When startintg a young horse you have a responsibility to give them the best start possible. You want to ensure that they have a solid foundation not only as a young horse, but to develp to thier full potential as a mature horse.
Training for a young horse goes beyond the first 30 days. The first 30 daysare the most important and that is why you must establish good ground manners quickly to assure safety for both horse and rider throughout the training process. If this is a task that you are not confident in seek professonal help, and this will help in the progression of both horse and rider. If problems ever arise with your horse that you can not overcome always seek professional help before the problem becomes dangerous.
If you have sent your young horse off to a trainer to get broke under saddle as a green horse, you must understand the program that they are in to continue thier training at home. Understanding the training will help horse and rider progress in a safe and timely manner. Before taking your young horse home take as many lessons as you can with your horse and the trainer to learn what the horse has been taught and how.
Knowing your abilities and limititations is very important in the start of a young horse. There might be something you excel at in thier training, but you might leave out hings you are not so good out and this could lead to bad habits throughout thier training. Understanding these limitatiins will help in finding the right trainer to help you. Also undrstanding that your horse's abilities and limitations are equally important. Every young horse is different not only in disposistion, but also in confirmation and this will lead to certain abilities and limitation.
Look for future discussion on "abilities and Limitations".
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Your Horse's Horseman
Not everyone can be a horseman, but they can learn to be thier horse's horseman. Every horse is different and there will be certain characteristics that won't change. Learning to adapt to these characteristics and using methods that work for that horse will increase the rate of progression. There are instructors out there that teach a "one size fits all" training program for young horses or problem horses, but thier program is not nessecarily going to work for all horses.
When learning to be your horse's horseman there is a lot to take into consideration. You must look at the age of the horse; some older horses are a lot harder to train than young one's. Also look at confirmation; you might not like a lot of suspension in your horse, but they are made to go with a lot of suspension, you learn to ride that. Take into consideration the horse's previous training; it can more to difficult to re-train one. There can be many different things to look at in your horse when coming up with a training program. Learning through big groups at clinics with horse's at different stages in thier training and people at different stages can be frusterating for both horse and rider.
When helping a person to become thier horse's horseman I prefer teaching one-on-one with horse and rider. I can see where the horse is at in thier training and also see where the rider is at. Sometimes it is more the rider than the horse, remember these horse's are making adjustments to to the rider as well. Understanding a little about where the horse has come from, previous training, and so forth I am able to translate to the rider. When teaching I ride the horse as well to understand what they have been taught and a little bit of how. In most cases I am dealing with young horses so they don't have a huge history, but older horse's come with history. This is really important to understand and this is where I see a lot of comprimise between horse and rider. Without the distraction of other horse's in the arena or round corral The horse and rider are able to focus on what they are being taught. When horse and rider start to understand the each other the frustration will turn into progression.
We are not all dog trainers, but you can teach one to sit by understanding the basics; there is no reason you shouldn't be able to do the same with your horse. Learn to understand your horse and the basics and you will become your horse's horseman in no time.
When learning to be your horse's horseman there is a lot to take into consideration. You must look at the age of the horse; some older horses are a lot harder to train than young one's. Also look at confirmation; you might not like a lot of suspension in your horse, but they are made to go with a lot of suspension, you learn to ride that. Take into consideration the horse's previous training; it can more to difficult to re-train one. There can be many different things to look at in your horse when coming up with a training program. Learning through big groups at clinics with horse's at different stages in thier training and people at different stages can be frusterating for both horse and rider.
When helping a person to become thier horse's horseman I prefer teaching one-on-one with horse and rider. I can see where the horse is at in thier training and also see where the rider is at. Sometimes it is more the rider than the horse, remember these horse's are making adjustments to to the rider as well. Understanding a little about where the horse has come from, previous training, and so forth I am able to translate to the rider. When teaching I ride the horse as well to understand what they have been taught and a little bit of how. In most cases I am dealing with young horses so they don't have a huge history, but older horse's come with history. This is really important to understand and this is where I see a lot of comprimise between horse and rider. Without the distraction of other horse's in the arena or round corral The horse and rider are able to focus on what they are being taught. When horse and rider start to understand the each other the frustration will turn into progression.
We are not all dog trainers, but you can teach one to sit by understanding the basics; there is no reason you shouldn't be able to do the same with your horse. Learn to understand your horse and the basics and you will become your horse's horseman in no time.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Practical Horsemanship
When I am starting a young horse I try to keep it as simple as possible. Start with the basic ground work, hobbling, sacking out, etc. Once I have them saddled and they understand the bridle, it's off to work. No need to keep them in the round corral for more than five days. I find that the young horse learns through everyday work; hacking out, flat work, standing tied, etc. Once the horse is in to work and starts to develope thier work ethic I keep it practical in thier training.
I do get a lot of horses in that have been started on the ground through "Natural Horsemanship", and the owner complains of "rudeness" or "pushy". The horse tends to be very pushy, rude, mouthy, and the list goes on. The horse anticipates every move I would make on the ground. The owner would tell me that the horse is good because they have "no fear" because they can bounce a ball with them or walk over a teeter totter on the ground. The horse was started with games and treats, and no true understanding of consiquince. All the practicality was taking out of the training. The horse was not taught to tie, stand for the farrier, had no patince; could not do everyday things that most horses and riders would do at the barn or at the arena.
Keeping it practical in the young horses start they will begin to get broke with everday work. Tying the horse up for a bit before you work with them and after teaches patince, which a lot of trail horses and show horses will need when standing tied to a trailer. There will be times I will just sit one and make them stand in the arena while I give a lesson, which starts to teach them to get use to more going on around them. Once I feel they are ready I will use them to start other young horse on the ground. While riding them and sacking the other horse out I am getting both worked at one time. The horse I am riding is learning to work and listen to me and not focus on the other horse.
When working with the young horse either on the ground or under saddle, just make everday work part of thier training. Find new challenges for them to overcome on the trail or in the arena. Keep it practical!
I do get a lot of horses in that have been started on the ground through "Natural Horsemanship", and the owner complains of "rudeness" or "pushy". The horse tends to be very pushy, rude, mouthy, and the list goes on. The horse anticipates every move I would make on the ground. The owner would tell me that the horse is good because they have "no fear" because they can bounce a ball with them or walk over a teeter totter on the ground. The horse was started with games and treats, and no true understanding of consiquince. All the practicality was taking out of the training. The horse was not taught to tie, stand for the farrier, had no patince; could not do everyday things that most horses and riders would do at the barn or at the arena.
Keeping it practical in the young horses start they will begin to get broke with everday work. Tying the horse up for a bit before you work with them and after teaches patince, which a lot of trail horses and show horses will need when standing tied to a trailer. There will be times I will just sit one and make them stand in the arena while I give a lesson, which starts to teach them to get use to more going on around them. Once I feel they are ready I will use them to start other young horse on the ground. While riding them and sacking the other horse out I am getting both worked at one time. The horse I am riding is learning to work and listen to me and not focus on the other horse.
When working with the young horse either on the ground or under saddle, just make everday work part of thier training. Find new challenges for them to overcome on the trail or in the arena. Keep it practical!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Hesa 2 year old Quarter Horse
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This is a pretty talented gelding. Hesa Came to me pretty much the same as Georgia, saddled and bridled but not ridden. His ground manners were good, but he was bit errogant. He was mean to the gelding I had him in with, hard to catch, hard to lead, etc. Once I got him in the round corral he was fine. He needed to be humbled a little and start to work. I would saddle Hesa first thing in the morning and use him to lead my other horses up out of the pastures and then lead them out. When I wasn't riding him I would lead him to water and then tie him up, he was pretty tired at the end of the day. When I turned him out at night I put him in with a filly that was a liitle visious towards geldings, and by the morning he was begging to be caught. The gelding seemed to walk, trot, canter naturally, but he was spooky! I worked him the opposite of Georgia, he needed more hacking and long rides. His flat work came natural so getting him over his spookiness was what he needed. Hesa liked to look for things to spook at, this told me he needed a jod as Georgia did. The difference between his spook and Georgia's spook is Hesa's was created out of bordem and Georgia's was almost taught to her in away. It took a couple of weeks to get him to quit looking and relax, after that Hesa just became easy. Even after he got over his spookiness I still just took him on long rides and doing just a little flat work with him. This is a nice gelding and handling comes natural to him, he needs to learn to realx and enjoy being rode.
Hesa is just about at the end of his 60 days and will be turned out for the winter. The owner is sending him back in the spring for about 30-60 days befoe he goes off to be finished as a barrel horse..jpg)
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Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Georgia 2 year old Warmblood/TB cross
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This is probally one of the most talented horses that has come through the program. She came to me with a bit of ground work done with her, she had been saddled and bridled but never ridden. Her training stopped there. Georgia was a bit spoiled, not mouthy or looking for treats just in your space. This filly needed a job! She went to work almost immediatley, always excited to go to work, but still a bit impatient. I did start her just like I always do...hobbling, ground driving, sacking out, she seemed to remember what she was taught in her previous training. Riding the filly for the first time was the fun part, as I expected she rode nicely. She seemed to be naturally balanced so teaching her to go correctly was the easy part, going quitely was the hard part. Right away I took her out to the 300 acre hay field.jpg)
and we went to work. Georgia likes to go but seemed to want to look at everything, so it was stop and go, and side to side for a while until I could get her to slow down and look at the forest instead of each tree. Once she started to mature a little bit her work ethic only improved, she would see me grab the saddle and start to paw and winnie...she loved to go out. Once she started to figure out how to carry herself we started to do more flatwork than just hacking down the trails, more work on correct canter leads and departures, collection, etc. Her impatience had slowly dissappeared. This filly is just about at the end of her 60 days, and has matured into a nice horse. I have just about a week or so left with her until she goes home to be turned until the spring. In 60 days this filly has come a long way from first ride to start correct lead changes. More to come on Georgia before she goes home. The biggest problems I had with this horse was her impatience and getting her to slow down and pay attention, please comment if you have any questions on how I dealt with these issues.
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and we went to work. Georgia likes to go but seemed to want to look at everything, so it was stop and go, and side to side for a while until I could get her to slow down and look at the forest instead of each tree. Once she started to mature a little bit her work ethic only improved, she would see me grab the saddle and start to paw and winnie...she loved to go out. Once she started to figure out how to carry herself we started to do more flatwork than just hacking down the trails, more work on correct canter leads and departures, collection, etc. Her impatience had slowly dissappeared. This filly is just about at the end of her 60 days, and has matured into a nice horse. I have just about a week or so left with her until she goes home to be turned until the spring. In 60 days this filly has come a long way from first ride to start correct lead changes. More to come on Georgia before she goes home. The biggest problems I had with this horse was her impatience and getting her to slow down and pay attention, please comment if you have any questions on how I dealt with these issues.Wednesday, December 2, 2009
They Are All Horses...
This is a group of horses I have in training, all different ages and different breeds. All five are intented for different diciplines. One thing these horses have in common; they are all horses.
Left to Right:
Georgia, a 2 year old Warmblood/Thourobred cross intended dicipline Hunter Jumpers; Hesa, a 2 year old Quarter Horse intended dicipline Barrel Horse; Luna, a 4 year old Andalucian intended dicipline Dressage; Pistol, a 9 year old Quarter Horse intended dicipline Trail Horse; Takota, a 6 year old Appaloosa POA intended dicipline Childs Hunter
For the most part these five will go on to further training with trainers that speacialize in thier intended dicipline. The one thing these horses will have is a solid foundation of trust, respect, work ethic, and condidence. With a little understanding of what each dicipline requires from the horse and also the rider i.e. head carriage, striding, etc...these horses will be ready to go on to further training and suceed to best of thier ability and the rider as well..
There will be further post and updates on each horse that comes through the Young Horse Program. Please feel free with opinions, questions, and ideas you might be looking for with the the young horse and this blog.
Tommy Gesell
The Young Horse Program
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