Lesson 3

COMPETITIVE LONGE LINE

By Gord Wadds

Lesson 3

THE FIRST TRAINING SESSIONS

* Train your yearling four or five times a week in sessions that last no more than 20 minutes.

The First Step to Longing

Because our prospect already knows to move forward from a cluck cue, it becomes easy to back a few feet away from your colt and have him begin to walk when you give the cluck cue. When you back away you should have your toes pointing toward the horse’s hip.

After he takes his first few steps, tell him, “whoa”. As you say “whoa”, walk toward the horse and stroke his hip with your right hand. Pat his hip as he comes to a complete stop. This combination of walking forward and then stopping makes him like stopping even more.

Click here to watch a video.

Once you have repeated the walk ahead and whoa combination sequence a few times, you’ll find your young horse beginning to stop as soon as you step toward his hip.

Why? He likes it because he likes the reward.

You have just added to your horse’s “I LIKE IT” list and strengthened his positive mental attitude.

The slowing and stopping response to the handler moving to the hip can refine itself, with time, to become to very influential “body movement” cue. Moving subtly toward or away from the hip in an appropriate rhythm can be an effective tool to influence stride in the finished longe line horse.

After asking for the stop, you should ask your yearling to back a few steps, and then stand still for a minute or more before asking for the walk. This will begin to build what I call, “a parking gear”.

* Practice the previous movements for several days.

Make a video for the assignment, which will be at the end of this lesson.

Once your horse is walking, stopping, standing, and backing responsively, you can begin to increase your distance from the horse.

You should now work the same commands (walk, stop, park, and back) while you are between five and 10 feet from the horse. The game plan is to not work farther than 10 feet away until you know all responses are going to be perfect at this distance. Once this is accomplished you can start moving farther away.

* Make a video showing you working your horse within the 10 feet limit for the assignment, which will be at the end of this lesson. Demonstrate walking, stopping, backing and parking in both directions.

* The proper technique for reversing will be taught in lesson four.

Increase your distance from the horse in five-foot increments - practice walking, stopping, standing, and backing, using the verbal “baaaccck”. Practice until you have your horse 25 feet away and working very easily and relaxed.

For the record, you are now working at the N.S.B.A. recommended distance (25 feet) for the longe line class.

The Perfect Circle

The only possible way you can score the maximum 3 points on the N.S.B.A. scorecard for “use of circle” is to perform on a large circle.

I want to stress several factors related to the distance from the horse.

1. You will find that a 25-foot radius is a long way out. All of our training must be working toward this ultimate goal. But you must slowly increase the distance.

2. What you have to do is teach the horse to “like” working on a large circle and “dislike” drifting in, making the circle smaller.

Correcting “Drifting In”

To correct “drifting in”, we make it difficult for the youngster to decrease the circle size by moving very deliberately toward his head, neck and shoulders whenever he should begin to drift inward. Moving toward his head, neck and shoulder drives the horse back out.

You can prevent the horse from drifting in by anticipating his movement. When you see the horse begin to turn his head inward, it is just about guaranteed he will follow with his body. The second you are aware the horse is starting to turn his head inward, you must drive him out. Ideally you want to start driving him out even before there is any actual drift.

Make it easy for the horse to be correct (staying on the correct circle); and make it difficult immediately when the horse is incorrect (drifting in).

Click here to watch a video.

When the horse is correct he is in a “freedom zone) where everything is pleasant and there is no difficultly; where nothing gets in his way mentally.

This whole process is called PREVENTATIVE TRAINING.

A Horse Training “Game Plan”

Having a GAME PLAN (a mental review of what responses may happen based on past performance, and what reward or punishment is needed with either success or failure) is a necessary part of any training equation and is the basis for GOOD TIMING.

Getting “in the way” of a response that is less than 75% of the prospect’s current personal best (before that inadequate response has hardly even started) is called ADVANCED PUNISHMENT.

Getting “out of the way” of a response that is greater than 75% of the youngster’s current personal best (before that more than adequate response has hardly started) is called ADVANCED REWARD.

The effective use of the GAME PLAN to create good timing that results in ADVANCED PUNISHMENT and ADVANCED REWARD, makes the yearling try hard to choose the correct response. Your training has taught the yearling that he likes choosing the correct response and that he is uncomfortable when he chooses the wrong response.

Your training is developing the yearling’s positive mental attitude.

Using our GAME PLAN we simplify each sequence of training. When asked to walk, we make stopping the “walk” difficult by clucking, and raising our whip as the horse begins to slow down. And we make it easy for him to continue at a relaxed walk by “leaving him alone” when he is correct.

If the horse “threatens to trot” or lope or play when walking, make it difficult by gently bumping the longe line up and down (as a punishment)and using the verbal command “wwwaaaalllkkk” in a soft, longer tone, until they get back into the “I’m going to walk forever” mode. Once again, make it easy for him by leaving him alone. Let him be in another “FREEDOM ZONE”.

They then learn to really like to stay walking until the cue to trot is introduced.

Assignment

It may take a week or more to complete the assignment. Take your time and don’t rush your youngster. Email me if you are having problems. You can send a video to demonstrate the problem.

1. Send the video of your first training days that shows your horse taking a few steps after receiving the cluck cue. This video should also show you saying “whoa”, walking toward the hip and stroking him as he comes to a complete stop. Refer to the video in the lesson that shows the steps.

2. Send the second video showing your horse at a distance within 10 feet (but not any further). Demonstrate walking, stopping, backing and parking in both directions.

3. Send a third video at a distance of 25 feet. Demonstrate how you keep the horse from drifting in, walking, stopping, backing and parking in both directions.

4. Write a brief description of the “consistent action” taken in your training GAME PLAN.

Please load your videos to www.youtube.com. Email the links and your report to gwadds1@aol.com