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This is probably routine for most teams out there, but on the
subject of mounting, many riders out of habbit and tradition mount up on
the left. Training your horse to mount from both sides not only
helps it keep balance in training (by that I mean working
and training both sides of the horses brain) it will
help you too as the rider. There is nothng worse than riding a one
sided horse. It not only makes it for a very long day in the
saddle for the rider and I dont care what breed you ride, but you do
your horse an injustice as well as yourself..
I see many people longing their horses in both directions thinking
that longing exersize alone will supple them. That is
the farthest thing from the truth. Equally many times I see riders
"cowboying" or bully training their horses by
excessive yanking, spurring, whipping and jerking them into
stops and circles. The yanking, spurring, whipping and
jerking is just more irritation, thus training nothing. It serves
only to make your mount more hard headed and hard mouth and more
unresponsive. It can also be abusive on the extreme end.
Throw the spurs and whips out.
You must teach your horse to break and bend at the poll and neck
and to follow itself on the curve from nose to tail. Sitting on
the horse that is one-sided you will note the horse has an "s" to its
posture from veiwing it above. This "s" is fully an
indication that the horse is not supple. Most horses that are not
supple will be snipey, they will pin their ears, they will ring their
tails, try to bite and show other paramounts of
aggitation. Persisting to ride your horses without a fully
suppled body will not only also cause the horse irritation in attitude,
but you as well as the rider as you too are also not supple
on both sides. Training that persists in not gettign the
horse supple only persists making the horse hard and
unco-operative.
You may also garner some saddle sores to your mount by it gouging
its whithers or elsewhere as well as garner some sore muscles from
trying to fight with the horse and fighting with it is not teaching
it. If you have ill fitting equipment, you cannot train properly
either. Most good traineirs hve a large closet of different peices
of tack and of many sizes and that includes saddles, briddles etc.
One size does not fit all and while it might fit the rider, does it
really fit the horse? If it does not, you are hurtign your
training. Oddly enough, many riders make their horses onesided or
irritated because that is how the rider is only able to carry
his/her body and if the rider is stiff, it transposes into the
horse. Teaching the animal is not bullying or forcing, it is
asking and getting the wanted result. Good fitting equipment
yeilds to good training results too.
Signs of saddle sores - bad attitude, dry spots when you
remove the saddle, scortched hairs on the whithers or elsewhere, rubs on
the hips or back portion where the saddle may ride. Other
baddies are lip sores from ill fitting bridles and bits, sore
mouths from jerking the horse or being to heavy handled most likely
caused by you struggling to ride a onesided horse, hairless areas.
Tail ringing is a sign of total displeasure as is a horse that will try
to kick. Belly kicking and stomping are not always an indication a
fly is at the horse. It could very well be YOU are the horse
its irritation. And of course, the ever populare lets dump the
rider. Well, that one speaks for itself.
Too many times I see riders taking a crop or tying the horses head
down or to the side trying to supple their animals. It does not
work all the time, and it does not teach the animal to be
supple on all counts of its spine, only parts, and only serves to
make the animal more irritated as time goes on if points needing
suppling are not getting there. To teach the horse to break or
bend at the poll takes patience, some know how and a whole lot of
give and take asking and once done correctly, your mount will serve you
better. To teach the horse to bend at all points of the spine
properly incrues certain flexion points to yeild and that is not always
accomplished by being in the saddle. Throw the crop or whip
away. The only thing they are good for is if used properly and
beating is not proper. Teach by touch. Walk away from traing
if you are finding you are asking too hard or having to use more force
than needed.
Most bad and cranky horses are caused by bad trainers or
trainers not skilled in knowing how to supple and also are horses that
have been forced or bullyied and they have become combative.
Diffusing a combative horse cannot be done by force or more
bullying.
Mounting from the right side vs left draws the horses head in the
opposite position to which the horse is commonly accostomed.
Mounting from both sides will act to help supple the horse as
well. This is a simple exersize and will benefit you and the
horse. Or perhaps if you are a rider with a bad knee, mounting
from the oppisite side will gain you and your horse more confidence as
you work the animals other side of its brain and your physical being as
well. Regretably, again a onesided rider is a problem to a two
sided horse or a horse that is supple on the oppisite side the rider
is. You have to make this a team matter and a matter to where you
and your mount are most comfortable in functioning if you have physical
limitations.
Mounting a horse like Una stated as if you were getting on a
log from in water is great. It takes practice and comes with
time. Doing "dead mans slings" are another great exersize
for both the horses and rider. A dead man sling is where you hang
on the horses back on your belly no hands touching once on. Doing
it on both sides. If you have not done it from both, you wil find
the nontraditional side a lot of work and you may send your horse in a
frenzy by putting your elbow into a place where it may have not been
before and it is not used to and not welcome. Your elbow can carry
a heavy PSI.
You can also ask the horse to yeild to tuck its head to your shin
or the shins position when in the saddle or on the animal or on the
ground. To do it on the ground you use an indirect reign.
Most horses that are onesided will strongly benefit from this
exersize.
I have worked with quite a few sour horses and most sour
horses that are taught to yeild and bend properly will come around in
attitude. Forcing or cowboying the beast to yeild serves no
purpose when teaching the animal to yeild to become supple. Does
not matter the horses age. A supple horse at any age is a pleasant
beast to be with.
Other things you can work with to help your horse is to teach it to
accept the saddle from both sides when setting it on its back. Of
course you can only cinch from one side depending on your gear, but some
saddles are ambadexterous (sp) where the cinch can be relocated.
Toss your chaps on the horn on both sides or what ever gear you can
rotate to give you more examples. The more you do, the better for
you!
For a better trained mount you have to break from the tradition of
doing. Tradition being mounting from the left side.
Tradition stemming from when knights carried swords and hence could only
mount from that side without the sword affecting the mounting. Non
tradition is traing the animals brain to function on BOTH
sides!
We also work our mounts in a pen. We lasso them to get them
used to things flying at them. Tossing the rope and
whether or not you get the head caught is not as important as the
"sacking" the horse gets by the rope. But if you can lasso a head
now and again, so much better for you. Many mounts will just come
to a dead halt if a rope is on their neck or back once they learn
that being lassoed will stop them. Circling a rope above the
animals head is a great exersize too.
Using a rope to slither under the horse or around the buttocks also
helps the horse gain confidence, but you must also not be abusive.
Tossing the rope while on the horse can garner the horse and yourself
some confidence. Beating the horse with it or a whip will not
teach the animal anything other than it is abused.
Ponying them teaches them a lot of things too. Pony from BOTH
sides. Use a trusted steed to teach a younger steed. It is
amazing what horses will pick up from their more trainnnnned
counterparts.
By above all, teach the horse to WHOA using a verbal command WHOA
and STAND. goes a long way when catching a runaway mount or
a mount you might not be familiar with and happens to be a member of
your teams. This should be your first leassons to make sure
are down pat.
We recently installed walled sides to half our training pen and the
walls help keep the horses focused on the rider. It is amazing too
what else the walls offer in benefiting in training, but that is another
lesson.
Lastly, perpetual ring work can sour a horse, or being in a stall
for days, lack of work, and boredom can act to sour them as well and so
can poor feeding habits. While horses are creatures of habit, they
also like variety.
Well, anyway, these are a few more things that definetly work for
us.
Good luck and may you always have a safe ride.
Karen
PS - I will be posting these hints with
some photos in the near future on our website. Hope they will help
you in your training. Please inquire at my email as to the
URL of those pages if you have training questions or
comments. Please note too, that these above exersizes are
better seen first to do properly than just trying them from what you
read. If you are having a specific problem, let us know and we
will see if there is a good answer to the training problem. And
also, what may work for us, unless you do it proper, may not work for
you. Thanks.
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