Starting a horse naturally :: pictures

[Admin]

[Elaine]

[more pics]

[Admin]

[luckylocket]

very nice. out of interest why do you use a headcollar type bridle and not a bridle with just a simple snaffle? he looks very happy with just the headcollar type bridle i have to say although i wouldnt risk using it on my horse for fear of crashing into a ditch lol

[Elaine]

Before I backed him, Idid some groundwork with him first, just in a halter. So stuff like

- touch all over
- lead on loose rein
- pick up all feet on loose rein
- walk over plastics, carpets, wooden sheets, poles, etc
- backup from really light pressure on his shoulders / nose / lead rope
- got him used to scary stuff - so he'll stand still on loose rein with plastic bags waving about, umbrellas, etc
- perfect manners - only moves when I move, stops automatically when I stop, never pushes or walks into him, light on lead rope etc.

Then when all basic manners are done, I did some performance stuff on the ground

- lateral flexion (bend in neck, feet stay still)
- follow the feel of a very light contact on the lead rope
- hindquarter yield
- forequarter yield
- sidepass & soft ribs
- the backups we'd done already
- walk and trot while staying balanced, soft & light over a pole, maintaining regular rhythm

Cos he knew everything then he needed with the halter on the ground, I got him used to the saddle for a few days, did a bit of getting up slowly from both near and far side, and sitting up on him.

Then in saddle (still with the halter, cos he's used to it and how it feels) I just repeated all the stuff I did with him on the ground. Flexion, softness, yields, lateral movements, moving forward, bend, stop. You look not only for the moves, early on, but the williingness & softness with them too.

I just like it as a way to bring on a youngster cos its quite gentle, and you do lots of what you might assume was fairly advanced stuff early on, and end up with a really soft mouth. I will ride him in a bit too, but I like training in the halter

Make any sense?! You never tho just put a halter on a horse and jump up.. you've got to teach them all the groundwork stuff first, which is the key.

[henderz]

I know its better to concentrate on this stuff before backing and I totally agree but if you brought a 5 year old and she was broken would you do this and ride or concentrate on this before getting on her? And if so, how long would you concentrate on this?

[Elaine]

Depends on the horse. A run through all this stuff might only take an hour or two in total.. but I'd still do it for three reasons, especially with a new horse:

1. Get to know him and him to know me. Find out how 'backed' he is (Oz was sold to me as 'backed').
2. Find out any problems (like with Oz I found he bolted over fences the 1st time I circled him over a pole on the ground).
3. Check the yields are installed, along with the turns and the brakes.

If its all fine and horse is happy, on I'd hop on If he's backed nicely most of the above you should fly through. If I found issues - wouldn't stand still when being tacked, hard to pick up feet, no lateral flexion, didn't understand backwards and leaned on you instead) etc then I'd be happy to put in a few hours to fix these as they would be evident when ridden as well, but it depends on what each person wants out of their horse.

There is no one right way, it's whatever works for you. Oz should have been a 'yep he's backed' then a few hours GW to get to know him, then a ride across the fields. It just didn't quite work out like that once I started to get to know him.

Make any sense?

[magpie4me]

I have just started Harley who is 3 years old. I bred Harley and have been doing all the ground work for the past 3 years. He is great on the ground and was no trouble taking a saddle, etc. I ride with a bosal bitless which is is very happy in.
I am experiencing a small problem getting him going forward under saddle. He can go back and sideways but I am having a bit of a problem getting him to go forward consistantly and turn.
I have tried the 3 phases, kiss, squeeze and spank (not really a spank but making some noise behind his head with either the reins of a savvy string on my wrist). He will walk a couple of steps and then stops so I have to repeat. Whilst he is getting better and he is starting to walk off at kiss we only get a couple of steps of walk at a time. How can I get him to keep walking without nagging him. I am riding in my body and pedaling my feet. Could it be that he is just unbalanced?
Second problem is turning. I turn my body to look in the direction I want to go, which he seems to ignore, then I put pressure on the rein, in the direction I want to turn but he understands this as the emergancy stop, which he knows from the ground work and turns his nose into my foot and stops.
We started bareback and have progressed to a torsion saddle. We did try a traditional saddle but he didn't seem to feel anything through that and wouldn't move at all. So we went back to bareback and then progressed to the Torsion and he responds similar to bareback.
We have only being going under saddle for the past 3 weeks (weekends only) so we still have plenty of time. I am quite happy to continue until we get it together but any suggestions would be great.
Thanks

[magpie4me]

This is Harley in his Bosal bridle, last week. As you can see he is not bothered by a rider on his back.

[Elaine]

hmmm, with the walking Oz was the same. At the start, I'd cue him to walk, he'd walk on a few steps, then thick that was all I wanted, and stop again. Then I'd cue him on again, he'd walk on a few steps, think that was all I wanted and stop again. So like you're doing, I just kept at this. Cue to walk, horse walks, horse stops. After he stops (allow him to make the mistake) then cue him to walk on again. He figured it out himself. To help maybe, if you're doing this for a few mins, and during one 'walk' you get more steps than you normally do, you could reward this by asking him to stop, jumping off, whishing tack off and end lesson! One lady said to me a while back (and it kinda stuck) never underetsimate how big an impression finishing a lesson can make for a horse. When Oz used to bolt over fences and I couldnt slow him down physically, the way I taught him was once I saw 'slightly' less of a blot = lessons ended immediately. After 3 weekends of he he had figured it out.

The turning... mmmm when you say emergency stop, do you mean horse tips his head one way and also starts to do a HQ yield / disengage HQs too, or only turns his head?

.

[magpie4me]

Yes, he turns his head right around and touches my boot with his nose in a very relaxed way. Although he doesn't move his HQ I think I can feel the disengagement?.

[Elaine]

hmmm.. I guess just ask for a slight turn. Then once you have the slight head turn, you need your 'go' button. So raise up energy in your body, imagine you're going forward, look up & out, etc.. that's probably no help what so ever .. lol... or maybe does your horse understand a voice cue to walk to help him out? Sean will have much better ideas, he's gone off doing a few horse up the country but he'll be back in a few days also - can you drive your horse with one line, standing at different points - so at his head, at his shoulder, at his hip?

[mandy]

Beautiful photos Elaine!

[magpie4me]

Will have another go at the weekend. Unfortunately its the only time I get to play with the horses for a longer period as I have to work during the week.
He does drive from different points on and offline when I am on the ground.
I got a Giddy-up rope this week which I am going to try at the weekend to create a little noise behind his ears without disturbing the reins.
I am also going to just try an open the rein, with as little tension as possible, in the direction I want him to turn
Will let you know how we get on.
Thanks for the tips