Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Don,  there is more to the "bag on a stick' than just "sacking out"
the horse.  What my trainer (he's great btw, thanks everyone) is
doing with my 4yo (1/2 Arab / Appy gelding) is also teaching him
to move his back feet instead of dropping a shoulder when he does
spook away.  This is very important (apparently) in riding out a spook. 

If your horse learns to drop or lead with a shoulder, he will disappear
out from under you.  Notice the top Rodeo bucking horses... those
shoulders stay square.  If they learn to drop their shoulder(s), that
cowboy doesn't have a chance.  Is that what's called "sunfishing"?

So the point is, don't just "sack out" the horse, but combine it with
directing his feet, solid ground work, teaching him to keep those
shoulders square even leading on the ground, and the head lowering
'calm down' cue that several people here talk about and teach.

From what I can tell this trainer is using is a combination of "Join 
up"
ala Monty Roberts (but not done the same way... hard to explain), a
bit of Lyons and Parelli type stuff (but not "robot horse"), and a lot 
of
what looks like Mark Rashid and Common Sense.

I've also had a dressage instructor years ago explain that you need to
ride the horse straight and not let him lead / drop that shoulder out
from between your leg / rein cues to keep a circle round. To me that
sounds like it stems from the same type of idea.

I'll let you know how well this all works for my athletic little 4yo as 
we
progress.  Of course that also will depend on how well *I* work with
him as we progress and how well I do at not "untraining" or spoiling 
him.
:)  :)  I do know this one will need a lot more attention and stricter
rules than Blue (who is just a sweet easy going guy).  We'll keep track
of how often he dumps me once we get going.

BTW, what this trainer did is work with my little guy for 3 hours and
then he sent him home for me to work with.  We go back for another
joint lesson this weekend.  This is a really great way to work / learn 
as
I am learning as much as my horse (and practicing first on Blue).

Kathy Myers
in Santa Fe, NM
******************
Don wrote:
> Hello Barbara,
> You might try "sacking" the horse. A cowboy at the stable taught me 
this.
> I put the horse on a 15-20 foot lead in a round pen and used a small 
plastic
> white bag tied to a lunge whip. The object is to worry the horse but 
not
> enough to make her move away. I started with moving it on the ground 
far
> from the horse on all sides then closer till she moved then dropped 
the whip,
> whoa'd the horse, rubbed and talked to her, picked up the whip and 
started
> again for 10-15 minutes per day. After 3-4 weeks I was running the 
bag all
> over the horse, legs, back, neck, etc then drop it, rub and talk. The 
result
> was that the mare would still spook some but not nearly as bad and if 
I got a
> little warning like a loud trash truck coming I would rub her neck 
and talk and
> it would calm her some and she would stay in one spot.
Don Huston


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