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at the beginning of NH...

2K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  cowgirl928 
#1 ·
So since I can't ride to due pregnancy, I want to do some natural horsemanship things with my mare to continue to build a bond and to have her learn some things to keep her mind sharp while I'm not riding her. But there's a problem...I don't know where to start. I can do some free lunging with her in a smaller arena and can halt her and ask her to come to me but that is about the extent of it. So what next? We're coming out of the throes of cold and into the nasty season of mud and such (and I have 21 credits of classes this semester) so I can't get out to see her every day. We are at a once a week basis for seeing each other and I really want her to learn things while I'm incapacitated haha

So where do I go from here? I would like to teach her voice command "whoah" but I know how to do that considering I do it for all my horses, but that is something that isn't a huge deal to me. I want to do exercises with her that teach her, challenge both her mind and mine, and help us both learn from each other. Along with this, I want to be able to keep her in shape so as soon as physically possible I can hop right back on after baby is born! I can't have a longer wait then possible! This not riding is killing me! So, ideas? Resources?
 
#2 ·
You'll have varying opinions on this but I would check out Clinton Anderson and Parelli. I like the seven games from Parelli, they're fun and a great basis for NH. Most things with NH do take time, but I do it when I can't ride and when we're taking a break. There are so many other trainers out there, I use methods from many and combine them. So find some you like and give it a go. Not riding kills me as well, so I know where you're at. :lol:

Downunder Horsemanship
Horse Training Games - the Friendly Game

Good luck! I find NH to be very rewarding for both you and the horse.
 
#3 ·
Go out with her and play around with body language. No halter on her and no whip for you. When you get a response, practise it a few times so you commit it to memory She is responding to your body, not necessarily what you had in mind. When she responds, turn your back to her and walk away and don't look at her for a couple of minutes. That completely releases any pressure on her which is a huge reward. Approach and do the exercise again. It may be even better this time. Try standing beside her as another horse would. Do what she does -if she walks, you walk with her, if she looks away, so do you. If she backs up she's telling you she wants you to be the leader and a subordinate would never put it's head ahead of a horse that's higher in the hierarchy of the herd. Try working with her without talking as it makes you focus more on your body. With my second son I rode on a Sun. afternoon and he arrived on Tues. full term.
 
#4 ·
Checking out Clinton Anderson wouldn't be a bad idea. He is a very good people trainer as well as a horse trainer. I have used his methods and they worked great for me. I find Clinton far easier to understand than Pat and what he does vs Pat just makes more sense.

I did try Pats stuff once, but they're was just too much right brain-left brain-horseinality-test everything on people first-garbage... and that may be just fine for some people, but not me!

But, them two aren't the only trainers you can follow out there! There are so many more that people don't talk about as much. It's always Clinton vs Pat. You could check out John Lyons, Chris Cox, Chris Irwin, Monty Roberts... (I have only heard of Monty--haven't actually looked him up, but I've heard a lot of people like him.)

You can just go to You-tube for ideas, too.
 
#5 ·
thank you all for the suggestions...I'm a little iffy on following trainers because i dont want to have to be pushed to buy all sorts of fancy equipment to accomplish something with my mare. when i think nh i think nothing but using your own body for cues, someone care to correct me or is this a general opinion?
 
#8 ·
Depends on your horse lol some horses need the equipment and will not respond to your body cues at first because you are not a horse.
The videos are expensive, and as i said above, it is very hard, no matter which trainer you follow, to know exactly which DVDs are going to give you the most beneficial information.
The equimpent on the other hand does not have to be expensive if you make it yourself.:wink:
The most common NH tools are the
carrot/training stick
Yacht ropes, 12-22 feet
rope halters
The carrot sticks are usually between $15-20 but for the longest time i just used a 4-foot buggy whip with a string tied to the end. Not quite as rigid but it worked.
Rope halters are easy enough to come by
Yacht rope can be found at any hardware store and comes in different lengths. You can also buy snaps for them and when the price is all added up, it typically comes to just under the retail cost of these ropes online, only without the added shipping charge.

If you are going to delve into NH, you cannot do it halfway because there is ALOT more that goes into it than what some videos might lead you to believe.
 
#6 ·
I think who you follow is purely a personal thing, which is why i hate threads where people ask which NH trainer is best.
I'm the opposite of HorseCrazyTeen as i follow the Parellis and find their programs much easier to understand.
This being said, i have looked into Clinton, Buck and a few others and actually went so far as to order DVDs (though Bucks were borrowed lol) but i will prefer the Parellis. Nothing against the others, though, i got many tips from them all.

The Parellis, however, do not have many training videos on the internet and if you truly want to grasp their methods and concepts accurately and in depth, you have to order the DVDs, which can be pricey. even the books do not give a clear idea of what they are on about, and these are the reasons i believe many people dont like them. The free/cheaper info that they have out there is not very good or helpful.

And they have many DVDs, so for me it helps that i have a friend who is a member of their Savvy Club who gets the DVDs herself and then i just borrow ha ha That way i know which ones to get that are the most informative ;)
 
#7 ·
Learning trainers' methods do not require that you purchase their gizmos. They use a lot of the same stuff anyway, just calling the equipment different names. You can be created and modify. It's more about reading the horse and developing communication between the two of you. Sometimes, just sitting and being with the horse, watching is the best bonding thing you can do. Learn how to develop an eye for when to add pressure and when to take the pressure away. It can be a very fine line, but a huge success.
 
#9 ·
Yeah, I just use a regular lunge whip with a string, and I had to make do with a regular halter for a long time. Tools directly from the trainers are crazy priced...
 
#10 ·
ok, you will want to do things that don't require you to be light on your feet, since you won't be.

how about things like:

lower your head for me

lift horse's feet with rope.

teach horse to stand on a pedestal (at least front feet on)

lead horse while dragging a tarp (might come under the light on your feet category if your mare is too reactive)
 
#11 ·
Another one is backing up with you standing still and motioning your horse back. (That's the goal anyway, but you shouldn't have to move around too much.)

One thing my trainer taught me for backing that's kind of neat: Instead of saying "back" say "sssss", or something discreet. Then the judges couldn't see her mouth moving if she used her voice. Ha ha.
 
#12 ·
I like those ideas Tiny, shes the kind of horse where once you show her something spooky(like the tarp) once, she could care less. Thank you for the not so light on my feet ideas everyone haha
 
#13 ·
The things you can do are only really limited by your imagination and maybe what’s lying around where your horse is. I use all Parelli methods of lateral lunging on all the horses I train. Once they can circle round me a couple of times in each direction nice and smooth I go off into a paddock and look for stuff to do. For example I’ll walk out with them and lunge them along beside me or in front of me, get them changing sides, so I don’t just lead them everywhere. I might find a small gully and jump them back and forth over that, then when they do that find a bigger gully; or get them running in and out of the gully. Then find fallen trees to jump over, or a dam wall to run up and down; so I might stand at the bottom of the dam and have them go up the wall and down again, make them go up and stop on top of it then come back the other way. Then I might get on top of the wall and lunge them up and over the other side, or even get them to walk though the water. Side pass along the top o the dam wall. There are all sorts of things you can do. And doing it all, at the start at least, all I use is a rope halter and a 12 foot yacht rope lead with a leather popper on it, neither are the Parelli brand, I make them myself.

Once they do all that in their sleep I start upping the challenge, years ago before I had to put horses aside for university the best lunging horses I had I’d go run in the milker calves or the night with. I’d sit on one horse and work the cattle with the other on a 40 odd foot long lead rope. That was great fun. Never did get them doing it at liberty though. Get them working like that and they will start being good horses.
 
#15 ·
Yeah, I should have probably worded it better. Getting them doing it till they get board can be as bad as letting them get pushy, what I probably should have said get them going till they are doing it without any hiccups, real smooth and with the smallest amount of stimuli
 
#17 ·
For $20 on can get at least a dozen downloadable videos on Cynthia Royal and how she works with her horses. Her description of horse communication was based on a story she tells. You have to work in a factory in china and the foreman, speaking his own language, tells you how to do the job. Since you haven't a clue of what he's saying he gets louder like you are a little deaf. Then when he uses hand gestures you start to figure it out. This is human horse interaction. It's more about what our body is telling them than the voice. For $20 you download the videos one at a time, they are numbered, and then save each. It can take a few hours to get them all. It's the best $20 a person could spend on working with a horse.
 
#18 ·
The other day I spent some time with Zulu just doing fun stuff. I put treats on the barrels in the arena and worked on moving him toward them (at liberty) and pointing to the place I wanted him to put his nose on. he started to get the idea; going off to check out all the barrels. he associated the treats with the barrels and not with my pointing, but one step at a time.

I dont' expect this to really carry over into riding other than that he may look at me with interest, thinking that something good will come of our time together. it's purely for our enjoyment. It's much easier to do with a halter and lead, as I can indicate where I want him to place his thought much easier that way.

you could wrap the rope around your mare's tummy and see if you can "lead" her by this, and just work on movieng the rope all around her body, her legs, things like that. Make her as non-spooky as possibe, so when you get back to riding and your body is a bit whacked out from the birth hormones (they loosen your ligamnets, especially in the pelvis) and you need to be twice as careful as before (because you have a child to raise, now) , you'll have a more reliable horse.

When is your baby due?
 
#19 ·
Our baby is due either in late July or early August, but since I'm only 4'10" I have a feeling I'll go early for the sake of my body and the possibility that because of my height I may soon be re-evaluated as a high-risk pregnancy :?. I love the ideas that you have Tiny, the rope one is definitely one I will be trying, and soon might I add. I have a book on bomb-proofing which will be utilized to its full extent, but again I don't have a lot of equipment. Hunny is currently at my friends small horse ranch for boarding and I have a feeling that if I build some small obstacles for she and I to go over (i.e. bridges) and other things my friend will have me work with her horses on those obstacles as well. At least this means they won't go to waste.
 
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