Horse Talk

[kajira]

What have you tried? Some find a whip too much pressure at first; they may expend huge amounts of energy just trying to get away from it and not pay any real attention to you (reacting rather than thinking). You can take Clinton Anderson's approach of letting them run until they are so tired they are ready to listen, but I'd rather not go there if I don't have to. I prefer to just use a long (8 ft) lead rope. Starting with just "walk" and "whoa" on the lead, I get one walking, then pay out the rope and start pushing them forward by allowing myself to drop back behind the drive line (the shoulder) and flip or spin the end of the rope toward the haunches if they don't keep moving. I do use one of C.A's sticks, but without the lash - I use it to tap when working on things like yielding. I've done it enough, I mostly don't need it; just pointing at the relevant body part is enough pressure to get them to move most of the time.

my 5 year old loves clinton anderson - that's where she taught herself on his youtube video's on training horses. LOL

 

[Bunnylady]

If you look past his Aussie over-the-top showmanship and product pitching, he has some very sound advice. He says it - he didn't invent this stuff, most of it had been time-tested by horsemen long before he came along. He has a talent for putting it in memorable phrases - sound bites, if you will.

With minis, you have to find that balance between being firm enough to get respect, and not so aggressive that you scare the starch out of them - not as much of a worry with big horses. Whatever the size, you need to figure out where the resistance is coming from, and speak to that. If what you're getting is "I don't wanna, and what are you gonna do about it?" he needs to find out, in a hurry, that that is not a good idea. "I don't understand/I'm scared" needs a different approach; you need to look at what you are doing, and how to make what you want clearer to him. Whether you need to increase the pressure or back it down depends on what is going on in his head.

 

[kajira]

If you look past his Aussie over-the-top showmanship and product pitching, he has some very sound advice. He says it - he didn't invent this stuff, most of it had been time-tested by horsemen long before he came along. He has a talent for putting it in memorable phrases - sound bites, if you will.

With minis, you have to find that balance between being firm enough to get respect, and not so aggressive that you scare the starch out of them - not as much of a worry with big horses. Whatever the size, you need to figure out where the resistance is coming from, and speak to that. If what you're getting is "I don't wanna, and what are you gonna do about it?" he needs to find out, in a hurry, that that is not a good idea. "I don't understand/I'm scared" needs a different approach; you need to look at what you are doing, and how to make what you want clearer to him. Whether you need to increase the pressure or back it down depends on what is going on in his head.

We tweak methods as needed, but he explains things in a way where my 5 year old can not only understand it, but implement it on both her mini-horse, and our full size horse. So I like that she has those videos on youtube available to her, and that she's so self motivated to learn on her own too. It's awesome to see her put it into practice. She works Joe on the lunge line too.

 

[I Love Layers]

My mom was staying with my aunt who's an equine vet, they were going to a few horse farms to give vaccinations etc.
They went to a Thoroughbred farm had no problems.
Then they went to a pony or mini farm

it took 3 people for each pony or mini

Always makes me laugh


My family has never really had ponies anyways since a cow will just plow someone on a pony ovet

 

[ChickenLover200]

I've used a whip with light taps and that didn't work. He either won't move at all or turns and tries to walk into my circle.

 

[Bunnylady]

I've used a whip with light taps and that didn't work. He either won't move at all or turns and tries to walk into my circle.

Push him out of your space. Teach him to yield his hindquarters (pull his head toward you, walk briskly toward his butt, and tap it vigorously until he moves it out of your way). Do that both ways. Get him backing up when you say "back" - no arguments, you said back, he goes back. Yielding the forehand is a little trickier, but bumping the shoulder or waving the whip beside his face to make him want to move away can work. When he does what you want, even if it's just one step, drop the pressure and tell him "good boy!" Rub him with the whip - it's pressure, not the enemy; you want him to respect it, not fear it (remember, a horse bites another horse and grooms another horse with the same mouth - they understand these things!)

It sounds to me as if you are unconsciously yielding space - he comes toward you, and you back up to keep him from stepping on your toes. You need learn to stand your ground and get him to move around you, not toward you unless you invite him to move into your space intentionally.

 

[kajira]

Push him out of your space. Teach him to yield his hindquarters (pull his head toward you, walk briskly toward his butt, and tap it vigorously until he moves it out of your way). Do that both ways. Get him backing up when you say "back" - no arguments, you said back, he goes back. Yielding the forehand is a little trickier, but bumping the shoulder or waving the whip beside his face to make him want to move away can work. When he does what you want, even if it's just one step, drop the pressure and tell him "good boy!" Rub him with the whip - it's pressure, not the enemy; you want him to respect it, not fear it (remember, a horse bites another horse and grooms another horse with the same mouth - they understand these things!)

It sounds to me as if you are unconsciously yielding space - he comes toward you, and you back up to keep him from stepping on your toes. You need learn to stand your ground and get him to move around you, not toward you unless you invite him to move into your space intentionally.

I agree 100% horses posture, first to give in, loses dominance. They respect if you make them move first. You don't need to be nasty about it... but I 100% will not allow a horse to push me around. You make them yield to you. She's right about how pressure works. They don't need to fear the whip, just respect it, you, and your space.
I'm not a fan of people with horses who won't back up if you stop. If they keep moving forward, they are going to run you over. We teach our horses to automatically take a step back if we stop, so they don't keep moving forward and run us over. (This happened ONCE to my daughter with her pony when she wasn't paying attention and she learned the hard way why horses being all up in your space was a bad idea.) it was no longer cute, or funny to her when he ran over the top of her like that. LOL (She was not injured, but Im glad she learned that lesson with a her-size horse, instead of a 15-17hand thoroughbred.)

 

[I Love Layers]

I agree 100% horses posture, first to give in, loses dominance. They respect if you make them move first. You don't need to be nasty about it... but I 100% will not allow a horse to push me around. You make them yield to you. She's right about how pressure works. They don't need to fear the whip, just respect it, you, and your space.
I'm not a fan of people with horses who won't back up if you stop. If they keep moving forward, they are going to run you over. We teach our horses to automatically take a step back if we stop, so they don't keep moving forward and run us over. (This happened ONCE to my daughter with her pony when she wasn't paying attention and she learned the hard way why horses being all up in your space was a bad idea.) it was no longer cute, or funny to her when he ran over the top of her like that. LOL (She was not injured, but Im glad she learned that lesson with a her-size horse, instead of a 15-17hand thoroughbred.)

I would never train a horse to take a step back when they stop. My great grandpa was killed by that.
My horses are all ranch trained, so just stopping when asked no moving at all

 

[kajira]

I would never train a horse to take a step back when they stop. My great grandpa was killed by that.
My horses are all ranch trained, so just stopping when asked no moving at all

I'm sorry to hear you lost a family member from that. For us, we teach them to take "1" step back so they have to think about stopping. We dont' want them to keep backing up... but taking one step back and relaxing for us is ideal because then we can keep everyone safer that way.

We don't teach them to take a step back when they stop if they aren't following a person - we train it situationally. We only want them to stop and take a half-step back to make sure they aren't too close to you when you stop.

Edited : in hindsight, it's more like the "heeling" position of a dog - we want the horse to adjust to their trained position, so we want them to adjust themselves to be the distance we prefer away if we stop. IF that makes sense?

 

[I Love Layers]

It was only one step back but just enough to have them accidently pin him up against a fence.