Horse training philosophy: Tracking under activity
Note: I’m planning on jumping back and forth on updates between horse training philosophy and processes (with short farm highlights), other farm happenings, and whatever suits my fancy. Since training horses, like most jobs, is mostly slow and boring repetition, I’ll continue on “starting” young horses and move on rapidly so before long we’ll catch up to where Tucker and Charlie are currently in their training…
Once a young horse will accept the halter, lead, and will allow basic handling such as touching (scratching, rubbing, etc.) all over and will follow easily when being led I do an activity that has multiple benefits. I start by gently encouraging the horse to walk quietly in a circle (with me holding the lead rope) around me. I’ll focus on the horses inside hip and mentally encourage or “drive” the horse around me while perhaps waving my arm or swinging the end of the lead rope softly behind (without touching the horse, but if it does, don’t make a big deal of it and the horse probably won’t either), to encourage it to move around me. This is a good opportunity to assess and encourge good posture by observing how well the animal bends it’s spine (remember the “ride the spine” quote from last week?). I’ll try to stay in the exact center, never backing away from the horse, as holding this position while subtly “making” the horse move establishes me as the leader or dominant one in a simple non-threatening way. After a few quiet rounds of this I’ll step in a little closer and hold the lead rope a little closer to the horses head and encourage the horse to take it’s inside back leg and step under his belly as he goes around so he/she is arching his spine laterally a little more. The animal should have it’s head and neck arched with the head facing me (but not directly) and the animal almost crossing his inside back leg in front of his outside back leg as he moves around the circle. This further establishes me as the leader as it is a position in which the horse is a little vulnerable since he can’t gallop away easily when his/her body is arched. It also helps teach the horse how to carry himself with better posture because I’m insisting on the slight bend in the correct direction. And if done correctly it teaches a young horse how to move it’s feet slowly, one step at a time, thinking through the process. Any time you can get a horse to do something slowly it will be more likely to think it through rather than just reacting and scurrying through the activity) and when they “think” they learn; so it could be said you’re teaching them to think. Follow correct repetition of this with a “g-o-o-o-d” and scratch on the back and your horse will associate following directions to learning and a good positive feeling about you as a leader. The general concept comes from Dr. Deb, who I have mentioned in a previous post. The above activity should only take a couple minutes and can be done frequently, even daily, from a young age onward while maintaining a nice inquisitive attitude in the animal.
In other news today, Den and I finished cutting the trail through the woods down to the pond. Nice to work on a cool day before the vegetation and bugs come out. And Tucker and Charlie got worked (rode) again and were wonderfully responsive after a weekend off.
First photo: Shammie, Jacqui, Jake and Judy (with Topper in the background) just waiting by the gate.
Second photo: The trail leading to the pond
