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Clinton Anderson's Downunder Horsemanship
Training Tip of the Week:
Staying Focused
The great thing about riding outdoors is it adds
variety to your routine and can present you with new challenges.
When you take
your horse on a trail ride, don't put him on auto-pilot. Horses are just
like kids, if you don't give them something to do, they'll find
something to do! Its perfectly fine to let your horse trot and canter on
a loose rein, but don't expect him to stay focused on you throughout the
trail ride if you don't check up on his responsiveness occasionally.
Though trail riding offers the perfect opportunity to work with your
horse outside the arena, its important to remember that being outside in
open areas offers your horse lots of distractions. Don't let these
distractions become a problem; instead, use them to your advantage.
Keep your horse focused on you by
yielding the hindquarters, yielding the forequarters, and other
exercises. Get creative! Do post-to-post exercises with a couple trees
or try the serpentine exercise using different obstacles. Doing
exercises like these in an open area or on trail rides will help
increase your horses respect because he learns that no matter where you
are, you require the same amount of responsiveness. The great thing
about riding outdoors is it adds variety to your routine and can present
you with new challenges. If you use these challenges to improve your
horsemanship, you'll have a respectful and willing partner whenever you
hit the trails.
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Training Tip of the Week:
Don't Let the Little Things Slip
I always flex my horse when I first get on for
3-5 minutes.
This helps me gauge his
responsiveness and make sure he is soft and supple.
A mistake a
lot of horse owners make is letting the little things slip. Though these
things may not seem like a big deal at the time, little ounces of
disrespect soon become pounds of trouble! To avoid this problem, make
sure that you correct the little things before they become a big issue.
Let me give you a couple examples of what I'm talking about:
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When you're leading your horse he should mimic your steps. If you
stop, so should he. If you walk, he should walk. If you run, he
should run along beside you. A common problem is for a horse to get
ahead of you when you're leading him. Lots of horse owners don't
correct their horse when this happens, and before they know it, he's
leading them and not the other way around! Instead, if your horse
gets ahead of you when you're leading him, immediately back him up
and avoid developing a pushy, disrespectful horse.
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If you're horse is pushy or pins his ears at you when feeding, take
a handy stick and back him up. Make him give you two eyes until
you're done. Little corrections like these make a big difference in
helping prevent your horse from becoming aggressive or dominant when
you're feeding him.
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Don't let your horse walk off when you're getting on. Not only is
this not safe, it indicates a lack of respect on your horses part as
he is not tuned in to you. One thing I do to prevent this problem
from developing is to make sure I always flex my horse when I first
get on for 3-5 minutes. This helps me gauge his responsiveness and
make sure he is soft and supple. In addition, it teaches him
patience and to not be in a big hurry when I get on. Another thing
you can do if your horse walks off is to back the horse up or get on
and off him multiple times using the approach and retreat method
until he stands still.
If you pay
attention to the little things involved in your horsemanship, it will
pay big dividends in the end. Horses don't develop into pushy,
disrespectful animals overnight but do it a little bit at a time. On the
other hand, if you keep up with the little things, you can help insure
that your horse will be a respectful and willing partner that is a joy
to be around.
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Training Tip of the Week:
Picking up feet
It's important to be able to lift your horse's
feet when trimming, shoeing or doctoring.
Many people
encounter problems when picking up their horses feet. Whether the horse
wont let you hold his foot up or he kicks out at you, this is a common
issue. Most of these problems are fear based and can be helped by using
desensitizing methods. When first handling a horses feet, don't just
grab his foot and expect him to respond well. Instead, work up to it and
help prepare him for having his foot held up.
Depending on how sensitive your horse is,
following these steps will help increase his respect and responsiveness
when being shod or trimmed. The first thing you should be able to do is
rub your hands all over the horses legs. If he's really sensitive, rub
him all over with the handy stick first, staying up by the horses
shoulder where you don't get kicked or hurt. Once he relaxes and is
comfortable with this, you can start using your hands.
Rub him high up on the leg where he is less
sensitive and more used to contact when beginning. Work your way down
the leg a little bit at a time as he gets used to you and relaxes. This
stage is where you will need to use my approach and retreat method. As
you're sliding your hand down the horses leg and he begins to get
nervous, just hold your hand there until he stands still and relaxes. As
soon as he relaxes, remove your hand. Keep doing this until you can
slide your hand all the way down the front and the back legs without the
horse getting uncomfortable.
Once you can do this, take your lead rope and shimmy it up and down
all four of the horses legs. When he's used to this, put the lead behind
his fetlock and pull up. As soon as the horse lifts his foot, release
the pressure. If you can get your horse to lift his foot with the lead
rope, you're ready to start cueing him with your hand.
To lift a front foot, squeeze the horses
chestnut and for back foot, squeeze the cap of the hawk. As soon as the
horse lifts his foot, release the pressure. Only make him lift his foot
for a second or two the first time. Its very important that you release
the pressure before the horse takes his foot away from you. If this
happens, he's on his way to forming a bad habit. Instead, beat him to
it! The second you feel him wanting to put his foot down, release his
foot even faster. That way he thinks it was your idea, not his, and he
feels rewarded. Remember, handling feet is a process that takes time.
You shouldn't expect your horse to stand perfectly for the farrier the
first time his feet have ever been handled. Instead, work up to it a
second or two at a time. Eventually, having your horse behave when his
feet are being handled wont even be an issue.
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