First horse training question!

[Cara]

Let's ignore the flaming and move on with constructive advice. The question was not 'should I have bought a 2yr old?' after all.

We don't use a round pen for halter breaking. It's just as simple as letting them know your space is your space, and if they invade it run them off (not literally, you still want to be holding on to her

) It will take a little while to figure out how sensitive she is; some horses here will run off if you go to raise your arm, others if you raise your arm to their eye level they will back off, my mother in law's spoilt brats usually require a smack or two in the chest before they will move. It's not about scaring her, just doing what other horses would do; you're telling her it's your space, and once she's out of it everything is back to normal.

I'm sure you already know this since you're used to mares, but they will try these kinds of behaviour more than most geldings. It's important not to let them get away with anything now that you don't want them doing when they're twice as big.

We have a 2 yr old filly that we bought last year. For the past year i've been working with her on the ground for a week or so, then turning her out for the rest of the month. She's not going to be ridden for a year, but we've started getting her used to being saddled and bridled. An important thing to do is get her used to having her feet handled. Take everything at her own pace, i'm sure you'll get a feeling for it. You don't want to blow their minds, but it's easier to work with them while they're on the smaller side

I'm not much of a book recommender, but John Lyon's Bringing Up Baby is great and inexpensive.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Relic,

Your mare is beautiful! She has such a sweet face. I can't wait for cheyenne (along with all our other horses) to shed out their winter coats. I love when they aren't all shaggy and muddy! (Ours LOVE to get dirty...all the time!)

Pat,

Thanks for the advice...that's what I need to hear! I do over think things. It seems like such a complicated thing, but its not. My biggest fear is doing something wrong, so I have to get over that. I guess its just all these years of people telling me to do things all different ways.

I'm not nervous about training her at all, but like I said before, this is my first time with a young horse like this and I know it will be a big task. I always have lots of questions, even if I have years experience with something. But then again, just because I have years experience doesn't mean I know everything and I don't claim to at all

In fact, looking at the overall scope of horse knowledge out there, I probably know very little!

I do have people around here with good knowledge that I can ask, but I'm stuck inside writing a paper for the morning, so I figured I'd ask here to help me procrastinate a bit!

Cara,
Thanks for your advice. Seems like what I've been doing will work then. I think I will just go with the flow and see what works for me! What I'm really hoping is I will be able to develop my own little style off of others' techniques so I will be able to do this again in the future.

 

[Goattalker]

There are few vices I dislike more than a horses refusal to stop stand. In order to correct this habit, I lead the horse with its head along side my right shoulder, stop with a whoa/hoe, and I then immediately turn to put my left shoulder toward the horses cheek, and I make them back 3 steps, not 4, 3 and stop. Then I return my body to face forward, right shoulder toward the horse. This technique, if not over used can correct what someone some where didn't bother to teach/insist on with your mare. It is also useful with stallions, and other hot horses. If they never known when a back will be asked (don't over do it) they will be more likely to keep their focus on you, and not on affection, foolishness.

 

[CountryMom]

First of all you are not a beginner that is clear. It is a new area obviously that you have not ventured and it is good you are seeking advice. In all your workings with a young horse the number one rule is to break EVERYTHING down into the most simple basic steps. Round pen working at this time would be way out of the question as your horse has no idea of how to go, stop or turn in hand. She has no idea of your cues you would be telling her right? So start very slow and small baby steps.

After the first lessons of giving to pressure (and I do this with babies before they wean) I usually work on leading with my hand in front of their nose. I hold the lead rope with my left hand and allow my body to do the pressure on the horse as it is pulled across my waist line. I put out my right hand - bent at the elbow - with my hand up in front of their nose. Kind of like the old "talk to the hand" but with my palm away from the horse. As I move the horse's nose will keep a constant distance from my hand. When I stop I allow that horse to run it's nose into my hand at which time I take that right hand, grab the lead and back the horse up away from me. Then get into position again and start over. Pretty soon the horse will not stop running into your hand.

The next baby step I do is teach the horse to turn in hand (which is basically turning on the hind - see baby steps that will ultimately teach that horse to turn on it's hind under saddle). Again we are moving forward and stopping. I usually start my turns after a stop and the horse is calm. If I turn into the horse - to the right I shake my hand in that direction and bump on their nose with the outside of the hand to begin with. Pretty soon your shaking your hand will be all that is necessary as your horse will still be keeping your hand off it's face. When I am turning away from the horse - to the left - I again shake my hand (usually side to side) as if I am motioning to come that direction and pull on the lead rope with my left hand. I do not step forward in these turns but to the right I step into the horse and to the left I step backward into the horse. Making sure to stop after each turn and back that horse away from your hand. Always keep about the same distance between your hand and the horse's nose which should be right behind your hand. Usually aobut a hand's length away. If the horse continues to get too close at the stops or turns, back them up.

Now that is beginning leading lessons I use. Take that and use it to teach your horse it's space and your space. When she/he comes into you to rub on you, grab the lead and back it away - then put up your hand for it to follow. Now as you get a better handle on the horse you can begin backing it up with only your movement and not grabbing the lead. As again you are teaching it to not put it's nose into your hand by backing it away. Start to back up with your hand out and if it runs into your hand - grab the lead and back up. While still in motion put your hand back up in front of it's nose and keep that same distance and continue to back up.

You will begin to see improvement and slowly you can take your hand away and you will find that your horse follows you from your shoulder. As horse's don't really follow your hand with their site , but smell and the movement of air your hand makes while waving. Of course contact is the ultimate for backing up it feels that. The entire time you are teaching your horse this way he is learning to sight in your shoulder. So when you take away your hand he will (or should done right) stay following your shoulder. Then you can have drills on the lead to follow you. And you can increase your speed to a trot in hand forward and a big stop and turn. I actually love having my horses this fine tuned when leading.

If you really want sucess at round penning then you need to next work on turning on the hind from shoulder pressure and turning on the front from hip pressure. You will find that once done you can ask the horse to switch directions, push out, and even turn away from you if you have done your in hand work properly.

Why break this down? Because this is how a horse learns. You can muscle a horse around and force it into learning some things, but you are missing important steps that later in training will come up and bite you and you have to back track. Liken training to a a link of chain closed into a circle. You must teach each link in order form the circle to be complete.

And that being said, my oldest daughter has even accomplished this with many horses over the past 3 years. She is 12 now and has broken 4 ponies and 3 quarter horses to date. I am sure someone would give me flack for that until they met her and saw her ride. Get yourself that help from the trainer when you need it. It is like soaking up valuable gold of information that will help you along the way. Good luck in your training and enjoy it's achievements and frustrations alike. You are about to really learn something!

 

[horsejody]

When we are training a horse to lead there are a few things we do. First of all, we use a rope halter and a lead rope with a metal snap. If the horse starts to rub, we say, NO!" very sharply and shake the lead rope causing the metal snap to shake under their head (they find this very annoying). We immediatelay stop rattling the snap as soon as the unwanted behavior stops and the horse takes one step back. If we are walking and stop, we expect the horse to stop too. If he doesn't, we face the horse and shake that lead rope until the horse takes a step back. Sooner or later they figure it out. Also we carry a small riding crop and hold it out to the side in front of the horse's chest. If the horse starts to walk to fast and his chest touches the crop, we say, "Whoa!" and stop. If the horse is too far forward, he gets the lead rope shake until he backs up a step. Also, if the horse walks to close to you, you can give him a little poke with crop to move him over. The crop is not a whip, it is an extention of your hand. If the horse, is not keeping up, we reach back with the crop and tap on the back of the front leg to move it forward. If the horse refuses to move at all, we tap, tap, tap on the leg until it does. Tapping on their leg is very annoying to them. Shaking the lead rope is also annoying. When they don't do what we don't want, we annoy them. When they make the correct move we reward them by making the annoyance stop.

 

[Goattalker]

Just remember that shaking of the lead is also used as a que for a horse to stretch/setup its legs at halter. So if you plan to go that route, you may want to avoid the shake thing, and instead turn to face the horse and with gentle flextion of the poll ask the horse to back. If it does not move, take you flat hand and give him/her a quick slap/more of a pop in front and between their front legs. As you make the move say baaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkkkk, baaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkk. Eventually you will not need voice commands, but for now, you want as many clues for the horse as possible.

 

[lorieMN]

I will probably get lots of flack for this..but when she rubs her head on you jab her fast with your elbow or the heel of your hand and continue on like nothing happened..when she does it again just do it again..you may have to do it harder then you think to get through to her..people will tell you this will make her headshy,that is not a fact,if she where prone to headshyness,she wouldnt be rubbing on you in the first place..if she is in a herd and she rubs on another and they dont like it what do they do..they threaten to kick by humping their butt,or lay their ears back threatening to bite,and if that doesnt work they follow with a kick and or a bite..no grey areas,..always black and white..

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
That may work on some, but it could ruin others.

 

[NHN]

Here is a video from one on the trainers in my community, it really does a good job of showing how to lead a young horse. If you want part one let me know

My community
http://nathorse.ning.com/

 

[lorieMN]

Quote:
That may work on some, but it could ruin others.

in my experience (30+ years worth) with horses and training them..I havent ruined one yet with this method..I am talking about 400 horses at least..like I said in the herd its black and white..they dont hesitate to do what they threaten to do if the behavior doesnt stop..to the OP..do what you are comfortable with..different strokes for different folks..with this method some horses only need once,others need a few more reminders..but never nag or beg for bad behavior to stop,,that shows submissiveness to the horse and they will take advantage of you,,and now that I think about it its not that every horse I trained had this problem,in fact most didnt..the only ones that did where the spoiled pet ones people wanted me to "fix".