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msar-riders - [MSAR] (MSAR) Flag Training needed

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  • From: Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>
  • To: MSAR <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [MSAR] (MSAR) Flag Training needed
  • Date: Tue, 6 Mar 2007 18:05:53 -0800 (PST)

Responding to:

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2007 13:41:00 -0700
From: "The Stevie's" <rideforhim@fiberpipe.net>
Subject: [MSAR]  Flag training needed
To: <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
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In our barn we start the basis for flag training in our young colts.  We ground train using a long tail-less whip with a WHITE rag or hankercheif tied to the end.  We take the whip with this rag and basically haze the horse with it.  Not hitting him hard but enough to make his attention stand up in an effort to get him used to it.  If you have sacked a young colt then the principle is the same as using the saddle blanket in the sacking, but with using the long whip you are able to get under the horse at his privates as well as above his head and aroudn teh ears at a safe length away for the trainer.
 
Once he is beyond this and has excepted it, we trade the rag in for a peice of crinkly noisey plastic.  I take the whip with this and stand INFRONT of the horse and haze his sides and head and between his legs.  When I can do this with increasing spead, I take the whip and FIGURE EIGHT him swinging the whip while facing him and ticking him with it...tick his hind end and go again between his legs, at his privates and as well his head until he is accepptable to it.
 
Horses can be fickle about whips...so you can also use the whip as a "flag pole" before usign a real pole to carry a flag on.  Carrying the whip much as you do a flag and tipping it and changing sides etc.
 
My next stage is to take a broom or a polo mallet and touch the horse with it EVERY WHERE.  When I can safely mount this horse and swing the mallet and or broom in the saddle then I will take the white rag to the mallets end and proceed from there.
 
I also take an over sized WHITE sheet and cover the hroses head and slap him with it while both on and off the ground.  I NEVER  for safteys sake take a large sheet on a pole until I am completely satisfied this horse will not bolt.  I will also take the white sheet on a long rope on the ground and drag it towards the horse..doing this until the horse is acceptable of it on the ground as well as from while I am in the saddle.  I trade that sheet then for a plastic garbage bag...and do same.  You can fill the plastic garbage bag with tin cans to try to rattle the horse.  Most horses will get rattled over this and some horses take longer than others to train.
 
Once I have the horse satisfactorily de-boogered with the above methods, only then will I try to carry a flag on a pole on the animal.  Carrying a flag as are all the previously mentioned traingings dangerous, they are also things that require skills of a more experienced rider.
 
One of the major issues of carrying a flag in parades is that you are on concrete or asfualt.  This slippery footing is bad enough without a flag...adding the flag is also another element of danger...proceed with caution.
 
It does not take much to take a horse off balanced even a very well trained horse to lose his balance with a flag.  If he stumbles on the rear, you will go over backwards and NEVER EVER TIE THE FLAG TO THE HORSE but always use a stirrup cup to hold the flag so it can be easily off loaded in the event of slipping. Unfortuneately a riders tendancy can be to hold onto the flag and not let "Old Glory" touch the ground, but in teh event, you will save your bacon if you lose the flag in the fall.  So go with the WHITE sheet first, but be prepared in the end to off load the flag with ease to save your hide or very neck..
 
 If you are not able to lose the flag easy in the event of a slip, you could get crushed by your horse as he goes over on top of you and you will get injured if you do not know how to handle this type of situation.
 
Roping horses can also be trained on the ground to accept the rope and we like to also get our stock used to being lassoed or having their legs entangled in the lariet etc etc etc...
 
Good luck on your training.  I know that there are many of us out here who may have different ideas, but this method is what I have come to use in some 35 plus years of training many many horses.  And as said, we do this type of work on all of our young colts much of it PRIOR  to what is done UP in the saddle.  There is much to be said good about a good horse with a good ground working foundation.
 
There is nothing more beautiful that a well behaved stallion or mare able to carry a flag and to ride side by side with their riders in a parade or other event!  We take pride in doing just that!
God bless America and God bless the flag!
 
Karen Nesbitt
Iroquois County - Illinois 
VMSAR


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