(no subject)

[which_chick]

Extensive horse posting, special for moderndayviking and his cohorts on the tourney field. Persons who are not interested in what I think constitute good ground manners on a horse or how to go about installing those ground manners are advised to skip this post. It's going to be horsey and technical. (Posting was also going to include Phantom's Adventure With a Bridle but I got tired before I got that far.)



For ground manners, it helps to know what "good" ground manners look like. So that we are all aware of reality, I've graded the IRH on her skillz, from --- (sucks) to +++ (v. good)

A field-kept (not in a stall) horse should turn and face the human when the human enters the field. He should stand still and let the human approach OR walk slowly towards the human. RUNNING towards the human is bad. Pinning his ears, turning away from the human, tucking his chin, and trotting away defiantly is ALSO bad. --- (Defiant trotter, she is.)

The horse should put his head down and stand quietly to be haltered. ++ (once I catch her)

He should lead (now and forever) without all the slack being taken out of the lead rope. (Making sure that there is slack in the lead rope is the horse's job and he should do it.) ++

At the gate, the horse should stand back and allow the human to open the gate (ours swing inwards) and then, while the human is standing at the end of the gate, the horse should walk through the gate, stop (before the lead gets tight), pivot his hindquarters away so that he is perpendicular to the gate, and then keep himself clear of the gate as the person passes through the gate and drags it shut. (That was the going-out-of-the-field procedure. Going in the field is exactly the same with the addition that the horse has to *wait* to be unhaltered and released to go off at a walk. I do not approve of horses that get inside the field and immediately run off excitedly.) +++

While the horse is in hand (being held or led somewhere), he should not constantly try to snatch bites of grass or pull the human in some direction. ++

If the human is standing still, the horse should be standing still, quiet and head down (if bored) or possibly alert and head higher (if interested or in new surroundings). Pawing or dancing around in circles is not okay. + (Depends on circumstances. If there are cars, she sucks. No cars, she's pretty good.)

If the human is moving, the horse should be moving at a speed that keeps the horse's head about even with the human's shoulder/hip. It does not matter the speed that the human is moving at -- the horse should see to it that he is in the correct position and auto-adjust to match the human's speed, on the fly. If this requires the horse to canter, the horse should canter. If the horse's SHOULDER is even with the human's shoulder/hip, the horse is too far forward. If the horse's nose is behind the human's shoulder/hip, the horse is too far backward. For leading, the horse should be close enough for the human to touch with the same-side hand but NOT so close that the horse is touching or brushing the human. +++ (We've worked on this a lot.)

Generally, while in hand, the horse should NOT intrude on the personal space of the human. The horse should yield to the human so that the human doesn't get run over by the horse. (This helps loads with "being walked on" and is also a very important safety thing.) +++ (Also something we've worked on.)

The horse should back up in a straight line from light pressure on the lead for reasonable distances (more than one or two steps, here, folks. I'm talking like ten feet.) He should be able to pivot his hindquarters away from light (hand) pressure on his hip. He should be able to pivot his forehand away from light pressure at the junction of head/neck. Both pivots should be at least 180 degrees of pivoting. 360 is better. +++ (These dorky skills translate, I promise, to neat stuff you can do while riding. The hindquarter control also makes trailer loading a lot easier.)

Ground manners for grooming: All parts of the horse should be touchable and groomable by the human. All parts. In particular, make sure that you can handle the feet easily. The horse should pick up his feet deliberately but not too fast and allow the human to move them around (tuck between legs like a farrier, move foreward to dress the toe, move backward or hold tight up prior to trotting out for lameness) without having to work at it. The horse SHOULD NOT pull the foot away from the human if the human isn't done with it yet. The horse SHOULD NOT kick or strike at the human during foot handling. The horse should allow the human to put the foot gently back on the ground when he or she is done with it. Also, the horse SHOULD NOT lean weight on the human while the human has a foot in his or her lap. That's just rude. +++

Ground manners for being tacked up: Horse should stand quietly for tacking up. Horse should not have to be tied for this or any other activity. If the human puts the lead over his or her shoulder (and just lets it hang there), the horse should *stand* for the activity. -

Bridle: It's nice if the horse puts his head down and opens his mouth. It's okay if the human has to use the thumb-in-mouth trick. It's NOT okay if the horse takes several steps backward or throws his head straight up or ducks out to the other side to avoid the bridle. - (We're working on this. Some days she does better than others.)

Unbridle: Horse should open mouth and gently spit bit out. +

Pad&Saddle: Horse should stand still. Horse walking circles around you is wrong. Horse trying to kick at you is wrong. Horse dancing sideways like he's never seen a saddle in his life, that's also wrong. -- (Dancing sideways. Yes, I HAVE sacked her out, over and over. Lots. With the pad and saddle.)

Ground manners for mounting: Horse should stand still. If needed, horse should line up next to whatever mounting aid (fence rail, hill, ditch, five gallon bucket, stump, mounting block) the human chooses to employ. It is RUDE for the horse to swing his butt away from the mounting aid. Horse should wait patiently while human climbs aboard and gets stuff sorted out. IMPORTANT: Horse should not move off until directed to do so by rider. ++ (She's pretty good at this.)

Yeah. I don't have a lot of wants, here, do I? How does one go about getting the things one would like to have? I do a certain amount of groundwork with green stuff before I get on it or expect anyone else to get on it. This is partly because the ground manners make the horse easier to be around and partly because that way I get to know something about the horse before I put a leg over his back. By the time we get around to riding, we're not strangers to each other.

Here are some things I really want green stock to know before I try to get on them.

Rule #1: Yield to pressure.
Rule #2: If I release the cue, you did the right thing.
Rule #3: You have to keep trying to find the answer. You are not allowed to shut down and not-try.
Rule #3a: Nothing I ask of you is impossible.
Rule #4: Respect my space.
Rule #5: I am not here to hurt you.

Some explicit lessons for green stock (I use a rope halter with attached 12' lead of the sort pimped by Pat Parelli, among other clinicians. It's unbreakable, humane, and has a very clear release for horses. The clear release helps horses learn faster.)

1. Put your head down when I apply pressure on the lead rope. (Why do I teach this? It's easy to teach. Horses pick it up fairly quickly. It takes (on average) about five minutes to teach to a halter-broke horse. The horse learns #1 (pressure) and #2 (release=correct). Those two fundamentals, well, they're the building blocks for getting anywhere else.)

2. Hide your butt. (Why do I teach this? It's a safety feature. Horses that disengage their hindquarters on request cannot charge forward and stomple you. They come to a halt -- they have to do so to disengage the hindquarters. It also teaches "When I swing the tail of the rope at you, that is pressure (#1) and you have to move away from pressure. When you do it right, I will quit swinging (#2)." We do this from both sides because most horses do one side better than the other. Always work both sides of the horse.

3. Back up when I shake the lead rope at you. (Hunh? Safety feature. If you can stop the horse from going forward, that's helpful. Also, it gives you a way to stop the horse without yanking on him. This is important because if he's coming toward you, you can't yank him to a stop. It works on #2 and #3 -- this one is usually a little harder for horses to learn and they have to search for the answer for a couple of minutes.)

4. Go in circles around me in the direction and at the speed I dictate. Reverse direction on cue (I change leading and driving hands on the lead. The horse needs to self-stop and reverse direction on his own when I change hands. (I use the 'hide your butt' stuff from two lessons ago to get the horse to change directions.). The horse should stop on cue. (Use the back up thing from the previous lesson.) This increases horse attention span, teaches 'respect my space' because most horses drift in toward the human on circles, and generates some self-responsibility for doing-the-right-thing because the horse has to watch me to find out what to do next. This gets a horse to thinking about how to do the right thing.

5. Go through or over obstacles (including into the horse trailer) as I direct you to do. (Uses the driving skills from the previous lesson only not in a circle anymore and with the added challenge of obstacle goodness.) #3 and #3a, mostly. Also possibly #5. These are hard things to teach.

6. Sacking out with feed sack, pad, saddle.

While this is fascinating, I'm falling asleep in front of the computer again. Bedtime for me. I'll go into more detail on this tomorrow, but right now I need sleep.

Comments

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

This is actually fascinating--and it's interesting because when I was a kid I used to ride horses. I rode every week at the same stable for probably 8 or 9 years, though I never owned a horse. And from looking at your list of ground manners and other things you've commented on, they were obviously giving me some fairly difficult horses at the end there--ones that didn't stand for tacking up, or at least not at first, horses that would throw their head bcack to avoid a bit, horses that were really light to handle some weeks and ones that needed a firmer hand other weeks. I suppose after 9 years they could trust me not to know how to keep myself and the horse okay.

[moderndayviking.livejournal.com]

Thanks! this is going to give me something good to read at work today!