Re: [RC] loose horses, attaching to side of halter, other horse stuff, round penning, etc. - Stephanie E Caldwell
Ed,
>>but, some of the initial round pen work
was intended to get a horse that is untrained and will not let you catch him to
come to you.<<
How does round penning teach that? What do you do
in a round pen with a green horse to get that? How does it work?
I leased a green horse when I first got Star, I
never could get used to just having one horse to ride, and she was very well
trained with a big name local trainer in the RP, but nobody could lay a hand on
her. She and Star lived together for 6 months and she picked up from Star to
come when called. How could I have taught her to come in a Roundpen?
>>round penning has been around a long, long
time.<<
Really? I had no idea. I'm clueless about NH, I've
never been around it.
>>i use methods that come from several
different trainers/clinicians and i also do some stuff that just seems to be
good old common sense<<
That sounds like me. I believe in trying things
and learning what works. When I re-halter broke Star and was teaching her to
trot in hand she got bad to speed up and canter, I was either getting drug or
letting go. This was worse when we were out on trails and leaving other horse,
she wanted to go back to her home. I tried rope halters, that didn't do
anything, she could still leave me. I tried swinging the leadrope in a cirle in
front of her so she couldn't go forward, that just made her more headshy. I then
resorted to a stud chain and a big cotton lead rope, she still drug me with that
and has a scar across her nose from that. I ended up leading her in a bridle
until she respected me enough not to run through me, took her a couple of days
of hitting the end of her leadrope and that bit for her to realise she may be
bigger, but she had to listen. One note... My horse had no feeling in her bars,
I had her checked by the vet, so regardless of how hard she pulled she had no
feeling... I still lead her in a bridle when she's in heat as all my neighbors
have studs, I don't think she'd go over/through a fence to get to them, it's
just insurance for me.
>>i dont do a lot of free lunging, most of
my lunging exercises are done on a lead line.<<
It's much safer and easier, I taught Star to free
lunge because everyone said it was impossible to teach her to do anything. She
was taught to lunge with and without side reins, free lunge, lunge with two
lunge lines, ground drive, ground drive with full harness, pull logs, tail,
hobble, lateral movements on the ground on the lunge, driving lines, and in
hand, etc... She's had more ground work than most horses around here. Between
her lameness and me getting hurt, we've spend alot of time on the
ground.
I like lungeing with 2 lines; one clips on the
inside bit ring/halter ring, one on the outside. The outside one goes through
the stirrup/surcingle ring and around the rump, the inside one comes strait to
your hand. This allows you to engage the hind end better. It's also better for
keeping a horse off of you prone to charge, if you're watching you can keep them
out in the circle, learned it from an old German trainer.
>>i really don't see any need to attach to a
side ring for lunging<<
I don't usually lunge in a halter, always in a
snaffle bridle. I run the lunge line through the near bit ring and over the poll
and hook it to the far bit ring, works for me.
>>then just keep working until the horse
softens up, gives at the head and neck and puts a little slack in the
line<<
What do you mean by gives at the head and neck?
Puts his head down? How much slack do you put in the line? I usually have
contact on my line, probably 3 - 5 lbs, depending on what we're working on. When
I'm lungeing before I ride I just go let her go for five or ten minutes per
direction and don't worry about contact, but if we're schooling something or
lungeing instead of riding then I make her work.
>> gone are the days where we tie a horse's
feet, blindfold them, throw a saddle and buck them out.<<
But, sometimes that's what a horse needs is to
just have somebody get on them and stay there until they give up. Most people
will bail out when the horses start getting really stupid, but unless there's a
hazard where it's not safe I refuse to bail. I've come off one time with a
saddle on my horse, hundreds of times running barrells and poles bareback. And,
I'm not above tieing Star's leg up and bringing her down for vet procedures. If
it's just me and the vet... I'd rather knock her down as tranquelize
her.
