I start slow.

Stupid slow.

This means that once you’re riding, you can be working.

Horses WANT to be relaxed. They are naturally uptight and suspicious prey animals.

Whether it’s my horse or a horse in for training, I want to just sit with the horse and hang out with them and watch how they interact with both new and familiar things.

Step one is they need to face me when I ask. When we have this down, then I work on getting a halter on – EVEN IF THIS IS A SKILL THEY HAVE.

I want them to understand they have a choice – now, the choice is to come to me and let me put a halter on or go to work…but they have that choice.

Every horse should lead properly from either side. I should be able to have them follow me or walk ahead. They should be able to walk over an obstacle by following me, or because I send them ahead of me and over that obstacle. They should be able to be led close to me, or a few feet away.

While doing each of these steps, we look at basics: there is always an answer – aka, there is always a place where the pressure releases. I will ask and ask and ask for a horse to step through a gate before me, but I’m not going to stop asking until they take steps that direction. When first doing this, we may need some re-setting, but they need to be attempting that forward movement to get a break before coming to the obstacle/gate/etc again.

With our walking and obstacles and moving away from pressure and being relaxed no matter which side I’m leading them on, or where I’m asking them to be, a horse needs a solid whoa. NEEDS. This is a non-negotiable and it’s something I wish I’d have known to do when I was young.

“Whoa” means whoa and back a coupla steps. You wanna know safe jumpers? They’re ones with a fabulous whoa. Beautiful halts in dressage? Those also come from a solid whoa. And anyone who rides western has known this for AGES 😉

NOW is when I begin to introduce a bridle or a small saddle or a curcingle. But the skills a horse must have first are:

whoa

ability to lead from any side

ability to follow me or walk ahead of me

ability to try a new obstacle with or without me

knowledge of moving away from pressure and knowledge that there is an answer to everything asked of them.

THIS is when I begin with bits and saddles, etc. And we do the same things with a bridle and/or saddle as we did before. I want my horse bored before I even think about setting a foot in that stirrup.

Best example of what this creates? My Andalusian gelding nearly fell asleep on our first ride. Our second time out of the round pen, one of the other horses spooked, and all three (including mine) started to run out of the arena. I sat back and told him to whoa and he did. The other two ended up a bit farther away from their original starting point.

My little draft cross mare? On my third ride, we were wandering the arena (unfenced) because we’d spent so much time ground-driving and walking and learning each other. So, while this seems SO SLOW to start, the pace of forward/learning momentum goes much faster later on because the foundation is there.

Slow and steady will make a better horse every time.

~ Jolene

Jolene and Timmy on one of his very first rides – more excited about the skritches than worried about a rider.