Horse Training Success

Yet more horsey tips for you all. Today we have two-for-one-deals! Bargain. Do keep them coming in. The stories are entertaining and as a bonus, helpful too!

If you like a tip, say so in the comments. The person who sent it in needs your vote to win...

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Two weeks ago, I bought a new horse. The owner says, "She'll load in a trailer, no problem." So I took my single wide horse trailer 200 miles to pick her up. She was everything he had advertised, so I bought her.

Came time to load, she would not go in that trailer. Pretty soon, this was looking pretty embarrassing to the owner, who wanted her to go to a new home as much as I wanted to take her there. We pulled, pushed, coaxed, bribed, and everything else, and she still would not go in.

About an hour later, the owner had a brainstorm. He opened the doors to his double wide, which she had been used to going into, and she walked right in. Then he had me back my single up to it with the door open, and he then led her from his right into mine!

Of course, the problem then was how to get the owner out of mine! That took almost as long!

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I used to borrow a 14.2hh horse from a friend of mine for my daughter to ride and come to shows with me because I had a 15.3hh quarter horse. Every time I put her in the float with my horse and we went around a corner she would go down and just about hang herself and I would have to pull over and get my horse to step out over the top of her, then I would leave my daughter and the horse on the side of the road and take my horse home then go back and pick them up with an empty float. I figured that was the best way instead of causing my horse stress having the mare go down on every turn.

Took me awhile to figure out the problem. I tried driving really slow thinking it might be my driving but she would still go down.. I always put her in the left hand side of the float because she was smaller than my horse. Then one day I clicked. She hated the left hand side so I started putting her on the right hand side of the float. I never had another problem with her going down in the float again. She was happy, I was happy and my horse was happy too. We enjoyed her for a couple of years going out and about and it was a pleasure to take her in the float.

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Here is my story. It is about perseverance. The first horse I ever bought was a coming 3 year old Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse (gaited). His name was Buck. He had been started under saddle, but was a very, very nervous horse. He was generally nervous on the ground and got worse when you got on him. He didn't want to walk or even stand still. He had never bucked or done anything like that, but when you go on him, you could feel him tense up, ready to throw you to the moon (or, at least, that's what it felt like). So I started to train him on the longe line before I ever got on him.

I paid special attention to training him what "whoa" means. To me, "whoa" means freeze and don't move until I tell you. After about a month or so of this training, I decided to saddle him up and ride him. He did very well. If he wanted to go to fast, I reminded him what whoa was. By the third ride, I decided Buck was doing well enough to take him out the drive; before, this had been a major thing with him. However, to my surprise, he calmly walked out the lane without balking or getting very nervous. This was a huge breakthrough. I had started to earn his trust. The right training brought him around.

The next obstacle was to teach Buck to gait. When I first started to ride him, I didn't care if he trotted, paced, or gaited. I was going to work on that later. So, now it was time. I put a hackamore on him (bosal) and proceeded to try to get him to gait. I tried and tried and tried. I do know how to train gaited horses, that is what I specialize in, but it was taking weeks and weeks with no progress at all. He continued to trot.

Well, since I was getting frustrated, I went and talked to my dad. He said to remember it can take time. Have patience and stick with it. In my mind, right then, I was thinking, yeah right, he's not the one riding this horse that isn't gaiting, but still it was good advice.

The next day I got Buck out again, and would you believe it? He started gaiting! I kid you not! The very next day, he started to gait a little. After that, he got better and better. Now whenever I get stuck in a rut, I think of my first horse, Buck, and all the lessons I learned on him.

(Note from Editor - thanks for two tips and a picture! We'd be a lot happier if you were wearing a helmet though...)

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My hint is actually not one for training a horse but the taking care of our loving horse family members. My husband and I live on a small farm (if you want to call it that). We love and care for 4 horses and a pony. We don't have alot of equipment to do work for us, just our hands and minds.

We just recently had 10 round bales of hay delivered, and my husband and I both look at each other "are you ready to roll?" Yes, we have to roll each bail by hand into the pasture as the horses need it. We do have a four wheeler but it busts the bails up.

My husbands eyes brighten, "I have an idea, I will be right back". With that he jumps on the four wheeler and takes off. He returns dragging a old car hood the neighbor had out in the woods.

We rolled the bail onto the car hood, and then drug the bail into the pasture, where we needed it to be. Yes, it barely took any effort. Worked wonderfully for us. Hope it does for someone else too.

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One thing I do with my horses to improve their ground manners is simply take them for a walk down the road outside the pasture. This not only improves their ground manners, but gets them used to many of the scary things they'll encounter when you're out riding. Fortunately, I live in the country on a very well traveled, but seldom patrolled dirt road where posted speed limits are generally ignored. The right of way on either side on the road is fairly wide with a ditch to get them used to mild slopes and to allow some distance between the horse and the rattletrap pickup, garbage truck, or school bus, or even kids on bicycles, that will, at the right time of day, surely come by. Our walks are about one mile round trip, so it's about a half hour exercise for each horse. Since the terrain here is pretty flat, I can see vehicles approaching for up to a mile away, so I have plenty of time to get the horse ready for the encounter.I start the horse from the far side of the ditch from the road, stopping the horse to watch the vehicle go by. With each walk, we get closer to the road, eventually continuing to walk without stopping as the scary things go by.

Another cool thing I can do, is the fact that I got my wife a remote starter for her car for Christmas shortly after we bought it. We keep it parked fairly close to the house so there is just enough room to lead the horse between the car and the house as we're heading out or returning from our walk. I start out by starting the car as we approach before we get into the tight spot, starting it as we're a little closer each time we come through. It does not take too long before I can start the car as we're passing through the tight spot right next to the car. When friends are over with a car the horses aren't familiar with I'll have them sit in their cars and start them on a cue as I walk the horses between the parked cars.

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