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Help With Saddler!
Question:
Renee, I will confess, I have not read your article on retraining the THB; I will confess again that I don’t like THBs – that being the reason I did not read the article (sorry if I offend you by saying this).
Now I need a bit of advice (ironic isn’t it). I was progressing very nicely with my dressage lessons (leg yields, half pass, shoulder in the works!), but now my mare got too much pregnant and my trainer felt she should rest now in preparation for foaling. The owner of the (very small) stable yard is very good to me. He and the trainer decided to put me on the owner’s Saddler gelding. The horse is quite handsome, with a lovely long, arched neck. He is well mannered and friendly in his stable. The owner keeps the horses very relaxed in the “open – plan” stables; the dividing walls in the barn style stable block is only about 1.8m high; so the horses can see each other all the time (except when they lay down to sleep)
Now for the crunch: the gelding has been through a few Saddler trainers. They all did their “weird” training methods on him. He then was trained by a flashy, “windgat” dressage trainer that taught him things he was far from ready for (passage, few beat flying changes canter etc.). We now have the following problems: 1.] The horse is very tense. He was taught the Saddler walk – and it is difficult to get him to walk “flat footed”. 2.] He canters at break – neck speed, and does flying changes by himself. 3.] He anticipates: sometimes he thinks he will canter now, and turns side ways in anticipation of being asked for the canter (as Saddler trainers do turn the horses towards the rail to “throw” the horse into the correct lead canter) – it is then difficult to get him to walk straight again. 4.] He hates legs on him. With the Lane Fox saddle the legs are away from the saddle; when the legs are put on him, it means “go harder / faster”. This means he doesn’t want to take leg yields (just rushes forward faster & faster), and it is difficult to bend him “around the leg” in a circle / half circle.
We are spending a lot of time to try and get him to relax. We do a lot of walk work (also in patters). We have worked the head lower and neck rounder. He is starting to relax, but sometimes tenses up and goes into the “jog” / Saddler walk; then it is difficult to get back to a pure walk. The trot is much better (given that my legs don’t touch him, difficult with a Wintec dressage saddle!). The canter needs a lot of work still. The problem is that he needs a lot of patience; usually I am someone who doesn’t get angry easily. But after “begging” him for a pure walk for half an hour I sometimes get angry – I hide it away from my trainer and the owner. But the other day I worked him alone – and when he started with his jogging again, and then wanted to canter, I smacked him. I regretted it straight away – but the horse, after the freight it got, settled down a bit (!!!). I made a resolution that I will never do it again, he is not the type of horse where this will work – it will tense him more. I will work more on my patience. We also have done a lot of work on my seat to control speed – something wonderfully new for me!
Question: what else can I do? If you don’t have any more answers, and only feel sorry for me, I will understand…
We have also started backing my SA Boerperd mare. Fortunately no “farms were bought” (although I was shown in no uncertain terms that it could happen any moment if she felt like it). She is quite “hot” (and obviously still very inexperienced) but is progressing nicely. A lot of walk work (patters) with a bit of trotting (patters), desensitising, and long lines etc. What I have learned on the “seat” with the Saddler gelding helps a lot with her. Why am I relating this: please feel sorry for me, currently I have no settled, “lekker ryperd”…!
Answer:
Charles, Charles, Charles. I will start off by feeling sorry for you. The last time I got off to a rip-roaring start with a superb horse I got pregnant.. Hee hee. You have taken on quite a challenge in this horse but if you see it like that, a challenge, it may help out with the patience… who am I kidding. You did not miss anything in my article as I am still madly trying to finish Part 2, which discusses the actual training so none taken! (Offense I mean) The last time I sat on a Saddler, we got as far as the arena gate and then she exploded into a mass of quivering jelly and refused to move – even after her owner got on her and tried to beat the daylights out of her. I get the tension thing – they get spoiled like that, and it is such a pity.
This problem has taken a few years to evolve I would imagine, so know it is going to take a few years to correct! That is the first and most important thing to remember when a horse needs re-schooling and especially one that is this tense. Generally speaking, people try to teach their horses things too fast, before they are ready physically and mentally to do the job being asked. That results in the horse knowing all sorts of ‘tricks’ but they are not executing them properly. I cannot even count how many pupils I have had telling me that their horses are doing wonderful half passes, when upon further inspection, they are doing no more than a simple leg yield and the horse is most definitely not bent in the direction of movement! There is a definite ‘scale’ of training and the achievement of one tier will lead to the next, along with the exercises that go along with that. Schooling a horse is measured in years, not months. Often riders try to teach their horse one movement after the other, but the basics are not in place. Now it sounds to me like this poor gelding has had that happen to him. He has been scared out of his wits, been taught one ‘trick’ after the other, and still has no idea of what is expected of him.
Have you ever sat in class, perhaps at Varsity or at a lecture or a conference, and had no idea of what the lecturer was on about and everyone else seems to be totally absorbed and all you are praying for is ..’please don’t ask me a question… please don’t ask me a question…’ and your palms are sweaty and you are in an adrenaline overdose..? I think this boy is so scared to be asked a question because he is not really sure of what humans want from him. He knows there is punishment coming if he does not get it right, but he is not sure what the question was. He has been taught so many conflicting things that he is not sure what answer you want. Horses like that will often explode into an entire repertoire of things that they know when asked the most simple thing – exploding into flying changes, leg yields, canter strike-offs and the whole lot, one after the other, because they are hoping one of those tricks was what you were asking…!
There is definitely a balance issue here – by cantering faster and faster and changing legs, he is telling you that he is so tense it is unbalancing him and that is also why he is doing that. Think of tension in the canter like running downhill fast – you speed up and speed up until you can’t stop even if you wanted to. That’s what he is feeling in the canter. He speeds up and then must change legs in order to regain his balance. I have seen it often.
So, what to do! There are two aspects to the type of work you are going to need to do with him, and the first and most important part is a trust issue. This horse is going to have to learn to trust you. Now, that does not mean you fatten him up on carrots and the two of you stroll of into the sunset! First, he must realize that you are in charge. I use lock on for that (also called ‘join up’ by Monty Roberts). The horse must understand that you in control. When you are in control, it means you are not afraid and that you know what is going on, in his language.
When you throw a group of people into a stressful situation, you will notice that they will gravitate towards the person who seems to quickly gain an understanding of the situation, seems to know exactly what to do and shows the least fear. Suddenly the group gets quiet and the ‘leader’ tells them what is going on, what they need to do and who is going to do it. Suddenly they are less afraid and they focus their combined energy on the task at hand. That is what you are trying to achieve with a lock on. You are trying to focus the horse’s nervous energy on you and make him understand that you know what is going on and what he needs to do. Once you have achieved that, a small measure of trust is built.
With that trust, you are now going to ask him to step out of his comfort zone and learn that you are not going to ask him to do anything he cannot do. An easy way of doing this with the nervous wreck is to put a feed bag on the floor, with him on a lead. A pressure halter can also be used if the horse is very difficult and tends to explode. Of course the plastic bag becomes a monster and he will snort and prance and not want to go near it (being a saddler.. hee hee). If he is happy with bags, find something he is scared of – a sheet of blue plastic on the floor might be a monster to him. Be creative! You are going to ask him to step up to the bag. Then move away. Then step up to the bag, then move away. With each forward step, use lots of praise. If he backs up, keep backing him up and ask him to stand. In that way, you are still in control. Ask him to step up again. Keep your voice low, keep your body language quiet. When he finally steps up to the bag, praise. (you can use food if you want, but often nervous horses will not eat anyway!)A good reward is once he steps up to the bag and stands for even a split second, turn him away, walk him right away and around before coming back. That is a mental reward for him. He may need a small tap on the rear end with a crop to move forward the first time. If he moves forward after that, no more taps. If you are scared you may lose your temper, rather leave the crop. (I use a dressage crop.) This is the kind of work that can be done with him every day, even twice a day if you possibly can. Once he steps onto the bag (or the thing is scared of) you will see him make the connection – it is so acute you can almost hear the penny drop! He suddenly realizes that you are right, and that you will never ask him to do anything that you are not sure he can. A strong trust will be built on that. Keep up with the ‘trust games’ and keep reinforcing his understanding that you are to be trusted. Parelli Horsemanship is an excellent tool that helps the horse in exactly this area. The different ‘games’ are in fact carefully chosen exercises to reinforce trust and obedience issues. A clear warning though – once you have gained this horse’s trust, be very careful that you do not do anything to compromise it! It is a fine thread that is easily snapped! Once lost, you will find the horse reverts back to his old ways, and usually even worse!
The second part of your training program will need to address the issues under saddle. The first thing you should do is to stop the canters until you have improved the walk and trot. If you keep riding the canters as he is now, you are not teaching him anything, not improving anything and all that happens is the poor way of going is reinforced until it becomes habit. Stick to walk at first, because you are going to have to teach him all about leg. Very basically, start in halt, apply your leg aid softly, if he walks on praise him and repeat. When he understands the walk aid, move on to ‘walk faster’ – in walk, apply your leg aid and if he walks faster, praise. Same for trot. This is a process that happens over weeks, not minutes please. The slower you take it, the more eager he will be to learn and the better your results. I would introduce a good lungeing program, starting with leading him and teaching him the voice commands. Also, when leading him, you can teach him to move away from pressure by applying it to his side and asking him to step away from it. (I use the vocal command ‘siiide’ and always ask my horses to do that when I take them into the stable.) Once he understands the voice commands (include ‘slooowly’ and ‘move on!’)you will be able to translate that into the riding part, giving the voice command as well as the leg aid. Slowly he will begin to understand what you want. Once his walk and trot improves, and he is starting to understand the aids, you can introduce canter. Exercises to improve his balance are vital – polework, uphills, downhills, volte’s and serpentines and plenty of transitions will improve his balance. That will improve the work under saddle vastly.
The trick is really patience. Hard I know but it is vital. When he jogs, bring him back gently and ask again. Try to vary the work so that by the time he wants to evade one exercise, he is already onto the other.
This is a long road and there are no quick fixes that are going to help – only time and patience. The reason he reacted so well to the smack, was because he understands ‘no’ so well! What you need to teach him is to focus on the ‘yes’. People spend so much time ‘fixing’ while on their horses, they forget to focus on what they want that is right. The horses learn what NOT to do, but are never really sure of what they SHOULD be doing.
That help? I hope so.
Commiserations on the whole having a nice riding horse thing – the best part about working with my previous horse was that finally I could get on and NOT FIGHT! Having worked with problem horse after problem horse, I forgot what a superb horse feels like! I get it!
Let me know how things go!
Response:
Wow, thank you Renee! It almost feels as if you were standing next to our practice arena the way you explain the horse!
I understand the Varsity thing – Maths 1; had to do it twice…! Got a distinction the second time around! The poor gelding is giving Biology answers to Accounting questions at the moment – it is as if he understands questions different to what is asked; and gives answers that were fought / beaten into him. I want to be a good equestrian, that is why I take on challenges like these (sometimes without thinking about it first); sometimes it challenges my (usually very long) patience too the extreme. But if I get help and advice (as I have with the owner, my trainer and now with your input too) it does help a lot!
I am glad you answered another question I was afraid to ask. I heard a lot of people talking about “lock on” and “join up”; not knowing what it actually meant…! Unknowingly the owner of the gelding taught me many aspects of it with my young mare, without naming it; reading it here now has put a name to what we “just did”.
I was hoping for a short fix (not necessarily a short cut) for the problem. Unfortunately we don’t have years to fix the problem; the owner wants to sell the horse. We might have 6 months (we want to attempt to show him in December, and sell him shortly there after). My trainer (and the horse’s owner) reckons he has started to trust me more than he has just about anybody else – I hope it is truthful and not only to encourage me to continue since they are glad they got a sucker to take one the horse (ha – ha; just joking the owner and trainer are both to bluntly - straight forward honest to do something like that). That scares me a lot; if I have these problems with the horse, and he trusts me (even just a bit) – how did his previous riders manage? The horse used to be trained at the previous stables where I had my horses stabled and trained; although also a Saddler yard – he was quite O.K. there (as best as it can go under Saddler training). In the in – between 2 – 3 years I don’t know where he was and or how he was handled. Something just went wrong.
He is the typical Saddler trained horse: if something (anything) is asked he just wants to perform and “show”. It makes it difficult: legs are understood as “pick yourself up and GO, GO, GO!” I just got my legs (and seat) right with my pregnant mare – now I must take my legs off again (imagine riding Saddle Seat on a dressage saddle – not easy). Even the slightest touch sends him off in a tizz; I will try working on it from the ground as you described. I haven’t cantered again during the last 2 riding sessions.
My main problem is time. My main focus currently is backing my young mare – which is making great progress; she is starting to understand the legs as aids and doesn’t want to “plant” me as much anymore. She is feisty and hot – which I like in my show horses, but also clever and quick to learn. But she requires constant work – she is at a critical age (3 years 9 months) and point in training. We need to work through the “mounting issue” (she is still uneasy / jittery with me mounting her – it was started by Saddler grooms, and became a problem we now need to fix; which takes a lot of continuous, constant work). That is what happens if you are too scared to do things yourself – you end up with different problems. I have a 7 – 4 work, I arrive at the stables at 5. After I worked with the young mare it is starting to get dark. Fridays we work shorter ours, I get to the stables at 4 and then get lesson on the gelding. Saturdays are basically the only day I can work both. When I work the gelding 2 days in a row, he works much better the second day; he settles easier and faster. Maybe later on in the summer when it gets dark later (and it isn’t so cold anymore), I will be able to work more with the gelding too. When he relaxes and works with me he is actually a very nice ride – working softly has worked a bit, but he still tense up easily when asked to do something. One thing going for him is that he is very (almost too) eager to please – be it from himself of from being forced to “perform” all the time.
In the mean time I will try and fit in some of the advice you have given me. I am sure you could deduct from my original subject; I am actually feeling sorry for myself most at the moment. Talking about it, and finding some one that can understand and help, helps a LOT. Fortunately the young mare is giving me glimmers of hope that in the not too distant future I will have a nice riding (and show) horse again…!
Thanks a million for your advice and understanding – will let you know how it goes!
Renee, I will confess, I have not read your article on retraining the THB; I will confess again that I don’t like THBs – that being the reason I did not read the article (sorry if I offend you by saying this).
Now I need a bit of advice (ironic isn’t it). I was progressing very nicely with my dressage lessons (leg yields, half pass, shoulder in the works!), but now my mare got too much pregnant and my trainer felt she should rest now in preparation for foaling. The owner of the (very small) stable yard is very good to me. He and the trainer decided to put me on the owner’s Saddler gelding. The horse is quite handsome, with a lovely long, arched neck. He is well mannered and friendly in his stable. The owner keeps the horses very relaxed in the “open – plan” stables; the dividing walls in the barn style stable block is only about 1.8m high; so the horses can see each other all the time (except when they lay down to sleep)
Now for the crunch: the gelding has been through a few Saddler trainers. They all did their “weird” training methods on him. He then was trained by a flashy, “windgat” dressage trainer that taught him things he was far from ready for (passage, few beat flying changes canter etc.). We now have the following problems: 1.] The horse is very tense. He was taught the Saddler walk – and it is difficult to get him to walk “flat footed”. 2.] He canters at break – neck speed, and does flying changes by himself. 3.] He anticipates: sometimes he thinks he will canter now, and turns side ways in anticipation of being asked for the canter (as Saddler trainers do turn the horses towards the rail to “throw” the horse into the correct lead canter) – it is then difficult to get him to walk straight again. 4.] He hates legs on him. With the Lane Fox saddle the legs are away from the saddle; when the legs are put on him, it means “go harder / faster”. This means he doesn’t want to take leg yields (just rushes forward faster & faster), and it is difficult to bend him “around the leg” in a circle / half circle.
We are spending a lot of time to try and get him to relax. We do a lot of walk work (also in patters). We have worked the head lower and neck rounder. He is starting to relax, but sometimes tenses up and goes into the “jog” / Saddler walk; then it is difficult to get back to a pure walk. The trot is much better (given that my legs don’t touch him, difficult with a Wintec dressage saddle!). The canter needs a lot of work still. The problem is that he needs a lot of patience; usually I am someone who doesn’t get angry easily. But after “begging” him for a pure walk for half an hour I sometimes get angry – I hide it away from my trainer and the owner. But the other day I worked him alone – and when he started with his jogging again, and then wanted to canter, I smacked him. I regretted it straight away – but the horse, after the freight it got, settled down a bit (!!!). I made a resolution that I will never do it again, he is not the type of horse where this will work – it will tense him more. I will work more on my patience. We also have done a lot of work on my seat to control speed – something wonderfully new for me!
Question: what else can I do? If you don’t have any more answers, and only feel sorry for me, I will understand…
We have also started backing my SA Boerperd mare. Fortunately no “farms were bought” (although I was shown in no uncertain terms that it could happen any moment if she felt like it). She is quite “hot” (and obviously still very inexperienced) but is progressing nicely. A lot of walk work (patters) with a bit of trotting (patters), desensitising, and long lines etc. What I have learned on the “seat” with the Saddler gelding helps a lot with her. Why am I relating this: please feel sorry for me, currently I have no settled, “lekker ryperd”…!
Answer:
Charles, Charles, Charles. I will start off by feeling sorry for you. The last time I got off to a rip-roaring start with a superb horse I got pregnant.. Hee hee. You have taken on quite a challenge in this horse but if you see it like that, a challenge, it may help out with the patience… who am I kidding. You did not miss anything in my article as I am still madly trying to finish Part 2, which discusses the actual training so none taken! (Offense I mean) The last time I sat on a Saddler, we got as far as the arena gate and then she exploded into a mass of quivering jelly and refused to move – even after her owner got on her and tried to beat the daylights out of her. I get the tension thing – they get spoiled like that, and it is such a pity.
This problem has taken a few years to evolve I would imagine, so know it is going to take a few years to correct! That is the first and most important thing to remember when a horse needs re-schooling and especially one that is this tense. Generally speaking, people try to teach their horses things too fast, before they are ready physically and mentally to do the job being asked. That results in the horse knowing all sorts of ‘tricks’ but they are not executing them properly. I cannot even count how many pupils I have had telling me that their horses are doing wonderful half passes, when upon further inspection, they are doing no more than a simple leg yield and the horse is most definitely not bent in the direction of movement! There is a definite ‘scale’ of training and the achievement of one tier will lead to the next, along with the exercises that go along with that. Schooling a horse is measured in years, not months. Often riders try to teach their horse one movement after the other, but the basics are not in place. Now it sounds to me like this poor gelding has had that happen to him. He has been scared out of his wits, been taught one ‘trick’ after the other, and still has no idea of what is expected of him.
Have you ever sat in class, perhaps at Varsity or at a lecture or a conference, and had no idea of what the lecturer was on about and everyone else seems to be totally absorbed and all you are praying for is ..’please don’t ask me a question… please don’t ask me a question…’ and your palms are sweaty and you are in an adrenaline overdose..? I think this boy is so scared to be asked a question because he is not really sure of what humans want from him. He knows there is punishment coming if he does not get it right, but he is not sure what the question was. He has been taught so many conflicting things that he is not sure what answer you want. Horses like that will often explode into an entire repertoire of things that they know when asked the most simple thing – exploding into flying changes, leg yields, canter strike-offs and the whole lot, one after the other, because they are hoping one of those tricks was what you were asking…!
There is definitely a balance issue here – by cantering faster and faster and changing legs, he is telling you that he is so tense it is unbalancing him and that is also why he is doing that. Think of tension in the canter like running downhill fast – you speed up and speed up until you can’t stop even if you wanted to. That’s what he is feeling in the canter. He speeds up and then must change legs in order to regain his balance. I have seen it often.
So, what to do! There are two aspects to the type of work you are going to need to do with him, and the first and most important part is a trust issue. This horse is going to have to learn to trust you. Now, that does not mean you fatten him up on carrots and the two of you stroll of into the sunset! First, he must realize that you are in charge. I use lock on for that (also called ‘join up’ by Monty Roberts). The horse must understand that you in control. When you are in control, it means you are not afraid and that you know what is going on, in his language.
When you throw a group of people into a stressful situation, you will notice that they will gravitate towards the person who seems to quickly gain an understanding of the situation, seems to know exactly what to do and shows the least fear. Suddenly the group gets quiet and the ‘leader’ tells them what is going on, what they need to do and who is going to do it. Suddenly they are less afraid and they focus their combined energy on the task at hand. That is what you are trying to achieve with a lock on. You are trying to focus the horse’s nervous energy on you and make him understand that you know what is going on and what he needs to do. Once you have achieved that, a small measure of trust is built.
With that trust, you are now going to ask him to step out of his comfort zone and learn that you are not going to ask him to do anything he cannot do. An easy way of doing this with the nervous wreck is to put a feed bag on the floor, with him on a lead. A pressure halter can also be used if the horse is very difficult and tends to explode. Of course the plastic bag becomes a monster and he will snort and prance and not want to go near it (being a saddler.. hee hee). If he is happy with bags, find something he is scared of – a sheet of blue plastic on the floor might be a monster to him. Be creative! You are going to ask him to step up to the bag. Then move away. Then step up to the bag, then move away. With each forward step, use lots of praise. If he backs up, keep backing him up and ask him to stand. In that way, you are still in control. Ask him to step up again. Keep your voice low, keep your body language quiet. When he finally steps up to the bag, praise. (you can use food if you want, but often nervous horses will not eat anyway!)A good reward is once he steps up to the bag and stands for even a split second, turn him away, walk him right away and around before coming back. That is a mental reward for him. He may need a small tap on the rear end with a crop to move forward the first time. If he moves forward after that, no more taps. If you are scared you may lose your temper, rather leave the crop. (I use a dressage crop.) This is the kind of work that can be done with him every day, even twice a day if you possibly can. Once he steps onto the bag (or the thing is scared of) you will see him make the connection – it is so acute you can almost hear the penny drop! He suddenly realizes that you are right, and that you will never ask him to do anything that you are not sure he can. A strong trust will be built on that. Keep up with the ‘trust games’ and keep reinforcing his understanding that you are to be trusted. Parelli Horsemanship is an excellent tool that helps the horse in exactly this area. The different ‘games’ are in fact carefully chosen exercises to reinforce trust and obedience issues. A clear warning though – once you have gained this horse’s trust, be very careful that you do not do anything to compromise it! It is a fine thread that is easily snapped! Once lost, you will find the horse reverts back to his old ways, and usually even worse!
The second part of your training program will need to address the issues under saddle. The first thing you should do is to stop the canters until you have improved the walk and trot. If you keep riding the canters as he is now, you are not teaching him anything, not improving anything and all that happens is the poor way of going is reinforced until it becomes habit. Stick to walk at first, because you are going to have to teach him all about leg. Very basically, start in halt, apply your leg aid softly, if he walks on praise him and repeat. When he understands the walk aid, move on to ‘walk faster’ – in walk, apply your leg aid and if he walks faster, praise. Same for trot. This is a process that happens over weeks, not minutes please. The slower you take it, the more eager he will be to learn and the better your results. I would introduce a good lungeing program, starting with leading him and teaching him the voice commands. Also, when leading him, you can teach him to move away from pressure by applying it to his side and asking him to step away from it. (I use the vocal command ‘siiide’ and always ask my horses to do that when I take them into the stable.) Once he understands the voice commands (include ‘slooowly’ and ‘move on!’)you will be able to translate that into the riding part, giving the voice command as well as the leg aid. Slowly he will begin to understand what you want. Once his walk and trot improves, and he is starting to understand the aids, you can introduce canter. Exercises to improve his balance are vital – polework, uphills, downhills, volte’s and serpentines and plenty of transitions will improve his balance. That will improve the work under saddle vastly.
The trick is really patience. Hard I know but it is vital. When he jogs, bring him back gently and ask again. Try to vary the work so that by the time he wants to evade one exercise, he is already onto the other.
This is a long road and there are no quick fixes that are going to help – only time and patience. The reason he reacted so well to the smack, was because he understands ‘no’ so well! What you need to teach him is to focus on the ‘yes’. People spend so much time ‘fixing’ while on their horses, they forget to focus on what they want that is right. The horses learn what NOT to do, but are never really sure of what they SHOULD be doing.
That help? I hope so.
Commiserations on the whole having a nice riding horse thing – the best part about working with my previous horse was that finally I could get on and NOT FIGHT! Having worked with problem horse after problem horse, I forgot what a superb horse feels like! I get it!
Let me know how things go!
Response:
Wow, thank you Renee! It almost feels as if you were standing next to our practice arena the way you explain the horse!
I understand the Varsity thing – Maths 1; had to do it twice…! Got a distinction the second time around! The poor gelding is giving Biology answers to Accounting questions at the moment – it is as if he understands questions different to what is asked; and gives answers that were fought / beaten into him. I want to be a good equestrian, that is why I take on challenges like these (sometimes without thinking about it first); sometimes it challenges my (usually very long) patience too the extreme. But if I get help and advice (as I have with the owner, my trainer and now with your input too) it does help a lot!
I am glad you answered another question I was afraid to ask. I heard a lot of people talking about “lock on” and “join up”; not knowing what it actually meant…! Unknowingly the owner of the gelding taught me many aspects of it with my young mare, without naming it; reading it here now has put a name to what we “just did”.
I was hoping for a short fix (not necessarily a short cut) for the problem. Unfortunately we don’t have years to fix the problem; the owner wants to sell the horse. We might have 6 months (we want to attempt to show him in December, and sell him shortly there after). My trainer (and the horse’s owner) reckons he has started to trust me more than he has just about anybody else – I hope it is truthful and not only to encourage me to continue since they are glad they got a sucker to take one the horse (ha – ha; just joking the owner and trainer are both to bluntly - straight forward honest to do something like that). That scares me a lot; if I have these problems with the horse, and he trusts me (even just a bit) – how did his previous riders manage? The horse used to be trained at the previous stables where I had my horses stabled and trained; although also a Saddler yard – he was quite O.K. there (as best as it can go under Saddler training). In the in – between 2 – 3 years I don’t know where he was and or how he was handled. Something just went wrong.
He is the typical Saddler trained horse: if something (anything) is asked he just wants to perform and “show”. It makes it difficult: legs are understood as “pick yourself up and GO, GO, GO!” I just got my legs (and seat) right with my pregnant mare – now I must take my legs off again (imagine riding Saddle Seat on a dressage saddle – not easy). Even the slightest touch sends him off in a tizz; I will try working on it from the ground as you described. I haven’t cantered again during the last 2 riding sessions.
My main problem is time. My main focus currently is backing my young mare – which is making great progress; she is starting to understand the legs as aids and doesn’t want to “plant” me as much anymore. She is feisty and hot – which I like in my show horses, but also clever and quick to learn. But she requires constant work – she is at a critical age (3 years 9 months) and point in training. We need to work through the “mounting issue” (she is still uneasy / jittery with me mounting her – it was started by Saddler grooms, and became a problem we now need to fix; which takes a lot of continuous, constant work). That is what happens if you are too scared to do things yourself – you end up with different problems. I have a 7 – 4 work, I arrive at the stables at 5. After I worked with the young mare it is starting to get dark. Fridays we work shorter ours, I get to the stables at 4 and then get lesson on the gelding. Saturdays are basically the only day I can work both. When I work the gelding 2 days in a row, he works much better the second day; he settles easier and faster. Maybe later on in the summer when it gets dark later (and it isn’t so cold anymore), I will be able to work more with the gelding too. When he relaxes and works with me he is actually a very nice ride – working softly has worked a bit, but he still tense up easily when asked to do something. One thing going for him is that he is very (almost too) eager to please – be it from himself of from being forced to “perform” all the time.
In the mean time I will try and fit in some of the advice you have given me. I am sure you could deduct from my original subject; I am actually feeling sorry for myself most at the moment. Talking about it, and finding some one that can understand and help, helps a LOT. Fortunately the young mare is giving me glimmers of hope that in the not too distant future I will have a nice riding (and show) horse again…!
Thanks a million for your advice and understanding – will let you know how it goes!
Cantering Problems
Question:
I no longer work my horse in an arena as he is arena sore, so we work out. I am having the constant problem with cantering. I can only get him to canter in a straight line, the minute I want to go around a bend he resumes a trot (or walk, if he had his way). All he does is bend his head in and his body carries on straight. How can I solve this problem?
Answer:
You have posed a good question that is a very common problem amongst riders out there. Going back to the lunge is a good start, as there you will be able to help your horse find his sense of balance and strengthen his back without you on top!
The first thing I would tell you to do is simply – STOP! What he is doing is telling you his body is not able or ready to do what you are asking. By running faster in the trot, all he is doing is lengthening his frame, hollowing his back and falling onto his forehand and by doing that, it is physically impossible for him to step in underneath himself properly in order to make the strike-off. If one keeps chasing him along until he breaks into a canter from a runny trot, he will not learn to do the strike-off properly and will probably learn to run into the transition and you will have a hard time ‘un-learning’ him!
The best way to improve your canter work is by fixing your walk and trot work first! Sounds strange I know, but the problems he is showing are a symptom of an underlying problem that needs to be ironed out first.
In order for your horse to strike off in the canter, he needs to bring his inside hind leg deep underneath his body to bear weight and strike off. In order for that to happen, his back must be round; he should be bearing as much weight on his rear end as possible and must be light in front. If he is not able to achieve this, he will not be able to bring that leg underneath him and instead of a ‘bang’ transition, he will run faster and faster until he either has to canter (think of running downhill fast!) or until you slow him back down. The key to the transition is for him to slow down so that he can bear more weight behind and flex that hindleg. For that to happen he needs strength and balance!
Firstly, it sounds like your horse is not only unbalanced but also very stiff laterally and longitudinally. (I use these terms to explain two types of suppleness in the horse that need work – lateral suppleness is the left/right bend through his body, longitudinal suppleness is the suppleness from head to tail that allows him to round his back and absorb movement etc.) Work on the lunge at walk and trot will help with this, but do not ask for canter yet – his muscles are not strong enough and as I said before, all you will end up doing is reinforcing bad work. Only if you know what you are doing, work in a De Gogue or Chambon will encourage him to round his back and will help develop the muscles he needs in order to flex from head to tail. He must learn to obey voice commands like halt, walk, trot, lengthen trot, and even rein back. When he can do that well, you will be able to run through many transitions like walk to halt, halt to trot, trot to walk and so on in one session. This type of work balances and strengthens a horse very quickly. (So you see, lungeing is NOT all about running in a circle for 20 min at the trot!) Once the horse is doing that comfortably, polework on the ground can be introduced – trot and canter poles, raised trotting poles, zig-zags and so on. This will teach him balance. Only when the horse is at this stage and working correctly, I introduce the canter on the lunge. Again, teach him to respond to the voice command – this means you can give him the aids he understands when you ride him and thus get a better transition and gradually teach him your other aids until he understands. (It usually only takes one or two riding sessions for them to understand this!)
When riding him, hillwork is very important for developing balance and suppleness. When going downhill, pay special attention to slow him down and get him to ‘sit’ on his bum, not run down. This is exactly the motion he needs to learn in order to work in a good frame. Work on good quality transitions, circles, serpentines, voltes, and lateral movement (like leg yielding) to supple laterally and get those hind legs working. You want him to push from behind, not drag from the front, which is what he is probably doing now. A few lessons from a qualified professional will be very beneficial to you as it will get you on the right track, give you ideas and will mean there is someone who can tell you if your riding is contributing to the problem. (It usually is unfortunately – bit like the chicken or the egg!)
I hope this is of help to you. You mention that he is ‘arena sore’ – I suspect you mean sour. Lunge work, polework, riding out and doing hillwork and the right work in the arena means he really will never get bored. Also, a big mistake people make is to spend hours riding around and around in an arena. Rather spend 25 mins on quality excercises, go in with a plan and go out with a happy horse, than wander around aimlessly not focusing on anything in particular.
I hope this gives you some ideas – good luck and really, this is a relatively easy problem to tackle and will get better quickly if you do it right. A few sessions with a physio or a vet will iron out any physical discomfort he may be suffering that are compounding the problem. I would recommend it! Teeth too can have a big impact! Do have them all checked out – you may be surprised to discover there is something small like a hook in his mouth that is causing some of the problem!
I no longer work my horse in an arena as he is arena sore, so we work out. I am having the constant problem with cantering. I can only get him to canter in a straight line, the minute I want to go around a bend he resumes a trot (or walk, if he had his way). All he does is bend his head in and his body carries on straight. How can I solve this problem?
Answer:
You have posed a good question that is a very common problem amongst riders out there. Going back to the lunge is a good start, as there you will be able to help your horse find his sense of balance and strengthen his back without you on top!
The first thing I would tell you to do is simply – STOP! What he is doing is telling you his body is not able or ready to do what you are asking. By running faster in the trot, all he is doing is lengthening his frame, hollowing his back and falling onto his forehand and by doing that, it is physically impossible for him to step in underneath himself properly in order to make the strike-off. If one keeps chasing him along until he breaks into a canter from a runny trot, he will not learn to do the strike-off properly and will probably learn to run into the transition and you will have a hard time ‘un-learning’ him!
The best way to improve your canter work is by fixing your walk and trot work first! Sounds strange I know, but the problems he is showing are a symptom of an underlying problem that needs to be ironed out first.
In order for your horse to strike off in the canter, he needs to bring his inside hind leg deep underneath his body to bear weight and strike off. In order for that to happen, his back must be round; he should be bearing as much weight on his rear end as possible and must be light in front. If he is not able to achieve this, he will not be able to bring that leg underneath him and instead of a ‘bang’ transition, he will run faster and faster until he either has to canter (think of running downhill fast!) or until you slow him back down. The key to the transition is for him to slow down so that he can bear more weight behind and flex that hindleg. For that to happen he needs strength and balance!
Firstly, it sounds like your horse is not only unbalanced but also very stiff laterally and longitudinally. (I use these terms to explain two types of suppleness in the horse that need work – lateral suppleness is the left/right bend through his body, longitudinal suppleness is the suppleness from head to tail that allows him to round his back and absorb movement etc.) Work on the lunge at walk and trot will help with this, but do not ask for canter yet – his muscles are not strong enough and as I said before, all you will end up doing is reinforcing bad work. Only if you know what you are doing, work in a De Gogue or Chambon will encourage him to round his back and will help develop the muscles he needs in order to flex from head to tail. He must learn to obey voice commands like halt, walk, trot, lengthen trot, and even rein back. When he can do that well, you will be able to run through many transitions like walk to halt, halt to trot, trot to walk and so on in one session. This type of work balances and strengthens a horse very quickly. (So you see, lungeing is NOT all about running in a circle for 20 min at the trot!) Once the horse is doing that comfortably, polework on the ground can be introduced – trot and canter poles, raised trotting poles, zig-zags and so on. This will teach him balance. Only when the horse is at this stage and working correctly, I introduce the canter on the lunge. Again, teach him to respond to the voice command – this means you can give him the aids he understands when you ride him and thus get a better transition and gradually teach him your other aids until he understands. (It usually only takes one or two riding sessions for them to understand this!)
When riding him, hillwork is very important for developing balance and suppleness. When going downhill, pay special attention to slow him down and get him to ‘sit’ on his bum, not run down. This is exactly the motion he needs to learn in order to work in a good frame. Work on good quality transitions, circles, serpentines, voltes, and lateral movement (like leg yielding) to supple laterally and get those hind legs working. You want him to push from behind, not drag from the front, which is what he is probably doing now. A few lessons from a qualified professional will be very beneficial to you as it will get you on the right track, give you ideas and will mean there is someone who can tell you if your riding is contributing to the problem. (It usually is unfortunately – bit like the chicken or the egg!)
I hope this is of help to you. You mention that he is ‘arena sore’ – I suspect you mean sour. Lunge work, polework, riding out and doing hillwork and the right work in the arena means he really will never get bored. Also, a big mistake people make is to spend hours riding around and around in an arena. Rather spend 25 mins on quality excercises, go in with a plan and go out with a happy horse, than wander around aimlessly not focusing on anything in particular.
I hope this gives you some ideas – good luck and really, this is a relatively easy problem to tackle and will get better quickly if you do it right. A few sessions with a physio or a vet will iron out any physical discomfort he may be suffering that are compounding the problem. I would recommend it! Teeth too can have a big impact! Do have them all checked out – you may be surprised to discover there is something small like a hook in his mouth that is causing some of the problem!
Help - My Mare has Started Rearing!
Question: My 4 year old mare has started rearing outside with the other horses and now recently under saddle and even in her stable. Should I follow my friends's advice and break an egg over her head?
Answer:
Your young mare sounds like she is becoming quite a handful! I would like to say off the bat that I believe that rearing is one of those problems that no owner should attempt to solve on their own. You must enlist the help of a qualified professional - someone who has dealt with rearers and has experience and whose judgment you trust. How tragic it would be if you discovered that she now does rear under saddle too - only she falls over onto and breaks your neck! Or rears up while you lead her and she comes down on your head. This really happens and people do die! This type of problem is dangerous and can escalate. She is young, so if you can get the correct assistance, you may be able to nip this behaviour in the bud. Please, please do not take any chances - get the professionals in!
You are quite correct in thinking that responding to her rearing by hitting her over the head, breaking bottles over her head, breaking eggs over her head, yanking her lead or any other similar behaviour will not only probably not work, it will make the behaviour worse and will only destroy the trust you are trying so hard to build up with her. What you do need to do is a bit of thinking to try and understand why she is doing this and outsmart her. (Which it seems you are starting to do quite well!)
I should also say that your mare is playing up under saddle most likely because at four years old, she is most likely not ready for the work you are asking her to do. She first showed her objection to lateral work and canter (two exercises that require supreme balance, coordination, suppleness and strength) by bucking (that was her whispering at you) but when it appeared to her that you could not hear her, she progressed to a more violent protest (she is now talking louder at you!) in the hope that you will hear what she is saying! A horse of four is rarely physically developed enough to tackle what may be seen as more advanced work like lateral work (although there are a few out there) and I would take the training down just a notch and rather work on the skills she needs developed. (like strength to carry her own body correctly, learning to round her back and work through from behind, suppleness, coordination and balance) By your own admission she is not very well balanced – she is not comfortable with the level of work you are asking. There is a range of exercises that you can do with her that are not as demanding physically but will keep her stimulated mentally and most importantly, develop the bond between you two and a good instructor will be able to give you a program that you can follow with her. With horses that seem to come on easily, it is often very tempting to progress their training at a pace faster than their bodies can handle.
Your mare sounds like the type of horse that I like to call 'a physical talker', meaning that they communicate in a very physical fashion. If something upsets them, they react by striking, rearing, biting, jumping around, etc. They often become aware of their own strength early on and when they do, it takes a special type of handler to work sympathetically and patiently with them. Often people resort to physical force in return, and that usually ends up in a fight that the human handler cannot win. They remain sweet, intelligent animals and if they can be taught what is appropriate behaviour, they make fantastic animals to keep. (They are the kinds of horses that will kill you by accident, really, and not mean it!) She is most likely a very dominant mare (they often keep to their own when out, until something changes the herd dynamic, like removing a member or feeding) and may be reacting to what she sees as you interfering with her herd. The napping would be typical behaviour of this type of horse too – objecting to leaving the herd. Some people refer to this type of behaviour as a separation anxiety and it often stems from a traumatic early separation or weaning experience, and the horse simply has difficulty with it after that. In such instances, I always wonder whether it was the horse's basic nature that caused the initial distress response to separation, or did the initial stressful separation experience set the animal up to be a lifelong separation problem? Not sure. However, she seems to be suffering from it.
George has given some great advise on what to do if she rears with you in tow, and I do agree with him that if she is rears in the group situation, you should let her be, as she is either showing displeasure as the alpha mare, or her herd will punish her accordingly in the framework of their dynamic. I am not going to repeat everything he has suggested, suffice to say it is great advice. The thing is to keep her moving as soon as she lands to make her understand that you are still in control. What you may want to do to set your mind at ease, is protect her from potential damage by turning her out in boots (such as overreach boots and sports medicine boots) or by ‘injury-proofing’ the gate. (Such as by lining it with rubber matting to prevent her legs getting caught up in it.) Her ‘mini-rears’ in the stable are most likely only going to stay that way as there is not much space for full-blown rearing, and you can try to keep her stable as safe as possible and protect her from injury.
I would not alter the routine completely in order to accommodate her, as you will be reinforcing her belief that she is in charge and that you are interfering. What I would do is structure your interaction with her to try and minimize the reaction and reward her when she ‘tones down’! For example, if she wants to be fed first, feed her a handful of food and proceed to feed her neighbours. If she shows no reaction, make a point of rewarding her by feeding her next and make a fuss. The next time repeat and if she is not reacting as badly, try to skip the handful once and feed one neighbor, immediately feeding her next. If in that instant there is no reaction yet, praise her. Give her the handful the next day and so on. I hope that makes sense. I would also suggest some type of join-up work with her that you should repeat on a regular basis so that she begins to accept you as the dominant leader.
I wish you the best of luck and really – please never be afraid to get the professionals in! It is never a sign of weakness or stupidity!
Answer:
Your young mare sounds like she is becoming quite a handful! I would like to say off the bat that I believe that rearing is one of those problems that no owner should attempt to solve on their own. You must enlist the help of a qualified professional - someone who has dealt with rearers and has experience and whose judgment you trust. How tragic it would be if you discovered that she now does rear under saddle too - only she falls over onto and breaks your neck! Or rears up while you lead her and she comes down on your head. This really happens and people do die! This type of problem is dangerous and can escalate. She is young, so if you can get the correct assistance, you may be able to nip this behaviour in the bud. Please, please do not take any chances - get the professionals in!
You are quite correct in thinking that responding to her rearing by hitting her over the head, breaking bottles over her head, breaking eggs over her head, yanking her lead or any other similar behaviour will not only probably not work, it will make the behaviour worse and will only destroy the trust you are trying so hard to build up with her. What you do need to do is a bit of thinking to try and understand why she is doing this and outsmart her. (Which it seems you are starting to do quite well!)
I should also say that your mare is playing up under saddle most likely because at four years old, she is most likely not ready for the work you are asking her to do. She first showed her objection to lateral work and canter (two exercises that require supreme balance, coordination, suppleness and strength) by bucking (that was her whispering at you) but when it appeared to her that you could not hear her, she progressed to a more violent protest (she is now talking louder at you!) in the hope that you will hear what she is saying! A horse of four is rarely physically developed enough to tackle what may be seen as more advanced work like lateral work (although there are a few out there) and I would take the training down just a notch and rather work on the skills she needs developed. (like strength to carry her own body correctly, learning to round her back and work through from behind, suppleness, coordination and balance) By your own admission she is not very well balanced – she is not comfortable with the level of work you are asking. There is a range of exercises that you can do with her that are not as demanding physically but will keep her stimulated mentally and most importantly, develop the bond between you two and a good instructor will be able to give you a program that you can follow with her. With horses that seem to come on easily, it is often very tempting to progress their training at a pace faster than their bodies can handle.
Your mare sounds like the type of horse that I like to call 'a physical talker', meaning that they communicate in a very physical fashion. If something upsets them, they react by striking, rearing, biting, jumping around, etc. They often become aware of their own strength early on and when they do, it takes a special type of handler to work sympathetically and patiently with them. Often people resort to physical force in return, and that usually ends up in a fight that the human handler cannot win. They remain sweet, intelligent animals and if they can be taught what is appropriate behaviour, they make fantastic animals to keep. (They are the kinds of horses that will kill you by accident, really, and not mean it!) She is most likely a very dominant mare (they often keep to their own when out, until something changes the herd dynamic, like removing a member or feeding) and may be reacting to what she sees as you interfering with her herd. The napping would be typical behaviour of this type of horse too – objecting to leaving the herd. Some people refer to this type of behaviour as a separation anxiety and it often stems from a traumatic early separation or weaning experience, and the horse simply has difficulty with it after that. In such instances, I always wonder whether it was the horse's basic nature that caused the initial distress response to separation, or did the initial stressful separation experience set the animal up to be a lifelong separation problem? Not sure. However, she seems to be suffering from it.
George has given some great advise on what to do if she rears with you in tow, and I do agree with him that if she is rears in the group situation, you should let her be, as she is either showing displeasure as the alpha mare, or her herd will punish her accordingly in the framework of their dynamic. I am not going to repeat everything he has suggested, suffice to say it is great advice. The thing is to keep her moving as soon as she lands to make her understand that you are still in control. What you may want to do to set your mind at ease, is protect her from potential damage by turning her out in boots (such as overreach boots and sports medicine boots) or by ‘injury-proofing’ the gate. (Such as by lining it with rubber matting to prevent her legs getting caught up in it.) Her ‘mini-rears’ in the stable are most likely only going to stay that way as there is not much space for full-blown rearing, and you can try to keep her stable as safe as possible and protect her from injury.
I would not alter the routine completely in order to accommodate her, as you will be reinforcing her belief that she is in charge and that you are interfering. What I would do is structure your interaction with her to try and minimize the reaction and reward her when she ‘tones down’! For example, if she wants to be fed first, feed her a handful of food and proceed to feed her neighbours. If she shows no reaction, make a point of rewarding her by feeding her next and make a fuss. The next time repeat and if she is not reacting as badly, try to skip the handful once and feed one neighbor, immediately feeding her next. If in that instant there is no reaction yet, praise her. Give her the handful the next day and so on. I hope that makes sense. I would also suggest some type of join-up work with her that you should repeat on a regular basis so that she begins to accept you as the dominant leader.
I wish you the best of luck and really – please never be afraid to get the professionals in! It is never a sign of weakness or stupidity!
Using the Neck Stretcher (German Elastic)
Using A Neck Stretcher (German Elastic)
The neck-stretcher, also called a German elastic, is an auxillary training aid (or gadget) that is commonly used when riding or lunging. The item is very simple and consists of a length of elastic or bungee cord which is passed over the poll , through the bit rings and then either between the legs, secured to the girth, or on either side of the horse to the saddle or lunge roller.
The principle on which this gadget seems to work is that when the horse lifts his head up higher than he should, pressure is placed on the poll, which is uncomfortable for the horse. In order to find relief, he will lower the head and neck to escape the pressure. This then has the effect of setting the head and neck in a more ‘acceptable’ position. There is no rider influence on the elastic, and it cannot be adjusted while riding. The elastic is preferred to a solid type rein as it stretches and thereby has some ‘give’ and is supposed to encourage the horse to stretch into a contact. (see drawings below)
The neck-stretcher, also called a German elastic, is an auxillary training aid (or gadget) that is commonly used when riding or lunging. The item is very simple and consists of a length of elastic or bungee cord which is passed over the poll , through the bit rings and then either between the legs, secured to the girth, or on either side of the horse to the saddle or lunge roller.
The principle on which this gadget seems to work is that when the horse lifts his head up higher than he should, pressure is placed on the poll, which is uncomfortable for the horse. In order to find relief, he will lower the head and neck to escape the pressure. This then has the effect of setting the head and neck in a more ‘acceptable’ position. There is no rider influence on the elastic, and it cannot be adjusted while riding. The elastic is preferred to a solid type rein as it stretches and thereby has some ‘give’ and is supposed to encourage the horse to stretch into a contact. (see drawings below)
Correctly fitted, the rein should only come into play when the horse lifts his head higher than the rider feels he must, however I must sadly say that I have noticed many horses being ridden on elastics fitted way too tight.
I have used this gadget on numerous occasions in the past and I believe, as with the plethora of other auxillary aids out there, that on the right horse and under the right circumstances with an experienced rider, these aids can be of use. Unfortunately it is also sadly a fact that most people who use gadgets have no idea how they work, fit them incorrectly and ruin perfectly good horses with them.
On a horse that needs to learn to stretch down on the lunge or one that simply needs to be shown what is being asked by the rider, build a musculature that will help the horse work in a better frame, this rein can be of benefit, if the following points are kept in mind:
- The horse must be worked forward and straight from behind to front. This means that the horse should track up well from behind, the footprints of the hind feet being placed down in front of those of the front feet.
I have used this gadget on numerous occasions in the past and I believe, as with the plethora of other auxillary aids out there, that on the right horse and under the right circumstances with an experienced rider, these aids can be of use. Unfortunately it is also sadly a fact that most people who use gadgets have no idea how they work, fit them incorrectly and ruin perfectly good horses with them.
On a horse that needs to learn to stretch down on the lunge or one that simply needs to be shown what is being asked by the rider, build a musculature that will help the horse work in a better frame, this rein can be of benefit, if the following points are kept in mind:
- The horse must be worked forward and straight from behind to front. This means that the horse should track up well from behind, the footprints of the hind feet being placed down in front of those of the front feet.
- The neck should not be allowed to ‘break’ at the poll, which very commonly happens with the neckstretcher. (see pic) Instead of stretching up out of a raised shoulder with the poll the highest point, the horse simply drops behind the vertical from the 3rd vertebrae in order to escape the contact.
- The rider should pay particular attention to maintaining an even, consistent contact with the horse’s mouth, as the rider will often leave the work of the hand up to the elastic. The horse does not learn to accept a contact on the mouth, only to yield to pressure on the poll.
- Be very aware that the horse may very well learn to use the elastics to balance himself, instead of carrying himself correctly. When the rein is removed, the horse is worse than before, firstly because he has not learnt to move properly and has used the rein to steady himself around corners, through transitions and so forth, combined with the fact that he has learned only to yield to pressure from the poll, not to the rider’s aids and contact.
- The rider should realize that there is no control of the reward or pressure on the rein – it controls itself ! It works independently of the rider.
If the rider is in the habit of ‘snatching’ at the reins, or cannot maintain a consistent contact, then this elastic will enable the horse to steady the bit in the mouth slightly. In the horse’s mind, a steady pull is better than contant tugging. The problem is that the rider must learn to steady the contact, not use an aid that compensates for poor contact!
As with most auxillary aids out there, the neck stretcher is only concerned with fixing the front end of the horse, and little attention is being paid to what is happening behind the rider! Working in a correct frame begins behind, so the use of something to fix the front end seems of little concern when the front end of the horse is only reflecting what is going on behind, which is the most important part!
If a rider wishes to use this auxiliary aid, I would suggest that firstly, they assess why they wish to do so, then decide what they wish to achieve and finally, only ever use it under the guidance of a qualified instructor.
If a rider wishes to use this auxiliary aid, I would suggest that firstly, they assess why they wish to do so, then decide what they wish to achieve and finally, only ever use it under the guidance of a qualified instructor.
Wise Words from Egon von Neindorff
"Beginners are not bad riders, they merely lack experience. The only truly bad riders are usually 'experienced' in the poorest sense of that word; those who blatantly and ignorantly bully their horses."
"In the truest sense sense of the word, the bit must remain the mediator between horse and rider, upon which neither one may pull (neutral territory)."
"An experienced rider does not need to use severe bits, an inexperienced rider certainly shouldn't use them."
"Armed with theory, practise becomes meaningful... through practise, theory becomes fulfilled."
"All that glitters is not classical riding..."
"The challenge of Dressage is not necessarily in having the best moving horse, but rather to get every horse we ride to move as well as it possibly can."
"The hands are only ever as good as the seat."
"The rider can sit over the horse, on the horse or in the horse. The last of these is the ultimate goal."
"Through incorrect, direct use of the inside rein the rider attempts to:
- pull the horse onto circles with it
- pull the horse through corners with it
- pull the horse onto shoulder-in with it
- do turns on the haunches with it
- make the horse leg-yield with it
- generally keep the horse from cutting in by pressing the inside rein against the neck (instead of using the inside leg)
- bend the horse soley with the inside rein without the use of the other, more important elements"
"Only when the rider becomes quiet will the horse be able to hear the whispers of the finer aids."
"Never ambush or surprise your horse with any aid."
"When training the horse do little and repeat frequently."
"If the horse is trained by force, force will be required to ride it."
"When in trouble - do less! Neutralize. Let the horse settle down and find itself before making new demands."
"Correct transitions are the proof of the pudding"
"Advanced work sonly ever as good as the basics."
"Be gentle while grooming, the horse is not a carpet! Remember, true horsemanship starts on the ground."
"In the truest sense sense of the word, the bit must remain the mediator between horse and rider, upon which neither one may pull (neutral territory)."
"An experienced rider does not need to use severe bits, an inexperienced rider certainly shouldn't use them."
"Armed with theory, practise becomes meaningful... through practise, theory becomes fulfilled."
"All that glitters is not classical riding..."
"The challenge of Dressage is not necessarily in having the best moving horse, but rather to get every horse we ride to move as well as it possibly can."
"The hands are only ever as good as the seat."
"The rider can sit over the horse, on the horse or in the horse. The last of these is the ultimate goal."
"Through incorrect, direct use of the inside rein the rider attempts to:
- pull the horse onto circles with it
- pull the horse through corners with it
- pull the horse onto shoulder-in with it
- do turns on the haunches with it
- make the horse leg-yield with it
- generally keep the horse from cutting in by pressing the inside rein against the neck (instead of using the inside leg)
- bend the horse soley with the inside rein without the use of the other, more important elements"
"Only when the rider becomes quiet will the horse be able to hear the whispers of the finer aids."
"Never ambush or surprise your horse with any aid."
"When training the horse do little and repeat frequently."
"If the horse is trained by force, force will be required to ride it."
"When in trouble - do less! Neutralize. Let the horse settle down and find itself before making new demands."
"Correct transitions are the proof of the pudding"
"Advanced work sonly ever as good as the basics."
"Be gentle while grooming, the horse is not a carpet! Remember, true horsemanship starts on the ground."
Show List
A Comprehensive Checklist of Items to Pack!
GENERAL:
Basic First Aid Kit (Rider)
Folding Chairs
Umbrella / Canopy
Cash and Wallet
Snacks and Fluids
Sunscreen
Sun Hat
Horse Passport
Show Entries / Proof of Payment / Timetable
Map to Show Premises
Rider Show Number
Pen and Paper
Show Tests
Warm Jacket / Raincoat
Spare Clothes
Rulebook
Rider Membership Card if Any
Plastic Bags
Wet Wipes / Cloth
Buckets / Tack Tray
RIDER:
Riding Hat / Helmet / Cap
Helmet Cover if Using
Show Shirt
Stock if Using
Tie / Collar if Using
Stock Pin / Badge if Using
Showing Jacket Rosette
Show Jacket
Jodphurs
Boots / Gaiters and Boots
Socks / Stockings under Boots
Spurs
Gloves
Hair Net / Clips / Hairbrush
Saftey Pins
Alternative Footwear if Required
Riding Crop
Medical Armband if Required
HORSE:
Saddle
Bridle
Showing Browband if Required
Spare Bridle if Possible
Martingale
Numnuh plus Spare
Breastplate
Exercise Bandages / Boots
Girth plus Spare
Day Sheet / Sweat Rug
Night Rug if required
Rain Sheet if required
Grooming Kit (See detail)
Coat Shine
Plaiting Thread / Elastics
Hoof Varnish / Hoof Oil
Shoe Polish (Black / Brown)
Leather Oil / Polish
Scissors
Insulation Tape (in desired colour)
Baby Oil
Vaseline
Baby Powder / Maizina
Shampoo
Mane and Tail Spray / Mr Min
Glitter / Face Sparkle if Needed
Hair Gel
Hair Spray
Quarter Marker if Needed
Battery Operated Clippers
Spare Halter and Lead Rope
Fly Spray
Face Wipes
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:
Travelling Boots / Bandages
Tail Guard / Bandage
Travelling Rug
Poll Guard
Halter and Lead
Teff Net for Box
Lunge Line
HORSE CARE REQUIREMENTS:
Grain / Feed
Roughage (Teff / Hay / etc)
Hay Net
Water Bucket
Electrolytes / Supplements
Bedding as reqirued
Paddock Setup as Required
Broom / Rake as Required
Water if Required
Lunge Kit
Basic Equine First Aid Kit
GROOMING KIT:
Rubber Curry Comb
Body Brush
Dandy Brush
Water Brush
Hair Brush
Mane Comb
Sheepskin Polish
Cloth
Hoof Pick
Cotton Wool / Earbuds
Sweat Scraper
Shampoo / Conditioner
OTHER:
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
Tips For Your Show:
Dirty tack is a complete no-no. The bridle, reins, saddle, and other leather items must be spotless and supple. Clean all items, and condition them well in advance.
Bits and buckles should gleam in the sunlight.
The day before the show, clip your horse's ears, face, and bridle path. Clip his legs and fetlocks, unless he is a Fresian or other feathered-fetlock breed.
Pamper your show-horse with full bath and complete grooming. Scrub all socks and white markings until they shine. Pay special attention to the base of the mane and the tail because any dirt or dandruff will show up when you plait immediately!
Braid your horse's mane and forelock, according to the standards of your riding discipline. Braids should be tight, neat and should show off your horse’s best features. Loose, floppy plaits held together by plaiting bands is not acceptable.
Approved show clothing, clean and neatly pressed, is a must. Hair should be well-groomed and tucked up in the appropriate headwear. For longer-haired riders, a hairnet is essential. A ponytail is fine for schooling but a definite no-no in the show arena. Spit-shined tall boots with shiny spurs are a must. (Ask a trusted friend to dust off your boots after you are aboard.)
Remember to always smile and show some affection to your horse and to the judges - they will like that.
Learn your tests and know the rules! Forgetting your test and making silly mistakes is a waste of an outing and will spoil your whole day!
If you did not get the best ribbon today, be a good looser and make sure to congratulate the winners, that is the best sportsmanship and will get recognized in the long run!
Remember to always do your best and show everyone your prized horse and study the way the winners prepared and competed if you were not a winner today.
Tantrums and blaming it all on your horse or mom is a sign of immaturity and a poor rider! Everyone has bad shows – learn from your mistakes and try harder next time!
Above all – REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN!
GENERAL:
Basic First Aid Kit (Rider)
Folding Chairs
Umbrella / Canopy
Cash and Wallet
Snacks and Fluids
Sunscreen
Sun Hat
Horse Passport
Show Entries / Proof of Payment / Timetable
Map to Show Premises
Rider Show Number
Pen and Paper
Show Tests
Warm Jacket / Raincoat
Spare Clothes
Rulebook
Rider Membership Card if Any
Plastic Bags
Wet Wipes / Cloth
Buckets / Tack Tray
RIDER:
Riding Hat / Helmet / Cap
Helmet Cover if Using
Show Shirt
Stock if Using
Tie / Collar if Using
Stock Pin / Badge if Using
Showing Jacket Rosette
Show Jacket
Jodphurs
Boots / Gaiters and Boots
Socks / Stockings under Boots
Spurs
Gloves
Hair Net / Clips / Hairbrush
Saftey Pins
Alternative Footwear if Required
Riding Crop
Medical Armband if Required
HORSE:
Saddle
Bridle
Showing Browband if Required
Spare Bridle if Possible
Martingale
Numnuh plus Spare
Breastplate
Exercise Bandages / Boots
Girth plus Spare
Day Sheet / Sweat Rug
Night Rug if required
Rain Sheet if required
Grooming Kit (See detail)
Coat Shine
Plaiting Thread / Elastics
Hoof Varnish / Hoof Oil
Shoe Polish (Black / Brown)
Leather Oil / Polish
Scissors
Insulation Tape (in desired colour)
Baby Oil
Vaseline
Baby Powder / Maizina
Shampoo
Mane and Tail Spray / Mr Min
Glitter / Face Sparkle if Needed
Hair Gel
Hair Spray
Quarter Marker if Needed
Battery Operated Clippers
Spare Halter and Lead Rope
Fly Spray
Face Wipes
TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:
Travelling Boots / Bandages
Tail Guard / Bandage
Travelling Rug
Poll Guard
Halter and Lead
Teff Net for Box
Lunge Line
HORSE CARE REQUIREMENTS:
Grain / Feed
Roughage (Teff / Hay / etc)
Hay Net
Water Bucket
Electrolytes / Supplements
Bedding as reqirued
Paddock Setup as Required
Broom / Rake as Required
Water if Required
Lunge Kit
Basic Equine First Aid Kit
GROOMING KIT:
Rubber Curry Comb
Body Brush
Dandy Brush
Water Brush
Hair Brush
Mane Comb
Sheepskin Polish
Cloth
Hoof Pick
Cotton Wool / Earbuds
Sweat Scraper
Shampoo / Conditioner
OTHER:
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
Tips For Your Show:
Dirty tack is a complete no-no. The bridle, reins, saddle, and other leather items must be spotless and supple. Clean all items, and condition them well in advance.
Bits and buckles should gleam in the sunlight.
The day before the show, clip your horse's ears, face, and bridle path. Clip his legs and fetlocks, unless he is a Fresian or other feathered-fetlock breed.
Pamper your show-horse with full bath and complete grooming. Scrub all socks and white markings until they shine. Pay special attention to the base of the mane and the tail because any dirt or dandruff will show up when you plait immediately!
Braid your horse's mane and forelock, according to the standards of your riding discipline. Braids should be tight, neat and should show off your horse’s best features. Loose, floppy plaits held together by plaiting bands is not acceptable.
Approved show clothing, clean and neatly pressed, is a must. Hair should be well-groomed and tucked up in the appropriate headwear. For longer-haired riders, a hairnet is essential. A ponytail is fine for schooling but a definite no-no in the show arena. Spit-shined tall boots with shiny spurs are a must. (Ask a trusted friend to dust off your boots after you are aboard.)
Remember to always smile and show some affection to your horse and to the judges - they will like that.
Learn your tests and know the rules! Forgetting your test and making silly mistakes is a waste of an outing and will spoil your whole day!
If you did not get the best ribbon today, be a good looser and make sure to congratulate the winners, that is the best sportsmanship and will get recognized in the long run!
Remember to always do your best and show everyone your prized horse and study the way the winners prepared and competed if you were not a winner today.
Tantrums and blaming it all on your horse or mom is a sign of immaturity and a poor rider! Everyone has bad shows – learn from your mistakes and try harder next time!
Above all – REMEMBER TO HAVE FUN!
Napping Pony
Question:
Hi. We recently bought a Nooitgedacht pony. He is currently around 6 years old. The problem we are experiencing at the moment is napping. My daughter is the one riding him, she is still very young (10 years) and small. He will go well for about 20 min and then just naps. She can do whatever she wants, he will just stand there. When someone else rides him, he doesn't do it. I know we must make the ride interesting for him and give him something to look forward to in the ride. But my question is: WHAT can we do to make the ride more interesting and not boring him? I'm looking forward to your reply. Regards, Reinette Kirsten
Answer:
Hi Reinette, This is a very common problem encountered and ponies do have a tendency to be almost more strong-willed than some of the little people who sit on their backs! To make rides interesting, I would suggest things like building a mini obstacle course with things like bending poles, trotting poles, bags and so on for the pair to negotiate. Throwing balls into buckets is fun too. Use your creativity and come up with some safe but different challenges for them to do. If the pony is safe out, I would have her go out at least once or twice a week as this will vary the type of work the pony is doing. Teach her to lunge him, and if she is confident doing that, poles can be introduced to make it more challenging. Build a small jumping lane for the pony if he is up to it and you know what you are doing. I would also have her ride him for say, 15min and before he naps, stop. Gradually try to lengthen the period before he naps. Also, I would consider enlisting the help of a qualified professional, as your daughter will benefit from the confidence it will give her of having someone help her from the ground and also helping her plan her rides to include the ideas above. It sounds like she needs to learn to be a little more insistent and confident, so praise her often and help her plan her riding time to prevent the situation from occuring in the first place. Good luck!
Hi. We recently bought a Nooitgedacht pony. He is currently around 6 years old. The problem we are experiencing at the moment is napping. My daughter is the one riding him, she is still very young (10 years) and small. He will go well for about 20 min and then just naps. She can do whatever she wants, he will just stand there. When someone else rides him, he doesn't do it. I know we must make the ride interesting for him and give him something to look forward to in the ride. But my question is: WHAT can we do to make the ride more interesting and not boring him? I'm looking forward to your reply. Regards, Reinette Kirsten
Answer:
Hi Reinette, This is a very common problem encountered and ponies do have a tendency to be almost more strong-willed than some of the little people who sit on their backs! To make rides interesting, I would suggest things like building a mini obstacle course with things like bending poles, trotting poles, bags and so on for the pair to negotiate. Throwing balls into buckets is fun too. Use your creativity and come up with some safe but different challenges for them to do. If the pony is safe out, I would have her go out at least once or twice a week as this will vary the type of work the pony is doing. Teach her to lunge him, and if she is confident doing that, poles can be introduced to make it more challenging. Build a small jumping lane for the pony if he is up to it and you know what you are doing. I would also have her ride him for say, 15min and before he naps, stop. Gradually try to lengthen the period before he naps. Also, I would consider enlisting the help of a qualified professional, as your daughter will benefit from the confidence it will give her of having someone help her from the ground and also helping her plan her rides to include the ideas above. It sounds like she needs to learn to be a little more insistent and confident, so praise her often and help her plan her riding time to prevent the situation from occuring in the first place. Good luck!
Bucking After Jumps
Question:
My jumping gelding has started pig rooting after jumps and I battle to sit him because he continues to pig root until he gets me off. He is a superb jumping pony but this habbit is limiting what I can do with him-HELP PLEASE!
Answer:
By pig rooting I am going to assume what he is doing is that on landing after a fence he is bucking and throwing himself around.
Of course it is very difficult to give you meaningful assistance without seeing the pair of you in action, and I would firstly recommend that you have a few lessons with a qualified instructor so that your technique and method can be evaluated and corrected if there are any problems.
Because this is a recent development, I would look closely for any changes that have been made either to your tack, your training program or your management routine for clues as to why your horse may have started this.
Next, I would ABSOLUTELY and DEFINITELY have your horse checked out by a Specialist Vet and Physiotherapist, as this sounds very much like a pain response to me. Pay special attention to the hooves and shoes if worn, back, shoulders and forelimbs. What often happens, is that the horse may have pain say, in the front hoof. It could be caused by a bruise, a crack, a poor shoeing job, etc, and may not even be noticed too much when the horse works normally by a more novice owner. When he lands after a jump, concussive forces are multiplied many times through that leg, and his first reaction to the pain would be to give a buck, jump around and show his discomfort. Same thing if his saddle is pnching him as he jumps. Thus it is very important that you have him chacked out thoroughly for a physical problem that would be causing this. Teeth need to be checked as well, as pain in the mouth could also have an effect.
Next, your technique is also important. Let's say that the rider, for example, jabs his horse's mouth on landing, or bumps back down hard into the saddle, the horse is going to respond by showing his discomfort, again.
If he is taking off with you after a jump and running off, throwing in a buck, that may be a schooling problem in addition to the problems mentioned above. If there is no pain, careful schooling is required to help him overcome this habit.
I would also recommend that you hold off on your fences for now, until the problem has been identified and a plan of action decided. Pay more attention to your flatwork, work over poles on the ground and build things gradually from there.
I wish you luck and hope you are able to get to the bottom of the problem. Your horse is trying to tell you there is a problem - quiet talking is not working for him, so think of the bucking as a shout!
Response:
Thanks Renee, I will take your advice and lay off the jumping until he has come right, My instructor seems to think that he has learned to get away with it and so continues to do it, but he does have an old injury on his leg so that might be the issue, although im not completely convinced because he doesnt do it on the free jump. hopefully this will get sorted out.
Answer:
If he is doing it only with you on his back, and if he has only recently started doing it then it may very well be that there is either something you are doing on his back that is causing it - even if you are shifting your weight too much to one side or other on landing, the shift could cause that reaction if it makes him uncomfortable enough. It may be that you are inadvertantly jabbing him in the mouth or taking up too much contact on landing, not letting him use his neck properly when jumping. Overbitting can cause this reaction too, although he will make his dicomfort felt in the arena too. Pay special atention that you are not landing too hard in the saddle after landing! (We often see riders standing up in their stirrups when jumping instead of folding from the hip, which causes them to 'plop' back down after the fence or get left behind the movement.) This is often the case in the 'hyper-sensitive' horse - the hot ones that are sweet, but will react to things more than the average horse would. (Arabians and TB's are often like this, as well as some Saddlers) They show a marked reaction to any external stimuli.
Although it may be that your extra weight on his back combined with the shift in balance and weight are causing him to react to discomfort or pain in his leg that he would not have without you on is back. I would have him checked over regardless. Saddle fit would also definitely come into play here! Remember, as our horses grow and develop, their backs change and a saddle that fitted well six months ago could be hurting now. Especially on the shoulders - that is where he is getting a hammering against the saddle when landing. If you are sure it is not physical and merely a schooling problem, then you really will have to go right back down to the basics - lots of bends, transitions and loads of work over poles on the ground (canter poles especially) to settle him and improve his balance and rhythm. Let us know how it goes!
Forgot to ask - are you using spurs? If you are, it is not uncommon to see a rider clamping down with the spurs on landing, causing the bucking, making them clamp down harder and making the bucking worse!
My jumping gelding has started pig rooting after jumps and I battle to sit him because he continues to pig root until he gets me off. He is a superb jumping pony but this habbit is limiting what I can do with him-HELP PLEASE!
Answer:
By pig rooting I am going to assume what he is doing is that on landing after a fence he is bucking and throwing himself around.
Of course it is very difficult to give you meaningful assistance without seeing the pair of you in action, and I would firstly recommend that you have a few lessons with a qualified instructor so that your technique and method can be evaluated and corrected if there are any problems.
Because this is a recent development, I would look closely for any changes that have been made either to your tack, your training program or your management routine for clues as to why your horse may have started this.
Next, I would ABSOLUTELY and DEFINITELY have your horse checked out by a Specialist Vet and Physiotherapist, as this sounds very much like a pain response to me. Pay special attention to the hooves and shoes if worn, back, shoulders and forelimbs. What often happens, is that the horse may have pain say, in the front hoof. It could be caused by a bruise, a crack, a poor shoeing job, etc, and may not even be noticed too much when the horse works normally by a more novice owner. When he lands after a jump, concussive forces are multiplied many times through that leg, and his first reaction to the pain would be to give a buck, jump around and show his discomfort. Same thing if his saddle is pnching him as he jumps. Thus it is very important that you have him chacked out thoroughly for a physical problem that would be causing this. Teeth need to be checked as well, as pain in the mouth could also have an effect.
Next, your technique is also important. Let's say that the rider, for example, jabs his horse's mouth on landing, or bumps back down hard into the saddle, the horse is going to respond by showing his discomfort, again.
If he is taking off with you after a jump and running off, throwing in a buck, that may be a schooling problem in addition to the problems mentioned above. If there is no pain, careful schooling is required to help him overcome this habit.
I would also recommend that you hold off on your fences for now, until the problem has been identified and a plan of action decided. Pay more attention to your flatwork, work over poles on the ground and build things gradually from there.
I wish you luck and hope you are able to get to the bottom of the problem. Your horse is trying to tell you there is a problem - quiet talking is not working for him, so think of the bucking as a shout!
Response:
Thanks Renee, I will take your advice and lay off the jumping until he has come right, My instructor seems to think that he has learned to get away with it and so continues to do it, but he does have an old injury on his leg so that might be the issue, although im not completely convinced because he doesnt do it on the free jump. hopefully this will get sorted out.
Answer:
If he is doing it only with you on his back, and if he has only recently started doing it then it may very well be that there is either something you are doing on his back that is causing it - even if you are shifting your weight too much to one side or other on landing, the shift could cause that reaction if it makes him uncomfortable enough. It may be that you are inadvertantly jabbing him in the mouth or taking up too much contact on landing, not letting him use his neck properly when jumping. Overbitting can cause this reaction too, although he will make his dicomfort felt in the arena too. Pay special atention that you are not landing too hard in the saddle after landing! (We often see riders standing up in their stirrups when jumping instead of folding from the hip, which causes them to 'plop' back down after the fence or get left behind the movement.) This is often the case in the 'hyper-sensitive' horse - the hot ones that are sweet, but will react to things more than the average horse would. (Arabians and TB's are often like this, as well as some Saddlers) They show a marked reaction to any external stimuli.
Although it may be that your extra weight on his back combined with the shift in balance and weight are causing him to react to discomfort or pain in his leg that he would not have without you on is back. I would have him checked over regardless. Saddle fit would also definitely come into play here! Remember, as our horses grow and develop, their backs change and a saddle that fitted well six months ago could be hurting now. Especially on the shoulders - that is where he is getting a hammering against the saddle when landing. If you are sure it is not physical and merely a schooling problem, then you really will have to go right back down to the basics - lots of bends, transitions and loads of work over poles on the ground (canter poles especially) to settle him and improve his balance and rhythm. Let us know how it goes!
Forgot to ask - are you using spurs? If you are, it is not uncommon to see a rider clamping down with the spurs on landing, causing the bucking, making them clamp down harder and making the bucking worse!
Help me with Thoroughbred!
Question:
I would just like to know a bit more about thoroughbreds, i bought myself a gelding a week ago and he will be ariving this week at my home, i have never ridden a thoroughbred before in my life, and apparantly all of them are so lively and full of energy.
I also heard that they tend to run away with you as they are used to it. I bought my horsie from a stable jard and they did jumping with him and took him on outrides. Should i use something to bring in his head what bit do you normally use on a thoroughbred? Is there special stuff they require?
How much do they need to be exersised?
Answer:
Firstly, Congrats on your new horse! I trust the two of you are going to be very happy and fall madly in love with each other!
Whilst one can generalise about the breed as a whole, saying a TB will run away with you or is lively or out of control or has bad legs or any of the other stories I have heard too, is a little like saying cars are fast and dangerous. That all depends on the car and even more on the driver! To understand your horse a little better, it is good to go back and see how the breed developed and what kind of life the young TB has.
The roots of the Thoroughbred go back to the late 17th century England. Three Arabian stallions imported from the Middle East were crossed with English mares to yield an entirely new breed of horse. All modern Thoroughbreds carry the bloodline of the Godolphin Arabian, the Byerly Turk, or the Darley Arabian. There are also other horses of oriental breeding that have been less of an influence but are still noteworthy. One of those is the Alcock Arabian, thought to be largely responsible for the grey coat color in Thoroughbreds. Others include the Unknown Arabian, the Helmsley Turk, the Lister Turk and Darcy's Chestnut. (Thanks Wikipaedia!)
The cross of this foundation stock with sturdy English horses created a breed known for being competitive, fiery, strong, and big hearted in competition. The primary focus of Thoroughbred breeding is on creating racehorses. A racehorse is bred for speed and agility, and these traits also translate well into other horse sports. The horses range in size from as little as 15 hands to 17 hands, and they have long necks, muscular hindquarters, long legs, and distinctly planed faces. A wide range of colours meet the breed standard, although chestnuts are among the most common.
A young TB starts his or her life on a stud farm where it is born as the result of a careful selection process where breeding for speed and matching outstanding bloodlines are the major considerations. At the age of one, the horse is sent to a ‘yearling sale’ where it is bought and sent to a trainer to begin its life as a racehorse. There, he is taught to carry a rider on his back, run with a group and finally, he must pass the biggest test of his career – the starting gate. Once he has reached this milestone, he is ready to commence racing. His daily routine is very different to most other horses his age, who are probably still running about in fields and who have not been backed yet. The racehorse is stabled for most of his racing life and only leaves the stable to train or race. The day begins early with gallops and training and when most other horses are tucking into breakfast and going out to play, the racehorse is already back in his stable where he will be for the rest of the day. These horses are fed high concentrate diets and not too much roughage, so often they have digestive problems like ulcers. If the horse is successful, he will continue to race for another two to four years, by which time his body will most likey start to break down or he is retired to stud if he is a stallion or she is a mare. Geldings are often sold on to the general riding community where they embark on a number of career possibiliites. Often they become riding school horses. Sometimes they are put down or sent to the abbatoir. Re-Training the racehorse is a specialty and many people do not realise what is in store for them when they take on their TB from the track!
Your horse has already been in the mainstream riding world, so will have already gone through his initial re-training and adaptaion period. Depending on who trained him and what they did with him, he could be an excitable wreck or a placid plod that wouldn’t bat his eye at a thing. You will have to assess him once he has arrived, and I would definitely enlist the help of a trained professional to get you going!
Your horse is very likely to be an individual in all aspects and my advice is to contact the previous owners and ask them these questions – they will be able to tell you how much he was worked, what he has been eating, what tack they are using and why. Try to stick to their suggestions until you have had a chance to get to know your horse and have enlisted the help of a qualified person who can assess you and your horse and suggest changes. TB’s can make wonderful riding horses and even those who have had a bad start can be re-trained to become super-stars! Good luck and I wish you the best!
I would just like to know a bit more about thoroughbreds, i bought myself a gelding a week ago and he will be ariving this week at my home, i have never ridden a thoroughbred before in my life, and apparantly all of them are so lively and full of energy.
I also heard that they tend to run away with you as they are used to it. I bought my horsie from a stable jard and they did jumping with him and took him on outrides. Should i use something to bring in his head what bit do you normally use on a thoroughbred? Is there special stuff they require?
How much do they need to be exersised?
Answer:
Firstly, Congrats on your new horse! I trust the two of you are going to be very happy and fall madly in love with each other!
Whilst one can generalise about the breed as a whole, saying a TB will run away with you or is lively or out of control or has bad legs or any of the other stories I have heard too, is a little like saying cars are fast and dangerous. That all depends on the car and even more on the driver! To understand your horse a little better, it is good to go back and see how the breed developed and what kind of life the young TB has.
The roots of the Thoroughbred go back to the late 17th century England. Three Arabian stallions imported from the Middle East were crossed with English mares to yield an entirely new breed of horse. All modern Thoroughbreds carry the bloodline of the Godolphin Arabian, the Byerly Turk, or the Darley Arabian. There are also other horses of oriental breeding that have been less of an influence but are still noteworthy. One of those is the Alcock Arabian, thought to be largely responsible for the grey coat color in Thoroughbreds. Others include the Unknown Arabian, the Helmsley Turk, the Lister Turk and Darcy's Chestnut. (Thanks Wikipaedia!)
The cross of this foundation stock with sturdy English horses created a breed known for being competitive, fiery, strong, and big hearted in competition. The primary focus of Thoroughbred breeding is on creating racehorses. A racehorse is bred for speed and agility, and these traits also translate well into other horse sports. The horses range in size from as little as 15 hands to 17 hands, and they have long necks, muscular hindquarters, long legs, and distinctly planed faces. A wide range of colours meet the breed standard, although chestnuts are among the most common.
A young TB starts his or her life on a stud farm where it is born as the result of a careful selection process where breeding for speed and matching outstanding bloodlines are the major considerations. At the age of one, the horse is sent to a ‘yearling sale’ where it is bought and sent to a trainer to begin its life as a racehorse. There, he is taught to carry a rider on his back, run with a group and finally, he must pass the biggest test of his career – the starting gate. Once he has reached this milestone, he is ready to commence racing. His daily routine is very different to most other horses his age, who are probably still running about in fields and who have not been backed yet. The racehorse is stabled for most of his racing life and only leaves the stable to train or race. The day begins early with gallops and training and when most other horses are tucking into breakfast and going out to play, the racehorse is already back in his stable where he will be for the rest of the day. These horses are fed high concentrate diets and not too much roughage, so often they have digestive problems like ulcers. If the horse is successful, he will continue to race for another two to four years, by which time his body will most likey start to break down or he is retired to stud if he is a stallion or she is a mare. Geldings are often sold on to the general riding community where they embark on a number of career possibiliites. Often they become riding school horses. Sometimes they are put down or sent to the abbatoir. Re-Training the racehorse is a specialty and many people do not realise what is in store for them when they take on their TB from the track!
Your horse has already been in the mainstream riding world, so will have already gone through his initial re-training and adaptaion period. Depending on who trained him and what they did with him, he could be an excitable wreck or a placid plod that wouldn’t bat his eye at a thing. You will have to assess him once he has arrived, and I would definitely enlist the help of a trained professional to get you going!
Your horse is very likely to be an individual in all aspects and my advice is to contact the previous owners and ask them these questions – they will be able to tell you how much he was worked, what he has been eating, what tack they are using and why. Try to stick to their suggestions until you have had a chance to get to know your horse and have enlisted the help of a qualified person who can assess you and your horse and suggest changes. TB’s can make wonderful riding horses and even those who have had a bad start can be re-trained to become super-stars! Good luck and I wish you the best!
What is Flehmen?
The action you are talking about (curling open the lips to expose the teeth) is most likely to be a FLEHMEN RESPONSE. It is a German word in origin which means "to twist the mouth" and involves the upper and lower lips curling back. The horse is one of the animals which has a vomeronasal organ, or VMO (often referred to as the Jacobson's Organ) in the roof of the mouth. In drawing back the lips, smells are run over the organ where it detects chemical compounds, especially pheromones. What the horse is doing in effect, is to draw in the smell and then close the nostrils to allow for maximum exposure to the VMO for chemical analysis. Stallions often display this pose when smelling a mare's urine to detect whether she is in heat. Horses will also display the Flehmen response when they smell unususal smells like onions, perfumes and other things that are unfamiliar to them. It is also very interesting to note that the Flehmen response is often seen in horses with gastro-intestinal discomfort and can be an indicator of colic. Curling the lips back and 'smiling' has also been commonly seen in horses with ulcers. Some horses do this at feedtimes to show their irritation at having to wait for food to arrive. (Although, again, some people feel that because the horse may have ulcers, he is doing it in anticipation of pain while eating.) Horses that curl their lips back when tacked up are often doing so because of an ill-fitting bridle and bit in the mouth. I hope that this helps you understand what your horse is doing. If he seems to be doing it too often, or you notice something else is amiss, it may be worth your while having him checked over by a vet. Enjoy him - he sounds like a gem!
Girth / Noseband Question
Question:
As there are 3 straps for a 2 buckled girth which straps are indeed the correct ones to use , and if there is some protocol -which I understand there is why indeed this particular way? A flash noseband seems to be done up with the excess flap going up , over and accross the nose if a dressage rider and I am told show jumpers do it up the other way- down and under the muzzle- why and what are the implications of this? I can understand why one must put ones feet into the stirrups a certain way- so as to get the stirrup leathers folding comfortably over one's shin, so iI am keen and curious to know about the above two situations.
Answer:
What a great question!
There are indeed three billets on a general purpose or jumping saddle and only two buckles on your girth. The best answer I could get out of a saddle manufacturer was that there are three so that if one breaks, you have a spare! Not a very comforting thought...! What I like to do when deciding which billets to use is to look at the horse's conformation and use that as my guide. Let's assume you are riding a nice big thoroughbred with a nice big wither (as you know only they can have!) and flatish sides. I like to attach the girth to billet two and three (furthest from head) so that when I do up the girth, it tightens more towards the back of the saddle, as opposed to coming down on the withers in front. One thing to remember if you are going to do your girth this way, is that the first billet is attahed to its own webbing, and the second and third to their own. This means that if your billets do tear out off the webbing, you will lose them both, as opposed to having one on the first billet. The accepted way of attaching the girth is to use the first and third billet if you can. This ensures an even pressure when you do up the girth. If you have a horse with a big tummy, use billet one and two, as this means the saddle is less likely to slip back. Try the various options and see which one works well for you. I think the fit of the saddle is much more important than exactly where you put the girth!
Your second question about nosebands is also an interesting one. Each noseband has a different fit and way of fastening and manufacturers also make the nosebands differently which will influence how you fasten it. The accepted way of fastening the flash noseband is pointing down at the ground, not up to the ears. Many people fasten the noseband pointing up beacuse there is nothing to fasten the excess part after the buckle with. They slip it through the part of the noseband holding the two straps together to keep it still. In all honesty, I think if the buckle is not on the lips, pinching the horse, and the strap is quiet, it is not the end of the world if you have it pointing up to the ears, although one should try to be correct if at all possible! I use plaiting elastics if the tab has fallen of the strap. I have honestly never heard of doing up the noseband differently if you are jumping or doing dressage - I thinkit has more to do with the design of the bridle and if the strap can fasten without needing the middle piece or not! I could not find any reference to this in documented information or the official rules either. Sounds a bit like a fashion trend to me!
Hope that helps! Thanks for the great questions - you keep us advisors on our toes with ones like this!
As there are 3 straps for a 2 buckled girth which straps are indeed the correct ones to use , and if there is some protocol -which I understand there is why indeed this particular way? A flash noseband seems to be done up with the excess flap going up , over and accross the nose if a dressage rider and I am told show jumpers do it up the other way- down and under the muzzle- why and what are the implications of this? I can understand why one must put ones feet into the stirrups a certain way- so as to get the stirrup leathers folding comfortably over one's shin, so iI am keen and curious to know about the above two situations.
Answer:
What a great question!
There are indeed three billets on a general purpose or jumping saddle and only two buckles on your girth. The best answer I could get out of a saddle manufacturer was that there are three so that if one breaks, you have a spare! Not a very comforting thought...! What I like to do when deciding which billets to use is to look at the horse's conformation and use that as my guide. Let's assume you are riding a nice big thoroughbred with a nice big wither (as you know only they can have!) and flatish sides. I like to attach the girth to billet two and three (furthest from head) so that when I do up the girth, it tightens more towards the back of the saddle, as opposed to coming down on the withers in front. One thing to remember if you are going to do your girth this way, is that the first billet is attahed to its own webbing, and the second and third to their own. This means that if your billets do tear out off the webbing, you will lose them both, as opposed to having one on the first billet. The accepted way of attaching the girth is to use the first and third billet if you can. This ensures an even pressure when you do up the girth. If you have a horse with a big tummy, use billet one and two, as this means the saddle is less likely to slip back. Try the various options and see which one works well for you. I think the fit of the saddle is much more important than exactly where you put the girth!
Your second question about nosebands is also an interesting one. Each noseband has a different fit and way of fastening and manufacturers also make the nosebands differently which will influence how you fasten it. The accepted way of fastening the flash noseband is pointing down at the ground, not up to the ears. Many people fasten the noseband pointing up beacuse there is nothing to fasten the excess part after the buckle with. They slip it through the part of the noseband holding the two straps together to keep it still. In all honesty, I think if the buckle is not on the lips, pinching the horse, and the strap is quiet, it is not the end of the world if you have it pointing up to the ears, although one should try to be correct if at all possible! I use plaiting elastics if the tab has fallen of the strap. I have honestly never heard of doing up the noseband differently if you are jumping or doing dressage - I thinkit has more to do with the design of the bridle and if the strap can fasten without needing the middle piece or not! I could not find any reference to this in documented information or the official rules either. Sounds a bit like a fashion trend to me!
Hope that helps! Thanks for the great questions - you keep us advisors on our toes with ones like this!
Feeding the Laminitis Horse
Laminitis in racehorses is quite common partly because the horses are fed high grain, low roughage diets. (There are other causes of laminitis, but in racehorses this seems to be one of the most important ones.) What happens is that the pH in the hindgut (the part of his digestive system where fermentation occurs) becomes very acidic. This kills the microorganisms that are found there and as they die, endotoxins are released which trigger the laminitis. Research seems to be showing that some Thoroughbred families seem to be more prone to laminitis, so genetics might seem to play a role too. The ingestion of sugars found in lush green pastures (called fructans) also play a role in laminitis.
Yes, cut the concentrates completely and offer the horse as much roughage (hays) as he will eat. The advice Kristene has given on the hay mix is perfect! You can also try good quality Eragrostis hays (Eragrostis curvula or Eragrostis teff). Sugar beet is fantastic because it is a low sugar, high caloric roughage source. It is a great source of calcium and not as high in calcium as lucerne with its associated problems. Vegetable Oils can be added to the beet pulp with great success to increase the calories in the diet without increasing the starch levels. A probiotic supplement is vital to support the microorganisms in the hindgut and to maintain the correct pH levels. It is essential in the laminitic case. It will also increase feed utilisation, thereby maintaining your horse's weight if he tends to lose condition easily.
Another way to keep your horse more comfortable is to consider stabling him on a bed of riversand. This relieves pressure on his hooves and will make him considerably more comfortable than shavings or being out on hard ground. Be very careful of working the horse on hard ground during his recovery, as it plays a role in the prediposing factors too.
Farriery relating to the laminitis case is very specialised. there are diffeerent schools of thought regarding this. Talk to as many farriers and vets as you can to get as much information as possible. Barefoot is definitely an option - especially in the acute stages of the disease. Some good results have been seen with pads (we are talking thick polystyrene type pads) and lifting heels etc, but this remains a specialty field and advice should be taken.
Yes, cut the concentrates completely and offer the horse as much roughage (hays) as he will eat. The advice Kristene has given on the hay mix is perfect! You can also try good quality Eragrostis hays (Eragrostis curvula or Eragrostis teff). Sugar beet is fantastic because it is a low sugar, high caloric roughage source. It is a great source of calcium and not as high in calcium as lucerne with its associated problems. Vegetable Oils can be added to the beet pulp with great success to increase the calories in the diet without increasing the starch levels. A probiotic supplement is vital to support the microorganisms in the hindgut and to maintain the correct pH levels. It is essential in the laminitic case. It will also increase feed utilisation, thereby maintaining your horse's weight if he tends to lose condition easily.
Another way to keep your horse more comfortable is to consider stabling him on a bed of riversand. This relieves pressure on his hooves and will make him considerably more comfortable than shavings or being out on hard ground. Be very careful of working the horse on hard ground during his recovery, as it plays a role in the prediposing factors too.
Farriery relating to the laminitis case is very specialised. there are diffeerent schools of thought regarding this. Talk to as many farriers and vets as you can to get as much information as possible. Barefoot is definitely an option - especially in the acute stages of the disease. Some good results have been seen with pads (we are talking thick polystyrene type pads) and lifting heels etc, but this remains a specialty field and advice should be taken.
Bitting Question - Tilting head in Canter
You are asking a very interesting and valid question! For a more detailed description of bits and bitting, see my article on 'Bits and Bitting" on the site.
You are correct - a double jointed snaffle type bit has a less sever action on the roof of the mouth and bars to a lesser extent. I consider using this type of bit on horses with very small or fine mouths or a horse that is showing discomfort in the roof of his mouth - often they will 'yaw' at the bit. I like starting youngsters on a double joined snaffle too.
Every horse is different, and you will need to take the horse's oral conformation into account as well. If your horse is working well in the snaffle he is in, there is no real reason to change him. If he accepts his current bit and is working well, that is a sign that he is happy with his bit and the way you are riding him. Sometimes changing the horse's bit can cause more problems than fixing things, although this change is not too big. If you want to try him in the double jointed snaffle, speak to your instructor again and let him/her know that you are going to try the new bit and discuss the session once you have ended to decide what to do. Sometimes we do use two bits on a horse that tends to get 'stale' in his mouth - swopping between them every few weeks to keep him sharper off the bit.
You could also consider borrowing a bit to try before committing to buying one.
Aaah - well done - you have practically answered your own question! While the number one cause of tilting the head like you describe is teeth or a bit that is not comfortable in the mouth, your one-sided riding could very well be causing the problem. When the horse travels straight, the back feet follow the prints of the front feet. Thus even when riding a circle, the feet should be tracking over each other. When the rider has a stronger side, what often happens is that the horse becomes crooked because the rider's body is pushing the quarter skew or causing the neck to be crooked. Often the rider will be sitting with more weight down one side of the body, worsening the problem. On a circle, this is also often caused by the rider trying to bend the horse onto the circle or turn with the inside rein (we like to call it 'inside-reinitis' !) which is not the correct way to ask for bend. What that does is cause the horse to fall onto the inside shoulder and the head tilts in an effort to regain balance.
What I would suggest is that you talk to your instructor about this problem off the horse's back and ask him/her to offer you a few lessons on the lunge in order to work on your own position and balance. Once your body alignment is better, the tilting should improve. If it does not, you should be looking at the horse's balance and straightness and again, your instructor should be able to give you a range of exercises to improve that. Your horse is young, which is a both a pro and con - a pro because you can can correct any problems now before they become ingrained, and a con beacuse if you don't, it is going to affect the way your horse works for a loong time to come! (Bit of a paradox I guess!)
Good luck and do let us know if there is anything else you need help with!
The change that you are going to do is very small, so in his case I would not do anything except make sure the bit fits properly and ride him as usual - he will tell you quickly enough if he is not happy!
What you can try if ever you are making a bigger change, or want to introduce a young horse to the bit and keep things as pleasant as possible is to do what I do. When I introduce a bit, I coat it in molasses syrup and roll it in mollasses meal. Very messy - be warned! If you only have the syrup that is fine too. I then put on the bridle and bit into the mouth of the horse in the stable and leave him there to chomp away. They love it. I like to think that in this way they associate the bit with something really good before all the riding even begins. On a youngster that has not been backed yet, I repeat this every day for over a week and let them stand for about 5 to 10 minutes or until they are done licking up all the syrup. They cant wait to get the bit into their mouths!
If you wanted to coat the new bit with molasses syrup, go ahead - your horse will love it! Otherwise, don't worry too much about the change - if your hands are kind and your contact steady, your horse will hardly notice the difference!
You are correct - a double jointed snaffle type bit has a less sever action on the roof of the mouth and bars to a lesser extent. I consider using this type of bit on horses with very small or fine mouths or a horse that is showing discomfort in the roof of his mouth - often they will 'yaw' at the bit. I like starting youngsters on a double joined snaffle too.
Every horse is different, and you will need to take the horse's oral conformation into account as well. If your horse is working well in the snaffle he is in, there is no real reason to change him. If he accepts his current bit and is working well, that is a sign that he is happy with his bit and the way you are riding him. Sometimes changing the horse's bit can cause more problems than fixing things, although this change is not too big. If you want to try him in the double jointed snaffle, speak to your instructor again and let him/her know that you are going to try the new bit and discuss the session once you have ended to decide what to do. Sometimes we do use two bits on a horse that tends to get 'stale' in his mouth - swopping between them every few weeks to keep him sharper off the bit.
You could also consider borrowing a bit to try before committing to buying one.
Aaah - well done - you have practically answered your own question! While the number one cause of tilting the head like you describe is teeth or a bit that is not comfortable in the mouth, your one-sided riding could very well be causing the problem. When the horse travels straight, the back feet follow the prints of the front feet. Thus even when riding a circle, the feet should be tracking over each other. When the rider has a stronger side, what often happens is that the horse becomes crooked because the rider's body is pushing the quarter skew or causing the neck to be crooked. Often the rider will be sitting with more weight down one side of the body, worsening the problem. On a circle, this is also often caused by the rider trying to bend the horse onto the circle or turn with the inside rein (we like to call it 'inside-reinitis' !) which is not the correct way to ask for bend. What that does is cause the horse to fall onto the inside shoulder and the head tilts in an effort to regain balance.
What I would suggest is that you talk to your instructor about this problem off the horse's back and ask him/her to offer you a few lessons on the lunge in order to work on your own position and balance. Once your body alignment is better, the tilting should improve. If it does not, you should be looking at the horse's balance and straightness and again, your instructor should be able to give you a range of exercises to improve that. Your horse is young, which is a both a pro and con - a pro because you can can correct any problems now before they become ingrained, and a con beacuse if you don't, it is going to affect the way your horse works for a loong time to come! (Bit of a paradox I guess!)
Good luck and do let us know if there is anything else you need help with!
The change that you are going to do is very small, so in his case I would not do anything except make sure the bit fits properly and ride him as usual - he will tell you quickly enough if he is not happy!
What you can try if ever you are making a bigger change, or want to introduce a young horse to the bit and keep things as pleasant as possible is to do what I do. When I introduce a bit, I coat it in molasses syrup and roll it in mollasses meal. Very messy - be warned! If you only have the syrup that is fine too. I then put on the bridle and bit into the mouth of the horse in the stable and leave him there to chomp away. They love it. I like to think that in this way they associate the bit with something really good before all the riding even begins. On a youngster that has not been backed yet, I repeat this every day for over a week and let them stand for about 5 to 10 minutes or until they are done licking up all the syrup. They cant wait to get the bit into their mouths!
If you wanted to coat the new bit with molasses syrup, go ahead - your horse will love it! Otherwise, don't worry too much about the change - if your hands are kind and your contact steady, your horse will hardly notice the difference!
Institute of Horsemanship
The Institute of Horsemanship Programmes
The Institute of Horsemanship programmes are designed in such a way that it can be done via distance learning.
You have the option to enrol with the purpose of achieving a certificate stipulating your competence in this specific aspect of horsemanship, or you can go it alone, in other words just receive the study material and work through it on your own.
The course consists of various programmes, each of which covers a specific aspect of horsemanship. Students enrol for one programme at a time. When they complete the programme successfully, they can start with the next one.
When you enrol, you receive a workbook, consisting of all the notes you will need, as well as a DVD or video, where the programme instructor illustrates on a horse what is expected of the student.
This should give the student all the information needed to complete the programme successfully. If the student has any questions, or does not understand something, he/she has access to the instructor via e-mail as well as a training forum on the Institute website especially designed for students. We will use the technology we have available as much as possible to make the instruction as effective as we can for the student.
When the student is ready, we provide an examination paper via e-mail, which the student completes by means of an open book test. The student will also be required to send us a video or DVD in which he/she demonstrates on a horse that he/she is able to apply the principles set out in the module.
The Course Instructor evaluates both the examination paper and the video/DVD and based on the competence displayed by the student, award a pass mark. If the student does not display an adequate level of competence, feedback is given to correct the mistakes. The exam is then taken again, until the correct level of competence is shown.
The cost of each individual programme is as follows:
For the certification option - R950.00
For the non-certification option - R800.00
The programmes currently available are "Teaching your horse to lead" and "Groundwork". The next programme on bitting-up exercises, will be available within a week or so. For a glimpse on what they cover, go to www.horsejunction.co.za and choose "Instititue".
How long it takes to complete each module will depend entirely on the individual student.
There are no prerequisites to enrol other than having access to a horse on which to practise and demonstrate the practical aspects. Obviously you will have to have access to the Internet.
To enrol, we need your postal address to send the material to you, and we will provide you with our banking detail for payment.
Mastership Programmes
When we started off, the aim of the Institute of Horsemanship was simply to help people and their horses by presenting distance-learning programmes that could really help our students become the best horsemen they can be and in the process, help their horses to become the best horses they can be. We also knew at the time that several of our students would want to use this knowledge in order to build up their own profiles as either instructors or trainers.
This lead to our decision to 'package' our programmes and allow students to progress in their knowledge and achieve certain levels and use it to their advantage in the equine industry. Although most of these programmes are 'stand-alone' programmes, we decided to offer the following options to our dedicated students:
1. Ground Master Certification: This will allow students who do not necessarily wish to ride, but still want to work with horses, the opportunity to gain knowledge and use this knowledge to their financial benefit in the industry. To qualify as a Ground Master, students will need to successfully complete the following programmes: Leading, Groundwork, Bitting-up exercises, Lungeing and Long Reining, In-hand work.
Upon completion of the above programmes, a student may request a Ground Master Evaluation Programme and this will follow the same format as the current exams. Upon completion, the student will be certified as a Ground Master. Such students will be able to assist riders and horses from the ground, but as this is where all horse-related trouble starts, they will be able to play an invaluable role in providing their services to riders and horses.
2. Saddle Master Certification: This certification will only be an option to certified Ground Masters. It will require the successful completion of programmes such as: Starting the young horse, Saddles and bits, Developing the rider's seat, Basic Horsemanship, Basic Dressage, Basic Western Horsemanship, Advanced Groundwork, Advanced lungeing and Long Reining, Lateral work, lead changes and circles, Collection...and so on
Upon receiving such certification, the student will be able to take a green or wild horse and prepare it under saddle.
3. Horse Master Certification: This certification will only be available to students who have successfully completed the Saddle Master Certification and will include programmes such as: - Advanced in-hand work - Advanced horsemanship - Basic equine dentistry - Training of riders and nervous riders - Hoof care and trimming - High-school riding - Advanced western riding - Working with troubled horses, and so on...
Obviously, we are nowhere near the completion of our programmes (we are still only busy with the third programme as we had no idea how much interest there would be).
We put our thoughts to the dean of a US university that presents BSc degrees in Equine Studies. Our reason for doing this was to see if we could in some way arrange for our students to get credits on the US degree course, especially as our currency performs so dismally against the US Dollar. Below is an extract of what he had to say:
"Your idea is a great one...I am convinced that every year the more you can do with sight and sound the better your educational program is going to be.. we are working on audio and video within our courses...but it may be several years... in the meantime we are doing some very short video on the web...
I would encourage you to get full speed ahead with your plans...
This could be a possibility...why don't we sell your IHS programs?... we could take the order and ship it to you...you could then take over the customer by e-mail and snail mail them the notes and DVD....you could handle everything from there.
Your "Ground Master" idea is something we haven't even addressed. ...when you get your Saddle Master program going, we might be able to substitute your courses for some of ours and issue a Professional Horse Trainer Certification from the Equine Studies Institute... Not sure anyone would want it when they could get your program, but it could be an attractive cooperative....some stranger things have happened...
When you get the Saddle Master program going and the Horse Master program going, we might be able to transfer some of those courses into the [university] program for full credit...saddle master courses might replace Dressage...Training...Bits, Saddle Fitting and Hoof Balance...for example... it would all depend on how close the curriculum was between the two programs. With [university], we could allow your students to substitute your courses for up to six of the [degree] courses...[university] requires a minimum of 10 courses, including the Equine Symposium, which is a comprehensive exam course.
You've got good ideas, and your DVD's are pretty darn good...a bit too long for American taste...we are "slam bam thank you ma'am"....if it isn't "instant" it's too slow for us and we need a "magic bullet" for every lesson....one "key" element that makes your programs unique...something no one else has..."
We are considering the request to market the programmes in the US as this will make our programmes 'international'. Of course, a lot of water still needs to pass under the bridge but we are working as fast as we can to ensure that our programmes are quickly available, without compromising content.
We are also looking at how best to advertise our students on the internet. Many riders experience problems and our students would be an asset to such riders and their horses.
We once again wish to reiterate that the majority of our programmes are stand-alone programmes. The 'Master Certification Programmes' will only be available to those students who wish to follow them and are in no ways obligatory.
We hope you enrol!!
Best regards
Izak Hofmeyr
The Institute of Horsemanship programmes are designed in such a way that it can be done via distance learning.
You have the option to enrol with the purpose of achieving a certificate stipulating your competence in this specific aspect of horsemanship, or you can go it alone, in other words just receive the study material and work through it on your own.
The course consists of various programmes, each of which covers a specific aspect of horsemanship. Students enrol for one programme at a time. When they complete the programme successfully, they can start with the next one.
When you enrol, you receive a workbook, consisting of all the notes you will need, as well as a DVD or video, where the programme instructor illustrates on a horse what is expected of the student.
This should give the student all the information needed to complete the programme successfully. If the student has any questions, or does not understand something, he/she has access to the instructor via e-mail as well as a training forum on the Institute website especially designed for students. We will use the technology we have available as much as possible to make the instruction as effective as we can for the student.
When the student is ready, we provide an examination paper via e-mail, which the student completes by means of an open book test. The student will also be required to send us a video or DVD in which he/she demonstrates on a horse that he/she is able to apply the principles set out in the module.
The Course Instructor evaluates both the examination paper and the video/DVD and based on the competence displayed by the student, award a pass mark. If the student does not display an adequate level of competence, feedback is given to correct the mistakes. The exam is then taken again, until the correct level of competence is shown.
The cost of each individual programme is as follows:
For the certification option - R950.00
For the non-certification option - R800.00
The programmes currently available are "Teaching your horse to lead" and "Groundwork". The next programme on bitting-up exercises, will be available within a week or so. For a glimpse on what they cover, go to www.horsejunction.co.za and choose "Instititue".
How long it takes to complete each module will depend entirely on the individual student.
There are no prerequisites to enrol other than having access to a horse on which to practise and demonstrate the practical aspects. Obviously you will have to have access to the Internet.
To enrol, we need your postal address to send the material to you, and we will provide you with our banking detail for payment.
Mastership Programmes
When we started off, the aim of the Institute of Horsemanship was simply to help people and their horses by presenting distance-learning programmes that could really help our students become the best horsemen they can be and in the process, help their horses to become the best horses they can be. We also knew at the time that several of our students would want to use this knowledge in order to build up their own profiles as either instructors or trainers.
This lead to our decision to 'package' our programmes and allow students to progress in their knowledge and achieve certain levels and use it to their advantage in the equine industry. Although most of these programmes are 'stand-alone' programmes, we decided to offer the following options to our dedicated students:
1. Ground Master Certification: This will allow students who do not necessarily wish to ride, but still want to work with horses, the opportunity to gain knowledge and use this knowledge to their financial benefit in the industry. To qualify as a Ground Master, students will need to successfully complete the following programmes: Leading, Groundwork, Bitting-up exercises, Lungeing and Long Reining, In-hand work.
Upon completion of the above programmes, a student may request a Ground Master Evaluation Programme and this will follow the same format as the current exams. Upon completion, the student will be certified as a Ground Master. Such students will be able to assist riders and horses from the ground, but as this is where all horse-related trouble starts, they will be able to play an invaluable role in providing their services to riders and horses.
2. Saddle Master Certification: This certification will only be an option to certified Ground Masters. It will require the successful completion of programmes such as: Starting the young horse, Saddles and bits, Developing the rider's seat, Basic Horsemanship, Basic Dressage, Basic Western Horsemanship, Advanced Groundwork, Advanced lungeing and Long Reining, Lateral work, lead changes and circles, Collection...and so on
Upon receiving such certification, the student will be able to take a green or wild horse and prepare it under saddle.
3. Horse Master Certification: This certification will only be available to students who have successfully completed the Saddle Master Certification and will include programmes such as: - Advanced in-hand work - Advanced horsemanship - Basic equine dentistry - Training of riders and nervous riders - Hoof care and trimming - High-school riding - Advanced western riding - Working with troubled horses, and so on...
Obviously, we are nowhere near the completion of our programmes (we are still only busy with the third programme as we had no idea how much interest there would be).
We put our thoughts to the dean of a US university that presents BSc degrees in Equine Studies. Our reason for doing this was to see if we could in some way arrange for our students to get credits on the US degree course, especially as our currency performs so dismally against the US Dollar. Below is an extract of what he had to say:
"Your idea is a great one...I am convinced that every year the more you can do with sight and sound the better your educational program is going to be.. we are working on audio and video within our courses...but it may be several years... in the meantime we are doing some very short video on the web...
I would encourage you to get full speed ahead with your plans...
This could be a possibility...why don't we sell your IHS programs?... we could take the order and ship it to you...you could then take over the customer by e-mail and snail mail them the notes and DVD....you could handle everything from there.
Your "Ground Master" idea is something we haven't even addressed. ...when you get your Saddle Master program going, we might be able to substitute your courses for some of ours and issue a Professional Horse Trainer Certification from the Equine Studies Institute... Not sure anyone would want it when they could get your program, but it could be an attractive cooperative....some stranger things have happened...
When you get the Saddle Master program going and the Horse Master program going, we might be able to transfer some of those courses into the [university] program for full credit...saddle master courses might replace Dressage...Training...Bits, Saddle Fitting and Hoof Balance...for example... it would all depend on how close the curriculum was between the two programs. With [university], we could allow your students to substitute your courses for up to six of the [degree] courses...[university] requires a minimum of 10 courses, including the Equine Symposium, which is a comprehensive exam course.
You've got good ideas, and your DVD's are pretty darn good...a bit too long for American taste...we are "slam bam thank you ma'am"....if it isn't "instant" it's too slow for us and we need a "magic bullet" for every lesson....one "key" element that makes your programs unique...something no one else has..."
We are considering the request to market the programmes in the US as this will make our programmes 'international'. Of course, a lot of water still needs to pass under the bridge but we are working as fast as we can to ensure that our programmes are quickly available, without compromising content.
We are also looking at how best to advertise our students on the internet. Many riders experience problems and our students would be an asset to such riders and their horses.
We once again wish to reiterate that the majority of our programmes are stand-alone programmes. The 'Master Certification Programmes' will only be available to those students who wish to follow them and are in no ways obligatory.
We hope you enrol!!
Best regards
Izak Hofmeyr
Brag - Polocrosse
A couple of brag pics from the field! Lourens de Lange and his proud polocrosse teammates... (Talk about keeping it in the family - way to go cousin!)
SANESA Finals 2007
SANESA School’s League Finals 2007
Trunks were packed; horseboxes parked. Horses were bathed, plaited, and locked away safely in clean stables. Children were dopey eyed but excited and no-one closed an eyelid that night. All in all, nothing unusual for the night before a SANESA show… It was only as I sat in the que along the dirt road checking my watch and feeling the icy fingers of panic slowly crawling along my spine in the knowledge that, no, I was not going to make the course walk, that it finally dawned on me – this was the FINALS…
Having being to the School’s league Finals at Eaton Farm before, I knew what to expect, but of course nothing prepares you for the onslaught of ponies, kids, parents, cars, dust and chaos that hits you as you drive through the gates!
I was pleasantly surprised, because apart from the parking crisis, the day really went very smoothly! Classes went off like clockwork and by the afternoon, the showjumping classes were even running early. Unheard of.
The Dressage and Showing classes held earlier that weekend seemed to go without too much incident, and I received positive feedback from proud parents, who agreed that although nobody wants to truck out to the same venue twice in one weekend, it really was not all that bad.
Hats off to the organizers, as arranging over 2500 entries cannot be an easy task and really, classes went smoother than I can remember at any Final before.
The Joburg crowd was quite jealous of the Pretoria riders, who were sporting rather smart T-Shirts, and maybe next year they will rise to the challenge and create masterpieces of their own! Good thinking on the Pretoria team’s part!
There were the usual spills and thrills, and the Showjumping and Equitation courses were well-built, full of tight turns and tended to slow all but the bravest and tiniest little dynamite sticks, giving everyone a pretty fair chance. Warm-Up arenas were less crowded than I expected and it seems more and more riders are finally getting the hang of remembering the rules applicable, so less head on collisions! The Laser timers really had the riders excited and they finally felt like they were at a ‘real’ THS show!
I have only one complaint, or shall we call it an observation... Is it easier to tell your friends that you retired from the jump-off , as opposed to admitting you had a pole and put yourself out of the running? It seemed every other rider chose to retire immediately after knocking a pole in the jump-off, rather than finish with a score for the school and team? The horses were not out of control, not lame and even looked surprised to have their fun stopped at fence 3! Come on guys - where is the sense of sportsmanship, the sense of fun and the pride? There is no shame at having a pole down! Come on parents - you need to impress the value of pushing through to the end, and the love of the sport and I did not see that on Sunday! I am seeing this more and more in the important classes, and I think it is a shame. Let's impress the importance of finishing the race, of pushing through to the end and to not be scared of admitting failure!
I did not venture into the catering area, as it seemed that the que never got any shorter, but the smells coming from the back were divinity. (I allow the catering team at Eaton any mistake since they surprised me at a SANESA Show by supplying Amstel long after it had disappeared from the shop shelves a few weeks ago… heaven!)
Driving back that evening in a dusty car, very tired, very dirty and very sunburned, I decided it was a very good thing there was only one SANESA Final every year and thank goodness we had managed to survive another one… I do feel the need to abstain from going any closer than 100m from any horse after this, but I am sure the feeling will wear out – eventually.
Trunks were packed; horseboxes parked. Horses were bathed, plaited, and locked away safely in clean stables. Children were dopey eyed but excited and no-one closed an eyelid that night. All in all, nothing unusual for the night before a SANESA show… It was only as I sat in the que along the dirt road checking my watch and feeling the icy fingers of panic slowly crawling along my spine in the knowledge that, no, I was not going to make the course walk, that it finally dawned on me – this was the FINALS…
Having being to the School’s league Finals at Eaton Farm before, I knew what to expect, but of course nothing prepares you for the onslaught of ponies, kids, parents, cars, dust and chaos that hits you as you drive through the gates!
I was pleasantly surprised, because apart from the parking crisis, the day really went very smoothly! Classes went off like clockwork and by the afternoon, the showjumping classes were even running early. Unheard of.
The Dressage and Showing classes held earlier that weekend seemed to go without too much incident, and I received positive feedback from proud parents, who agreed that although nobody wants to truck out to the same venue twice in one weekend, it really was not all that bad.
Hats off to the organizers, as arranging over 2500 entries cannot be an easy task and really, classes went smoother than I can remember at any Final before.
The Joburg crowd was quite jealous of the Pretoria riders, who were sporting rather smart T-Shirts, and maybe next year they will rise to the challenge and create masterpieces of their own! Good thinking on the Pretoria team’s part!
There were the usual spills and thrills, and the Showjumping and Equitation courses were well-built, full of tight turns and tended to slow all but the bravest and tiniest little dynamite sticks, giving everyone a pretty fair chance. Warm-Up arenas were less crowded than I expected and it seems more and more riders are finally getting the hang of remembering the rules applicable, so less head on collisions! The Laser timers really had the riders excited and they finally felt like they were at a ‘real’ THS show!
I have only one complaint, or shall we call it an observation... Is it easier to tell your friends that you retired from the jump-off , as opposed to admitting you had a pole and put yourself out of the running? It seemed every other rider chose to retire immediately after knocking a pole in the jump-off, rather than finish with a score for the school and team? The horses were not out of control, not lame and even looked surprised to have their fun stopped at fence 3! Come on guys - where is the sense of sportsmanship, the sense of fun and the pride? There is no shame at having a pole down! Come on parents - you need to impress the value of pushing through to the end, and the love of the sport and I did not see that on Sunday! I am seeing this more and more in the important classes, and I think it is a shame. Let's impress the importance of finishing the race, of pushing through to the end and to not be scared of admitting failure!
I did not venture into the catering area, as it seemed that the que never got any shorter, but the smells coming from the back were divinity. (I allow the catering team at Eaton any mistake since they surprised me at a SANESA Show by supplying Amstel long after it had disappeared from the shop shelves a few weeks ago… heaven!)
Driving back that evening in a dusty car, very tired, very dirty and very sunburned, I decided it was a very good thing there was only one SANESA Final every year and thank goodness we had managed to survive another one… I do feel the need to abstain from going any closer than 100m from any horse after this, but I am sure the feeling will wear out – eventually.
Retraining the Saddler
Renee, I will confess, I have not read your article on retraining the THB; I will confess again that I don’t like THBs – that being the reason I did not read the article (sorry if I offend you by saying this).
Now I need a bit of advice (ironic isn’t it). I was progressing very nicely with my dressage lessons (leg yields, half pass, shoulder in the works!), but now my mare got too much pregnant and my trainer felt she should rest now in preparation for foaling. The owner of the (very small) stable yard is very good to me. He and the trainer decided to put me on the owner’s Saddler gelding. The horse is quite handsome, with a lovely long, arched neck. He is well mannered and friendly in his stable. The owner keeps the horses very relaxed in the “open – plan” stables; the dividing walls in the barn style stable block is only about 1.8m high; so the horses can see each other all the time (except when they lay down to sleep)
Now for the crunch: the gelding has been through a few Saddler trainers. They all did their “weird” training methods on him. He then was trained by a flashy, “windgat” dressage trainer that taught him things he was far from ready for (passage, few beat flying changes canter etc.). We now have the following problems: 1.] The horse is very tense. He was taught the Saddler walk – and it is difficult to get him to walk “flat footed”. 2.] He canters at break – neck speed, and does flying changes by himself. 3.] He anticipates: sometimes he thinks he will canter now, and turns side ways in anticipation of being asked for the canter (as Saddler trainers do turn the horses towards the rail to “throw” the horse into the correct lead canter) – it is then difficult to get him to walk straight again. 4.] He hates legs on him. With the Lane Fox saddle the legs are away from the saddle; when the legs are put on him, it means “go harder / faster”. This means he doesn’t want to take leg yields (just rushes forward faster & faster), and it is difficult to bend him “around the leg” in a circle / half circle.
We are spending a lot of time to try and get him to relax. We do a lot of walk work (also in patters). We have worked the head lower and neck rounder. He is starting to relax, but sometimes tenses up and goes into the “jog” / Saddler walk; then it is difficult to get back to a pure walk. The trot is much better (given that my legs don’t touch him, difficult with a Wintec dressage saddle!). The canter needs a lot of work still. The problem is that he needs a lot of patience; usually I am someone who doesn’t get angry easily. But after “begging” him for a pure walk for half an hour I sometimes get angry – I hide it away from my trainer and the owner. But the other day I worked him alone – and when he started with his jogging again, and then wanted to canter, I smacked him. I regretted it straight away – but the horse, after the freight it got, settled down a bit (!!!). I made a resolution that I will never do it again, he is not the type of horse where this will work – it will tense him more. I will work more on my patience. We also have done a lot of work on my seat to control speed – something wonderfully new for me!
Question: what else can I do? If you don’t have any more answers, and only feel sorry for me, I will understand…
We have also started backing my SA Boerperd mare. Fortunately no “farms were bought” (although I was shown in no uncertain terms that it could happen any moment if she felt like it). She is quite “hot” (and obviously still very inexperienced) but is progressing nicely. A lot of walk work (patters) with a bit of trotting (patters), desensitising, and long lines etc. What I have learned on the “seat” with the Saddler gelding helps a lot with her. Why am I relating this: please feel sorry for me, currently I have no settled, “lekker ryperd”…!
Answer:
Charles, Charles, Charles. I will start off by feeling sorry for you. The last time I got off to a rip-roaring start with a superb horse I got pregnant.. Hee hee. You have taken on quite a challenge in this horse but if you see it like that, a challenge, it may help out with the patience… who am I kidding. You did not miss anything in my article as I am still madly trying to finish Part 2, which discusses the actual training so none taken! (Offense I mean) The last time I sat on a Saddler, we got as far as the arena gate and then she exploded into a mass of quivering jelly and refused to move – even after her owner got on her and tried to beat the daylights out of her. I get the tension thing – they get spoiled like that, and it is such a pity.
This problem has taken a few years to evolve I would imagine, so know it is going to take a few years to correct! That is the first and most important thing to remember when a horse needs re-schooling and especially one that is this tense. Generally speaking, people try to teach their horses things too fast, before they are ready physically and mentally to do the job being asked. That results in the horse knowing all sorts of ‘tricks’ but they are not executing them properly. I cannot even count how many pupils I have had telling me that their horses are doing wonderful half passes, when upon further inspection, they are doing no more than a simple leg yield and the horse is most definitely not bent in the direction of movement! There is a definite ‘scale’ of training and the achievement of one tier will lead to the next, along with the exercises that go along with that. Schooling a horse is measured in years, not months. Often riders try to teach their horse one movement after the other, but the basics are not in place. Now it sounds to me like this poor gelding has had that happen to him. He has been scared out of his wits, been taught one ‘trick’ after the other, and still has no idea of what is expected of him.
Have you ever sat in class, perhaps at Varsity or at a lecture or a conference, and had no idea of what the lecturer was on about and everyone else seems to be totally absorbed and all you are praying for is ..'please don’t ask me a question… please don’t ask me a question…’ and your palms are sweaty and you are in an adrenaline overdose..? I think this boy is so scared to be asked a question because he is not really sure of what humans want from him. He knows there is punishment coming if he does not get it right, but he is not sure what the question was. He has been taught so many conflicting things that he is not sure what answer you want. Horses like that will often explode into an entire repertoire of things that they know when asked the most simple thing – exploding into flying changes, leg yields, canter strike-offs and the whole lot, one after the other, because they are hoping one of those tricks was what you were asking…!
There is definitely a balance issue here – by cantering faster and faster and changing legs, he is telling you that he is so tense it is unbalancing him and that is also why he is doing that. Think of tension in the canter like running downhill fast – you speed up and speed up until you can’t stop even if you wanted to. That’s what he is feeling in the canter. He speeds up and then must change legs in order to regain his balance. I have seen it often.
So, what to do! There are two aspects to the type of work you are going to need to do with him, and the first and most important part is a trust issue. This horse is going to have to learn to trust you. Now, that does not mean you fatten him up on carrots and the two of you stroll of into the sunset! First, he must realize that you are in charge. I use lock on for that (also called ‘join up’ by Monty Roberts). The horse must understand that you in control. When you are in control, it means you are not afraid and that you know what is going on, in his language.
When you throw a group of people into a stressful situation, you will notice that they will gravitate towards the person who seems to quickly gain an understanding of the situation, seems to know exactly what to do and shows the least fear. Suddenly the group gets quiet and the ‘leader’ tells them what is going on, what they need to do and who is going to do it. Suddenly they are less afraid and they focus their combined energy on the task at hand. That is what you are trying to achieve with a lock on. You are trying to focus the horse’s nervous energy on you and make him understand that you know what is going on and what he needs to do. Once you have achieved that, a small measure of trust is built.
With that trust, you are now going to ask him to step out of his comfort zone and learn that you are not going to ask him to do anything he cannot do. An easy way of doing this with the nervous wreck is to put a feed bag on the floor, with him on a lead. A pressure halter can also be used if the horse is very difficult and tends to explode. Of course the plastic bag becomes a monster and he will snort and prance and not want to go near it (being a saddler.. hee hee). If he is happy with bags, find something he is scared of – a sheet of blue plastic on the floor might be a monster to him. Be creative! You are going to ask him to step up to the bag. Then move away. Then step up to the bag, then move away. With each forward step, use lots of praise. If he backs up, keep backing him up and ask him to stand. In that way, you are still in control. Ask him to step up again. Keep your voice low, keep your body language quiet. When he finally steps up to the bag, praise. (you can use food if you want, but often nervous horses will not eat anyway!)A good reward is once he steps up to the bag and stands for even a split second, turn him away, walk him right away and around before coming back. That is a mental reward for him. He may need a small tap on the rear end with a crop to move forward the first time. If he moves forward after that, no more taps. If you are scared you may lose your temper, rather leave the crop. (I use a dressage crop.) This is the kind of work that can be done with him every day, even twice a day if you possibly can. Once he steps onto the bag (or the thing is scared of) you will see him make the connection – it is so acute you can almost hear the penny drop! He suddenly realizes that you are right, and that you will never ask him to do anything that you are not sure he can. A strong trust will be built on that. Keep up with the ‘trust games’ and keep reinforcing his understanding that you are to be trusted. Parelli Horsemanship is an excellent tool that helps the horse in exactly this area. The different ‘games’ are in fact carefully chosen exercises to reinforce trust and obedience issues. A clear warning though – once you have gained this horse’s trust, be very careful that you do not do anything to compromise it! It is a fine thread that is easily snapped! Once lost, you will find the horse reverts back to his old ways, and usually even worse!
The second part of your training program will need to address the issues under saddle. The first thing you should do is to stop the canters until you have improved the walk and trot. If you keep riding the canters as he is now, you are not teaching him anything, not improving anything and all that happens is the poor way of going is reinforced until it becomes habit. Stick to walk at first, because you are going to have to teach him all about leg. Very basically, start in halt, apply your leg aid softly, if he walks on praise him and repeat. When he understands the walk aid, move on to ‘walk faster’ – in walk, apply your leg aid and if he walks faster, praise. Same for trot. This is a process that happens over weeks, not minutes please. The slower you take it, the more eager he will be to learn and the better your results. I would introduce a good lungeing program, starting with leading him and teaching him the voice commands. Also, when leading him, you can teach him to move away from pressure by applying it to his side and asking him to step away from it. (I use the vocal command ‘siiide’ and always ask my horses to do that when I take them into the stable.) Once he understands the voice commands (include ‘slooowly’ and ‘move on!’)you will be able to translate that into the riding part, giving the voice command as well as the leg aid. Slowly he will begin to understand what you want. Once his walk and trot improves, and he is starting to understand the aids, you can introduce canter. Exercises to improve his balance are vital – polework, uphills, downhills, volte’s and serpentines and plenty of transitions will improve his balance. That will improve the work under saddle vastly.
The trick is really patience. Hard I know but it is vital. When he jogs, bring him back gently and ask again. Try to vary the work so that by the time he wants to evade one exercise, he is already onto the other.
This is a long road and there are no quick fixes that are going to help – only time and patience. The reason he reacted so well to the smack, was because he understands ‘no’ so well! What you need to teach him is to focus on the ‘yes’. People spend so much time ‘fixing’ while on their horses, they forget to focus on what they want that is right. The horses learn what NOT to do, but are never really sure of what they SHOULD be doing.
That help? I hope so.
Commiserations on the whole having a nice riding horse thing – the best part about working with my previous horse was that finally I could get on and NOT FIGHT! Having worked with problem horse after problem horse, I forgot what a superb horse feels like! I get it!
Let me know how things go!
Now I need a bit of advice (ironic isn’t it). I was progressing very nicely with my dressage lessons (leg yields, half pass, shoulder in the works!), but now my mare got too much pregnant and my trainer felt she should rest now in preparation for foaling. The owner of the (very small) stable yard is very good to me. He and the trainer decided to put me on the owner’s Saddler gelding. The horse is quite handsome, with a lovely long, arched neck. He is well mannered and friendly in his stable. The owner keeps the horses very relaxed in the “open – plan” stables; the dividing walls in the barn style stable block is only about 1.8m high; so the horses can see each other all the time (except when they lay down to sleep)
Now for the crunch: the gelding has been through a few Saddler trainers. They all did their “weird” training methods on him. He then was trained by a flashy, “windgat” dressage trainer that taught him things he was far from ready for (passage, few beat flying changes canter etc.). We now have the following problems: 1.] The horse is very tense. He was taught the Saddler walk – and it is difficult to get him to walk “flat footed”. 2.] He canters at break – neck speed, and does flying changes by himself. 3.] He anticipates: sometimes he thinks he will canter now, and turns side ways in anticipation of being asked for the canter (as Saddler trainers do turn the horses towards the rail to “throw” the horse into the correct lead canter) – it is then difficult to get him to walk straight again. 4.] He hates legs on him. With the Lane Fox saddle the legs are away from the saddle; when the legs are put on him, it means “go harder / faster”. This means he doesn’t want to take leg yields (just rushes forward faster & faster), and it is difficult to bend him “around the leg” in a circle / half circle.
We are spending a lot of time to try and get him to relax. We do a lot of walk work (also in patters). We have worked the head lower and neck rounder. He is starting to relax, but sometimes tenses up and goes into the “jog” / Saddler walk; then it is difficult to get back to a pure walk. The trot is much better (given that my legs don’t touch him, difficult with a Wintec dressage saddle!). The canter needs a lot of work still. The problem is that he needs a lot of patience; usually I am someone who doesn’t get angry easily. But after “begging” him for a pure walk for half an hour I sometimes get angry – I hide it away from my trainer and the owner. But the other day I worked him alone – and when he started with his jogging again, and then wanted to canter, I smacked him. I regretted it straight away – but the horse, after the freight it got, settled down a bit (!!!). I made a resolution that I will never do it again, he is not the type of horse where this will work – it will tense him more. I will work more on my patience. We also have done a lot of work on my seat to control speed – something wonderfully new for me!
Question: what else can I do? If you don’t have any more answers, and only feel sorry for me, I will understand…
We have also started backing my SA Boerperd mare. Fortunately no “farms were bought” (although I was shown in no uncertain terms that it could happen any moment if she felt like it). She is quite “hot” (and obviously still very inexperienced) but is progressing nicely. A lot of walk work (patters) with a bit of trotting (patters), desensitising, and long lines etc. What I have learned on the “seat” with the Saddler gelding helps a lot with her. Why am I relating this: please feel sorry for me, currently I have no settled, “lekker ryperd”…!
Answer:
Charles, Charles, Charles. I will start off by feeling sorry for you. The last time I got off to a rip-roaring start with a superb horse I got pregnant.. Hee hee. You have taken on quite a challenge in this horse but if you see it like that, a challenge, it may help out with the patience… who am I kidding. You did not miss anything in my article as I am still madly trying to finish Part 2, which discusses the actual training so none taken! (Offense I mean) The last time I sat on a Saddler, we got as far as the arena gate and then she exploded into a mass of quivering jelly and refused to move – even after her owner got on her and tried to beat the daylights out of her. I get the tension thing – they get spoiled like that, and it is such a pity.
This problem has taken a few years to evolve I would imagine, so know it is going to take a few years to correct! That is the first and most important thing to remember when a horse needs re-schooling and especially one that is this tense. Generally speaking, people try to teach their horses things too fast, before they are ready physically and mentally to do the job being asked. That results in the horse knowing all sorts of ‘tricks’ but they are not executing them properly. I cannot even count how many pupils I have had telling me that their horses are doing wonderful half passes, when upon further inspection, they are doing no more than a simple leg yield and the horse is most definitely not bent in the direction of movement! There is a definite ‘scale’ of training and the achievement of one tier will lead to the next, along with the exercises that go along with that. Schooling a horse is measured in years, not months. Often riders try to teach their horse one movement after the other, but the basics are not in place. Now it sounds to me like this poor gelding has had that happen to him. He has been scared out of his wits, been taught one ‘trick’ after the other, and still has no idea of what is expected of him.
Have you ever sat in class, perhaps at Varsity or at a lecture or a conference, and had no idea of what the lecturer was on about and everyone else seems to be totally absorbed and all you are praying for is ..'please don’t ask me a question… please don’t ask me a question…’ and your palms are sweaty and you are in an adrenaline overdose..? I think this boy is so scared to be asked a question because he is not really sure of what humans want from him. He knows there is punishment coming if he does not get it right, but he is not sure what the question was. He has been taught so many conflicting things that he is not sure what answer you want. Horses like that will often explode into an entire repertoire of things that they know when asked the most simple thing – exploding into flying changes, leg yields, canter strike-offs and the whole lot, one after the other, because they are hoping one of those tricks was what you were asking…!
There is definitely a balance issue here – by cantering faster and faster and changing legs, he is telling you that he is so tense it is unbalancing him and that is also why he is doing that. Think of tension in the canter like running downhill fast – you speed up and speed up until you can’t stop even if you wanted to. That’s what he is feeling in the canter. He speeds up and then must change legs in order to regain his balance. I have seen it often.
So, what to do! There are two aspects to the type of work you are going to need to do with him, and the first and most important part is a trust issue. This horse is going to have to learn to trust you. Now, that does not mean you fatten him up on carrots and the two of you stroll of into the sunset! First, he must realize that you are in charge. I use lock on for that (also called ‘join up’ by Monty Roberts). The horse must understand that you in control. When you are in control, it means you are not afraid and that you know what is going on, in his language.
When you throw a group of people into a stressful situation, you will notice that they will gravitate towards the person who seems to quickly gain an understanding of the situation, seems to know exactly what to do and shows the least fear. Suddenly the group gets quiet and the ‘leader’ tells them what is going on, what they need to do and who is going to do it. Suddenly they are less afraid and they focus their combined energy on the task at hand. That is what you are trying to achieve with a lock on. You are trying to focus the horse’s nervous energy on you and make him understand that you know what is going on and what he needs to do. Once you have achieved that, a small measure of trust is built.
With that trust, you are now going to ask him to step out of his comfort zone and learn that you are not going to ask him to do anything he cannot do. An easy way of doing this with the nervous wreck is to put a feed bag on the floor, with him on a lead. A pressure halter can also be used if the horse is very difficult and tends to explode. Of course the plastic bag becomes a monster and he will snort and prance and not want to go near it (being a saddler.. hee hee). If he is happy with bags, find something he is scared of – a sheet of blue plastic on the floor might be a monster to him. Be creative! You are going to ask him to step up to the bag. Then move away. Then step up to the bag, then move away. With each forward step, use lots of praise. If he backs up, keep backing him up and ask him to stand. In that way, you are still in control. Ask him to step up again. Keep your voice low, keep your body language quiet. When he finally steps up to the bag, praise. (you can use food if you want, but often nervous horses will not eat anyway!)A good reward is once he steps up to the bag and stands for even a split second, turn him away, walk him right away and around before coming back. That is a mental reward for him. He may need a small tap on the rear end with a crop to move forward the first time. If he moves forward after that, no more taps. If you are scared you may lose your temper, rather leave the crop. (I use a dressage crop.) This is the kind of work that can be done with him every day, even twice a day if you possibly can. Once he steps onto the bag (or the thing is scared of) you will see him make the connection – it is so acute you can almost hear the penny drop! He suddenly realizes that you are right, and that you will never ask him to do anything that you are not sure he can. A strong trust will be built on that. Keep up with the ‘trust games’ and keep reinforcing his understanding that you are to be trusted. Parelli Horsemanship is an excellent tool that helps the horse in exactly this area. The different ‘games’ are in fact carefully chosen exercises to reinforce trust and obedience issues. A clear warning though – once you have gained this horse’s trust, be very careful that you do not do anything to compromise it! It is a fine thread that is easily snapped! Once lost, you will find the horse reverts back to his old ways, and usually even worse!
The second part of your training program will need to address the issues under saddle. The first thing you should do is to stop the canters until you have improved the walk and trot. If you keep riding the canters as he is now, you are not teaching him anything, not improving anything and all that happens is the poor way of going is reinforced until it becomes habit. Stick to walk at first, because you are going to have to teach him all about leg. Very basically, start in halt, apply your leg aid softly, if he walks on praise him and repeat. When he understands the walk aid, move on to ‘walk faster’ – in walk, apply your leg aid and if he walks faster, praise. Same for trot. This is a process that happens over weeks, not minutes please. The slower you take it, the more eager he will be to learn and the better your results. I would introduce a good lungeing program, starting with leading him and teaching him the voice commands. Also, when leading him, you can teach him to move away from pressure by applying it to his side and asking him to step away from it. (I use the vocal command ‘siiide’ and always ask my horses to do that when I take them into the stable.) Once he understands the voice commands (include ‘slooowly’ and ‘move on!’)you will be able to translate that into the riding part, giving the voice command as well as the leg aid. Slowly he will begin to understand what you want. Once his walk and trot improves, and he is starting to understand the aids, you can introduce canter. Exercises to improve his balance are vital – polework, uphills, downhills, volte’s and serpentines and plenty of transitions will improve his balance. That will improve the work under saddle vastly.
The trick is really patience. Hard I know but it is vital. When he jogs, bring him back gently and ask again. Try to vary the work so that by the time he wants to evade one exercise, he is already onto the other.
This is a long road and there are no quick fixes that are going to help – only time and patience. The reason he reacted so well to the smack, was because he understands ‘no’ so well! What you need to teach him is to focus on the ‘yes’. People spend so much time ‘fixing’ while on their horses, they forget to focus on what they want that is right. The horses learn what NOT to do, but are never really sure of what they SHOULD be doing.
That help? I hope so.
Commiserations on the whole having a nice riding horse thing – the best part about working with my previous horse was that finally I could get on and NOT FIGHT! Having worked with problem horse after problem horse, I forgot what a superb horse feels like! I get it!
Let me know how things go!
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