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| Guest Article by David McMahon Many horse owners want their horses to be like motorcycles. Just jump on and ride whenever they please. Unfortunately life doesn't work like that. A horse is a living, breathing animal with a mind of his own. Just jumping on and riding-an act many people do-can be downright dangerous. So what is a horse owner to do? To ride safely, a horse owner needs to develop an effective training program for her horse-one that begins with a solid foundation laid on the ground. Think of it like a house. To build a house that is going to last generations, you need a good frame, good electrical wiring, and good paint. But none of that is worth anything if you don't have a good foundation. If the foundation is not done right the entire house might come tumbling down. The same principle applies to our horses and horse training. When training your horse, ground work might seem like a silly exercise where you are just getting your horse to move around in different ways. But you need to start looking at it differently. When you are doing groundwork, your horse training is taking on a new dimension where you are building a relationship with your horse. To be specific, you're doing a few things: · Building a communications channel with your horse · Getting in tune with your horse so that he learns how to respond to your cues · Establishing leadership, trust, and respect To see how this works, take longeing for example. In the "old days", many people used longeing to "wear out" their horses or burn off "excess energy" before they went riding. If you're doing that with your horse, you're missing the entire point. You shouldn't use longeing to burn off energy at all! Instead, use it to get inside the mind of your horse and build a communications link that will carry straight over to riding. If you circle your horse and get him to respond lightly to your commands, you're going to set up a situation that carries directly over to the saddle. Try this exercise. Get your horse on a lead line and circle him at a walk. Then put some pressure on him to get him into a trot and let him circle once or twice at a trot. Now drop him back down to a walk. Repeat the process, asking him to trot again. This will begin to make your horse think about YOU and looking to you for direction. Vary the time, so maybe you have him trot around 2 times, then drop him to a walk. Next time, only ask him to trot around once. By adding variation to your routine, your horse will start to pay more attention to you. A horse that is paying attention to you is a safer horse. Now mix things up even more. Most people take their horses out and longe them with the lead rope at some fixed distance, like 10 feet. Instead of doing that, change up the distance between you and your horse. While your horse is walking, pull in the lead rope so that your horse is only a foot or two away from you. Then reach out with your open palm and pat him on the hind as he moves by. Then let the rope out and ask your horse to move further away from you. This is another exercise that will help get your horse to pay attention to your commands. The goal is to get him completely focused on you as his leader. Also, by touching him with your hand when he is moving, you are preparing him for riding by getting him used to being touched by you. When you ride, don't forget that you are going to be utilizing touching with your legs and feet to direct the horse. A great exercise to use that helps you get inside the mind of your horse is called "one step forward one step back". This is such a breakthrough exercise I would call it a vital aspect of horse training. It works on two levels. First, its going to help you with your timing when working with horses. Second, its going to fine tune your communications with your horse to a level you never thought possible. It can be done in the saddle, but we do it on the ground first. Stand directly in front of your horse. Lightly ask him to back up-but stop asking when he gives you a step. The first time you do this he is going to back up two or three steps. To let your horse know you only want one single step, lift up your hand and raise your index finger while you say "whoa". Next, ask your horse to come forward. Gently pull on the lead rope. When he starts to move forward-look for the slightest muscle shift-raise your hand and index finger and say "whoa". Then repeat by asking him to backup one step. Now you aren't going to believe this-but spend 20 minutes a day doing this for a week. You are going to be amazed at the level of precise communication you will establish with your horse. Now imagine having that kind of communication in the saddle. By investing in ground training, we build a solid foundation with our horse that carries right over into horseback riding. Visit http://www.nmhorse.com/ for more information. |
| The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days of yore when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes. Where did the word "pumpernickel" come from? The name "pumpernickel" was coined by Napoleon's troops during the Napoleonic Wars. His men complained that although they were often poorly fed, there was always bread for Napoleon's favorite horse, Nicoll. Thus the word "pumpernickel" was coined--pain (bread) pour (for) Nicoll. |