Re: kicking and pulling back tied LONG

[Horsestwo <Horsestwo@aol.com>]

I've taken a break from endurance to retrain my horse to respond to me and not
fight with each other.  I had great success with the John Lyons ground work
and trailer loading but not too good with the riding part until I went to one
of his clinics.  I have followed that up with a year of lessons from a John
Lyons trainer locally.  The biggest problem was a lack of control -- as long
as I let my horse choose the pace we were OK.  He was terrible about crowding
the horse in front and irritated many horses.  I would get physically
exhausted hauling him back only to have him surge right back.  Besides not
having much horse left at the end of a ride it was dangerous to let him choose
the pace and inconsiderate to let him bother other horses.
One of the things I learned in the JL clinic about kicking horses was that
they need something to do when they are considering kicking.  He would say
"can your horse kick while giving to the bit and stepping off to the side?"
"Can it kick while giving to the bit, stepping to the side and softening its
shoulder?"  You keep progressing in difficulty until the horse CAN'T be
focusing on your requests and thinking about kicking.  The key is that the
horse must be obeying each of your requests and you're both focusing on the
proper execution of them not on the horse who is invading your space.
Obviously this requires a level of control and would be best performed in a
controlled environment with willing participants.  Start with the least amount
of hassle where your horse might just pin its ears and give the other horse
its signal.  You have to be aware this is coming so you can be giving your
horse something to do.  If you're ignored at this stage you know where you
have to start.  Eventually you will have a horse who is not only better
trained but one who realizes that if it pays too much attention to another
horse (ignoring your requests) it will have lots of work to do.  This is
completely opposite from the "don't cues" (another Lyonism) where you wait
until the horse does something wrong then nail it hard.  Horses don't learn
from "don't cues."
I saw a horse in the clinic I attended that would react if another horse got
within 10-12 feet with ears pinned and tail wringing.  The rider warned
everyone away.  JL had her focus on teaching the horse to obey a few simple
cues and by the end of 3 days she was (unknowingly) riding her horse among all
the others with no reaction from her horse.  When he pointed this out she was
astonished.  Many of us had avoided getting anywhere near her the first day
and by the third the rest of us didn't remember which horse had been the
"leper."
JL also said that it is a waste of time to find out why a horse does something
we don't like.  It doesn't matter if it was beaten or if it is the herd leader
or whatever reason we want to give it, the lesson for reteaching it what we
want is the same.  We might take longer to teach a horse not to pull back when
tied if it has broken free a couple of times but the lesson is the same as if
we are teaching a weanling.  The hours spent teaching your horse to give to
pressure are more than made up if you aren't constantly "getting after" a
puller or finding ways to tie your horse with bungees or body ropes.  Think of
a lesson plan and break it down into small steps.  Everything else are
gimmicks. 

Melanie in AZ