A rope halter is typically associated with natural horse training. Ideally the attached 10-12 ft. leadline should have some heft and weight to it, and not be flimsy and light. It is through the leadline that your signals are communicated to the horse.
For working around, grooming, saddling and harnessing, the natural horse trainer’s goal is for the horse to learn to stand quietly and not move his feet unless asked. This should apply whether the horse is in the barn, in an arena, or out in a field. The method is to control the horse’s feet, which controls his mind. If you tell him where to place his feet, he becomes relaxed in accepting YOU as the herd leader, and he develops a respect for you as such.
Joanne Gelinas Snow explains teaching the horse to stand quietly by stopping the stimulus BEFORE he moves his feet. Handler must be very alert to the tiniest reactions of the horse to the stimulus, and must break down the actions applied into very small increments to deal with each step one at a time. Ground work preparation for saddling and riding, using rope halter with long, firm lead rope as training aid. [Horse is our own Glendale at age two.]
The horse can only be taught through instant adjustment of incorrect responses AND through leaving him alone when he is doing the desired thing. He will be uncomfortable at first and want to move his feet; because he is young, insecure and inexperienced, he needs to move his feet, so you allow him to move but you DIRECT where he is moving to. Then you stop him, square him up so that he won’t have to catch his balance by moving a foot, then signal him to stand. Joanne does this by the slightest subtle tug on his leadline.
Here natural horse trainer Joanne Gelinas Snow helps young horse learn to stand for saddling. She practices approaching him with the saddle blanket because he was initially spooky about the blanket being thrown up from his left front.
You have already trained him to lead and yield to leadrope pressure, and to move his body away from pressure touch. You have already taught him to back away from a leadrope cue (see Horse training with rope halter– back away). By directing him where to move his feet, ie. allowing him to move when he has to but getting him to move where YOU want him to, you teach him that when you DON’T ask him to move is the time when he is allowed to stand quietly.
Gilford (the black bay in this video) has shown more energy and also better movement this year than previously, partly due to us keeping extra weight off him and partly due to he seems to have grown into his body better as he approached 5 years old. Gilford turned five on June 3!
Gil and Glen gallop flat out back to barn, then play fight in the dust close to barn. (This summer in New Hampshire it has been exceedingly dry in April through early June.) They chill out when alpha momma mare comes on the scene– she is way too dignified to put up with such horsin’ around!
“Baby” Glendale has always been more naturally balanced than his big brother and he’s shown very nice movement all along; Gilford when he was younger tended to be heavier on his forehand and had a little more trouble traveling in a balanced way. Gilford has a slightly longer body than Glen too, which affects his movement. Now however Gilford is much improved at age five with how he carries himself.
Glen’s training has progressed by leaps and bounds! He has done so well that on June 2 we wanted to introduce him to the 4-wheel Eagle carriage, which he handled well. We take him to the big field for a few turns, and you can see he goes like a pro. Previous to this he has only pulled the much smaller 2-wheel training cart.
Glendale put to the Eagle…
and going as he should be.
Glendale’s first hitch to the Eagle 4-wheeler… walk, trot, change directions.
Though this carriage is much bigger than the training cart, the Eagle pulls along easily with its 4-wheels and better suspension, and is not all that much additional weight for the horse. (It has a foot brake for downhills so its weight does not push the horse forward on a slope.) We would not be loading this carriage up with people and expecting young Glen to pull it up and down hills or great distances, he is too young still for serious work in it, but this was his intro to having it behind him because we hope to hitch both Glen and his brother Gilford to it together this summer.
Then it happens… here Glen is almost a runaway! Two horses across the stone wall to his left start galloping literally alongside him and startle him, so he runs too. It takes Hubby several strides to pull him up, he did NOT want to slow down! Hubby gives him time to collect himself and to think about what just happened.
Though he didn’t totally freak out and didn’t try anything really dangerous like bucking or spinning around, still this is something the driver must be prepared for at all times, and it is something that happens to every horse. Horses will be horses! Having this experience will hopefully help him next time not to startle so badly; also next time he should stop more promptly when the driver is whoaing him, because he just learned that he’s not allowed to keep on running at will. Not all horses would be this easy to deal with in a runaway situation.
Glen has been coming along quite nicely in his driving training. His most challenging outing was a recent road trip past a sheep farm (he was very leery of going by!) and then driving on some woods trails. Even though the sheep weren’t in evidence, a horse can smell them from half a mile away and start getting balky and jumpy. He was solo (no backup horse along), Hubby drove him and I mostly walked for the exercise and support if needed.
The woods trails were about the width of a logging road, but rough in places and lots of uphills and downs. They were a bit overgrown, so Glen got poked in his sides and back by overhanging branches. Also good practice for the driving horse. It helps that our horses have woods at home to wander around in, so they get used to that sort of thing, also woods noises.
A couple of times Hubby came to small logs or trees across the trail and just drove Glendale on over them. I was holding my breath but the horse didn’t miss a beat while the rubber cart tires jigged and jogged over the logs! Returning past the sheep farm he was a little more willing to go forward towards home. We probably drove two miles out, four total.
(Unfortunately we got a flat tire on the training cart shortly after this jaunt… so I guess rolling over logs isn’t maybe the best idea!)
This cue is most effective using a rope halter with an 11-14 foot knotted-in leadrope attached. The leadrope should have some stiffness and a little heft to it. The halter is fit snugly on the horse’s face and around his nose.
To teach the backup, you start by facing the horse, holding the leadline about 6 feet long with about a foot of slack in it. Raise the leadline by lifting your hand briskly up and back down, just enough to put a roll through the line like a wave, traveling to the horse’s nose through the rope halter. He will feel the smallest movement because of the direct connection between the halter and leadrope.
Do this action gently at first, looking for the slightest reaction from the horse. The reaction you want to reward (by stopping the rope movement, ie. Releasing of pressure) is for him to THINK about backing up; you want to notice when he just STARTS to shift his weight backwards. You repeat the wave roll action, gradually increasing the force or pressure you put into the rope, until you get a backing response from him. You use only as much pressure as necessary to get the response.
The next time you ask, you start out very gently again. Your goal is not to force the horse backwards out of fear or avoidance of pain (there should never be any pain,) but to help him understand that the slighted upward roll of the rope is a signal for him to move his feet backwards.
In the training, it may be necessary as your strongest signal to make a rolling loop catch him in his chin once, sharply if needed. The horse will raise his head high in the air from this because it is very attention-getting. This extreme adjustment should be used only rarely, such as to redirect the horse’s attention to your cues, or as the strongest level of asking for a backing response. This action is NOT a snapping of the halter against the top of the horse’s nose, which would be pulling his head down and forward. Catching him under the chin activates his natural reaction, which is to back away.
As the horse learns to back away, you ask for only one step at a time, with one foot. He is rewarded for the step by you stopping the rope waves for a moment and holding it slack. As he backs, you let out the rope longer; you do NOT follow him, otherwise he will feel that he is backing away from your body. You can get him to back all the way to the end of the leadline.
Alternate the backing with light leadrope pressure to bring him back towards you a step or two.
[continuing report from Connie's friend, Guest Writer HorseGal...] HERD VISIT DAY 13 – I rode Momma for the first time yesterday (I have come a long way since Day 2!) It wasn’t my best riding though. First I fell OFF the mounting block. That was humiliating. I think it was at this point that Em asked me “how long have you been riding??” And of course, I know what a phenomenal rider Connie’s Emmie is, so I was feeling REALLY insecure about riding in front of her, because I think she is just SO totally amazing at this horse business!!
HorseGal on Willy momma mare
I think that because I haven’t ridden Momma for so long, that there is a learning curve for me in learning how to adapt to her more “bouncy” gaits all over again. Momma mare being Arabian is quite different from the smooth, long and low quarterhorse I ride at my lessons. I also had Emmie instruct me how to post– I’ve never been taught how to do it since it’s something we don’t do at my lessons (I ride Western). I’ve been wanting to learn how to do it correctly, so I asked Emmie to teach me.
HorseGal learning that momma mare doesn’t care much for cantering in a ring… and that she’s very sensitive to her rider’s balance and positioning. This horse can improve riders!
At the canter, while I did have some decent strides, some of the time I felt like (and it looked like) I’d never been on a horse before! Emmie was standing in the middle, and every single time Momma would come to a dead stop by Emmie as if to say “Will you PLEASE get her OFF me”!! I tried to anticipate her doing that and tried to keep her away from Emmie, but most of the time, I was on the losing end of that battle of wits!!!
Finally, we could see that Momma was getting aggravated with me, so we ended our lesson. I was also using a Hackamore for the first time, which for me was so exciting because it was something new for me and something I can add to my riding experience!!
That all being said, Momma was a dream ride! You BARELY need to use any leg aids! In fact, I think the only time I’d use my leg was to canter, and even then she could feel me getting ready before I even asked for the canter!!! She just KNEW!! Any problems I had were totally rider problems and I take 100% responsibility. I’m going to ride her again tomorrow night and I think because I rode her yesterday, that I’ll be more comfortable next time so I think we’ll both have a better ride!
Momma was PERFECT again yesterday as far as leaving her boys behind!! A few callouts between her and the boys, but other than that she was TOTALLY calm and respectful!!! What a good mare she was! I just love her so much!!
HERD VISIT DAY 16 – I rode Momma Mare again last night and it went much better than the first time. Under Emmie’s watchful eye and patient coaching, I definitely felt more comfortable. I think my posting was better also.
Then we went to the outdoor ring to ride– not so good there for some reason and I don’t understand why. I felt tense at the canter I felt myself falling all out of balance. I wasn’t as comfortable there as I was inside, but it still felt great to ride outdoors! I hope to have one more lesson with Emmie either inside or out. Hopefully, both.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
You’ll never guess what Emmie did with Gilford last night… she jumped him over some cross rails!!!!! Last year when she tried it with him (at age 4) he crashed through them… not this year!! I was SO proud of that young gelding!!!
I also learned what a “standard” is and got to adjust the rails on the standard for Em. I had SO much fun doing that. I’d never done anything like that before and it was exciting for me to learn even more riding terms. like what a “standard” is (I’d heard the name and knew it had something to do with the jump itself, but I didn’t know exactly what). [NOTE: a standard is the vertical upright post part of a horse jump that holds up the horizontal rails.]
Emmie on Gilford
Of course, as you all know by now, when it comes to anything horse related, Emmie can do no wrong in my book, so once again I was totally blown away by her expert riding. She not only jumped Gil over those rails, but she TAUGHT him how to jump and guided him over the jump. Watching her and Gilford sail over those rails was goosebumpy for me!!! It was so artistic and beautiful.
I couldn’t help but feel that not only was this great for the young horse to learn something totally new and foreign to him, but I was happy for Emmie to be able, after all these years, to jump again. She said it was a small jump, but it MUST have felt so good to her to have that feeling once again that she and Momma had all those years before of jumping together!!! And to do it on her beloved Momma’s son AND to be the one who taught him how to do it must have been a wonderful feeling.
Em takes Gil over a couple of crossrails, his first time jumping!
For me, I was seeing Emmie’s past horse life come back to life in front of my eyes. I felt like THIS is what I would have seen had I known Em and her mom back then. This was the young Emmie of the videos I’ve seen! It was EXTREMELY exciting to see her work her magic with this young horse. And I was part of it!! I was there to witness this wonderful horse jump for the first time! I helped with the cross rails and that made me feel like I was a small part of this!
As I mentioned, it was truly a goosebumpy moment the first time he and Emmie went over those cross rails. I know Emmie enjoyed it as much as I did. She had the BIGGEST smile and I could see and feel her pleasure at what she had just done. It had to be so rewarding for her to have been the one who taught Gilford to jump over those rails.
We spent many days in May putting mileage on our youngster Glendale, taking short excursions out alone (no companion horse along), nothing stressful on his body but conditioning his mind to doing a job and to rely on his driver for support and reassurance. As the number of uneventful (non-scary) trips out increases, so does the young horse’s confidence; he learns he is OK by himself, that nothing bad happens to him, that his driver will keep him out of trouble and won’t let him get hurt.
We began to take him out more on the streets in our little town. Every direction we go away from home is downhill, so he gets practice holding back the cart with the breeching (around his butt.)
May 10, Glen’s first street outing pulling the training cart. With practice, the horse learns to sit back into his haunches and walk more slowly going downhill, to resist the cart and driver’s weight.
By May 25 we were driving him into in Gilford Village! (Just a couple of blocks away, but a huge leap in environmental stimulus!)
Posing in the field before starting down to the Village, Hubby driving with friend Bailey (who loves horses) along for the ride.
Friend in passing car pauses to say Hello—
An encounter with flapping balloons on the roadside…
Every outing presents new stimuli for the young horse in training to deal with. He must become used to these things and not get spooked in order to be a steady horse for carriage driving. It surely helps to have a sane and calm-natured horse to begin with! Many horses do not have the temperament for driving; Percheron draft horses however were bred to have a calm disposition, and the Percheron half of our young geldings is evident in both of them! (Of course, Willy mare is the sanest Arabian around too, and she taught them how to be sensible!)
Glendale with Hubby and Bailey in downtown Gilford Village.
To get into the Village proper, we cross a 2-lane highway. At this point I am at the horse’s head for safety, in case I need to help steady him, so no videos of crossing the highway…!
Passing Gilford Village store! We keep telling them they need a hitching post!
In downtown Gilford Village, a group of folks outside the Gilford church call hello. Turns out one of them is HorseGal’s mom!!!
Glen getting exposure to a construction site where Gilford’s new library is being built.
Glendale and his passengers in front of the present Gilford library– looks like the new Library is a huge step up!
Walk on, Glen!
Stopping in neighbor’s driveway for conversation… It’s pretty cool how the things you want to practice in training seem to happen all by themselves when you go on an excursion!
[continuing report from Connie's friend, Guest Writer HorseGal... see previous post Herd of three visits HorseGal for background...]
HERD VISIT DAY 4 – Today Glendale had a slight accident when he had a 2 1/2 year old moment! He was in the indoor ring (the first time he’s ever been in one), and when the wind came up and shook one of the closed sliding doors, it spooked him. He took off and bolted for the outside going full tilt toward the gate. In the process he took the door off its hinges and injured his right hind leg when he attempted to jump over it (he didn’t realize he’s not a jumper).
He sustained a cut right on his leg (hock area) that swelled up. Emmie took care of him with Epsom salts and water and hopes that this will take care of the problem. Meanwhile, the Herd does seem to be settling into their surroundings.
HERD VISIT DAY 6 – Glen is healing quite well from his cut to his hock. The swelling is pretty much gone and you can see that the cut is healing. Glendale is showing no pain from his injury. He doesn’t seem to have any trouble walking or trotting. Em treated it with Epsom salts again.
Em trims Glendale’s muzzle whiskers with grooming clippers.
Emmie rode big brother Gilford around the indoor ring, working him and getting him into shape for driving this season. Gil likes to slack off when he thinks he can get away with it, however Emmie doesn’t let him get away with it! Emmie and Gilford make a stunning looking pair!! Today I took some pix of Em and Gil, helped her with Glendale and cleaned out the horse trailer so it would be ready for their trip home.
HERD VISIT DAY 7 – I am amazed at how these horses have relaxed!!! Emmie has taken Gilford and led him away from the enclosed area that they are in and not a sound out of Momma mare or baby brother!!! What a difference from Day 2 when Momma mare worked herself up into such a frantic and panicked state.
Today, it appeared that there was absolutely NO separation anxiety!! They were so relaxed that Glendale was lying down sunning himself and Momma had her eyes closed (she was standing) when we were coming back with Gilford after his workout!!! When Gil was returned to the pen and Glendale taken away, once again, there was not a whinny from either of the two remaining horses.
HERD VISIT DAY 9 – Em brought Momma mare into the barn to tack her up for a ride and, Momma was none too happy at being separated from her boys. The carrying on that horse did! She was crowding Emmie, pawing, tossing her head, whinnying, lifting her front legs off the floor (she was on the cross ties). Emmie, as usual, was SO calm about all this! Emmie would remind Momma that she was boss and that momma mare was not to be in her space, that she was not to paw, toss her head, etc.
At this point I’m thinking maybe Emmie shouldn’t ride her because she was so worked up, but Em did ride her and had no problems at all. Once Momma was out of the barn and working, I think that helped to distract her and keep her focused on what Emmie wanted her to do. She got Momma to use the thinking side of her brain, so it kept her focused on the business at hand.
On Willy momma, Emmie demonstrates sidepassing for HorseGal
I’ve read this countless times, that if you have a horse that has spooked or is all worked up about something, make them work and get that thinking side of their brain working by giving them a task to do. Emmie knowing what to do with Momma mare when she’s agitated all comes down to Emmie and Momma’s history together. Emmie knows that mare better than anyone and doesn’t get nervous or flustered when she gets worked up like that. I am learning so much about my beloved herd and horsemanship in general by watching Emmie!
