I mentioned in a previous post that my daughter has always had a dream to train a horse and take it to show.
She has done a lot of training sessions already but I didn’t post those because we were in process of switching to this new website. Now, we will be posting some of those training sessions.
It’s really important for your safety for your horse to stand still when you mount. If her horse moves, my daughter will tip the horses nose toward her, keep her toe in the stirrup, hold onto the horn and gently move with the horse until the mare stops. Only when she stops and stands relaxed do you attempt to mount. If you are consistent, your horse will quickly learn that attempting to walk off while you mount is much more work then standing still.
Remember that whatever you do immediately following a maneuver or activity will leak back into the maneuver or activity. For example, if you get on your horse and immediately ride off, your horse will quickly develop the nasty habit of moving off while you attempt to mount. Horses are always trying to anticipate and one up you. A good idea is to mount and then just sit still for a bit, as in the picture below, before you go anywhere. Practice standing still. It is a vital skill.
Here she is working on “JitterBug”‘s circles. Most horses at first will lope hard and get “slung out”, meaning they lope with extended strides. This can feel rough and a bit out of control. The goal is to get the horse to lope “collected”, with a more compact body with their feet more underneath them. This is accomplished by driving the horses hind end forward with your feet while asking them to drop their head and flex at the poll bringing their face perpendicular to the ground and nose closer to their chest. This will feel smoother and will be more in control.
In the picture below the horse is running hard and a bit out of control so my daughter is pulling her into a tighter circle to make loping the circle fast more work. As the horse slows down she will return to the larger circle. If her horse speeds up again, she will return to the smaller circle and repeat the process until her horse maintains a nice relaxed lope on the larger circle.
The wonderful thing is that she has a Dad as a trainer. So he gives her lots of advice and coaches her.
Here she is starting to work on backing.
Gotta let the horse know she did good! Horses learn from the release off pressure and positive reinforcement.
This picture is a fun one! Our daughter is working with the horse on learning to spin. Notice the left front foot is crossing over in front of the right front foot as she spins to her right. Contrary to what many people think, spinning correctly is a forward movement NOT backwards. If your horse is knocking its front feet together or stepping behind the lead foot with the trail foot, you don’t have enough forward impulsion.
All in all, it was a great training session! It’s important to take it one step at a time and not try and do too much with the horse during one session. The key is to working with the horse daily and build each day on what the horse learned from the day before. Have a plan with an end goal of what you want your horse to be able to do. Write down the steps that will get you to your end goal. Remember, baby steps. Shoot for the stars but, not all in one session.
Sometimes it’s hard to know how to get from Point A to Point B. Our goal with our videos is to better outline how to get a horse from Point A to Point B. We are still working on getting our videos up. We want to provide a comprehensive library, so if you have anything you would like to see us cover in a video please send us an email with suggestions. Then check back often for updates.
The key to success is consistency and knowing where you are going with your horses. Feel free to also email to ask any questions you might have.
