Young Trainers Clinic -- Ride Your Horse ~Short Odds Farm~

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 19:32:19 10/03/01 Wed
Author: Dixie
Subject: Young Trainers Clinic

As part of a clinic for people who want to be trainers, I do a demonstration with several of my young horses.

I start with a yearling Hannoverian colt. "This is Art Interpretation, his daddy is the paint Hanno, Art Deco. We'll cover basic leading." I clip a lunge line on his halter. "Oridinarily I have another line that goes along the other side and comes up on his back legs, but this guy's beyond that point." I click to the colt, giving him the firm "walk" command. He gingerly steps forward. I go over the baic lunge commands with Arty, then let him go back to his stall.

"Now we'll go up a step, the little filly I'm going to bring in next a two year old, a racer" A pretty gray TB filly is lead in. "This is Survivor, she's still a bit unpredictable, watch her reactions." I tighten the cinch on her bareback pad, and take the reins to her snaffle bridle, then mount up. She immediately pins her ears and stamps her fore leg. I gently nudge her to a walk and click to her. She steps forward. After about three seconds she starts a fast trot, I pull her back to a walk, then halt her. "You notice how she picked up that trot? That was her own idea. You also noticed how I pulled her to a walk, then a halt? That's to keep her from stopping everytime I tug the reins." I guide her slowly to the rail, we walk around a few times, then halt and back.

The next horse brought out is a ligh bay Arab mare about four years old. "This is an example of a dead-broke, do-it-all horse. She can cut, race barrels, rein, do dressage, jump, rope, just about anything." I mount up on her in a nice little western saddle. We start around the rail, then go to a nice western jog, then a beautiful canter, then a smooth sliding stop, and a spin. "That agility is what helps her win in western." We go back to te rail and pull off a beautiful extended trot, then a series of side passes down the diagonal, a few shoulder-ins, and some more side passes, I pull her a nice squared up halt. "And the precision you see the side passes, that's what puts her above the rest of the junior and amatuers."

I remain seating on her. "To train you must connect with the horse. It's not merely getting the horse to do what you want. You must ask, and you must perform as well. And don't just ride...race across the pasture, race against time. Don't confine yourself to just one event. If you ride only western, get yourself a dressage horse. Or if you just ride english, I suggest a nice western pleasure horse. And one of the most beautiful things is breeding a foal, training it, showing it, then selling it to a good owner. Your pride will be tremendous."

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]