Like building a model airplane, training a young horse can produce a work of art if assembled with patience, but will fall apart if you try to fly it before the glue is dry. Too often progress is determined by how many rides it takes the trainer to be cantering or jumping. In reality, slower is actually faster when it comes to training horses.
Breaking two year olds at my barn is mostly a boring process. There is very little bucking and it is rare that anyone ever falls off. We do lots of groundwork before we actually get on a horse. I make sure I have the following concepts in place before I climb aboard for the first time.
Respect my space": As a herd animal, a horse expects to follow a leader, and I’m it. He must always be aware of me and I can observe this by the way he continually has an ear turned in my direction. He stops right by my side when I stop, and walks carefully beside me at the pace I choose. Just as he would never touch the alpha mare of the herd, I won’t allow him to push against me, or be oblivious to me.
Give to Pressure: It is against a horse’s nature to give to pressure. As a flight animal, what is his first reaction if he catches his blanket on a door latch? Flee! The training process counters this instinct by teaching a horse to thoughtfully submit to any resistance. I push my finger into the horse’s shoulder, ribs or hip and teach him to calmly step away from the pressure. I teach him to soften his jaw to rein pressure when I pull on each side of his mouth while I stand on the ground. I’ll reach my arm over the saddle to hold the far rein and ask over the saddle to hold the far rein and ask him to bend to that side, and then pull on both reins to teach the back up. Pressure from the halter behind his ears means to come forward to find relief, whether he is being led, tied, or ponied from another horse.
Lunging: As detailed in previous articles, lunging teaches the horse to respond to body language and to learn balanced gaits and transitions. My two year olds learn to travel in a frame with the use of side reins while going back and forth between the trot and canter on a large circle (never a tight circle).
Voice Command: I recommend keeping talk to a minimum with horses. Nattering away to horses is like the boy who cried "wolf"! When you really do want them to listen to a specific command, they will tune you out. I have approximately five words/sounds which, when learned in the groundwork phase, ease the transition to leg and rein aids under saddle. One of these is "whoa" which means stop without taking another step.
Desensitization: The cowboy term for this is "sacking out". Using a saddle pad, lunge line, or rope, I’ll gently and rhythmically slap it against the horse side, shoulder or legs until he no longer shows any reaction. Gradually the horse becomes accustomed to grain bags, filled with noisy, jingling items, tied to the saddle as he’s lunged around.
I make it my goal to never skip steps in the training process. I only make a request of the horse I know I can win, because if you ever lose, you can go backwards in your training, and can possibly cause fear and confusion. It’s kind of like picking up the pieces of that smashed model airplane and gluing it together again!
Lindsay Grice