Dear Keith...
Monday, July 16, 2007
I have read your advice on a horse that won't stand during a mount. Your answer was that is a horse moved forward, to ask the horse to move faster...then moving has become the riders idea. I appreciate this logic, and have entertained it allot while training horses. If the horse wants to move right..then either move it fast to the right, making it your idea...or instead move it to the left.
I have used this approach when getting my clostrophobic horse used to being in a small 2 horse trailer. Once I got her to stand at the door and if I sensed that she wanted to "flee", I quickly asked her to move away and continued ground work. I would bring her back to the trailer door and let her rest there. If she set one foot in and I sensed that she was going to come out...by watching for signs of tenseness in her or if she appeared to lean back, I quickly asked her to come out, making it my idea. We slowly worked up to loading and standing with the same technique...one foot at a time. I had to be alert and always stay one step ahead of her. Once she was more relaxed in the trailer, and she leaned back, instead of asking her to come out, ...I asked her to take only one foot out...or to take one step forward, or to shift her weight from the right hind leg to the left hind leg. In other words I had to "Mix it up", in order to stay one step ahead of her anticipating thoughts. She had a bad experience in trailer prior to this training. So, it took allot of time and patients to bring her enough confidence, for her to be comfortable inside the trailer. Approx 60 hrs.
This "make it my idea" logic had been a great help to me. However it backfired on me when it came to mounting. Babe is a very smart and willing horse, and anticipates what I want. She remembers what she did, and how I reacted. In other words she remembers what I trained her to do, even if I did not realized I was training her. As we know, horses are always learning. So, we better be aware of that, and be responsible to always train, or we may be teaching them the wrong thing.
I did have her trained to stand still while mounting, but then without ralizing it I untrained her. I did this by mounting and moving forward without hesitatation. If I moved her forward faster (trying to make moving my idea instead of hers), then as soon as she felt pressure from me mounting in the stirup, she would anticipate and do what we did the last time...move forward faster, and often before I was fully mounted. She was only doing what I taught her to do, move off as soon as I got on. I then decided to mount and ask her to move backward as soon as I got on...so from there...she would anticipate a backward movement and begin to move backward before I was fully mounted. Again doing what I had taught her. I can manage to mount a moving horse. But is this unsafe habit one we want to keep? No! I want my grandchild to enjoy this horse. She is three yrs old and has an intense interest in Babe. She has happily ridden once at a walk and learned a little about manuvering Babe.
The answer for me is this. Going back to the basics and what Babe used to do for me when I first began riding her. After she is tacked up, do a small amount of sending in one direction and the other, having her stop an face me between each turn and wait for further instruction. She is well trained in this. Then, on the ground, before mounting bend her neck side to side, so she touches her side both on the left and the right. Then, ask for a bend and ask her to hold it toward the mounting side, as I mount. Then when I get on, I immediately bend her neck again from side to side. The goal is that she anticipates standing and bending when I mount, rather than moving off. The result will be that when I sit myself on her back, she will gently bend over and touch her nose to my leg. She has a past history of doing this...now I have to work at getting it back.
Thanks for your atricles and advice. I am always learning. Sometimes from the horse.
Cathy W, Michigan |
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