10.08.07

Green horse natural training on the trail

Posted in Horses for the horse crazy at 4:19 pm by petArtist Cmoses

Glendale at two has just been started under saddle. He is with Joanne Gelinas Snow, Gelinas Farm in Pembroke NH, since Sept. 4 and last week I started visiting to ride him, once he had been backed and ridden a few times by the experts. I am being coached how to ride a green horse so I can continue his training when he comes back home.

Joanne (who practices her own and Tom Curtin’s natural horsemanship techniques) worked with Glen for 2 weeks to get him ready for mounting. Unlike his brother Gilford two years ago (who was the easiest horse Joanne had ever started!) Glendale is more reactive and sensitive and unsure of himself so needs more time and care. Lots of desensitizing was done to make him safer, and to help ward off potential future blowups when someone is on his back.

2 yr.old Glendale and me, ready to start out on our first ride together!

In the beginning a horse doesn’t know steering, or leg aids, or even go and stop. Once Joanne and her trainer assistant Loretta had put a few starter rides on Glen, he was deemed ready for me to work with. But was I ready for him??

Listen to Joanne coach me how to get on him MY FIRST time. This is after he has been ridden 6-8 times by the pros and spent 3 weeks at Joanne’s. I fail to keep him from walking off after I get on…

To me, teaching a green horse is almost the opposite of how you ride a trained horse. This natural method is to go out trail riding with other horses, who at Joanne’s are themselves pretty green. The horses give each other herd confidence. The uneven footing, curves and ups & downs of the woods trail helps the youngster learn how to balance the rider on his back, and conditions his legs and ankles.

I dismount and try again, with smoother results this time. Makes me feel like a total newbie rider and like I don’t know ANYTHING when I work with this guy. Of course it will make me a better horsewoman in the long run, but right now I’m struggling!

The first moving cue taught is that leg tapping means go forward. You use just enough leg activity to get a movement, building up to a very active tapping (slapping with both legs) if necessary, and then stop the activity just as soon as the horse responds even a tiny bit. Repeat as needed, it’s the repetition that the horse learns from. You always start out gently and softly, but you don’t stop until he responds; timing is very important. The voice cues I taught Glendale during ponying have proved REALLY helpful here, as he already knows walk, trot, and whoa and that clucking to him means go.

(It is quite tough to get any pix or videos of me riding him on trail right now, but hopefully soon…)

In initial training, your primary goal is for the horse to be happy and willing to go forward. This means don’t slow him down, or catch him in the mouth with the bit. This means if he wants to trot you let him, and if he wants to canter you let him, at least for several strides. If he wants to walk, you walk him but direct WHERE he walks. This is just the opposite of what you’d do on a trained horse, who has learned he is not supposed to move off or speed up all by himself.

One control you have over the green horse on the trail is his desire to stay with the herd. When Glen trots out in front, the other riders trot along behind him, and vice versa. If the horse in the lead starts to get ìstickyî (reluctant to go forward,) the next rider in line passes to encourage the hesitant horse to keep going. Glen usually likes to follow or be in the middle; by swapping places with each other we teach our horses to be in front or behind.

This may sound pretty simple, and with Gilford it was much simpler for me because heís not bothered by much. Glendale however can get nervous enough to buck a little (so I was warned) and I must be prepared for that possibility by using secure hold on shorter reins, STILL without putting pressure on his mouth which would make him uncomfortable about going forward freely. AND I must be really aware of what HE is doing and paying attention to at all times, and pat his neck often to reassure him when he gets concerned or nervous and to tell him he’s doing well.

AND I must block him off from snatching at leaves along the way (bad habit) AND from nipping at the butt of the horse in front of him (colt play.) AND be teaching him how to steer, all with the gentlest possible rein pressure, to keep him light on the bit.

Well, this was my first three rides. Twice he thought about bucking, but I kept his head up and he went into a canter and stayed smooth. Once he squirted ahead really quickly, startling from something he heard behind him, but I was able to slow him down and calm him with patting.

Typically we trot and/or canter only a few strides at a time (learning in baby steps.) Once he felt brave enough to canter out in front, so my companions cantered behind me for a while before I heard Joanne calling me that I should slow him down again, and pat him and praise him. She called it his moment of joy. He was not trying to run away with me and he felt very balanced and nice. I think I can read him pretty well because he is quite a bit like his mother.

By my fourth ride (which was approximately Glen’s 8th or 9th ride,) my coaches told me I could begin rating (controlling the tempo of) his trot a little by using half-halts (tiny rein squeezes) and start directing his feet a bit more. I was to introduce directional leg aids to move his forequarters and his haunches.

In training a green horse on the trail, such leg aids are applied JUST AS the horse STARTS doing the desired action on his own. For example, we’re crossing a muddy area and he wants to sidle away from a puddle, he curves his body around to one side of the puddle while looking at it with his face. I should apply a leg cue against his side or haunches (by pressing my heel slightly behind the girth against his barrel) on the side he is already moving away from (the side closest to the puddle) so that he starts to associate that leg pressure with moving his body or rear end over.

Other opportunities to apply leg-yield and bending cues are when going around sharp turns, weaving around trees or other obstaclesó even when he is shying sideways from something that worries him. It’s all about practice going forward, steering, and leg yielding in ways that are natural and make sense to the horse, with other horses nearby as confidence builders.

Things Iím supposed to avoid doing on green Glendale are often things which I would instinctively do on a trained horse. In the puddle example above, if my well-trained mare started to sidle around a puddle, I would put my leg against her side OPPOSITE the puddle to block her sideways slip and to hold her straight, so she couldnít avoid the puddle. She would understand that, but if I did that with Glen Iíd effectively be teaching him to PUSH against my leg pressure, because he doesn’t understand yet that leg pressure is supposed to MEAN something to him.

So this is all very challenging for me, being so used to a schooled horse, to totally shift gears and keep reminding myself how to interact with Glen at the very beginning of his learning. It is not a relaxing ride for me either, staying on constant alert to what he is doing or ABOUT to do, but he is sure worth the effort. I can totally see him becoming as light and pleasurable to ride as his mom is, as his knowledge and confidence grow. She started her training with Joanne fifteen years ago. She is a quiet and sensible lady, yet so sensitive itís like she can read your mind what you want her to do next, and THAT is a wonderful thing to feel in a horse!

To come: Glendale’s early in-hand work, saddle training and round-penning at Gelinas Farm.

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