A Method Of Teaching The Barrel Pattern To Both Horse And Rider

Morgan Frye and Jake, running Barrels

The way I teach barrels, both the green horse and green rider, is to have them start the pattern at the walk.  Having the horse come to a complete stop about 2 lengths from each barrel, and then walk around the barrel.  About ten times a day, for at least a week.

The next week I will ask them to trot around the pattern, slowing to a walk about 2 lengths from the barrel and then trot around the barrel, and back up to the trot once around the barrel.  The reason for the stop at the walk, and the slowing to the walk when we start at the trot ,is to start the horse in on understanding how to rate. We can do this about 10-12 times a day for at least a week.  If you are unable to work with the horse every day this it will take longer to drill it into the horse's memory.

The next week I will ask them to do the pattern at the canter slowing to the trot as they come up on the barrel, then cantering out from the turn. I will not ask a horse to do this more than 6 times a day.  I will then continue the training at the canter until  the training until the rider/horse can make a tight turn around the barrel without clipping it.

Next I will ask for the pattern to be done at the gallop, but not the charge, with the horse starting its rating about 2-3 lengths from the barrel, keeping the turn as fast as possible without the horse slipping down (I have had that happen way too often).  Once we start working at the gallop I will not ask a horse to run the pattern no more that 4 times a day.  This part of the training last until the horse/rider is able to complete the pattern consistently without clipping or swing too wide around a barrel.

The reason you do not want to run the pattern too much in a given day is because of the lateral stress you are putting on the horses feet and legs by making it make such fast sharp turns.  The horse does not have to be lame to feel pain.

The last stage of training as I do it is to ask for the charge as we start the pattern and away from each barrel, and rating down just before each barrel, just how slow depends upon the horse and the rider's comfort.  Some really good horses do not have to rate slower than a slow gallop to make the turns, others have to be slowed much slower.  It is the rider's job to find the point where the horse cannot go into the turn any faster without a wreck ensuing.  Some riders are more aggressive in finding out how fast they can make the turn.  

Rating is the term giving for slowing the horse's rate of speed as it comes near the barrel so it can make the turn without sliding down.

This is the risk you run.

The difference  between a gallop and the charge is one of effort.  The horse will, on its own, after reaching a certain speed change its gate to the gallop, when you ask the horse to run as hard as it can, that is the charge.  When the horse cavalry was being dressed from a column in a scrimmage line for an attack on an opposing force the troop would be brought up side by side in a straight horizontal line to the enemny's position.  The commander would say at the walk, forward, as he pointed his hand in the direction of the attack.  All the horses would walk at the same speed allowing the line of troops to stay dressed. The same for the "At the Trot" command, "At the Cantor", and "At the Gallop" commands.  The slowest horse in the unit sets the speed for each of these gates as the troop advanced.

Until the "Charge!" command is given, at that point the dress of the line become broken as each horse runs as fast as it can into the battle ahead.

A Discussion on Rein Lenth

In this post I would like to talk about teaching the new rider how to shorten and lengthen his reins as the need may be, and to suggest the length they should be held.  At the walk the reins can be allowed to hang slacked  if both the horse and rider are experienced.  If with ether are inexperienced then the reins should be held shorter.  That is not to say that the reins should be held tightly against the horse's mouth, just that the reins should be short enough so the rider does not have to move his arm very far back to apply pressure on the horse's mouth.

If this horse was to take in into its mind to run away the girl's arms are way too far from the horse's mouth for her to exert much control over the horse's head either in direction or in  speed control.

The above is a picture of two riders, one knows how her reins should be held, and the other does not have a clue.  The same if for the kids in the picture below:

To help this horse in its jump the rider should have shortened his/her reins and leaned much further forward.

While this rider has leaned forward the reins should shorten and the hands much further up on the hors's neck.

Now this rider gives a picture of how it should be taught, note the short reins, and her position on the horse's neck.  The picture below shows another rider who has grasped the concept:

And this one even more advanced in the use of the forward seat:

When pull directly upon the horse's mouth you are using the direct rein to cue your horse, when you put the rein on the horse's neck (neck reining) to cue your horse you are using the indirect rein.  The horse understands the direct rein easier than he does the indirect rein, and responds to it faster than the indirect rein both in learning the meaning of your cues and when he becomes excited or fearful.  Some people never teach their horses to neck rein. And this never have to concern themselves as to when they should switch from the indirect rein to the direct rein.

In the video below I demonstrate my method for shorten and lengthen the reins while on the move:

Another method I use to shorten my reins which I did not demonstrate in the video is to grasp both reins with one hand and with the other hand pull the slack out by pulling the rear hand backwards until the reins are at a length more appropriate for the situation me and the horse may find ourselves.

Rexx

Some Horses Want To Lay And Roll While Being Riden

I like this video, it shows a horse lying in the snow and rolling while it is being ridden. I had a horse do this to me one time in white sand in the Sandhills at the Lumber River Campground. On that same ride another rider, a young lady had had her horse lay down with her and roll on the way to the midway point, and asked me if I know how to keep a horse from doing it. I had to say no, that I had never experienced it, but on the way back my horse gave me that experience. It is a long painful story which I will spare you the telling.

Since then I have learned what to watch for, to lay down the horse has to put his head down to the ground, watch the video and you will see what I mean. So if you have a horse that is prone to lay down with you yet in the saddle keep a close watch on his head, and if he starts to lower it, pull it back up and he cannot lay down. Keep your horse's nose off the ground while you are on his back.

The one time it happened to me the horse at first just went down to its belly. Thinking that he had stepped into a hole I started to dismount, and as I did the toes of my left foot rotated into the horse's flank, and that is when he rolled to the left and tapping my foot, toes up/heels down into the ground. He tries to roll on over but could not because I was in the way. My foot was still in the stirrup so I did not want him getting up until I had freed it. So while in excruciating pain I would let his rock a boat but prevented his from getting up until I was able to free my foot. While I was able to remount and ride back camp I had to cut that trip short because my ankle swollen such I could not get my boot back on, heck I could hardly get it off and there for a bit I though that I was going to have to have it cut off.

It was a learning experience and did teach me what to watch for to prevent a horse from lying down with me on him. For a while after that I started paying close attention to how the horses lay down. Generally after a ride and soon after I turn them back into the pasture they will lay and roll. That is when I noticed that before they lay down that they always put their nose to the ground as they walked around just before lying down. It is instinctual, like a dog always goes in a tight circle just before it lays down if it can. So I learned to watch for it while I am riding.

The Well Trained Trail Horse

Today, 10/22/13, I would like to discuss what it is we want in a well trained trail horse.  I see so very many people out on rides who are just being conveyed by their horse for the duration of the ride.  The horse gets to decide when it will change gates without correction by its rider.  When it comes up on an unusual obstacle it balks and put up a fight about getting past it.  Sometimes they bolt and run away with the rider. I have both seen this second hand as other rider's horses ran away with them and first hand when Fancy bolted on me and slid down in a turn going about 40 mph knocking me out and knocking out the vision in my left eye.  The moral?  It behooves us to be sure of our horse's training, and take extra care when we know that we are riding a green horse on a ride.  And we should always keep in mind that we are always training our horses, if we allow a bad behaviour it has just learned that it can do that, will do it over and over until it is corrected.

So what is it that a good trail horse should know?

I will list what I believe is important in no particular order, and you can feel free to add to this list if you think I may have left something out.

- The horse should stand still to be mounted from either side.  The rider may hurt the normal mounting leg or foot and have to mount from the off side.  The rider should be able to get off and back on regardless of what the other horses are doing.

- It should not mind being around strange horses.

- It should not kick at other horses, but if it does the rider should tie a red ribbon to the base of its tail.

- It should be able to cross water unhesitately.

- It should be able to cross ditches, even if the ditch requires a jump.

- It should be able to let other horses run past it without thinking it is a race.  It need to know that it does not need to be the front horse of the group.

- It should not change gates until the rider asks it to do so, and it should stay in that gate until the rider asks for another change.

- Conversely it should not hesitate when ask to change gates.

- It should be accustomed to dogs, because as you pass houses with dogs, the dog is just doing its job by raising the alarm.

-  It should be able to stand tied for hours at a time.

These are the charististic of a good trail horse that come to my mind, if I have overlooked any please comment on them.

Atribures  from this point come from the suggest I have received:

- It should know and respond to leg cues.

- It should be able to go off trail and through the bramble without concern.

- Be able to abide traffic around it without being concerned.

- To be able to ride with ease away from and back to any group of horses and people.

- To be able to back up when requested.

- To be able to walk unconcernedly through mud and mud puddles.

Correct Leaning

Today I would like to talk about sitting on the horse as we ride, as an addition to the post I wrote called The Seat some while back.  Today we are going to discuss which direction you should lean as you ride across uneven  ground.

How many of you were taught to lean back as you go down a steep hill, and forward as you go up hill?  Years back, when I first started giving riding lessons that was what I thought.  The reason?  It made it more comfortable for the rider.

I was wrong, not in that it makes it more comfortable for the rider, but in that it was the correct thing to do.  What you should be thinking of is your horse's balance, or collection if you will, which is no more that a fancy word for balance.  A free running horse is always collected, but when we add our weigh to his back he has to find a new center of balance.  Pretend that you are carrying a kid piggyback as you go down a steep hill would you want his leaning backwards or forwards?  And the same question if you are going up hill?  I am sure that you can see that having the kid lean in the correct direction will help you keep your balance.

The above is a picture I copied from Mount & Man by Lieut. Col McTaggart, D.S.O. published in May of 1925.  You will note that the rider's body is perpendicular to the ground, and strait up from the horse's back and not leaning backwards onto the horse's back.  

The reason is for the horse's collection not the rider's comfort.  Regardless of if you are going up or down hill the rider should keep his body perpendicular to his horse's back.  The one exception to this is that the faster you are riding the more forward you should lean, and when you jump you should be leaning up near the horse's neck.