Training Performance Horses
Lesson Four
SADDLE, BRIDLE
* For this course we are using a hypothetical two-year old gelding we’ve acquired through a purchase. His background is unknown, but he is halter-broke and healthy enough to start training.
I won’t try to fool you. Starting a colt is a lot of work, takes a lot of time and can be frustrating-but only if you set unrealistic goals.
It isn’t as difficult as it first appears.
Before you start training (teaching communication), most problems are mental for both you and the colt. You have to get your thinking right and you have to get the colt thinking correctly.
After you start, the most common problems are controlling your temper and avoiding frustration. Both are the result of being attached to your expectations. It is okay to establish general goals for the youngster’s progress, but don’t take the position he must perform specific actions within specific time frames. You’ll only get angry when things don’t happen as you planned. Don’t count on specific performances at specific times and you won’t get angry and therefore, you won’t feel frustrated.
Progress will be swift, if you move along slowly.
Start your colt by building your own confidence. You can do it and you will do a good job! It is mostly a matter of proper timing and proper teaching. You won’t be trying legs up, or jerking the colt down. You won’t be riding a bucking horse, or a runaway and you don’t have to win any physical battles. Avoiding all that is the smart and safe way to start a young horse. Those "macho-man" techniques aren’t necessary or desirable. Most young horses have been handled quite a bit by the time they are ready for saddle training, and they really don’t want to be a problem; they want to please.
Finally, it is most unwise to put a horse into any situation which might cause him physical injury. As a trainer, it is your job to improve the horse as a performance partner. It is your job to make sure he has a future.
So forget all the images of rearing, striking, snorting wild mustangs, and replace them with a mental image of you taking your time to teach the colt a language so he will be able to understand your requests for a specific performance.
You can’t force information into a horse. You can ask, confront a wrong response, praise a correct response, and repeat the process again and again until the horse understands your verbal or physical request.
If you use your mind instead of your muscle, you’ll do the job well without any major problems and the colt will be better for it. Have confidence. Admit to yourself it will take time, and then get started.
The early contact process is very important. We have discussed halter breaking and leading the horse. But if you can’t get a halter on the horse, try putting a rope around his neck while he is eating. Don’t try to hold him, just get the rope around his neck, pet him and talk to him. Work with him two or three times a day for several weeks. You’ll get a halter on him soon enough without battle.
You can teach the horse to lead by talking to him and pulling him first to the left, then to the right. He’ll start moving forward and following you in less than a week. If you can’t get him to stay close to your shoulder as you lead him because he walks too slowly or hangs back, swing your lead rope with your left hand behind your body so it strikes the horse low on the hind legs. This will get the colt to move forward more quickly and not hang back. Horses must be taught to drive from behind. You can’t drag them forward.
Start your training by grooming the horse at least twice a day. Stay up close to him and rub him all over. During the first week of this grooming, don’t tie him. Let him pull back unrestrained once in a while until he understands nothing will hurt him. But, don’t let him walk away from you. When you groom his legs, keep a hand on the leg at all times. If the horse should kick, having your hand there will keep you out of the way.
Each day as you groom the horse, put something over his back. You can use a blanket, a towel or a saddle pad. And always talk to your horse. Tell him to "Ho" and make him stand. If he moves, tell him to get back into position and move him back, then tell him again, "Ho." If he should kick or jump around while you are working with him, give him a slap (strong confrontation) with your hand under his belly. Tell him, "Ho!" and set him up again.
Don’t rush this early work. Keep talking to the colt and tell him what you want him to do. Play a radio and make as much noise as you wish. Do all the things you would normally do around any horse. Don’t coddle the colt. Make him behave properly. Horses don’t have to be spoiled at any age. You must realize, of course, that it will take weeks before he understands it all. Don’t get in a hurry; it will only slow you down.
I start a colt on the lunge line the second day I get him. Usually, I experiment the first day to see how gentle he is and how much handling the youngster has had. Start the lunge line work as soon as the horse is leading well and understands that a pull or push on the lead shank means to turn one way or the other.
Take equipment to the young horse’s stall or pen
and let him get familiar with it while he is secure at home.
As soon as you have the colt stopping, walking, jogging and loping on command on the lunge line, you can start working the horse while he is saddled.
You’ll find tacking the horse to work on the lunge line will be easy if you have done all the preliminary work--a little each day--while the horse was learning to lunge.
Start this way.
After each lungeing session, take the young horse to his stall or pen and introduce him to his saddle and bridle. Let him look at the equipment, smell it and taste it. Ease the saddle pad on the horse’s back, then gently lift and place the saddle. Do not try to swing a western saddle into place the first 10 or 20 times you saddle a colt. Place it gently so the youngster understands there is nothing to fear. It is a good idea to put the right stirrup and cinch across the saddle seat so they don’t hit the colt as you slip the saddle into place.
Don’t have the horse tied the first 10 to 20 times you saddle him. Hold the lead line as you introduce the equipment.
Move to the horse’s right side and bring the stirrup and cinch down, then move back to the left side and slowly cinch the saddle. Don’t make it tight, but be sure it is snug. Let the horse stand with the saddle for a few minutes. I like to remove the lead line and step out of the stall at this time. I let the horse move around on his own. Most often he will not buck, and without anything forcing him to move or crowd him, he’ll just walk around, frequently looking back at the saddle, then ignoring it.
Be sure your equipment fits correctly, push
blankets and pads up into the gullet of the saddle, off the horse’s withers.
Repeat the process each day following the lungeing lesson. On the second or third day, you can place the bit in the horse’s mouth. I usually leave the reins on the bridle and place them behind the cantle of the saddle. In that position the reins are not dangling, yet there is no pressure on the mouthpiece.
Each day the training process should progress in steps. The first step is repeating something the horse knows well. Then add something the horse is just beginning to understand. Finally, add a new element. The progression helps the horse understand the language since he meets with praise for actions properly taken, a confrontation when his action is wrong.
When the colt shows no signs of fear about the saddle and bridle, begin moving the stirrups, slapping the saddle seat and pulling on the reins to turn the horse’s head. Within a matter of days, I will put a foot in the stirrup and bounce up and down next to the horse. I do not try to mount the horse. Simply get the horse familiar with the movement of the saddle and the pressure of weight in the stirrup. I often jump into the horse’s side as if I were going to jump up into the saddle. This gets the horse used to the idea of being bumped and pushed.
Step up and down in the stirrups numerous times.
Pull on the stirrups and slap the saddle with your hands. Keep the horse’s head
tipped toward you while he gets used to your weight in the stirrups.
After pushing and pulling on the saddle and reins for a few minutes, and getting the horse used to all my simulated mounting and dismounting movements, I leave the horse free to walk around his stall for 10 to 15 minutes. Then I take the horse to the grooming area, remove the equipment and give the horse a bath or brush him.
All this time the horse is learning to tie, be groomed and ignore all that is going on around him. He becomes so familiar with the routine that he loses all fear of being handled.
When the horse is free of all fear while carrying the saddle while he is in his stall, lunge him while tacked. He may want to buck or kick the first few times the stirrups flop around and hit him in the sides. This is when you jerk him to a stop. Take action quickly and aggressively. Tell him "Ho" and bring him to a complete stop. He’ll quickly get the idea you don’t want him bucking or fighting the saddle.
I start all my colts on a "D" snaffle unless they are going to be strictly hackamore horses. I have an old headstall with a throatlatch and a snaffle and the reins removed. I put this on the colt the second day I have him. I leave him in the stall to mouth and play with it for several hours. I do this every day for several days in a row. At the end of that time the colt knows how to carry and hold the bit and has no fear it.
When the horse is lungeing well and after he has been lunged for a few days with the saddle, I add the bit during the lungeing exercise. Put the bridle on over the halter and place the reins behind the cantle of the saddle. You do not want any pressure on the horse’s mouth. It is perfectly all right for him to carry his head high or low as he sees fit. You want him to be able to move his head left and right without restriction so he can learn balance while he carries the weight of the saddle. After the lungeing session, the horse should be bathed, walked cool and groomed. Then put the horse back in his stall with a good feeding of hay and plenty of fresh water.
In the afternoon, I retack the horse and shorten the reins just a bit so the horse begins to learn to tuck his chin to reduce the tension of the reins. Do not bit the horse tightly. Bitting is excellent for teaching the horse flexion at the poll as long as it is never forceful. The horse should learn to give on his own. Leave the horse bit-up for about an hour--no longer.
You’ll know by the colt’s attitude when he has a complete understanding of the saddle and bridle. He just won’t be bothered be either, and while on the lunge line, he’ll walk, trot, canter and stop on voice command.
After each lungeing session, take the horse back to his stall. On the day you are sure the colt is completely quiet and confident, it is time to mount.
Stand facing the same direction as the colt. Take the cheek piece of the halter in your left hand along with the left rein. Pull the colt’s head around to the left, toward you. The right rein should be across the colt’s neck and in your left hand, but should not be tight. Put your left foot in the stirrup and your right hand on the colt’s mane. Now lift yourself up so you are standing in the left stirrup, but don’t swing your leg over the colt’s back. As you hold yourself in this position, talk to your colt. Assure him everything is all right, and then lower yourself to the ground.
Get up and down three, four or five times until the colt is sure everything is fine. Slap the saddle a few times with your hand. When you are certain the colt is free of fear, step up and swing your leg over the colt’s back. Sit down gently. The colt will be interested, but probably will not move. If the colt does move, simply shorten one rein and say, "Ho." The colt will stop because he understands the command and has no reason to do anything else.
As you get up lie slightly across the saddle seat
and hold that position while the horse gets familiar with you above his head.
You want to be sure the horse is willing to accept the weight on his back
before you swing a leg over and sit in the saddle.
Tug slightly on the rein until the colt gives his head to the right. Praise the colt, and then tug on the left rein until the colt responds in that direction. Again, praise the correct action. Do not stop asking the colt to give his head until he complies without resistance.
I like to mount and dismount all my horses from both sides. There is absolutely no reason why any horse should not be equally at ease while you work on either side.
Mounting the colt and getting him to give his head in both directions will be all the work you do for three or four days while you are in the saddle. You will be able to feel the colt’s desire to walk forward in a few days. Tip the colt’s nose to the left and bump him gently with your right foot and the colt should begin to walk in a circle to the left. Let him walk a few steps, and then stop him. Start him again and stop him again. Then work the circle to the right, starting and stopping frequently.
From the first day of lunge line work to riding the colt in his stall will usually take 15 to 25 days of training, depending on the individual horse. The amount of good handling the horse had before saddle training started will play an important part in how fast the colt progresses. Of course his progress will be faster if you have had no sessions which created new fears for the young horse. The easier you make it for the colt to understand the new language you are teaching, the faster his progress.
Once in the saddle stay only a few moments.
Dismount and remount. Sit on the horse in the stall and be sure he is relaxed
before you start turning his head and asking him to walk around the stall. You
can ride the horse in the stall for any number of days. Don’t ask the horse to
work outside until both you and the horse feel confident.
Ride the colt in his stall for several days. This is no time to rush. The colt will undoubtedly have jumped or spooked a time or two in the stall. If the colt came immediately to a stop when being told to "Ho," then you have the situation well in hand. It is time to ride outside.
I like to ride in the stall for a few minutes, making sure the youngster is very relaxed and confident. When I am ready, I have someone open the stall door and I simply ride the colt out. I usually ride the colt directly to the arena where his lunge line work has taken place. He is familiar with the arena and will generally walk in small circles there without showing signs of fear. I only walk the horse for a few minutes the first day, and then I ride him back to the grooming area, dismount and untack.
The procedure remains the same for the next few days. Each day I add a little more riding time in the arena. I will ride the youngster at the walk for as many as 10 days before asking for a trot. In some cases, if the horse is telling me he is ready, by his display of confidence and attitude, I will trot the horse on the second or third day. In any case, I keep the horse well within his educational limits. There should be little trotting or jogging, and plenty of stopping and praising.
At this point you have a horse with an excellent start, and great potential for the future. The youngster has confidence in his teacher. He has never had an anxious or abusive learning session, and he now understands the basics of communication.
Tomorrow you can start increasing his vocabulary and begin developing his performance skills.
Assignment:
Videos of you performing the exercises described in this lesson are required.
If you are working with a young untrained horse it will take some time to make the videos – do not rush the steps leading up to riding in the stall. You can send the videos in stages, as the horse progresses. It may take several weeks or months to get through the all the steps. You are training a horse, and they require a lot of repetition and patience.
If you are using a trained horse, go through the steps as if he was a youngster just starting.
Videos should demonstrate:
1. Becoming accustomed to the tack
2. Lunging with tack
3. Mounting in the stall, or another safe area
4. Riding in the stall, or another safe area
5. Riding in a safe location outside
Please post the videos to YouTube and send the link to elblazer@horsecoursesonline.com. Make sure the YouTube setting is not “private”.
NARRATIVE REPORT
1. Briefly explain the horse's ability to perform the exercises prior to using the course training methods
2. Briefly describe the horse's reaction to training methods during the first few learning sessions:
3. Briefly describe the horse's progress under the training methods outlined in this lesson.
4. List any specific problems, and explain how you went about solving them. Do you need help in finding a solution or a correction?
Please sent the narrative report to elblazer@horsecoursesonline.com Be sure to include your full name and email address.