he is doing, and then ask him to back out. After repeating this several times, start asking him to go deeper into the trailer. Soon he will go all the way in except for maybe his rear feet. Just let him stands in this position for a short while, then ask him to back out of the trailer. Bring him to this point five or six time, asking him to back out each time without putting his rear feet in the trailer. If her starts to back out before you ask him resume your taping with the whip and continue taping until he move forward, even if you have to follow him away from the trailer.
 I never enter into the trailer at this point; rather I stand to his side and allow the lead rope to slip through my hand as he walks into the trailer. When the horse is consistently walking up to his rear feet into the trailer I will start asking him to lift his rear feet into the trailer by shifting my taping from his rump to the back of the foot I wish for him to lift. I will continue this taping until he either lift it, at which point I stop the taping, or he back up upon which a shift my taping back to his rump until he go forward.



I will let him back out as much as he wishes, but will immediately ask him to go back in.
As soon as I get the horse to put a rear foot on the bed I will talk nicely to him tell him what a good boy he is, and then ask him to back out of the trailer. I do this several times before I start asking for the last foot. As I was doing this I was not particular about which foot I wanted him to pick up. I would pick one to tap on but if he lifted the other I would stop the taping. When the horse loads all the way do not slam the door on him, or lock him in with the butt bar. Let him stand there for just a bit, then ask him to back out. Do this a number of times, increasing the amount of time that you ask him to stay in the trailer each time. When he will stand in the trailer for five minutes without trying to get out the session is over. I will then close the door and let him stand loaded for an hour, and then let him back in the pasture.
 For the next week or two I will load him ever day and let him have a little grain while he is loaded. After that I will load him once a week for a month or two. Then I only load him when I need to haul him. Some horses pick this up faster than other horses, I have only taught about fifty or so to load, so I know that my sample is small and they may be an exception out there, but I have never worked with one that the horse was not loaded for the first time in three hours or less after I worked out this method.



Horse Relationships and Training






They are several relationships within a herd of horses. There is, of course, the one that is most commonly recognized, the alpha horse to the herd. In the wild she get to decide where the herd will go to the watering hole, when and where they will go graze, and how long they will stay. She will bully, bite, kick and shove any horse who does not wish to follow her decision.

The stallion of the herd is not the herd’s boss, he just keep other stallions from stealing any of his mares, and will run off the younger stallions when they become old enough to want any of his mares until he loses his job to a younger stallion. Procreation is his only job in the herd.

Within this framework are a number of smaller relationships that are easily observed in any pasture with more than three horses. Three, by the way, is a bad number for a herd for one will always be the odd man out, and struggle to get in the click. Horses develop buddies and antagonists. If you will look you will see that the same pair of horses always seem to hang together, sometimes resting their heads on the wither of the other horse. They graze together, sleep next to one another, and after the heard is dispersed always find themselves back together. You will also note that some horse will act ancy toward one another every time they come near one another.

I was a wrangler for a Tennessee State Park some time back, and we had a herd of 35 to 75 horses, depending upon the time of year. When we selected horse for the renter in a trail ride we had to know which horses like each other, and which could not stand each other and place them in the line accordingly  Buddies next to buddies, antagonists separated by neutral horses.

Now the point of this is the grouping of buddies. All the buddies cooperated with their buddies. They would stand head to tail in the summer shooing flies away from one another’s heads, they would stand together against the aggression of another horse, and pick the best place to graze together. Even the alpha mare had a buddy, and this buddy was not the second alpha horse, it was just a horse she liked.

If you observe buddies in a pasture you will see that one does not boss the other one, not even the alpha bosses her pasture buddy, they make their decision in a nonaggression manner, when one wants water, they both make their way over to the water troth, then decide together what to do next, when the heard moves they take their place with in it, and play horses games with the herd, then when the herd spreads apart they stay together for the pleasure of one another’s company. 

Now I have been called upon to explain how I can believe that the way to a horse’s heart is through his feet and into his mind. I have observed horses at work and at play for many years, and I have read books, watched all the clinicians, via in person, CDs, and on television. I have then gone into the round ring with a lot of horses to work out what works best for me.

This is what I have found: Everything we do with horses involves control of its feet. You think getting it to give its head to pressure has nothing to do with control of its feet? If you could not get its feet to stop moving you could not apply the pressures to have it give its head too. Teaching a horse to stand tied is teaching it to keep it feet from moving. To teach a horse to be cough in the pasture is to teach it either to move its feet in your direction; of not to move them at all, I prefer the former to the latter.

The wild horse wants with all its heart to run away from me, so, with the confines of the round ring, I let it run. In fact, I, as the alpha, insist that it run. I do not let it pick the direction of its travel; I apply whatever pressure required getting the horse to move its feet at a speed and direction on my choosing. My control of its feet brings it into the center of the ring with me, without me putting a hand upon it. I let it learn that it does not have to move its feet so fast if it will stand by me like a buddy. If it leaves my side without my asking, then like an alpha I set it to moving its feet again in my direction and at my speed.

Now it is through its feet you can gained control over its mind, it will, within two or three days, come to me in the center of the ring when I extend my hand in a come here gesture. It will stand beside me until I start walking, then just like a pasture buddy, it will walk off with me, stop when I stop, back up when I back up. It will stand still untied to be brushed, washed, and saddled. Teaching it to give its hindquarters, is a more refined control of its feet, that is, keeping its front feet in from of me, and moving its hind feet to bring its rear diametrically from me, and then not to move its feet until I ask it to. By this time the horse is starting to let its heart touch mine.

About this time I will teach the horse how to lunge, that is control of its feet at the end of a lunge rope, again, I choose both the speed and direction of the horse’s feet. I teach it that its feet cannot carry it away from the rope or me. It learns to watch for which way I point my arm to decide which way to move its feet. It listens for my whoa to know when it can stop moving its feet. After it learns to lunge I start teaching it to side step with its feet, to walk backwards with its feet.

A horse lives in the now with its instincts and memories, it does not use its mind to weigh options, only to act on decision that the impulse of the moment has dictate. As a trainer it is our job to teach the horse that they are other option then it’s the one it has acted upon all through its life until we met. A spooky plastic bag might not call for the rapid movement of feet that it has always thought. That something around its head does not mean that its feet have to carry it away from it. Like a bird that come with its 'preprogram' to build its nests, the horse comes with his own 'preprograms'. And flight, moving his feet, is its prime program, and that is the one you have to work with first.

To touch a horse’s mind is not the same thing as touching another humans mind. I do not claim to know how a horse’s mind works, how they contemplate, whether in picture or in emotions, but I can see behavior, and from the behaviors I can make some deductions and draw some conclusions. Horse act from habit, they come to us with a set of habits that they have learned through both through the life they have live, and that which is there nature or instinct if you will. The trainer’s job is to teach it new habits, new responses to things within its environment. It matters not from where the behavior had its genesis. Is the horse head shy because it has always been head shy or because it was beat about the head with a whip? Regardless, the trainer's job is the reprogramming (or if you rather, the training) is the same.  So I never concern myself with why a horse is the way it is, I can do nothing about that in any case. What I concern myself with is the behavior and how best to change the horse’s mind about how it reacts.

Once started under saddle the way to a complete partnership is still through its feet. Everything you do from the saddle involve controlling the horse’s feet! The first thing I start a horse with under saddle is a slow walk around the round ring, then figure eights, and then small circles. As he is learning this I start teaching it the whoa, to stop moving its feet, with the one rein stop. Then I move on to having it moves its feet a little faster, to the trot, then to the canter, and lastly at the gallop doing larger circles, small circles, spiraling from large to small, figure eights, and one rein stops. All feet control!

Next I take it out into a larger paddock, and start teaching it to walk, trot, cantor in a straight line for point to point, to maintain the gate I have asked of it, all feet control. By now we are starting to become like to pasture buddies, the horse want to play with me, looks forward to tacking up, sometime get miffed I saddler another horse.  Each horse is different, and how fast it learn its new job cannot be determined until after it has learned it.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Demonstration of Leading And Ground Tying


If you will recall when I was teaching fancy to lead and to lunge I was also teaching her to ground tie as we went along.  In the video below we demonstrate how well she learned that job:


Video shot 12/19/2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

How to Tie the Calvary Knot

You will notice a lot of people, most in fact, will either tie their lead rope to their saddle horn, or take it off and put it in their saddlebags when they are trail riding.  The US Calvary as well as The Royal Canadian Mounted Police use what is a Calvary Knot to keep their lead rope in place, you have seen them but might not have recognized it as a lead rope.  See the photo below:



The below video is a demonstration of how to tie a lead rope into a Calvary Knot for trail riding.


Videoed on 12/192012

Monday, December 10, 2012

Lunging for Respect

This video shows how I took a green horse knowing very little and taught it how to accept a rope, lead and to lunge.  

Lunging should always be done just to gain respect, never for exercise or to burn off the horse's excess energy.  Making a horse run a long time in tight circles puts a lot of lateral stress on its legs and feet's ligaments and tendons.  They will suffer a lot of unnecessary pain and not appear to be lame.  So lunge for respect, not exercise.




Thursday, December 6, 2012

Using An Indian Halter

Sometimes you need to catch and lead a horse but have no halter with you, only a rope.  And we all have had that horse that will let you walk up to it and pet it. but put a halter and lead rope in your hands and it was off to the high hills.

 The throwing rope is for the one that want let you walk up on it, the smaller
 rope is for the one who will let you pet it without a lead rope and halter.
 First step is to get the rope over the horses head.
Because a horse can put a lot of weight on its 
neck to pull away, more than he can with his his head,
 to lead him you need to twist the rope into
another loop which will fit over his nose.
 The rope should be situated such as it will
 trap itself under the horse's jaw.
 Now you have what I call an Indian halter,
 And can lead the horse with it in the same manner
as with a strap halter.  I call it an Indian halter because the 
rope halter is also known as a cowboy halter.  
This is just a make shift halter that will stand you in good stead 
when you find yourself in need.
 Now to the small rope which you hid in your pocket
until you could put your arms around you hard to catch
 horse, but not so hard that you need to throw a rope on it.
 Make the loop over the horse's neck first, just as I did with 
the larger rope, and twist it in the same manner.
 Then slip the additional loop over horse's nose,
and now you can lead him to where you left the lead 
rope and halter.