Horse Training Basics

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"An Exercise For When You Can't Ride," Issue 1, part 3 of our FREE monthly newsletter

From our Horse Ground Training Series:

"Take your left hand and hold the lead rope as if it's the left rein. Pull the halter slowly toward yourself.

"Concentrate. Feel how much pressure it takes to bring that rope toward you. You should feel on your pinky how many ounces it takes. Throw it back out and do it again. This time close your eyes and really concentrate. If you get this lesson, horse training gets a whole lot easier. Really focus on what it feels like. How many ounces is it taking to bring that halter back to you? Think of a specific number. How many pounds? How many ounces? One or two? 5 pounds or 5 ounces?

"How would you like your horse to be that soft? A pound or two doesn't seem so bad, does it? Actually, it's terrible. Having to put a pound or two of pressure on the rein to get it to "come back to you" is just terrible. Take the halter off the lead rope now and throw the rope back out, snap end first.

"Do the same thing, drag the snap back to you. How does that feel? It feels pretty light, right? You feel a big difference. But that's still terrible. Now take the lead rope and throw the opposite end out, the end without the snap. That feels really light. It feels like nothing. It's still terrible.

"The reason it's terrible is because…"

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Lyons Training 101 Issue Number:  Three Building Your Foundation written by Josh Lyons & Keith Hosman

Issue Three, Part 2 of 3

Teaching Your Horse To Stand Still

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If you simply want your horse to stand still, and you keep picking up the reins to try and stop him – then the only thing that happens is that the horse gets aggravated. There's no possible way to make your horse stand still if he does not want to stand still. What if you tie him up? Can he still move? Of course he can. How about if you put him in a small two-horse trailer? There's no way the horse can move then, right? Wrong, guaranteed he can still move. What about cross-ties? Can he move around when he's cross-tied? Yes, he can. There is no way for you or I to physically to make this horse stand still. On the plus side, training is a lot easier with a horse that wants to move.

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Training is all about control. Learning how to get control or gain control of your horse. So, let's say I want the horse to stand still but he starts moving. I've lost control, haven't I? How can I regain control if we know I can't make him stand still? Answer: Ask him to do something, even if it's just change directions or even to speed up.

If the horse is going at two miles an hour and I speed him up to four, then the movement has suddenly become my idea, hasn't it? He wants to think about everything else, and the longer I let him think about other things, the more he's going to do just that. So what I'm going to do is work my horse. I'm going to practice changing directions or changing leg speed. I'll say "Hey, give me your nose and change directions." The more adamant he gets about going his direction, the more adamant I'm going to get about going my direction. I'll drive him forward, work his neck and start to move faster.

Remember, we couldn't get the horse to stand still, but in about ten minutes you can have a horse that wants to stand still. In your training, work on being still by telling him to go. Say to your horse: "If you want to work on go, then let's go. Let's work on forward. Let's work on softening your neck, changing directions and following your nose.

End of Issue Three, Part 2

Read previous article: Horses That Pull Back or Won't Stand Tied

Read next article: Horses That Want To Bolt, Buck or Blow Up

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