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Re: [RC] Ground Tie Training (was Cavalry Rules) - Angie FuraI can tell you what I do, but its really not considered a ground tie. I couldn't bring myself to walk away from my horse without him being properly secured, and even then its hard!
I teach all my horses to stand still while I walk all around them. I do this when they are haltered and I have a 12' lead in my hand. I walk up and down each side, going all the way around the back and around the opposite side. If they try to move to follow me, I correct them by touching them. For example, I'll put my hand on his shoulder if he turns to follow me when I move to his back leg. When they yield to my touch and step off, I tell them to "ho" which in our language means "stand." When they stand still, they get verbally praised. If they back up with me, I'll touch their side (where my leg would normally go), and encourage them forward. When they move off the pressure, ho, then praise.
When I move to the opposite side, I flip the lead over their back and keep my hand on the end. (Before I do this, I desensitize them to the lead by flipping it all over their body). I pull the lead around front by grabbing it under the halter and pulling it off their back when I get to the horse's head on the other side. If you don't like the idea of doing the back flip, you can skip this step and just approach each side separately.
Eventually, they learn to stand still no matter where I am or where the lead is on their body. They even get so good at it in a VC, they stand still with the lead on the ground while I scurry around tacking.
I usually start this process with something simple like rubbing their legs and handling their tails. (This is only after I ensure that I can safely handle all these areas if the horse is tied). I then move on to something like applying fly spray. Once I've successfully done these things, they graduate to tacking.
To release them from the stand still, I'll give them a verbal signal like "walk on" or "ready?"
Angie Fura
From: April <endurancerider@xxxxxxxxx> To: ridecamp (E-mail) <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 1:03:15 PM Subject: [RC] Ground Tie Training (was Cavalry Rules) Which brings up another topic. How does one go about teaching a horse to reliably ground tie? Thanks, April Nashville, TN "Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." TS Elliot On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 12:52 PM, Angie Fura <tracetribute@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
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