Re: RC: kicking

[Jim Holland <lanconn@tds.net>]

Terre...

That's absolutely correct.  Horses don't multi-task very well.  If the
attention is on you, then that overrides whatever else is going on.  It
is dangerous for you (and the horse) if he forgets who's running the
show here. As you said, it's very important to "read" your horse and
anticipate what he's going to do and react while he's "thinking" about
it. However, in most cases, I prefer not to use physical punishment
unless absolutely necessary. With some horses, this can make the
situation worse.  Arabians, in particular, do not care for this
approach.

Hopefully, I have trained the horse in basic gives, how to sidepass,
backup, turn on hind/fore, drop his head from the saddle, etc. before
putting him in a stressful situation where he would kick, bite, buck,
etc.  When he becomes excited, aggressive, fearful, or simply not paying
attention, I will give him "work to do" by using these aids rapidly and
he becomes so busy trying to keep up with the cues he forgets about what
else he had in mind.  On the other hand, if necessary I will do whatever
is required to get his attention, even rapping him with a crop or
whatever else I have handy....(NEVER in front of the withers) Hopefully,
you have done your homework before you get in a crisis and this will
never come up.  

As you mentioned, a good technique to teach "calm down" is
"leapfrogging".  In order to teach a horse to "calm down", you must
first "get him excited", but you need to ramp up the excitement. (The
start of an Endurance ride is not a good level to begin with! <grin>) 
Horses usually don't mind "leaving" another horse, but hate to get
"left". You can use this to "get him excited". With leapfrogging, you
alternate passing another rider, letting the other horse get farther and
farther away.

When I was training Sunny, I insisted that he stand perfectly still
after the other horse left for at least one full minute.  If he moved
his feet, he would get the "word", we would go into our repertoire, then
I would ask him to stand again.  Doesn't take long before he figures it
out. Just the "word" would be enough to freeze him if he started to
move. Start doing this with the other horse in sight, then have them go
farther and farther away. Pretty soon, he will stand there
forever....because he has arrived at the correct conclusion that we will
NEVER leave here until he stands quietly....and you must be prepared to
be there when the sun comes up if necessary.....and he will WALK off
when we do leave. If he goes into a trot without being cued, we stop and
start all over again.  Now at a ride, even tho he's excited,
competitive, and pulling on me asking to go, he will let other horses
stream past him without losing touch with what I want him to do; such as
stop and put on an easyboot...and I ride in an Arabian S-hack or just a
halter.  It takes patience and many, many hours, but the end result is
worth it. He will also stand quietly waiting for a ride to start.

You can also use variations on this "leave and come back" idea (a John
Lyons technique) to teach your horse not to get excited when his "buddy"
leaves....but that's another story.  

This now easily translates to any other situation where he is
"mis-behaving".  He now knows EXACTLY what will happen if he doesn't
respond to the "word".  Being basically lazy, he HATES all that cue
stuff. The "word" means whatever is going through your pea brain, forget
it and pay attention to me RIGHT NOW or we're gonna go through your
"dance" routine for a while!

Here I go getting verbose again.....sorry...forty lashes with dental
floss!

Jim and Sun of Dimanche

terre wrote:
> 
>         All the suggestions so far have been valuable, IMO, but I want to expand a
> little on Jim's.
>         He is correct that kicking is a vice that is intolerable in a ride
> situation; and also that it is fairly easily curable.  I, too, "growl" at
> my horses when they are starting to get 'out-of-line' and this does,
> indeed, work--in fact, both of my horses respond to the growled word
> "EARS!"--which tells them precisely what the behaviour is that I won't
> tolerate.  The secret, as with all training tactics, is to be very quick
> with your aid--'growl' long BEFORE the actual kick, as soon as you can
> detect the threat.  It's the 'attitude' you need to change; the behaviour
> is just the end result.
>         The rider needs to work on this at home; she needs to 'set up' the
> situation so she can deal with it.  Here is one possible method--she needs
> to ride with a friend or friends on a good, wide track (like a logging
> road).  Take turns passing each other--ie "leapfrog" up the trail.  Now,
> she knows in advance that her horse reacts badly to being passed, so she
> should be prepared to deal with it.  (I suggest the wide road so that, at
> least to begin with, the other horses can pass far enough away that nobody
> gets hurt).  She should probably carry a crop.  So, she's riding along
> (best at a trot) and hears another horse approaching from the rear--as soon
> as she can detect tension, or flattening ears from her horse she gives him
> a tap with the crop coupled with the 'growl'--'no!', "ears!",
> "quitit!"--whatever she likes.  The tap with the crop, coupled with the
> growl, should return the horse's attention to her--if not, give the signal
> more strongly, if there is time.  If he actually boots out in spite of
> this--and he may, at least the first few times--she has to get 'really,
> really tough' with him--the 'try to kill for 3 seconds rule'.  She needs to
> make a lot of noise while she smacks, boots, spins--whatever she chooses to
> do to punish him.  You want the noise of the 'growl' alone to become the
> aid, and for the horse to associate it with horrible things to come if he
> doesn't knock it off.  Repetition of a scenario like this in a safe
> environment at home should be enough to 'school' the horse to be obedient
> at rides.
>         This method has worked for me for several horses--Jim, is that what you do?
> 
> Terre
> 
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