Training Off-the-Track-Thoroughbreds

Another show this weekend!

Phil was muscle sore in his shoulder area on Monday. He has been in a larger pasture and playing a bit wreckless. I thought it would be fun to teach Phil some tricks such as bowing and shaking. In this lesson, ground manners (my space/your space, no eating grass, lateral flexion 2 oz. of pressure) and head down cue were reinforced. Chiropractic stretching was accomplished along with teaching to bow. It was a win-win situation. It was fun for both of us.

Phil recovered from his muscle soreness by Tuesday. The remainder of the week I worked him on the ground in the round pen until he was soft and responsive before riding. This week we were working on the left lead. Phil will pick up the right lead every time from a walk or trot. I choose to teach the canter in the 60ft round pen because I don’t have to worry about keeping Phil in a circle. I can concentrate on rewarding him for picking the correct lead and not worry about Phil scooting off in another direction to avoid my leg. It also gives Phil a visual/ physical guide to circling and bending. Phil knows the pre cue to a canter as a “kiss”, so I only have to use a little leg for support.

I am starting to see a completely different horse. Phil is now trying to please me. We are starting to communicate.

This past weekend Phil participated in another show. He brought home ribbons in Halter, Showmanship, Equitation and even tried out pole bending and cloverleaf barrels. He was a gentleman the entire day.

The ground work is reinforced every day whether it is actual moving Phil’s feet in the round pen or by simply leading him from pasture to barn. I try to be creative and my have him serpentine or walk backwards while going from barn to pasture.

In the arena I have been focusing on softening and lateral flexion at walk and trot. Phil and I have been bending around the barrels, trees and every single corner in the arena. Tuesday Phil did have a mini meltdown and wanted to drift to the gate. I held him steady and just kept riding. When Phil became ugly I shouted a firm” NO” and kept the outside leg pressure on until he figured out his own release. As long as I had control of his nose and feet he could not rear, buck, or bolt. He did briefly think about rearing and I kept him to task. Contrary to popular belief if your horse is giving you a warning (they always do) instead of stopping their motion, push them into the motion by switching directions every two-three steps, ask for a roll back, drive them into a tight circle, etc . Remember stopping their feet is a reward. By stopping them you are allowing them to collect and thus have more power to buck, rear, bolt, etc. Instead, get control of their nose using the built in foundation of lateral flexion, keep the head up, and disengage the hindquarters. A horse cannot buck if his hindend is disengaged. A horse cannot rear if his feet are in motion. A horse cannot bolt if you control his nose. These are just basic theories of physics. I let Phil work through his mini tantrum while continuing to bend around the barrels until he softened in my hands. I released the reins and let him rest. After the meltdown, Phil was a soft, relaxed horse and I even had to check him with halt halts every once in a while. His work ethic was renewed.

Hobbles. Most of the traveling clinicians will not discuss hobbling because it brings about strong emotions from those that do not understand the value or concept of hobbling. Hobbling in inexperienced hands can be a disaster for horse and handler, but in the proper hands it is invaluable training. If you have done your homework with ground work for respect and desensitizing your horse’s legs, hobbling will not concern your horse one bit. Hobbling teaches patience and builds the ultimate trust between horse and handler. Think about it for a minute. If you take away your horse’s ability to flee your horse must have 100% respect and trust in you. Hobbling comes in handy if you need to leave your horse. The following is a true story which happened at the barn where I used to board: Two ladies were enjoying the trails during hunting season one winter afternoon. A gunshot spooked one horse and threw his rider. The rider broke her hip and her friend had to go back to the barn immediately to call for help. The spooked horse had to be tied up by his reins. The horse tied by his reins wrapped himself around the tree and pulled back. The reins snapped and he took off. This caused the hurt owner to absolutely panic. She now was in complete emotional and physical distress because she was so worried about her loose horse. The horse was caught hours later running down the highway. If the spooked horse would have been trained to hobble, the second rider could have easily unbuckled one rein and hobbled the horse. The rider who broke her hip was told by the surgeon that she would not ride again. Three months later she was riding and is still riding to this day.

I hobbled Phil in the grass arena. It took him a few minutes to get the hang of the hobbles. He was content to inch along eating grass. I put some pressure on him so he could really give the hobbles a try. This is where the experience comes in. I only put enough pressure on him to make him hop. Too much pressure and you can have a horse with hobble burns or worse a broken leg. Hobbling is taught over many sessions. A good time is when your horse is cooling off.

As you can see I spent 27 days on the ground with Phil before I attempted to ride. I did not have a prescribed amount of days of ground work. I schooled on the ground until I felt I had Phil’s respect and that his balking was under control. I will continue my journal entries on a weekly basis. The ground work will continue along with schooling under saddle. Phil will be educated in the Western, English, and Halter disciplines. He obviously will have talents suited for one discipline over another, however the education of the all around horse is valuable. The one piece of advice I want to give about training is don’t develop tunnel vision.

There is a lot to learn from the other disciplines. Go out and run barrels with your OTTB, chase some cows, try saddle seat, or a side saddle, or a trail obstacle course. You’ll be amazed at how much better he’ll clock around the course or improve his dressage scores. You’ll also become a better rider.

Just have fun!

Tacked Phil up only today I used a haltermore. A haltermore is a rope halter made into a bridle only there is no bit. It does not use poll pressure like the bitless bridles that can create dangerous habits such as rearing in uneducated hands. The noseband is wrapped so it doesn’t have the “bite” of the rope halter. I had this custom made with a 22 foot mecate. I use this to start the colts, so there isn’t any worry about a bit in the mouth. I also like the mecate available so I can dismount and do ground work if I need to work through a situation from the ground. Phil has a hard mouth, so I hope to soften him by creating a trust that I’m going to stay out of his mouth. I can easily see OTTBs developing hard mouths since the horse balances himself on his jockey’s hands. A horse with a soft mouth is very important to me. He has done fairly well with my soft hands, but I wanted to see if I could get more relaxation, a lowered head, and rounded back without the worry of the bit. Since Phil has had 30 days of ground work he is familiar with pressure/release, so the haltermore will not be that difficult for him to figure out. Many clients always ask “Aren’t you worried your horse is going to run away from you without a bit?” The answer is no. If I have done my homework correctly my horse has enough respect for me that running away is not an option. I have also built in “spook in place” and I have the ability to disengage the hindquarters at any time. Any horse can be ridden without a bit or bridle if you have put in the time on the ground properly. I did some ground work and worked Phil through his transitions in the round pen. When I felt he was focused I mounted and started with flexion.

More colt behavior. I am asking Phil to flex further and further. I am now asking him to flex to my toe. He still is only flexing at the neck and hasn’t given me his shoulder yet. This will come as he becomes conditioned. Phil took this as an invitation to grab my toe with his lips. I returned with a quick jab of my toe to his mouth. I did not hurt him, I just made him uncomfortable. Many people think this game is cute until their horse takes the game a little too far and bites their foot. It is best to discourage this behavior on the first attempt. Make sure you do hit your target or it does become a game to your horse if you miss his nose. He will be quicker and smarter than you next time. It only took one discouraging jab on each side and Phil got back to business.

I navigated Phil in figure eights again. This time the turns had to be tighter since we were in the round pen. I also had loose horses around the pen which is a good test to see if Phil was going to focus on me or the other horses. Phil stayed focused on me which shows I have made great progress developing myself as Phil’s Alpha. No impulsion issues, no focus issues…..time to stop. I dismounted, loosened the cinch and let Phil relax in the shade as he was ground tied.

Morning feeding: Even though Phil stood out of my way to pour feed, his posture was very upright and braced. He came within my 16ft feeding space. I asked him with two fingers of pressure to get out of my space; he ignored me. I told him with a stern “BACK” and a wave; he half-heartedly made an effort to back. I immediately promised by up-righting my posture, squealing, and kicking dirt at him. He moved off and knew the drill. He would try to circle in at every opportunity, but I kept the pressure on him until I saw a submissive body posture. I circled the pen and he kept “two eyes” on me (a sign of respect). I asked for a back and turn on haunches with just a suggestion from my finger. I moved him in and out of his feeding dish just to reinforce I am Alpha. You must be on your game at all times. Phil must have sensed I wasn’t completely focused on him and he let me know it….Lesson on me this morning.

After breakfast Paige, my 10 yr. old daughter, and I tacked up for a morning ride. Phil was a little snotty about bridling this morning. I insisted on head down and would not remove the bridle from his face until he lowered his head. A mistake many people make when a horse is acting rude about bridling is they take away the bridle to reposition themselves each time the horse moves his head. This rewards the horse and teaches him that as long as head his is moving he is going to get a release. I held the bit in position and held the crownpiece with some mane so the bridle would not slip. It didn’t take Phil long at all to comply and he was rewarded with gentle bridling.

I did a little ground work and Phil said he was “ok.” I warmed up in the arena with asking for softness through flexion. Paige and I had set up barrels. I love using the barrels to teach bending. The barrel acts as a visual for me to gage how Phil is bending. It also gives Phil an incentive not to drop a shoulder into the barrel. The barrels are also a fun way to teach softness, bending, and circling. Paige and I like to play follow the leader and race against each other by weaving around the barrels at a trot. I asked Phil for a left lead canter departure from a trot. He gave me the right lead. This is ok. I just circled tighter and tighter on the incorrect lead to see if he would be willing to change. Phil said “no thank you”. I asked for another canter departure while circling to the left and he let out several sissy bucks. Phil was telling me he emotionally isn’t ready to learn lead changes. Since I started the left lead request I wanted to him to at least give it a try. He finally did give me a left lead and after 3 strides I dropped the reins for a reward and dismounted.

I will sometimes spend up to 30 days just walking and trotting. I will not move on to the canter or correct lead departures until I have complete control over the feet at a walk/trot. I have found that if a solid foundation is made at the walk and trot gaits, the canter seems to just fall in place. I also spend a lot of time working on leads in the round pen un-mounted teaching the “kiss” pre-cue. This means less work for me in the saddle.

First trail ride. Paige and I headed out for a short trail ride. The dogs were with us. Phil was ok with the dogs running up on us and jumping in and out of the woods. When we returned we spent a few more minutes in the arena. I asked Phil to step over the 18” jumps set up. He was hesitant about stepping over the oxer. I dropped the reins and gave him his head. I only kept a supporting leg on him and took my leg off immediately every time he thought about stepping over. I do want to mention with the young horses if you keep constant pressure on them either physical or mental they will find their own release by rearing and this can easily lead to habit. As soon as Phil stepped over the oxer I jumped off him and loosened the cinch. This was a good time to stop.