You might ask the previous owner what cues he used. Not every one uses standard cues, and the horse only knows what he has been taught. Not sure if gaited horses have different standard cues. The horse I've got now arrived having been ridden in a bosal for most purposes and with a snaffle bit as an emergency brake. I didn't know that until after our first ride. He slammed on the brakes every time I started taking slack out of the reins! Not a big deal to retrain once I knew where he was coming from.
Relaxing: It has always been an issue for me. What I'm finding helps me is slouching. Getting "on my pockets" with a loose back. If I focus on doing that, then the rest follows. Singing didn't work for me. My Arabian mare figured out I sang when I was nervous, so my singing became a cue for her to get nervous! But for me, I cannot slouch on my jeans pockets and stay tense in the rest of my body. Having something POSITIVE to do helps me far more than trying to NOT tense up.
If the horse has been trained for tight reins, he can be retrained for loose reins. You just have to insist on it. If the horse gets too fast, turn him. If need be, stop him entirely, then start over right away - no rest. In essence, you are saying, "
That isn't the right choice. Let's try again!"
The section below comes from a book by Tom Roberts called "Horse Control - The Young Horse". Every horse owner is forced to also be a horse trainer, and this is the best advice on training I've come across.
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Few people who set out to train and educate a young horse give any thought to the great difficulties that face the horse.
How many of us setting out to teach him have given serious thought or study of HOW to teach him: how to establish a system of signals or aids that most riders grow up with and accept as being natural, but of which the horse has no knowledge whatsoever?
I am going to ask you a question, and before you read on I would like you to answer it clearly – to yourself.
Question: “Why does a horse stop or go slower if you pull on the reins?” If you answer, “Because it hurts the mouth,” I am sorry to have to break the news to you – you have failed.
But no, I'll give you another chance: “Why do you jump up instantly if you sit on an upturned tack or drawing pin?”
If you answer again: “Because it hurts” - you really do need to read every word in this book!
The horse stops – and you jump up – not just because it hurts,
but to stop it hurting. By no means the same thing.
And there isn't any doubt: if jumping up didn't stop the pain, you would try doing something else. So, too, eventually, does the horse. These are not trick questions. If you really believe in and act on the answer you gave to the first, then you think that all you have to do is to hurt your horse's mouth and he will stop.
On the contrary, the important thing is to let him know – to teach him – how, by doing what you want of him, he can avoid any pain, irritation, inconvenience and discomfort the bit (or whip or spur) might otherwise cause. Good trainers do everything they possibly can to avoid hurting the horse or even letting him hurt himself. Our real goal should be never to have to hurt our horse.
Reward and punishment is often cited as the secret of successful horse training and undoubtedly both rewards and punishments have their place. But – we should seldom, if ever, resort to punishment when teaching our horse anything new.
Punishment, when we use it, should be reserved for exceptional occasions. Don't think “Reward and Punishment.”
Encourage and discourage is a better guide, as it drops the term “punishment.” When riding a young horse we alternate from encourage to discourage very frequently and quite often change from discourage to encourage several times in a matter of seconds.
But the term “discourage” still has the drawback that it can include punishment; and we should discard any term that could include punishment as a normal training procedure. Punishment and teaching are “divorced.”
It is to avoid using any expression that could possibly include punishment as a normal teaching procedure that I suggest you think in the terms:
“That will profit you – that will profit you not.”
These terms mean exactly – exactly – what they say.
“To Profit” is to benefit or gain: to be better off. The profit to the horse can be any reward or encouragement the trainer may think his pupil should receive – and it must, of course, be available to give.
“To Profit Not” means that the horse will gain or benefit not at all. Just that. It certainly does not mean that he will suffer a loss or be worse off – as he would be if he were punished.
This is what is so important about these expressions – and why I use them. By no stretch of the imagination can “Profit you not” be construed as punishment.
It consists of withholding any gain, reward, encouragement and profit. That, and only that.
Quiet Persistence
“It will profit you not” means that the horse will not be encouraged to follow a line of conduct other than what we have in mind for him. We withhold any gain – which means we quietly continue with our demands, whatever they may be.
We persist. We quietly persist with our demands.
This gentle discouragement of “quiet persistence” is something that horses seem to find irresistible. Whenever you are in doubt as to what course to follow, mounted or dismounted, revert to “Quiet Persistence.” Your quiet persistence is the real “That will profit you not.” It discourages the horse without punishing him.
Punishment does have its place in the training scheme, with some horses more clearly than with others – but even then it should be used only occasionally. Do not revert to punishment when you are trying to teach the horse something new. It upsets the horse and destroys the calmness so essential to his taking-in a new lesson. So punishments are “out” when teaching any new lesson.
End of Lesson
End of Lesson is the best, most effective and most convenient of all rewards and encouragements.
What End of Lesson means:
When teaching a horse almost anything at all – no matter what it is, “End of Lesson” means a pause, a break, a rest for a while – or even, on some occasions, completely finishing the work for the day at the moment the horse has made or is making progress in a lesson.
At the very instant of the action that constitutes progress, the teacher ends the lesson – for a while, at least.
Ending a lesson constitutes a reward, an encouragement, an incentive to the horse to try to follow and understand what is being taught to him.
The End-of-Lesson procedure is probably the most important procedure in the scheme of horse training. We use the End-of-Lesson technique from the first day our young horse is yarded and continue using it to the last day of his schooling.
End-of-Lesson is always available for use.
Because it is easy for the horse to understand, it keeps him calm and so leads to the greatest progress. When the horse is calm, the most permanent impressions are made on his mind.
End-of-Lesson is of equal value to the trainer. It keeps him looking for and recognising progress as the horse tries first one thing and then another. He looks for progress to encourage – rather than “stupidity” to punish.
“Old Hat”
“Old Hat” is another expression I will repeatedly use to indicate the horse's attitude to a previous experience. He (I pretend) says: “Old Hat!” whenever he is asked to do, again, something he has already proved to be not objectionable.
The “Old Hat” technique is literally used in hundreds of ways – as you will read later on. It means we do something (or get the horse to do something) new – and then before anything can go wrong or he becomes upset, we “End-the-Lesson.”
Next time he is in a similar position, he remembers nothing unpleasant resulted from the first occasion, and he remains calm. A few repetitions and he accepts it (whatever it is) as “Old Hat.”
An instance: we separate a foal from its dam for a few moments. Before the foal has time to become very excited at finding itself alone, we put them together again. Tomorrow or on some other occasion, we separate them again and once more put them together after a short period. We do this several times and after a while the foal ceases to worry. “It's 'Old Hat' - nothing to worry about, we'll get together again later on!” seems to be the reaction.
This is a characteristic of the horse. Recognize it and keep it in mind. From it we learn to repeat lessons rather than to prolong them – particularly if what we are doing or getting the horse to do is exciting or frightening to him.
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Every time you ride your own horse, you are training him. It never stops. You train him for things you like, or to stop doing things you dislike. If there was only one principle I could choose, it would be "
This will profit you. This will profit you not." It requires you to start thinking like a horse - what will make HIM feel right. What does HE consider 'profit'? To a horse, "profit" can mean, "
I go do this with my friends". It can include running. Or stopping. It can include mounting up and heading out with other horses. It can mean "
My rider is happy and relaxes and lets me relax too!"
Too often, people think of using "rewards" as "give the horse a treat". But if you can figure out things the HORSE enjoys, then the reward can mean a short run for an energetic horse. Or stopping, patting the neck to tell him it is OK, and letting him grab a few bites of grass. The reward - the profit - can simply be the harmony that exists between horse and rider.
