o I was working him today and one of the excersices I use to keep a horse entertained is to do rollbacks, stopping and backing, figure eights, basically anything to keep their minds fresh and keep them on their toes. So I do this so the horse NEVER can anticipate what I'm going to ask and get anxious, which is what this gelding is doing with his rider. So, I start by roundpenning them for just a couple minutes and I establish that when I cue on the ground, now means now. Every transition must be done with a second or two. I reverse them go the other way and I keep changing things up every minute or so they keep thinking. If I establish the now means now mentality on the ground then being in the saddle and asking for nice transitions should make your life easier.
So I ask him for a nice jog and he's round and supple then I halt him and do my roll backs, and then I halt him again and ask him to walk off, after a step or two I ask for the lope with a kiss and my outside leg. He scrambles at first like he always does, so I let him canter off and then halt him and do it again and again and again. Before you know it, I had him halted he took a half of a walk step, I cued and he NAILED IT! Consistency and his lungs were excellent tools for this lessons. He was tired and couldn't rest til he got it right, hence the lungs. By me being consistent and CLEAR in my cues he learned what I was asking for and did it like PRO!!!
That's the thing about training horses, it takes TIME and consistency. Sometimes you feel like you've done an exercise so many times you feel like you may want to hurl *snork*, BUT, those TWO ideals will get you what you what 99% of the time. TIME and CONSISTENCY! Don't feel like you have to rush, time MAKES horses!
4 comments:
I'm seven months into rehabbing my horse from EPM. He's slow to build muscle for a TB, but tries really hard.
He is teaching me that when it comes to training horses, the shortcut is always the long way around.
That's AWESOME advice TX!!! I like how you incorporate all those exercises. It's AMAZING how many people just go roundroundround the ring!! Blah.
And LIF, too.
Here's my pearl of wisdom:
"The amateur practices till she gets it right.
The professional practices till she can't do it wrong."
Love it!
cattypex:
LOVE that quote.
I saw this quote on a shirt today.
"If at first you don't succeed...Do it like your trainer TOLD YOU!"
Anyways, I am using pretty much the same logic with my Arab over fences. Instead of ALWAYS going around the turn of the arena after the fence, 50% of the time I halt, and turn the OPPOSITE way. So he never knows, some times I may ask for a halt and change of direction, sometimes I may ask for a lead change. It's working WONDERS.
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