Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Training horses to calm down...

Lucy...

First, let me say that the "get excited"/"calm down" sequence is not
something where you decide "I think I'll go out this afternoon and teach
my horse to calm down". 

Second, have you ever seen an excited horse whose feet were still and he
head was down?  Simply can't happen.  

Third, there is no one "calm down" cue, in spite of what John Lyons
says! <grin> 

The "get him excited" part is no problem.  Simply take him out to the
nearest trail with bikes, backpackers, ATV's, whatever.  I promise you
won't have any problem getting him excited. <grin> However, before you
do THAT, you do your "homework" first.

The "calm down" part has to be taught. It's no one thing..it's a
combination of things and you start small during ground training. Like
several other people who have posted on this, I "sack out" my horses
with "stuff", including loose saddles hanging upside down, bags of cans,
tarps...anything I can find. This is done in a confined area like a
round pen.  Start with towels, bubble wrap, etc. depending on how calm
the horse is, then move up to bigger and scarier things. The horse will
learn to deal with his fear and gradually grow accustomed to you
bringing "stuff" out there. Eventually, he will come to the conclusion
that as long as YOU are there when a scary thing is there, it's safe to
investigate.  In fact, if you do it long enough and patiently enough, he
will start "coming over to see the latest "bogey" and sniffing it
instead of retreating to the far side of the pen.  I graduate to blowing
their feet out with my compressor, Basic Chain Sawing 101, Weedeating
102, and ATV 103. How long this takes depends on the horse and his prior
experiences. Works the fastest on young horses, who are curious anyway.
Once this has happened, you are ready for the second step...the trail
"bogey". 

However, before you got "out there", you need to have taught basic leg
aids/cues from the saddle. You need to have taught him to sidepass,
turn, backup, and drop his head on cue...and he should be very
consistant at it. When I first go out there, I ride by myself..just "Me
and Him against the great unknown". When he sees something "scary" and
gets excited, the goal is two things: 1) Stop his feet  2) Get his head
down.

You teach "stand still" by "moving". If he wants to move his feet, then
it's a great opportunity to practice all my training maneuvers. Move his
feet, but not the way HE wants to move them. Run through the whole
"turn, sidepass, back, etc" repertoire a couple of times, say 30 seconds
worth, concentrating on doing it correctly and making sure he's paying
attention.  Then ask him to stand still. If not, then do it again....and
again.  Pretty soon he will come to the conclusion that if I just stand
here, I don't HAVE to do that stuff. Soon as the stops, then ask him to
drop his head. (Whatever head down cue you have taught him) Works great
on a horse that does rollbacks and tries to leave when he spooks. When
he does, just continue the roll into a 360, ask for a sidepass left, a
sidepass right, three steps back, three steps forward, another 360, then
ask him to stand, then drop his head. Pretty soon he may spook in place,
but he won't rollback. I like to add a verbal cue, such as "aaaan't"
when he starts to spook, then go into my "training routine".  He soon
associates the "aaaan't" with "Oh, Oh...he's gonna make me work"...and
will just stop. When he does, ask for his head to drop, then move off
quietly. After a while, the "aaaan't" comes to mean "I don't know what
you're thinking about, but don't do it!" to the horse. :)

Here's some other "stuff" you can do. Carry treats with you.  Everytime
you see a bicyle rider, ATV, or backpacker, go over and ask them to give
him a treat. Usually they are happy to do that, anyway.  Pretty soon,
he's LOOKING for them...but not because he's afraid of them, but to get
his treat! Magic used to be "antsy" when cars passed us close on gravel
roads and would sometime swing his butt out into the road, which is very
dangerous. When a car would stop, I would go over and ask them to give
him a treat out the window. NOW the problem is keeping his HEAD from
sticking out in the road. (Think he would chase cars if I let him go)
<grin>


Like all GOOD training, it takes time. I have owned Magic two years. He
is just now becoming what I consider to be "trustworthy" on the trail.
He no longer does rollbacks, will just "flinch" at noises and scary
things, responds to my leg aids and weight shifts, will readily be the
lead horse but will also follow and keep a respectful distance from the
horse in front, and drops his head for me at all three gaits. He's not
perfect, but hopefully by next fall, he will be "smart" enough to do his
first 50 as well as conditioned. 

Jim, Sun of Dimanche, and Mahada Magic

Lucy Chaplin Trumbull wrote:
> 
> Jim writes:
>  > Thing about horses is, that if you never get them
>  > excited, you can never teach them to calm down...
>  > If you go through the "get excited" "calm down"
>  > sequence enough, the level of excitement becomes
>  > less and less and the horse learns that "Hey, if I
>  > say it's OK, then don't worry about it...trust me".
>  > Basic training concept. Works for me.
> 
> Jim? Can you explain, step-by-step, how you would go about
> winding the horse up and then teaching it to calm down?
>


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