Starting The Young Horse 6
By Jason Webb
Last month we got up to the end of the second week in the process of starting a young horse. By this time, I would expect the horse to be hacking round the farm.
The next two weeks will be adding good experiences to this foundation. The aim of starting a horse is to show the horse how to behave when being ridden and handled on the ground. However, it could take up to a year of consolidating this work before the horse is reliable and 'solid'.
Riding round the Farm
I will try and keep riding in the arena to a minimum for the next couple of weeks and by now the horse should be walking, trotting and cantering in the field. I will encourage the horse to flow forward freely in straight lines and large circles. I will ride him out round the farm on his own and in company.
Using Gates
Gates are one of the most useful tools you can have when training horses so don't cheat and get off to open them! With a young horse, it is a way of teaching them to move off your leg and gaining some lateral movement. At first the gate opening and closing process will take a long time, but don't lose your patience! Whenever the horse moves in the direction you want, take the pressure off and let him stand before asking him for another movement. Once you have closed the gates behind you let the horse stand quietly, with no pressure for a while so he absorbs the lesson just learnt.
Hacking out
Once I know I have speed control and a little lateral movement, I will introduce the horse to light traffic. The horse will be used to vehicles around the yard and at first I will ride a short circuit on a very quiet road. At first, I will take him with an older horse for safety purposes to act as a 'chaperone', but after a couple of goes, I will take him out by himself as well.
Jumping
The horse will encounter small natural obstacles around the farm such as logs, which I will jump him over. We also have small steps to go up and down, small ditches to go over and water to go through. Throughout all these experiences, I make sure that after the horse has done what I have asked, I let the horse relax and stand with no pressure. I won't do a lot of jumping in the school, just some small grids to get them used to the idea.
Preparing for their future career
At this stage, I believe all horses from a future Grand Prix dressage horse to the happy hacker need the same basics. However, if the horse is destined for one discipline, I will introduce them to certain experiences. For example, I am presently starting a dozen two and three year olds for polo. By their second week they had a polo mallet introduced to them and they are now happily 'stick and balling' in the field in their third week.
Going Home
Before the horse goes home, I strongly recommend that at the very least the owner watches their horse being ridden by myself in different situations. The owner would preferably have ridden their horse a few times in different situations before he goes home. I am always willing to come out to the owner's house for the first ride in the horse's new surroundings!
As a last point to note, I always try and instill the following motto to my clients:
PRESSURE - RESULT - RELEASE - REFLECT!!!
Next month, I will do a summary of my starting methods that will show the progression of the horse over the 4 weeks.
For more details, please contact Jason Webb on 01580 211662 or visit www.australianstockhorses.co.uk.
