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Information. That's what this is about. Where to find it, and what I have learned. I can not claim to be an expert in the area of training horses, but I will try my best to be helpful.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Larry Trocha
So I'm going to give you the links to some really good emails I've gotten from Larry Trocha.
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Being a Leader
Aleythia said something interesting today. She was explaining to one of my older sisters my character.
The main thing Aleythia said was that my character was why horses like me so much. She was talking about why I am the way I am. I'll try to explain and it will be hard because I'm so complicated (insert sarcasm).
When I want one of my sisters to do something I do it in two ways. I either command them to do it or I ask them to do it, leave, and trust that it will get done. I'm not really rude about either one. The main problem my sisters have is that I didn't say please. And believe me I know that commanding someone to do something does not make them like you much so I try not to do that around non-family members. Now the reason Aleythia said that my character was really good with horses was because with horses they don't really care if you coddle them or you raise your kids right. Her words not mine. They respect a leader that can move their feet and is confident. So when I ask my horses to do something I will expect them to do it, tell them to do it, then command them to do it. Aleythia said I also put a trust in my horses that she can't. She can't let go of a horse's reins and expect him to follow her.
That's what part of being a leader is about. Expecting something to get done (or at least try to get done) and Trust. It's a two way street. If you don't trust your horse he won't trust you.
You hear all these trainers say that to be the leader of your horse you need to get control of your horses feet. It's true, but I don't think that's all there is to it. You need to be patient, you need to be confident, you need expect results, and you need to trust.
You can have a horse that gets the pick of the food, is in the barn first, and can make everybody move, but isn't the leader. The other horses just avoid him.
I was reading an article Larry Trocha did and it said something about the above paragraph. He also said that the lead horse rarely has to reinforce his dominance. I see this with my barrel horse Santana. He is the leader of that herd. But he rarely goes and kicks the other horses. He doesn't have to.
I feel like I need to explain the expect results one though. If you ask your horse to do something he doesn't have to do it perfectly. All that matters is that he tries. As he learns what you want you can ask for more and expect more. Also your trusting does not have to be you doing foolish things. It can be as simple as what I did and expecting your horse to follow you on the ground. Or going on a trail ride. To help your horse trust you, desensitize and get control of his feet.
Sorry if this all seems like a big mess,
Lydia Johnson
The main thing Aleythia said was that my character was why horses like me so much. She was talking about why I am the way I am. I'll try to explain and it will be hard because I'm so complicated (insert sarcasm).
When I want one of my sisters to do something I do it in two ways. I either command them to do it or I ask them to do it, leave, and trust that it will get done. I'm not really rude about either one. The main problem my sisters have is that I didn't say please. And believe me I know that commanding someone to do something does not make them like you much so I try not to do that around non-family members. Now the reason Aleythia said that my character was really good with horses was because with horses they don't really care if you coddle them or you raise your kids right. Her words not mine. They respect a leader that can move their feet and is confident. So when I ask my horses to do something I will expect them to do it, tell them to do it, then command them to do it. Aleythia said I also put a trust in my horses that she can't. She can't let go of a horse's reins and expect him to follow her.
That's what part of being a leader is about. Expecting something to get done (or at least try to get done) and Trust. It's a two way street. If you don't trust your horse he won't trust you.
You hear all these trainers say that to be the leader of your horse you need to get control of your horses feet. It's true, but I don't think that's all there is to it. You need to be patient, you need to be confident, you need expect results, and you need to trust.
You can have a horse that gets the pick of the food, is in the barn first, and can make everybody move, but isn't the leader. The other horses just avoid him.
I was reading an article Larry Trocha did and it said something about the above paragraph. He also said that the lead horse rarely has to reinforce his dominance. I see this with my barrel horse Santana. He is the leader of that herd. But he rarely goes and kicks the other horses. He doesn't have to.
I feel like I need to explain the expect results one though. If you ask your horse to do something he doesn't have to do it perfectly. All that matters is that he tries. As he learns what you want you can ask for more and expect more. Also your trusting does not have to be you doing foolish things. It can be as simple as what I did and expecting your horse to follow you on the ground. Or going on a trail ride. To help your horse trust you, desensitize and get control of his feet.
Sorry if this all seems like a big mess,
Lydia Johnson
Monday, February 18, 2013
Respect
I'm writing this on respect.
A lot of the problems people have with horses come from the horse's lack of respect for said person. Any honest trainer will tell you this. Larry Trocha says it and gets in your face about it so that maybe, just maybe, you'll get the point.
This post doesn't cover the huge problems with disrespect like kicking, biting, rearing, bucking, ect. It covers the little things like your horse not paying attention, not taking you seriously, not trusting you. And ok a few little stories on the rearing and kicking.
My example will be a few stories of the things I have done and the things my sister, Aleythia has done.
I'll start with Aleythia.
Aleythia doesn't like to punish her horses. Or she does just not hard enough. That's not a bad thing, but in certain situations it's necessary.
With the four fillie's we're training she's had problems. Mostly with Dash and Coffie, the two bays. They don't blatantly disrespect her, they just don't take her seriously. With Dash she couldn't get her to longe nicely. Dash would be hesitant about what she was doing. I got in there and longed Dash and she was fine. With Coffie, she doesn't listen. She's off in lala land. Coffie takes me seriously. So, what's the difference? Respect. Aleythia needs to be more forceful, more like a leader. She needs to ask her horse to do something and then when her horse doesn't do it she needs to tell the horse to do it, then make them do it.
If you can catch the signs of disrespect from your horse and fix it right away that will save you from a whole lot of trouble in the future.
Now my story.
I was in the pasture with the horses and Ana was being a pill. She layed back her ears at me and wanted nothing to do with me. So what was I supposed to do? Let it go? I had nothing on me that I could get after her for but my own hands and feet. So, I chased her around. She needed to know that I was boss. When she wouldn't move out quick enough I slapped her. In this process I slapped her and she was cantering away and she kicked. Her back foot got me right below my collar bone. Lucky for me she was running away and I barely felt it. But I went after her again for that. But let that be a two sided warning. Don't let your horse get away with things like that and be careful.
I have had one other similar battle of who's boss with her. It was back when we still had Flicka.
Once again I was in the pasture and she did something. I got after her for it. This time though she thought that she could push me around. She reared up and I knew that whatever she was gunna do it would not be good. I stared at her and prepared myself for whatever was going to happen next. At that moment Flicka came in and placed herself between me and Ana with her ears back and head low. Ana backed off.
Flicka was maybe three years old at that point. I was around eleven. I have no idea what I would have done. I'm glad Flicka cared enough about me to do something about it. Though it surprised me. But even then I knew that I couldn't let her win that battle. Stupid as I was to get myself into any situation like that I knew she couldn't win.
Bad horsey be good,
Lydia Johnson
A lot of the problems people have with horses come from the horse's lack of respect for said person. Any honest trainer will tell you this. Larry Trocha says it and gets in your face about it so that maybe, just maybe, you'll get the point.
This post doesn't cover the huge problems with disrespect like kicking, biting, rearing, bucking, ect. It covers the little things like your horse not paying attention, not taking you seriously, not trusting you. And ok a few little stories on the rearing and kicking.
My example will be a few stories of the things I have done and the things my sister, Aleythia has done.
I'll start with Aleythia.
Aleythia doesn't like to punish her horses. Or she does just not hard enough. That's not a bad thing, but in certain situations it's necessary.
With the four fillie's we're training she's had problems. Mostly with Dash and Coffie, the two bays. They don't blatantly disrespect her, they just don't take her seriously. With Dash she couldn't get her to longe nicely. Dash would be hesitant about what she was doing. I got in there and longed Dash and she was fine. With Coffie, she doesn't listen. She's off in lala land. Coffie takes me seriously. So, what's the difference? Respect. Aleythia needs to be more forceful, more like a leader. She needs to ask her horse to do something and then when her horse doesn't do it she needs to tell the horse to do it, then make them do it.
If you can catch the signs of disrespect from your horse and fix it right away that will save you from a whole lot of trouble in the future.
Now my story.
I was in the pasture with the horses and Ana was being a pill. She layed back her ears at me and wanted nothing to do with me. So what was I supposed to do? Let it go? I had nothing on me that I could get after her for but my own hands and feet. So, I chased her around. She needed to know that I was boss. When she wouldn't move out quick enough I slapped her. In this process I slapped her and she was cantering away and she kicked. Her back foot got me right below my collar bone. Lucky for me she was running away and I barely felt it. But I went after her again for that. But let that be a two sided warning. Don't let your horse get away with things like that and be careful.
I have had one other similar battle of who's boss with her. It was back when we still had Flicka.
Once again I was in the pasture and she did something. I got after her for it. This time though she thought that she could push me around. She reared up and I knew that whatever she was gunna do it would not be good. I stared at her and prepared myself for whatever was going to happen next. At that moment Flicka came in and placed herself between me and Ana with her ears back and head low. Ana backed off.
Flicka was maybe three years old at that point. I was around eleven. I have no idea what I would have done. I'm glad Flicka cared enough about me to do something about it. Though it surprised me. But even then I knew that I couldn't let her win that battle. Stupid as I was to get myself into any situation like that I knew she couldn't win.
Bad horsey be good,
Lydia Johnson
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Hot Heads Slowing Down
I have a horse named Ana that is really bad at standing still. She is a Saddlebred/Arabian cross and she can run for have an hour stop for a minute and be ready to run another half hour. She has no speed control. It's always fast. She would walk when you were trying to get on and she won't walk when she's on a longe line.
Now most trainers will tell you to make your horse work until he's dead tired. That didn't work out too well for Ana because she can run that long and she'll just get more endurance the more we do it. What my sister (Aleythia) and I did instead was one rein stops. For three weeks all we did was one reign stops. No pulling on both reins at the same time. By the end of those three weeks she stood really nicely but she was looking around and wasn't listening. So that's something we'll have to deal with. If she was listening she wouldn't be quite so hyper. So it took us three weeks to get her to stand still, and we still have walking, trotting, and cantering to do. So at the most it will take nine more weeks to get her to go at the speed we want. I'm guessing it will take less time because she'll already get the concept of it.
With the walking off while someone's mounting everyone says to back your horse up. But, what is often the case with hot heads they go forward really well and don't back up really well. Huh, maybe there's a connection, but anywho. You could get her to back up nicely but it felt like she wasn't trying or taking me seriously. So instead when she walked off we would hop down, take the end of the rein and swing it in a circle aggressively towards her hindquarters and make her disengage her hindquarters around in circles until we thought she got the point. That she could do really well. Don't be afraid to actually hit them on the butt and it will help if your horse knows how to disengage his hindquarters beforehand.
Hope this helps someone out there,
Lydia Jonson
Now most trainers will tell you to make your horse work until he's dead tired. That didn't work out too well for Ana because she can run that long and she'll just get more endurance the more we do it. What my sister (Aleythia) and I did instead was one rein stops. For three weeks all we did was one reign stops. No pulling on both reins at the same time. By the end of those three weeks she stood really nicely but she was looking around and wasn't listening. So that's something we'll have to deal with. If she was listening she wouldn't be quite so hyper. So it took us three weeks to get her to stand still, and we still have walking, trotting, and cantering to do. So at the most it will take nine more weeks to get her to go at the speed we want. I'm guessing it will take less time because she'll already get the concept of it.
With the walking off while someone's mounting everyone says to back your horse up. But, what is often the case with hot heads they go forward really well and don't back up really well. Huh, maybe there's a connection, but anywho. You could get her to back up nicely but it felt like she wasn't trying or taking me seriously. So instead when she walked off we would hop down, take the end of the rein and swing it in a circle aggressively towards her hindquarters and make her disengage her hindquarters around in circles until we thought she got the point. That she could do really well. Don't be afraid to actually hit them on the butt and it will help if your horse knows how to disengage his hindquarters beforehand.
Hope this helps someone out there,
Lydia Jonson
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Tied For the Day
There's something to be said for a horse who can stand patiently at his post for hours. Teaching it? Ya don't. Not really anyway. You tie your horse up in the morning and leave him there all day. You can work with him but he always goes back on his post. All day. You bring him to food and water.
I got this from Larry Trocha. You can click on the link to his site on the left under helpful sites.
Now we're (my sister and I) doing this with our four fillies and I am loving the results. They're young. They have not had a lot of tying experiences. We've never had a reason to.
This is what it will help.
With the nervous horse like I said it will help them gain patience and calm down. If you have a horse that hates to be away from his buddies or can't ignore the things around him, tie him up all alone and leave him there. I have an ex-racehorse Thoroughbred that we took to the fair this last year and she was a pain to be around. She was so freaked out about everything around her she didn't even notice you were there. It was extremely frustrating. I should have just tied her up to a tree and left her to her own worries. I think I am going to tie her up and make her stay there all day too.
Now for most people it isn't practical to tie their horse(s) up in the morning and leave them there all day. They have school or work or something like that. So do it when you can. If that means you get home at 5:00 and your horse only stands tied for an hour, fine. It will still help.
I got this from Larry Trocha. You can click on the link to his site on the left under helpful sites.
Now we're (my sister and I) doing this with our four fillies and I am loving the results. They're young. They have not had a lot of tying experiences. We've never had a reason to.
This is what it will help.
- Your horse's patience
- Learning to be tied
- Nervous horses to become calmer
- Make them feel like they've been working for their supper.
With the nervous horse like I said it will help them gain patience and calm down. If you have a horse that hates to be away from his buddies or can't ignore the things around him, tie him up all alone and leave him there. I have an ex-racehorse Thoroughbred that we took to the fair this last year and she was a pain to be around. She was so freaked out about everything around her she didn't even notice you were there. It was extremely frustrating. I should have just tied her up to a tree and left her to her own worries. I think I am going to tie her up and make her stay there all day too.
Now for most people it isn't practical to tie their horse(s) up in the morning and leave them there all day. They have school or work or something like that. So do it when you can. If that means you get home at 5:00 and your horse only stands tied for an hour, fine. It will still help.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Preparation for the First Ride
I currently have four fillies in training and I have gotten bucked off two of them on the first ride. With the other two we are trying to make their first ride as stress free and as safe as possible. And make all of them safer. And hopefully this will help you as well.
So here's a few things to help with that.
Work your horse in his tack
Get your horse used to the tack. Do lounging. Move your horse's feet. Make him do everything. Canter, changing directions on his hocks, and that sort of thing. If you can pony your horse on trail rides with all his tack on. Hey you could even send him over a few small jumps with his tack on.
Desensitize
This won't be a one time thing. You need to do this regularly. And I have trouble with this. It can take forever to desensitize your horse to a plastic bag and you'll probably have to do it again tomorrow. Find things that make noises. A whip, leaf blower, running tractor, ect. Also I have found that horses do not like bikers or rollerbladers. This probably won't be a problem for you if you don't live anywhere near a town, but if you do you should consider getting your horse used to that sort of thing. Also bang your hand against the saddle and get them used to things above their saddle.
Spend time with your horse
The more time you spend with your horse the more he will learn to trust you. Establish that you are the leader. Gain their respect through groundwork. But, WARNING, with a growing horse lots of time spent on them turning or going in circles can injure their legs. Get to know your horse's quirks.
Teach lightness
If you can teach your horse to be light, supple, and responsive before you ever get on him your job is halfway done. (I'll cover this one more in a later post)
Take things slow
When your first ride comes take it as slowly as necessary and retreat often. Horses aren't afraid of something that moves away from them. Help them to be more relaxed.
Listen to your horse
Listen to what your horse is telling you. Because I didn't listen to what my filly was telling me I got bucked off. Look for signs that your horse isn't at ease. Does he want to move constantly? Is he standing on all four feet instead of cocking one of the back feet? Is his head high? Do his eyes look worried? If you get on his back does it feel like he's tense? Usually it feels like he's arching his back.
Hope this helps and be safe.
Lydia Johnson
So here's a few things to help with that.
Work your horse in his tack
Get your horse used to the tack. Do lounging. Move your horse's feet. Make him do everything. Canter, changing directions on his hocks, and that sort of thing. If you can pony your horse on trail rides with all his tack on. Hey you could even send him over a few small jumps with his tack on.
Desensitize
This won't be a one time thing. You need to do this regularly. And I have trouble with this. It can take forever to desensitize your horse to a plastic bag and you'll probably have to do it again tomorrow. Find things that make noises. A whip, leaf blower, running tractor, ect. Also I have found that horses do not like bikers or rollerbladers. This probably won't be a problem for you if you don't live anywhere near a town, but if you do you should consider getting your horse used to that sort of thing. Also bang your hand against the saddle and get them used to things above their saddle.
Spend time with your horse
The more time you spend with your horse the more he will learn to trust you. Establish that you are the leader. Gain their respect through groundwork. But, WARNING, with a growing horse lots of time spent on them turning or going in circles can injure their legs. Get to know your horse's quirks.
Teach lightness
If you can teach your horse to be light, supple, and responsive before you ever get on him your job is halfway done. (I'll cover this one more in a later post)
Take things slow
When your first ride comes take it as slowly as necessary and retreat often. Horses aren't afraid of something that moves away from them. Help them to be more relaxed.
Listen to your horse
Listen to what your horse is telling you. Because I didn't listen to what my filly was telling me I got bucked off. Look for signs that your horse isn't at ease. Does he want to move constantly? Is he standing on all four feet instead of cocking one of the back feet? Is his head high? Do his eyes look worried? If you get on his back does it feel like he's tense? Usually it feels like he's arching his back.
Hope this helps and be safe.
Lydia Johnson
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Ground Tying Woes
I'm sure you all have heard the way everyone tells you to teach ground tying. They say to make it simple for yourself and less time consuming by teaching while you're grooming your horse.... That is the dumbest idea ever. You have the lead rope in your left hand (and your lead rope's probably too short), a brush or two in your right so you're brushing is kinda awkward, and you are in a bad position. Your horse won't wait to move until it's convenient for you. More likely he'll do it when you're standing by his hip or going behind him to get to his other side. It'll make you frustrated like no other.
Solution: Don't teach ground tying while you groom!
It's actually much simpler to teach it when you're leading your horse from one place to another.
All you have to do is drop the lead rope, say woah, and stand by him for a little while. If he moves you can easily grab the lead rope and put him back. At first don't make the standing time too long. Make it so that your horse succeeds. Then you can drop the lead rope and say woah, and walk away a few steps. When your horse moves to try and follow you just put him back where he belongs, say woah and walk away again. Repeat.Repeat and increase how far away you are. This should not take 3 months to teach. It should take you one or two days. Just so that they understand the concept. After that you can do the grooming and saddling with ground tying. With continued use you will be able to walk away and even disappear from sight and your horse will still stay in that spot.
Do you have any idea how nice and handy it is to have a horse that you can brush, saddle, and bridle in the middle of nowhere? It makes everything nice and simple. It's nice to know that you can get off your horse to do something, drop the rein on the ground and say woah, and your horse will stay there until you are done.
If you have any questions... ask. If you want a video I can definitely provide that.
Solution: Don't teach ground tying while you groom!
It's actually much simpler to teach it when you're leading your horse from one place to another.
All you have to do is drop the lead rope, say woah, and stand by him for a little while. If he moves you can easily grab the lead rope and put him back. At first don't make the standing time too long. Make it so that your horse succeeds. Then you can drop the lead rope and say woah, and walk away a few steps. When your horse moves to try and follow you just put him back where he belongs, say woah and walk away again. Repeat.Repeat and increase how far away you are. This should not take 3 months to teach. It should take you one or two days. Just so that they understand the concept. After that you can do the grooming and saddling with ground tying. With continued use you will be able to walk away and even disappear from sight and your horse will still stay in that spot.
Do you have any idea how nice and handy it is to have a horse that you can brush, saddle, and bridle in the middle of nowhere? It makes everything nice and simple. It's nice to know that you can get off your horse to do something, drop the rein on the ground and say woah, and your horse will stay there until you are done.
If you have any questions... ask. If you want a video I can definitely provide that.
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