Training Exercises: First Ride
Day 1: First day moving with a rider in the saddle See Jeffrey’s Method of First Mounting. See Fancy Britches – Surrogate Rider
Day 1: First day moving with a rider in the saddle See Jeffrey’s Method of First Mounting. See Fancy Britches – Surrogate Rider
Following Reign’s progress – mud and all. Reign has worn his saddle every day for 3 hours for a week. He has had bumpers on every part of his saddle and has grazed in the pasture – adding treat to insult. He now looks forward to his saddle because it means lots of green grass.… Read More Training Exercises: First Saddle Mounting
A horse’s first saddle experience can be difficult or easy, depending on how much ground training he has and how solid he is when it comes to pressure situations. We do not introduce a saddle until a horse can lunge in hand properly and has had a lot of desensitizing. He should have no “untouchable”… Read More Training Exercises: First Saddle Experience
In my early days of horse training, I was less experienced and less sure of myself. My angst expressed itself with a great deal of work on safety exercises. Paramount among those were disengaging the horse’s rear early so that he never showed that part of his anatomy to me and teaching him to stop… Read More Training Exercises: The Verbal “Whoa!”
The Goal A horse that respects his handler will back away when his handler moves into his space in an authoritative way. The only time a horse ever backs up in the pasture is when a more dominant horse demands it. Therefore, it is a natural way to gain respect from your horse. Used frequently,… Read More Training Exercises: Back Up
A horse must learn how to “keep his head” in novel or frightening situations. He must learn to use the left side of his intellect that is logical and thoughtful to reason a response and not the right side that is emotional, reactive and uncontrolled. He must “learn to learn” (See Two Brains.) And he… Read More Training Exercises: De-Sensitize
Getting Ready to Train Your Horse Meet “Mojo.” He’s a good egg. Plan Ahead: If you pre-plan your exercises you can frame them to fit your time schedule. Review what you want to accomplish and how you will work before you enter the stall or the round pen. Your attitude will be relaxed but purpose-driven… Read More Training Exercises: A Good Start