Training Philosophy

 

Training the Gaited Horse

First let me say that I strongly believe in “Natural Horsemanship training”.    What technique(s) I use depends on the specific horse as each horse is an individual and has its own learning and emotional needs.

My goal is to create a great foundation for these horses so that they are able to provide their owners with many years of pleasure.

Two Cardinal rules for working with horses:

I have the following 2 basic tenants that I never deviate from, as well as 10 basic rules for all horse training:

1)    Horses learn from the release of pressure.
2)    Slow is fast and fast is slow.

Thoughts to consider when working with horses:

1)    The horse should be better off after each training session.
2)    Safety of both the horse and trainer is essential.
3)    Each horse is treated as an individual.
4)    Teach at a pace that is comfortable for the horse.
5)    Each training session is geared to building the horse’s knowledge and self-confidence.
6)    Every lesson is based on advance and retreat (pressure and removal of pressure).
7)   Training done on one side is always repeated on the horse’s other side.
8)    Every time a horse interacts with a person the horse learns something (either good or bad)        make it positive and treat the horse with respect.
9)    It takes the time it takes (don’t rush the training and establish a good foundation).
10)  End each training session on a positive note.

How I approach the training:

How I treat horses from birth forward. At birth I don’t immediately imprint a horse.  I believe that a horse should first bond with its mother.  After a few days (barring any special needs) we will start regularly handling the newborn, touching him/her all over the body a few minutes a day as well as beginning halter training, leading and picking up its feet. As soon as possible the baby and mom rejoin the herd. I leave all my horses outside as much as possible in bands of mares and geldings. By being in social groups the babies learn to be horses and learn appropriate social structure and proper behavior.

The first few months I do little with the baby other than touching the baby all over the body, mouth, head, tail, and legs, along with halter-training, teaching to lead, and picking up his feet.  My basic objective during this time is to allow the baby to be a horse, explore the world and develop trust and confidence in himself as well as in people. Around the 3rd-5th month I may begin teaching trailer loading by having the baby follow mom into the trailer.

Weaning – A baby no longer receives its maximum value from mom’s milk by the end of around 3 months.  A baby can be weaned at around 3 months; I choose to wait until at least 6 months of age.  This is not so much for physical development as it is for emotional and social development.  The weaning time is dictated by the emotional maturity of the baby.  I separate the mom and baby starting with several hours a day.  I gradually build up to 8-12 hours per day of separation, then finally separating them. When the baby is away from mom, I have the youngster in with the weanlings/yearlings as appropriate.

During the first winter I simply let the weanling interact with the other horses and do little formal training.  I do continue to touch, pet, and lead the youngster around the ranch and trail areas, going between trees, bushes, trash bins, mailboxes etc.

When the youngster is between 1 and 2 years old I begin light round pen and arena work.  Round pen work includes limited lunging for the youngster, lateral flexing, lowering the head, sensitization and de-sensitization, and sacking out with hands, rope, saddle pad and saddle (2 years old).  Voice commands are taught for whoa, walk and backup.  Sessions are typically around 15-20 minutes each depending on maturity.

At 2 years of age the young horse is evaluated again for both physical and emotional maturity in order to determine what training is appropriate.  We find that around the summer/fall of the 3rd year of age we like to start the horse under saddle.  By this time in its training the saddling is typically not an issue with the horse.  During the first several rides we will walk, trot and canter the non-gaited horses but NOT the gaited horses (I’ll explain why later).  With our gaited horses the first several months of riding are done at a walk only (dog walk and flat walk).  With both gaited and non-gaited horses the emphasis is on balance, confidence and strength training (legging up).

Did you notice a training gap between the spring and early summer?  There is, in my opinion, a good reason for this.  Grass is at its best then and the youngsters are in their growth mode.  Bones, muscles, joints, tendons and backs are susceptible to long term damage if they are continually overstressed during growth spurts. The key here is to do light work and other training during these periods of time.

So what’s different about training a gaited horse?

Well, until round penning with intent to saddle not much is different. The only difference in the first ride is that I don’t trot and canter the gaited youngster. So what do I do? We only walk. At this point one word you need to remove from your vocabulary, when training young gaited horses or for that matter retraining older gaited horses and rescue horses is “Speed”. I know – your first thought is probably OMG not Speed! – fast is soooo fun! Speed in gait training causes many problems!

Now that we are focusing on gaited horse training/retraining there are what I consider 3 critical factors in successful gait training.

In order to gait well the gaited horse must be:

  • Relaxed – not tense. Tension in the jaw, pole and atlas (tension in either one affects all 3 areas) creates tension in the entire horse and causes gaiting issues.
  • Conditioned in the top line. The gait comes from the top line – having a well-developed and relaxed top line helps develop a great gait.
  • Well trained in the basic walk as well as the flat walk/paso llano. The walk is the foundation of all gaits.

The horse should be well trained in the basic slow walk (dog walk) until the horse is consistent and relaxed. Only after this occurs then should the horse be introduced to the slow flat walk with transitions up and down between the dog walk and slow flat walk. Once this transitioning is being done well then transitions between the walk, slow flat walk and a flat walk with more energy, but not going into a running walk, stepping pace or rack, should be perfected.

The advantage of this approach is the development of a well-conditioned topline, relaxation and confirmation in gait. This could take weeks or months depending on the horse and how often he or she is being ridden. The end result will be a well gaited horse. By the way the above 3 critical factors apply equally to retraining gaited horses.

I know that I have only given you an overview of gait training. I recommend 2 excellent books that are well worth reading that will help you furthering your gait training knowledge.

Easy-Gaited Horses by Lee Ziegler

Training the Gaited Horse From the Trail to the Rail by Gary Lane

Happy Gaiting,

Bob

 

Facebookmail