We are continuing our series on “training outside the box.” To review, we have discussed important steps to prepare for training on the trail, including reading the horse to recognize his inner energy level and working with him to release it, preparing the rider through warm up and stretching exercises, and building safety and confidence on the trail. We covered training tips for dealing with two of three common trail training issues: the horse that wants to always be in the lead and the horse that wants to run up from behind.
Training on the Trail: The Spooky Horse
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Does Your Horse Need Supplements?
The question of whether or not to supplement a horse with vitamins, minerals, herbs, enzymes, amino acids or nutraceuticals will be asked and answered 100,000 times today.
The answer in 99,999 cases will be accepted or rejected strictly on whether or not it was the answer the person asking wanted to hear.
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Getting Ready for the Riding Season—Top 3 Mistakes Riders Make
Notes From Julie
For many of us, the winter months are not conducive to riding, due to frozen ground, inclement weather and/or mud. And whether we like it or not, sometimes life gets in the way of our riding plans—your horse gets hurt or you have a personal situation that causes an extended layoff for your horse. One way or the other, your horse may go months with no riding at all. As a result, the horse may get little handling as well. This recipe—no riding and little handling—doesn’t always result in sweet rides in the spring or a delicious comeback to riding.
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The Need for De-Spooking
An interesting fact about horses is that while they can seem so smart and appear to learn so fast when we are consistent with them, the flight instinct can take over quickly. The frightened horse doesn’t care what is in front of him. He is going to run. A startled or frightened horse will go through barbed wire or over a cliff, and with you in the saddle. That is why it is so important to spend time and use imaginative ways of producing a horse that will not react to every little thing that comes along. De-spooking or sacking out, allows you to bring your horse’s emotional level up then down.
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Grooming as Massage
The Way of Horses
Grooming our horses serves a number of functions. It gets the dirt, dust and mud off, it improves circulation and the condition of skin and coat and helps warm up muscles before we ride. It also gives us a chance to spend personal time with our horses doing something they enjoy and gives us pleasure.
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Make Your Trail Ride a Picnic
It’s time to apply all the great trail training we have covered to do a fun activity with your horse—going on a picnic. Be sure to follow all of the previous steps for training your horse on the trail covered in previous articles before heading out. Once you have included a warm-up for the horse and a warm up for the rider, it is time for the picnic pack up.
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Horses and Math
Train A, traveling 70 miles per hour (mph), leaves Westford heading toward Eastford, 260 miles away. At the same time Train B, traveling 60 mph, leaves Eastford heading toward Westford. When do the two trains meet? How far from each city do they meet?
After reading the previous math question, do you experience a flashback to your school days? Do you feel excessive anxiety? Does your brain go numb?
I do. I hated math class.
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Communicating with Your Horse
A Horse, Of Course
Why is it these days that whenever a clinician tells a rider, "the most important way of communicating is….” - he or she always has a communication device to sell?
Or "the most important means of communication is" some kind of training system the clinician is promoting.
As a rider you are never going to need to buy "the most important communication device."
You've already got it.
It's your weight.
Your weight is the most important means of communication with your horse because it is always there.
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Trust Your Intuition to Avoid Injury
Notes From Julie
“Try That One More Time.” When it comes to horses, these words are often looked back on with regret. They’re often the words muttered right before something goes terribly wrong. Words matter. Sometimes we need to listen to the words that come out of our mouth and to listen to the voice inside instead.
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Western Dressage
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Cynthia McGrath Wins $10,000 High Junior/Amateur-Owner Classic at Vermont Summer Festival
Cynthia McGrath Wins $10,000 High Junior/Amateur-Owner Classic
at Vermont Summer Festival
East Dorset, Vermont – Cynthia McGrath of Hummelstown, PA, won the $10,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic, presented by Miller & Associates, riding Quinaro on Sunday, July 9, at the Vermont Summer Festival, running through August 13 at Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, VT.
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Reading Your Horse
Palm Partnership Training™
Building a Partnership with Your Horse
Before we start training outside the box (a confined area), it is important to recognize and learn how to read the horse to tell if he has inner energy and playfulness that needs to be released through forced exercise like longeing.
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A Horse, Of Course
A little more than 10,000 years ago—give or take a 1,000 years—one cave man said to another, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” So they did.
First man just ate horses. Later he discovered he could keep lame mares and milk them. That was the beginning of the meat and milk industry.
Man’s progress wasn’t too swift until he go on the horse’s back, then the whole human race began to boogie.
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Horse Leg Protection
Protecting a horse’s legs effectively and correctly is a skill every horseman should perfect. No matter the type of protection it must be properly used and applied. The basic categories are: (1) wound bandages (2) standing wraps, (3) exercise wraps and (4) shipping boots or wraps.
The first step is to know the differences in the outer wraps. There are basically three types: standing wraps, polo wraps and adhesive elastic wraps.
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Three Common Mistakes that Erode Your Horse’s Trust
Horses know good leadership when they see it because their lives depend upon it. We probably all agree that the ultimate relationship with a horse is one in which the horse looks up to you, wants to be with you and feels safe and peaceful in your presence. But all the groundwork and relationship building exercises in the world won’t help you develop this relationship unless you present yourself as a competent leader at all times.
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More on Western Dressage
Recently, there has been a lot of discussion in the media about western or cowboy dressage. I have also seen comments on Face book regarding making it a discipline. According to one Western Dressage website, “Western Dressage is not just another class to enter, not just another skill to learn. It brings the English and Western worlds together. Whether we ride in a Stetson or Breeches, whether we work to perfect the piaffe or the sliding stop, we all can benefit from teaching our horses to carry themselves properly and use their hindquarters”. This is all very true.
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Trouble-free Trailer Loading
Palm Partnership Training™
Building a Partnership with Your Horse
There is nothing more frustrating than having trouble loading your horse in a trailer. The way to avoid this is to take the time in the first place to properly teach your horse to load and unload properly. We want each trailer loading experience to be a positive one for the horse. A trailer loading experience that frightens or confuses him will only make the next loading session more difficult to achieve.
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A Horse, Of Course
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that out of every 1,000 horses, 999 are smarter than the person riding them.
We give the horse credit for having the mentality of a three-year-old child. We don’t give them enough credit for being “consistent and reasonable”.
Genuine communication with the horse is possible only through knowledge of the horse’s mental processes which are: herd instinct, need for security, and the following instinct; the love of routine, excitability and nervousness; sensitivity, memory and courage.
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Whoa!
THE WAY OF HORSES
“Whoa” is the first verbal command a foal hears, and will be repeated many times over the course of its lifetime. How well the horse responds to “whoa” depends on training and consistent reinforcement.
When teaching a horse to stop the trainer needs to understand the definition of “whoa”. And that definition is “stop and DO NOT MOVE”. This means no movement of the feet until the horse is given the next command or cue.
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Does Your Horse Like You?
Notes From Julie
Recently at one of my clinics, a rider told me that three different trainers told him flat-out that his horse did not like him. He was hoping that the clinic would help him understand if the horse would ever come to like him or if he should get a different horse. I was hoping that the clinic would help me understand why a trainer (let alone three of them) would say something like that to anyone, let alone their client.
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