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Getting colt to walk off

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  LilyandPistol 
#1 ·
Well, Mav and I have been working together a good amount. Just yesterday, I decided he was officially "two" since we know he was born around March two years ago, and St. Patrick's Day will be simple to remember.
At this point, heres what we've got so far.
*Takes his bit AMAZING. Just put your hand on top of his head, hold the bit in the other and he does the rest.
*Stands pretty still for being cinched and saddled. Gets a little antsy when cinching if you go to fast, but he's fine if you take it easy.
*Turns under saddle. Sort of. :P
*Lunges at walk and (inconsistent) trot. Working on consistent trot and canter. Also need to work on something inconvenient Paw accidentally programmed in him where he won't walk off lunging unless you tug his halter a little. That means until I fix it he can't be free lunged...
*backs up on command if you tap his front leg(s) and say "shh". Very helpful since he will let you do so with your foot.
*picks up feet and knows how to be balanced while he does so.
*mounts great, even if you do so quickly and rudely.
* fairly relaxed while leading, easier to slow him down than to speed him up.
* walks away from his mother Dixie without a huge issue. (The same cannot be said for Dixie.)
* In the occasion he attempts to bolt while on a lead, as soon as he feels the lead pull him he stops (also unlike his mummy).

So, besides working on lunging he's pretty awesome. I've gotten him to where he can turn fairly well, still need to do a lot of "tuning" it. However, after I fix that... I have a big question. Uh... How do I teach him to walk off? *blushes* I would prefer to just be able to kiss/click at him and not have to nudge him to get him to walk off but it's fine if I do have to. Just a preference.
So question is, how do you teach a colt to walk off under saddle?
 
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#2 ·
I won't pretend to have a lot of experience here. I've saddle broken 1 colt with plenty of supervision. But, with that said, I'll tell you what worked for me.

I used a lot of voice commands. Those are the easiest commands for the horse to understand both from the ground and under saddle. You may be able to solve both problems with the same solution. Do you have a round pen? Teach him to move off while free longing by clucking (or whatever sound) first, then use your body language and swing the rope in your hand towards his hindquarters. Start with small gestures, but make them bigger until he moves away from you. Once he takes even a step, stop clucking and swinging the rope. At first, let him go at whatever speed. After a lap or so, ask him to whoa. Let him rest and then cluck again. Repeat until he learns that cluck means go. Eventually refine the cues so that different gaits have different voice commands. AFTER that, cluck to him under saddle. He may be hesitant at first, be he should be able to understand what you want. You may need to shift your weight a little to encourage him, but he won't understand what kicking means anyway.
 
#3 ·
You can use a rope, a whip, a buggy whip, a handy stick, a flag -- it doesn't really matter. The idea is to enforce your verbal go cue with an action that will reinforce the cue. Most of the time it's enough to spank the ground behind the horse.

The first time under saddle, reinforcing the same cue might be safer with a helper. After that cluck means go, followed by pressure from your heels, followed by a whack on the butt.
 
#4 ·
Okay, so a little update.
Maverick learns REALLY quickly. Today I lunged him and managed to not only free lunge him without the lunge rope, but also got him to consistently trot AND (inconsistently) canter, lunging! :O
I s'pose I could try the teaching clucking means go thing, that seems logical.
And of course, I suppose I should have some sort of reinforcement. That's what I got out of Joe Reiter's post... What about a dressage whip?
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