The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

New Horse

9K views 105 replies 23 participants last post by  EliRose 
#1 ·
On Monday I got a new horse (after much buying and selling trying to find the one). She is a 2 and a half year old palomino quarter horse. I named her June (not sure why, don't even know if I like the name but it felt right). She had not been halter trained and had never had her hooves messed with or anything like that, just lots of scratches and LOTS of treats, so to say the least, she's a spoiled brat. She was easy to halter break, I got her home Monday and 20 minutes later she was leading around fine (still needs some work on backing though), and she was easy to teach how to flex as well, and she would pick up her feet, although she wouldn't hold them up, so I thought "she's going to be easy"... Wrong! When it came time to lunge her she showed all her crazy, running and bucking and turning and kicking, and she kept trying to jump out of the round pen and she tore down a panel, so my friend tried to lay her down (which she finally did) and.. She bites! So I have my work cut out for me with this one, but luckily I have some friends to help me and I think she will be a great horse after she gets use to being made to work. We did saddle her up too and she didn't care about having the saddle on her back at all. Anyways, I've spent two days with her and that's how they've been so far, and I'll either work with her this afternoon or tomorrow, or both, and hopefully things go a bit more smoothly. I do love her though, she's a cute little thing.
 

Attachments

See less See more
9
#35 ·
I would start by focusing on basic ground manners that will be esstential later on in life for everything. Start of by leading and try to get her shoulder to stay even with your shoulder (She doesn't have to be perfect right away) if she lags behind take a driving whip and while you stay facing forward lightly tap her hip to get her to move up even with you. If she gets ahead of you take a crop and tap her on the chest to get her to back off. IF at light pressure she doesn't listen/respond correctly increase the pressure until she does what you want then praise her and start again. But always give her time to do the correct thing before correction or punishment.

Once she is good at leading forward at the walk, work on back....then work on some transitions walk, halt, back; back, halt, walk on etc. Then work on yeilding both fore and hindquarters. When she excels at these work on tying and having her stand still while doing various things around her. But always remember start slowly. She won't be a top trained horse if she gets pushed to hard too fast.
 
#36 ·
Walked her to the back of the property today, and lead her to a spot where there's a clearing in the woods. She leads really well, stays even with me and whoas good. She's getting better at backing already. She's not a jumpy horse, my last horse had his ears perked and eyes wide and kept trying to trot his first time back there and he had spent a lot of time on trail rides, but she could care less. She did spook once when something crashed through the woods but it scared me too! She didn't take off though, just jumped a little and stepped on my toe. Compared to past horses she's not spooky at all which I love. Yeah she jumped once today but it was loud and surprising and she didn't do anything out of control, and it was her first time out there. So I'm proud of her.
 
#38 ·
I've always liked Palominos, and this one is no different. I don't like hearing that she's a biter. A cure for biting that I grew up with is boiling a potato and stuffing it up your shirt or around the area she usually goes for and letting the horse go for the bite and hope the bite lands square on the potato. Later on, I read the same tactic in one of the books from Walter Farley's Black Stallion series. My suggestion is to watch her body language and get to know her habits. Especially key is how she acts right before she goes to bite and snap around to face her. Using equine language against her may be the best cure, imo. Good luck
 
#39 ·
A cure for biting that I grew up with is boiling a potato and stuffing it up your shirt or around the area she usually goes for and letting the horse go for the bite and hope the bite lands square on the potato. Later on, I read the same tactic in one of the books from Walter Farley's Black Stallion series.
How in the world is biting a potato (which has been boiled, so is soft) supposed to cure a horse of biting? That makes zero sense to me. :confused:
 
#43 ·
Never made any sense to me. I think it is just another part of a novel -- you know, 'fiction' -- not exactly a training tutorial.

If a horse is not aggressively attacking with its teeth, all you have to do his hold a nail in your hand and keep that hand between the horse and the place he usually tries to bite. I have not seen the horse that runs into that nail more than twice. Most only run into it once.

I never hit or slap horses, I seldom even pick up a whip or stick or flag. I never have horses that are head-shy or duck or dodge when you move a hand fast, but you can bet that they NEVER try to nip or bite me. Only new horses ever try. A lot of incoming horses people brought me when I still trained for the public would try to bite or nip when they came in. All it ever took (unless they were viciously attacking) was to hold that little nail and let them run into it.
 
#46 ·
It is just so easy and so effective to let them run into an unpleasant obstacle, that I cannot imagine why anyone would want to make it so complicated or get into a slapping / hitting game with them. They run into a sharp object and it is just like one ran into an electric fence. So very effective and they never blame you -- they blame the behavior .
 
#49 ·
I've heard of the nail thing, I'm sure it works, but I'm not going to wait until I have a nail in my hand to reprimand biting behavior. I will treat a horse like he's my annoying brother if he bites or threatens to bite (which is usually an elbow or firm pop on the nose). Might not work for everyone, but I've never had a head shy horse. Also never had a biter.
 
#52 ·
I've heard of the nail thing, I'm sure it works, but I'm not going to wait until I have a nail in my hand to reprimand biting behavior..
Well if you have a persistent biter you carry a nail everytime after the first time it happens without it! It really does work, especially if you buy something with an ingrained bad habit, and also mouthy foals when they start experimenting...The beautiful thing is that the horse decides itself to quit biting, because it decides humans are pointy spiky things :D
 
#50 ·
I think the biting is under control now. Took maybe 3 pops on the nose. She hasn't been under a ton of pressure but she hasn't tried to do it anymore. And per everyone's advice I started over and she is leading fantasticly, backing (although she does try and test me occosianly by not moving but i always get her backed), picking up her feet most of the time, yeilding to her forequarters good, yeilding to hand quarters decent, getting much easier to catch, and handles desensitizing pretty well. I've been watching a lot of missy wryn videos, what does everyone think of her?
 
#54 ·
I just watched all of her videos to see for myself. I appreciate how gentle she is. That being said, I generally steer clear of people who call themselves "horse whisperers". I noticed some of the things she does are very strange, like the constant baby talking, kissing horse's noses, etc. Don't get me wrong, I kiss my horse on the nose, but not usually while I'm trying to have a productive training session, LOL. Also, I feel like she doesn't do as much "horse training" as she does "oh wow the horse looked at me, so much progress" *five minutes of baby talk to horse*. Not sure how productive that will be, but if you feel it is working, I say keep doing it. However, if you want to be able to ride your horse within the next five years, you might want to mix some other training methods in with the Missy Wryn stuff you're doing. There are several of decent trainers with youtube channels out there, just look up any of the numerous "who is your favorite trainer" threads here on HF and start searching.
 
#55 ·
I have taken some time to read through this thread and, although I may not be a trainer, I have a degree in equine exercise physiology. During the course of reviewing everything discussed here, I want to encourage everyone involved to remember that although we all have our varying areas of expertise, it's important to note that we all come here to get more wisdom and information and not to be overly harsh with criticisms of tactics tried. I do see that a sense of urgency needed to be imparted on the seriousness of what lying a horse down means to the animal experiencing it. So, with all this being said, I think it is often misunderstood how exactly the mind of a horse works and what limitations are naturally in place that add to the 'reasoning' of horses. Practically every single horse owner understands that they are operating from the perspective of fight or flight. It's often very easy to forget horses are prey when you're looking at an 800 lb. plus animal. They are quick, reactionary animals and even the position of their eyes add to some of their fearful instincts as they are equipped with blind spots. We also tend to grant them immense reasoning abilities that they actually do not possess. They are quite literally functioning from learned, adapted, inherited, environmental, physiological, and nutritional influences. It truly takes vast amounts of patience and observations to assess what each animal is like and a clear understanding of what will work best for your horse. There should be a foundational framework that clearly demonstrates who the leader is. ...Whose hooves moves first looses! I am eager to help in anyway possible and I would recommend that you do a search for the kit to make a horse hat which gives you the ability to know what it's like to have the limited vision of a horse and just how much they rely on our guidance and trust as you are led around with only a guide rope to point the way through obstacle. I found it very revealing in showing me what my own personal flawed perceptions were and the exercises opened up an entirely new approach in the way I handle and work with any horse.
 
#57 ·
June is getting really good at leading, stopping, flexing, yielding to her for and hind quarters, standing tied, and picking up her feet. There's one foot I have to struggle a little to get up and were still having some problems with backing but were making good progress now. After I practiced those things with her today I desensitized her with the lead rope and then a plastic bag, which she doesn't mind unless the bag is above her head, but she's still not even too bad about that. I had her walk over some things, she wanted to go around at first but once I showed her what to do she was good. I also saddled her up and she just stood there calmly, and then after I walked her around a bit and unsaddled her I laid across her back, she tried to take a step but my grandpa had the lead rope and he whoad her and then she was fine. Very calm about everything, I hope it wasn't too soon to do that, I just want to get her use to the sounds and feel of the saddle and the weight on her back, obviously I'm not gonna try to hop on and ride her yet. I think tomorrow I may try to lunge her, any tips for that?
 

Attachments

#58 ·
I do agree about Missy Wryn. I watch her videos to get a clear idea and good description of where I should be standing, where I should tap the horse, etc. and also because she explains a lot about what a horses reaction means and why they react like that and I like that, it helps me understand what I'm doing better and feel more confident, especially because I've learned how to earn the horses respect. But I do speed things up a bit and add them together and cut out all the baby talk, unless we make a really big break through. I don't like listening to all her baby talk but I do feel like I've learned a lot of small helpful things. It was evident today that I'm improving as a trainer because there was lots of licking and chewing going on.
 
#59 ·
Since everyone has been so helpful, I have a question.
June has been doing really well with all the basics, and were started on lunging, just walking and it's still a little bumpy but we're getting there. I've been laying over her back to get her use to the weight and the feeling, she just stands there very calmly, would you say it's safe for me to sit all the way on her yet? No moving, just sitting?
 
#60 ·
i wouldnt. that would again, be pushing it too far. i know its exciting to get your leg over a horse the first time, but patience is key. get her lunging nicely first. then get her saddled regularly and lunging with a saddle well. then long line her for a while. i would continue occasionally laying over her back. i would also pony her if possible, with and without a saddle.

only after shes lunging nicely in the saddle, long lining well with good flex to both the right and left, only then would i go ahead and do a session of getting on and off a few times. after that session, maybe the next day, get on, stand for a minute or two, then ask her to walk, and move from there.

it takes a while to build a horse up mentally to where they can handle the pressure of a human being on their back. push her too far too soon, and youl have a horse that decidedly does not like people on top of them.
 
#61 ·
Thanks for the advice! I was only going to sit on her bareback for a second in the round pen, but if it's best to wait that's what I'll do. I have had the saddle on a couple of times and laid over her. But I'll work on lunging today because she definitely needs more practice with that.
 
#62 ·
How is she with people above her? Have you tried grooming stood on a step ladder? I've not yet had a horse I have backed been bothered by weight, but what they can freak about is when you sit up and they see you above them, but behind. Lots for grooming with a step ladder and doing other stuff above them seems to sort this issue :)

It's exciting isn't it? Best feeling in the world is starting your own :)
 
#63 ·
Hmm I'm not sure, but I'll try it! When I first started laying over her back I started out standing on a block so I wasn't jumping, because I didn't want her to take off, so I was a little higher than her then and she didn't mind, and she didn't mind me laying on her so I just jump up there now. I move around when I'm up there to see if she's going to care when I swing my leg over but she's so calm about everything. If she was a nervous horse I wouldn't be so excited about wanting to sit on her but she's so dang relaxed. Even when she does spook she's not like my last horse, she just jumps a little or moves sideways a bit but then goes right back to how she was, where as my last horse jumped a lot and would take off walking fast, or just take off, and then it'd take him a while to calm down and quit breathing heavy. So even though she will spook a little at some stuff, I like the way she gathers herself, and I think with more desensitizing and work she will be a pretty tough care free little horse. I really don't think she'd mind if I sat up on her, but I'll continue to wait and try some grooming on a stool. She still needs work with lunging too, she just wants to come into me instead of going around. But I am loving training my own horse, I'm learning so much and I'm building such a good bond with her as well, and it's very exciting when we both get something right. On a side note, I don't have to catch her anymore, she just comes to me, I think the other day we made a break through with trust because I went out and she was laying down, of course I stopped to take a picture and she stood up but I did make it fairly close to her and she didn't mind me being there while she was laying down, then she came up to me and let me (very slowly) put my hands on her face, and then I let her just sniff me all over while I picked burrs out of her hair then I just hung out out there with her for a while, just sat down and talked to her. Ever since then she comes right up to me and will follow me around even without a halter on and let's me touch the top of her head and ears now. I'm really loving this horse.
 
#65 ·
So. I've been reading and researching and watching videos (because what else is a horse obsessed person suppose to do in their free time?) and I've decide my goal is to be able to ride June with a neck reign ring, instead of a bridle or halter. But to go about that, when the time comes should I start her training with a bridle then switch to neck reign ring, or just start with the neck reign ring? Or both?
 
#66 ·
Start with a bridle. Go bitless if you really want, but I always teach horses in a simple o ring snaffle first, it makes it easier to teach them. My process in teaching a horse to steer with a neck rein (and what would probably work best if you want to eventually use a neck ring) is first ask them to turn with a rein against the neck (classic neck rein), if they don't turn after one stride, ask with the leg (which they should respond to if you've taught them to move off of pressure on the belly from the ground), then a light pull off the rein (they should bend their head and neck easily if you've taught them proper bending on the ground first) You keep all three cues "on" until they actually turn. Do this over and over in both directions until they begin turning just from the neck rein. Also, instill a great, and I mean fantastic verbal "whoa" into the horse from the get go. (This is One reason why long lining is important. You should have a good "whoa" established from lunging, but when long lining, you add the pressure from the bit to reinforce the whoa. You say whoa, if they don't stop right away, you pull back a little on the long lines abd repeat your whoa, increasing pressure until they stop then IMMEDIATELY releasing. In the saddle, you introduce the seat into the whoa. You sit back and give a verbal whoa at the same time, if they don't stop, you use the bridle. If you do this consistently, the horse will catch on that when your weight shifts back, they need to stop. After a while, you won't need the reins, or the verbal whoa, they'll stop as soon as you mean back )

After you have the horse responding immediately to the neck rein RELIABLY, abd has an amazing whoa, you can move to the neck ring. When you lay the ring against their neck, it works like neck reining, abd they turn. When you sit back and say whoa, they stop without needing the bridle.

I sometimes ride my mare with just a rope around her neck. We've jumped, done figure eights, practised stopping abd backing, turning on the fore and hind...but it took two years of working with her on the basics before I felt secure doing it.

Like everything with horses, there are very important, very precise steps you have to take in training, to prepare them for the end goal. It's doable, with dedication and common sense.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top