[ilovesonya]

I would like to train Sonya to neck rein so running barrels and poles are easier, and if I want to show her in any western classes in the future.

So how do I do this, or at least start?
Here is her info:
Name: Sonya Age:3 (4 in march) Breed: QH/Appy Height: 14.3
Activities: Currently doing trail rides and light work since she is 7 mos preggo, but before I was riding her english(w/t/c), and doing barrels and poles every so often. I even entered her in a show at her barn and she came in 3rd for barrels, and 3rd for poles(she would have placed higher but the ring was a swamp so we were just doing walk trot).


Hope you can help!

 

[Honeysuga]

There is a thread in the Western Riding section about neck reining, that should help you out.

 

[EveningShadows]

K so couple questions...

Let's start with why is your GRADE FILLY pregnant? It's my understanding that *most* horses don't stop growing til age 5-8 and are not considered adults until at LEAST age 4...couldn't wait til her knees are fully closed to breed her?

Second...were you competing "in a swamp" on a bred filly or a 2 year old? Kinda lost me there...sounds like it was more of a fun show than anything though so I see no reason a 3 year old couldn't do that.

Back to the point of the topic...I know of 2 ways to train to neckrein. Either the old fashioned lean the outside rein across the neck before applying direct pressure and wait til they connect the dots, or if she's a quiet horse then you can cross the reins under her neck before putting them over to ride. BUT then you can ONLY neckrein, no straight reining because the outside rein that touches the neck will also be the direct pressure touching the inside of the bit. Make sense?

Hope you get it sorted out and she foals out healthy...sorry if I sound bitter but I sold a 3 year old to an idget that bred her that spring - she had a still born and nearly died herself. I see NO reason to breed ANYTHING before the age of 4, even WITH a vet's ok...they're babies themselves and I don't feel their body is ready to take that kind of stress, never mind competing as well. *shakes head*

 

[ilovesonya]

Honeysuga - Thanks! I will go check that out!

EveningShadows - Ok, first off, don't yell at me when you don't even know the whole story. You do siund bitter right through the whole post, and rather rude. I had no intention of EVER breeding Sonya. She is just a riding horse to me, not anything worthy of being bred. It scares me half to death that she is pregnant and something might go wrong and something bad will happen to Sonya or her foal.
"...couldn't wait til her knees are fully closed to breed her?" Rude much? Actually I never decided to breed her, she bred herself, thanks.
The ring wasn't actually a swamp, the middle had puddles in it from rain the day before so we were riding on the outside of the ring. As I said it was just walk/trot, and people ride there mares alot harder than walk trot when they are even farther along in their pregnancy. OK, the show was just on the farm, just for the horses on the farm, so it only had 7 or 8 horses entered. The show was in the beginning of October, and I didn't find out she was preggo til the end of November. She was only about 4 months preggo in the comp...
I know it is very bad that she is pregnant, but there is nothing I can do about it, and I didn't know that she was pregnant when competing.

I know I sounded bitter but wouldn't you if someone was yelling at you over something you had no control over?

Thanks for the info on neck reining...

 

[Kansasbarrelracer]

when I train to neck rein, I always push with my outside leg....that way the horse really moves. When I'm training barrels I push with my inside leg, that way they can really move with the turn.

I ride in spurs, yes hate me if you have too, but my spurs have a soft rowl and I'm not spur crazy when their on. When I'm training that horse to neck rein, I gently spur with the inside leg, and lay the rein over their neck.....I never get in their mouth when reining, I want the horse to feel the pressure of the rein and move away from it.

 

[ilovesonya]

Thanks Kansasbarrelracer. I will use my legs ALOT more with I try to neck rein.

 

[EveningShadows]

I'm not yelling, I'm voicing my opinion. There's no way to emphasize anything so I used caps on certain words to exaggerate them.

I'll start with "she bred herself, thanks". Ummm...how exactly? Either you have a loosly kept stallion roaming or it was a whoops. I can understand a whoops in the case of the mare getting out and going to see the stallion...happened to me once, my 16 year old mare jumped the fence and ran down the road to see the stallion a couple farms over. Stuff happens and I get that, but by how you described it initially, there was no inkling that it was an unplanned event. Just that she was bred and you wanted to start a new training endevour.

The swamp thing I was just quoting your statement and I backed it up with a 3 year old should be able to handle that fine. Question though...how do you not know your mare is pregnant? Even if she did break out and get tagged by a stallion, first thing you do is get a vet check to confirm, not enter in a competition and hope for the best. How long have you had this filly?

And I fully agree that a bred mare is more than ridable...but it's designed to be stress free rides that keep her in shape, not stressful competitions with strange horses and new surroundings. Again, these are only my opinions and I'm not yelling at you. I rode most of my mares well into pregnancy, but the last trimester was strictly once a week walking up and down the road...stress to a seasoned broodmare can be devastating, nevermind a maiden filly. Personally, if she were my filly, regardless of how she got pregnant, I would be giving her the rest of her pregnancy off. Not to say she can't handle it, but you want her to have her best chance at a problem free delivery, no? Also, that's not to say you can't still work with her...I just wouldn't ride her through the rest because of the circumstances. Ground work, lunging, round penning, maybe some trick training...keep human time light and fun to keep her respectful, but nothing to stress her both physically or mentally.

 

[ilovesonya]

How did she breed herself?
The farm I board Sonya at kept a 2yr old stud colt in the same pasture with her and 7 other horses, and apparently he was 'shooting blanks'. Now before you start yelling at me, they are paying for vet checks and indoor board January- weaning time. So thats how she got pregnant.
About the swamp thing, I didn't know she was pregnant until a month after the comp.
About the competition, it was on the farm she lives on, with horses she rides or is pastured with. There were only 20 or so people watching, and she has been around more than that this summer. There were no new surroundings.
As of now I am just talking her around the ring and down the trails bareback, so she doesn't get her lungs squashed with the girth and the foal, and I was just thinking teaching her to neck rein would be something not to stressful and different to do while she is preggo.

 

[EveningShadows]

Your breeding is not something I would deem "accidental" if you knowingly kept your horse with a 2 year old stallion. I have another word for that but I'll keep it to myself...this is almost the EXACT same scenario as the filly I sold and repossessed a couple years back except they thought their 2 year old stallion was "too young" to breed her, and I have no nicer words for you so I'm going to leave it alone.

The competition I already said it sounded low key and no reason a 3 year old couldn't do a fun show like that. Good luck anyway...

 

[barnprincess]

I never decided to breed her, she bred herself, thanks.

Im being nice and deleting what i orig said. BUT. WHY was a stallion left with a 2 y.o horse . . REGARDLESS of ' blanks ' or not..thats pure asking for trouble. those people shoulden't have horses. pure stupidity .

any way good luck. if you love her you'll let her mature.

i just read that its the place you board... i'd sue . . thats #1 , #2 THEY should be paying for all vet care. if some moron left a stud out with my horse(s) and i was paying THEM to board there i'd flip..

 

[EveningShadows]

My thoughts exactly...pregnant due to neglect on BOTH parts (facility owner's AND yours). If the OP didn't ask that her filly be removed from the stud colt's pen, then it's just as much her fault in my opinion. If I were boarding somewhere, I'd want to know which horses were in with mine and who owned them...the OP either didn't care or secretly wanted a foal.

NEVER trust a person's word when they're talking about fertility. Sterile anything can only be determined by a vet so I don't know WHY you'd take their word for it. None of this is going to CHANGE what's happened, but I'm glad I'm not the only poster that disagrees with this so strongly.

 

[lacyloo]

Here we go again... :roll:

 

[EveningShadows]

Again as in this has happened to the OP more than once? This is the first I'm hearing of it...thus why I voiced my opinion. Pretty much done...I still think breeding is something that you should have to get a license for though.

 

[lacyloo]

No as in, one of those threads that gets nowhere.
The OP doesn't want to hear what she "should have done" so anyone that is telling her that is wasting their time. The mare is 7 months preggo, its alittle to late change that.

I'm NOT agreeing with what she is doing but that is also none of my business.

This thread was about neck reining not "where did I go wrong?"
Okay.. Back to the original post...

I do what Kansasbarrelracer does except in a hackamore. Repetition is the key.

 

[strawboss]

i've had good luck with crossing the reins under the neck on a snaffle bit and starting the neck reining. an old man i used to know gave me the advice and it works for me.

the other thing,
it's no bodies business but yours what you do with your horse. i get so mad that i see red when people tell other people how to live their lives and how to keep their animals. if you want to eat your horse it's no bodies business but yours. don't get worried about your mare being bred. if she is old enough to come into heat she is old enough to carry and birth a foal. it happens in nature all the time. exercise her up 'til she foals. just remember to not over do it at the end. she won't be real comfortable then. then start to handle the foal at birth. put a halter on it and start to teach it to lead. handle it each day. don't ever leave a halter on a foal. no matter who tells you to do that, don't do it. catch and halter the foal each time you mess with it. the foal will never know it is being trained. this is best done in a small pen or stall at first. before long you can tie it beside it's mom. then you can teach it to load into the trailer beside it's mom, then alone. teach it to give it's feet. rub a blanket over it and lay the blanket on it. by the time it's weaned it will be trained to do all the things it needs to know before starting under saddle at about 24 months, or (to my way of thinking) better to wait 'til 3 or older to start that.
just my 2 cents worth.

 

[barnprincess]

This thread was about neck reining not "where did I go wrong?"
Okay.. Back to the original post...

just wanted to say . . that any kind of thred where something like this is said, will go downt he toilet. she could have said i have a horse that i want to teach neck reining to , how do i do it. didn't have to include the details about the 3 y.o being pregnant. then this wouldent have started. but being she knew that horse was with a stud , screams irresponsible.

 

[ilovesonya]

Thanks lacyloo and strawboss.

To all others, I'm not going to waste my time on you. I asked how to train to neck rein and some of you have not even addressed this. I am 14 years old and don't want to fight over this.
Oh, now you guys are going to bag on me because I am 14, right?

 

[ilovesonya]

The reason I posted that Sonya was pregnant was to make sure it wasn't too overwhelming.

 

[chika1235]

Thanks lacyloo and strawboss.

To all others, I'm not going to waste my time on you. I asked how to train to neck rein and some of you have not even addressed this. I am 14 years old and don't want to fight over this.
Oh, now you guys are going to bag on me because I am 14, right?

im not going to bag on you cause im 14 too and i see no reason that these people are arguing about something that cant be changed.and by the way i hate it when people bag on me because of my age. if i were you though i would check to make sure of all the genders of the horses next time. ive got 6 horses and i always make sure i get my studs or newley gelded horses as far away from my mares as possible.i wouldnt board there if i were you.

 

[chika1235]

oh and my friend down the road who runs a halter horse breeding business works his pregnant mares alot harder that that. he shows some of them when there about ready to pop.