----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, March 06, 2007 9:05
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Subject: [MSAR] (MSAR) Flag Training
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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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