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Horse training, few things...

2K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  howrsegirl123 
#1 ·
I really want to be better connected with my horse and build a better relationship with him. He's quite herd bound, and I would like for him to get over that. When I take him away by himself all he does is worry about the others. I want him to be calmer when he's with only me, more responsive to me, really enjoy being with me...I would really like to use natural methods; I don't want to use force or punishment. I've been looking at Linda Tellington Jones' training methods, and I've heard lots of success with those, so I would really like to do some with my horse. I've tried some before, he seemed to relax a little, but I'm just not sure if I'm doing them right/what exactly I need to be doing. But overall I want him to trust me more and be happy to see me and be with me. Any ideas on exercises/methods to try?
 
#5 ·
Take him for nice long walks, soon he wont mind leaving his friends. You can take him for a walk and then have a grooming session with him. Clinton Anderson has some good techneques, I also like Linda but I havent gotten to read her training book.
 
#6 ·
I'm not sure I'm what you'd call a "natural horseman" but this is something I've noticed with herd-bound horses, and something that has worked for me in the past.

A couple things should be addressed here I think.

The horse HAS to be 100% certain that you are in a leadership position in your relationship. There are no buts, and it's NOT debatable.

If he's not paying attention (i.e. worrying about his friends, fussing, dancing, etc), he needs to work his furry hind end until his attention comes back. I usually do quick circles if I can, back him up quickly, push his hind quarters over. You can make the work constructive, but it's still gotta be work. He doesn't get to relax until his attention is back on you. For me, that means at least one (preferably both) of those ears are glued on me.

One way to establish leadership and trust so that he doesn't argue with you and question whether he wants to be back with his buddies is to challenge the horse with things that he perceives as scary and overcome them. My guy was terrified of those wooden bridges from western trail classes, so we spent some time overcoming that fear with lots of positive reinforcement. You can lay down tarps and walk over them, go for walks with him either on him or off of him, flap scary things around him... the goal is to set up small challenges and overcome them. This will also slowly lead towards a bombproof horse. (Just an added bonus)

Now, to make sure the experience is a positive one, before putting him back in the field with his buddies do something he likes. My guy gets his grain right before going back with his friends. Some horses I know like a really good brushing. When putting him back in the field, maintain that "leadership" role, and make sure YOU are the one who decides it's okay for him to go back to his friends. I turn my guy towards me, make him stand for a moment, then when I remove his halter I push his neck away from me to let him know he's allowed to go.

These are some tricks that have worked for me. Good luck with your guy!
 
#7 ·
In my experience there are two distinct situations...
1) The I would rather be with my buddies horse. You need to be the boss, push them forward and ride it out. Once out of sight of the herd, they typically become much more focused.
2) The insecure, I'm afraid to be separated from my buddies. These are easier to start out on, but become more nervous after loosing sight of the herd. With these, you need to have their trust and be the fearless leader. If they trust you, they'll go anywhere, even when they're unsure and nervous.

In either case, lots of practice and miles.
 
#8 ·
In order to be the leader with your horse, you need to understand how your horse perceives your actions and how your horse picks up on the most subtle of cues. One way to learn this is to do some reading. Find out what various horsemen have to say about horses and horse behaviour. There are many trainers and methods that offer good insight. Read as many as you can and look for the commonalities. John Lyons, Buck Branneman, Monty Roberts, Ray Hunt, Linda Tellington, Pat Parelli, Chris Irwin, etc. all have some good things to offer regarding training and leadership. Once you have done some reading, try, if you can, to go to some clinics or find a good trainer who can give you precise feedback about what your body language is saying to your horse.

Going out to a trainer or clinic is a great way to work on the "buddy sour" issues as well. You won't cure your horse of being barn sour or buddy sour if you don't regularly give him the "opportunity" to practice being away from the barn or the herd. I have found with my horses that it isn't being away that is so bad, but the process of going away. Once the horses are out of sight and sound of each other, it isn't an issue anymore. The first step is to establish safe control and leadership, and as I mentioned, a trainer who can read horse language and help you work on your body language would be a great help.
 
#9 ·
Here is the biggest thing in ANY relationship, you cant have trust if you have no respect. And that respect works both ways. As does the trust. Spend time with your horse away from the others, grooming, holding to eat grass, if he gets disrepectful to you because he is worried about the others make him work. Then as said above, once you have his attention back, go back to grooming or whatever.
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#10 ·
I so agree with everyone about the respect as with it comes trust. My girl was herd bound for a while. I would take her out, she would fret, and I would take her and work with her, but I would not react harshly to her fretting, I just kept working her until she calmed down. After a while, she would get tired and would stop worrying and would do her job.

Then, when I would take her back to the barn, she would start getting excited. Everytime she tried to walk ahead of me or get excited, I wouldn't get mad, I would either back her up or start circling her. The first day of doing this it probably took me an hour before I got her back to the barn (it's a very short walk), but I made sure I wasn't mad, just made sure she knew it was going to go down how I wanted it to, or she wasn't going back there until she was calm and walking and stopping when I wanted her to. I also would take her for walks and did a lot of ground work with her.

After about a week I noticed that she was getting less herd bound. Then after about two or three weeks she was coming to me and was leaving with no problem. Now, she runs to me when she sees me. It just takes patience. You have to be sure you are not fretting and just focus on simple things, like I want you to go over here with me and then make your horse do it. The respect will come and with it the trust.
 
#11 ·
Sometimes when we ride in the arena by ourselves he gets balky and refuses to go forward again after stopping, he'll start backing up; or when we're trotting he tries to go really fast and isn't focused. This doesn't happen every time, but I really noticed it today...while we were riding he really wanted to get back to his buddies.
 
#12 ·
Yo get a horse to respect you, it has to have trust in you.
The only way the horse gains trust is for you to take the leadership role. This means correcting every movement you do not want.
You want to be leader by being 'nice' which is your way of thinking but not the horses.
When a horse is corrected for unwanted behaviour and this has to start with tight boundaries, it will trust you faster than any chasing it in circles or massage.
Correction does not mean beating it up it means making it do the smallest thing you asked for.
If I have a horse that is wanting to get back to the other horses and is restless, calling out, looking in the herd direction generally not taking any notice of me, I will gain its attention with a couple of jerks on the halter, making sure it realises that I am there and demanding its attention. Correction like this must be consistent and authoritative. They will respect you more for it providing it is firm and fair.
 
#13 ·
We have a new foal we've been turning out with the three geldings, and Ace has gotten really attached to him. If the foal's in the pasture and I take Ace into the barn by himself, he freaks. But when we take the foal and dam in to their barn for the night and then I take Ace into the barn by himself he's fine.

Sometimes Ace seems like he really enjoys being with me, and he's happy to just do whatever. But sometimes ALL he can think about is being with the others. And I can't really say when this happens, as it's kinda inconsistent...so I would just like him to trust and respect me more all around.
 
#14 ·
One thing I never do with a herd bound horse is let him pull me around or 'force him' to walk, or whatever.

If he wants to dance and jig about while on the line, because he is herdbound, fine, I will gladly oblige; I have all sorts of groundwork exercises up my sleeve that I teach my horses, or that I train to project horses, so it's not like I can't work that tail off, and get that focus back on me, and I always work them a little beyond the time they put their focus back on me...

If you are undersaddle...same thing; especially if he is pulling on you; one thing I absolutely HATE seeing is people forcing a herd bound horse to walk, or allowing him to move faster when he is going toward the arena gate, or toward home. Now, granted, if where they want to be, is at the arena gate, I DO work their tail off there, and rest them AWAY from the gate. But I don't allow them to pull me around. I make sure they know how to laterally flex, especially, before I get on (if it's a project horse), so I know I can get them around into a circle, since I focus on circle, serpentine, figure 8, type work, when working their butts off when undersaddle. I also make sure they know an effective one rein stop.

An important peice of 'natural horsemanship' is making the wrong thing hard, and the right thing easy; and it will be different for each horse some times. For some horses, the one exercise may be learned in a couple of 10 minute exercises, and the same exercise may take a different horse several longer more exerting exercises.
 
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