RESPONDING TO: Message: 2 Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:59:14 -0500 From: "Joseph C. Huston" < jchuston@earthlink.net> To: "Mounted search and rescue" < msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org> Subject: [MSAR] MSAR horse training Message-ID: <A92DFD3783D64C24B2597A31F71760A7@JCHTOSHIBALP> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1"; reply-type=original My SAR horse Stormy died several months ago and I am working with a horse I recently brought in from West Texas. I would like some input on where to go to find a list of suggestions to get this horse up to speed. He has great
ground manners, is easy to ride and I have already started sacking him out. Thank you. Joseph C. Huston
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Hello John, you and Una have my condolences as well. I too have an old faithful mount that I have ridden for 27 years. She is now 30 and while still rideable, I have retired her to a pleasure ride once in a while.
I have the pleasure of owning and working with 11 head ranging in age from 4 and 5, to teens and to their mid twenties. My closest MSAR mount now is 10 and still needing finish to which I regret time has been my biggest factor...handling all my animals limits my time for each.
In my breed (I have Paso horses) even the youngest are not what I consider mature enough for many of the jobs I would like them to do. The under 5 set do not have the mind set or the physical maturity in my opinion and so therefore we do not rush them, but try to get through the basics. Make the basics firm before moving on to the high school and graduate stuff. There is so much you can teach from the ground.
There are a lot of training methods to get a horse to that "bombproof" stage, but all take time and daily working and most of all PATIENCE. Horses learn so much just from repitition. And so many riders today are pressed for time, and the word patience goes out the window and there are a lot of sour horses out there because of that.
Some of the more difficult areas I see even the basic of trail riders having difficulty in is watercrossings or going over or through obstacles, gates, leading or riding over small jumps. Trailer loading is another area many folks have issues and I see a lot of folks making training errors there that could be avoided. Seems a lot of whips and chains come out and I see a lot of people try to "beat" their horses into a trailer and largely because people are too impatient or lack the time, skill and knowledge to teach their animals and then the "bullytraining" comes out.. and things get ugly.
My definition of bullytraining are people that use methods to intimidate or bully their stock into doing something that the horse would do willingly if given the proper chance, proper time and training. They are yankers, pullers, excessive whip and hard handed riders. Most horses that are bullyied have a mirade of bad habits and are fearful. They baulk, pull and will try to run over their handlers. Untrained stock do this too, but bullied horses are more dangerous in my opinion because they carry the bad habits and have literally traininedin grudges because mainly they have been mistreated, maltrained and manhandled. Bullied horses often have hard mouths, are head shy and want to kick.
One of the best things I see many horses get flustered at is a simple plastic garbage bag loaded with a few rattle cans tied to a rope and a rider is handed the rope and asked to drag the bag of cans TOWARD the horse, reel in the bag and lift it to the saddle horn while mounted. While many horses are very tolerant of things they can pull from the side or the rear...things especially noisy crinkle things such as this coming at them get many a horses goat and of course a lot of riders get their riding skills tested or altered in the process.
Sacking out is an important game in training. And using many things to try to rattle your mount is important. Sacking involves more than the traditional "beating" the horse with the rug.
Some things that might go overlooked for riders here to consider is riding double. Mounting two riders on one horse can be a challenge. Dismounting equally.
Another area that could have practical MSAR use is the idea of training their horse to bow and learning to mount up from a bow and dismount bowed as well.
Mounting and working the horse from both sides.
We try to get horses used to the largest noisiest biggest equipment when possible. Semis, tractors, noisy farm machines, honking horns etc.
Changing terrain is often a challlenge because simply getting to another turf takes time and money to travel. Una has a wonderful backyard to play in, mesas table rock, cliffs...me, I have slopes, flats, woodland, farmfields, highways, but no mesas to practice on and riding rimrock is a wonderful challenge.
I like to use a frisbee in training. I longe the horse while someone throws it at the horse and tries to zoom its ears, or go between its legs.
Crawling around on the ground on your all fours under your horse or try taking a wheelbarrow under it...
Blindfolding and leading, scents, there are a thousand and one games you can play with your horse for training.
Just simple giving bathes can "sack" a horse too.
Use of a travoius...not sure Im spelling that one right, but it is what the indians would use to hitch to their animals to drag their posessions along behind a horse which could be used as a litter to haul a person who is injured. This is another mindboggler for many a steed. Its two long poles and a blanket basically and hitched to the stirrups.
Gun breaking. That one is getting harder to train since a special area is needed so no one gets hurt. And there will be a difference to the horse be it a live or dead round.
The more "toys" you can find to "bounce off your horse, so much the better but one of the biggest issues I see as a trainer that horses have and that gives riders the most headaches is when both the horse and the rider are not supple. Suppling is one of the most important things in training that will work for you that I know of. And there are a lot of horse handlers that have a misconception of what proper suppling involves or even how to.
Stay safe!
Karen Nesbitt - VMSAR - Iroqouis County - Illinois
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