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© Cruz Bay Publishing, Available from www.EquineNetworkStore.com

iii

contents

Acknowledgments v

Introduction vii

1 emotional training 1

2 Ground control 9

3 lock in Place 19

4 Sack-Out Savvy 27

5 Bridle-Wise 35

6 the Science of Saddling 43

7 Saddle Up! 51

8 Ground Driving 59

9 Bending for control 67

10 Stand-Still mount 73

11 first ride 81

12 trot, lope, then ride Out 87

13 Have a Ball trailer loading 95

Epilogue 105

About the Authors 107



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1

you see a reiner with a winning stop, lead change, and spin, and

think, “Wow, that horse must be broke.” He may be . . . in the

show pen. But would he spook into your space on the ground?

trailer load? Keep his cool in a group? Stay calm when a deer bolts in

front of him? a good show horse may get an a+ grade on maneuvers,

but a D or an f in other aspects of his life.

On the other hand, a dead-quiet kid’s horse may be a solid citizen in

his calm, familiar home environment, but turn into an out-of-control

Sure, you’ve heard of physical training, in which cue A leads to reaction B. But have you considered the importance of training your horse’s mind?

emotional training

one

It’s important to balance your horse both physically and emotionally to make him a hap-pier, safer, and more confident partner.




SMarT STarT2

bronc when he's unloaded at a crowded clinic or

group trail ride. How can that be? It’s because each of those

horses was trained mostly in a physical aspect: to

haul a rider around for a specific purpose (show or pleasure). and in that one narrow aspect, the

horse has the knowledge and confidence to do his

job. But outside his comfort zone, he’s insecure. that can make him reactive—and unsafe.

and that’s because his emotions haven’t been

trained: He hasn’t been taught how to process—

and deal with—stress. Since stress will happen,

he most likely will react in an unsafe manner

when it does. He also hasn’t been taught to look

at you as his leader. that’s why, as you’ll see, I’ll

be addressing your horse’s “emotional training”

throughout this book.

Charting Safety—or When Zero Is a Good Thingto give you a visual idea of what I’m talking

about, I’ve put together a series of charts. Since I have three young boys, I tend to rank a horse’s

education in a way that’s similar to a child’s: from

kindergarten to college.

(See chart 1, “Grade

levels,” on page 3.)

as you can see, the

“Safety line” (the point

at which that horse is

reasonably safe to work

around and ride) occurs

somewhere between grades 3 and 4; that’s where

you’ll get using the lessons in this book.

I also “grade” physical training and emotional

control (the ability to handle stress) on a scale

from −10 to +10. a horse that’s +10 is a hot,

fire-breathing animal that’s hyperreactive and has

what I call a big “startle” reflex. the −10 horse

is the kid’s pony that’s so lazy he never wants

to move—he’ll stand while you bang your legs

against his sides, because to him it’s less trouble to be kicked than to take a step.

your goal will be to balance your horse be-

tween these two extremes (hypersensitive and

totally dull/unresponsive)—at the perfect “0.”

that means he’ll be light and responsive from

a physical aspect, and able to process and cope

with stress from an emotional one. that is pre-

cisely what the lessons in this book will help you

accomplish.

Real-Life Examples of Balance—or Lack of It!to help you further understand this balance, I’ve

included four examples of horses that have it—or lack it. read about each of them below, then

look at chart 2, “emotional/Physical training

Balance,” on page 4. It shows each horse and

the grade he or she reached in both aspects of

his or her training.

Horse a. a 15-year-old kid’s gelding that received

basic training using physical, intimidation-style,

“get ’em broke!” methods. He’s a confident, domi-

nant horse who’s the leader of his own “herd”: the three horses with whom he shares a pasture.

He’s functional—most of the time. If his

family hauls him alone, he’s fairly well behaved,

though he hasn’t been taught to respect his child

rider. But if he’s hauled with one of his buddies, or

ridden away from them on the farm, he’s fretful:

When he hears a buddy call, he zones everything

else out (including his kid). He is boss hoss and

wants to take care of his herd mates. He’ll jig,

fret, and pull back when tied.

as a result, you can see in chart 2 that he’s

below the safety line emotionally, which means

Your goal will be to balance your horse between these two extremes (hypersensitive and totally dull/unresponsive)—at the perfect “0.”




3Emotional Training

College. About 600-plus hours of training. You’ll have a well-trained, solid horse that can do his job correctly and safely —if you’ve addressed both his physical and emotional training. Examples include an upper-level dressage horse; a highly skilled, broke ranch horse; a reining horse that scores consis-tently above 70 (out of a possible 100). Your horse will continue to refine his skills, and learn new ones, for as long as he’s ridden.

High School. About 240 hours of training, at which time event-specific maneuvers begin. The higher the grade level, the less resistance, and more correctness, of a specific maneuver. Ninth and 10th grades will have neck-reining skills, can counter bend and move hips at same time; and are learn-ing to two-track; 11th and 12th graders can do flying lead changes, stops from speed, and maintain collection.

8th Grade. Will ground tie; can bend and counter-bend while moving in a figure eight; can back up through cones or an L-shaped obstacle; side passes.

7th Grade. Can do 180-degree turns on the haunches (may be imperfect, but understands concept); able to pick up correct lead walking on straight line.

6th Grade. Is learning basic collection. Has some shoulder control; can spiral in and out on a circle; can counter-bend; stops in response to a verbal “whoa.”

5th Grade. About 100 hours of training. Can pick up leads in arena corners; still may not understand leg cues beyond the “forward” aspect; from an emotional-control basis, may still spook in response to new situations.

4th Grade. Skills learned beyond the “starting” ones in this book, such as improved steering, ability to ride various patterns, able to consistently lope off on correct lead from a trot on a circle.

THE SAFETY LINEYou “graduate” over the line when you can do everything in this book 30 rides in a row.

3rd Grade. Accepts you on his back; moves forward off leg; basic stopping/steering skills; basic walk, trot, lope skills. He has basics (and you have the tools) to be safely ridden outside of confined area, including being hauled to new locale (with the correct prep; see chapter 13, page 95).

2nd Grade. Has been sacked out with a variety of objects, for “emotional training”; accepts being saddled and bridled.

1st Grade. Horse leads, longes, ties, picks up feet, learns to move forward in round pen in response to your body/whip cues.

Kindergarten.* Foal on mare’s side; he’s aware of his dam’s perception of humans. Over time he learns to tolerate being scratched, rubbed, haltered; is later introduced to concept of giving to lead-rope pressure, leading, and picking up feet.

*The skills mentioned are merely examples to give you an idea of where a horse generally will be, training-wise, at each grade level. Specific skills will vary depending on the horse’s actual training and intended use.

Chart 1. Grade Levels




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SeniorJunior

SophomoreFreshman

121110987654321K

physical

HORSE A

emotional

SeniorJunior

SophomoreFreshman

121110987654321K

physical

HORSE C

emotional

SeniorJunior

SophomoreFreshman

121110987654321K

physical

HORSE B

emotional

SeniorJunior

SophomoreFreshman

121110987654321K

physical

HORSE D

emotional

Chart 2. Emotional/Physical Training Balance




5Emotional Training

he’s not well equipped to handle stress—he hasn’t

been trained to do so. While he’s above the line in training, the problems he has in stressful situ-

ations (such as when hauled with a herd mate)

make him unbalanced—and less than safe as a

kid horse.

Horse B. this gelding is a middle-aged, working

ranch horse. He has been ridden consistently by a good hand and has to deal with a lot of different things

each day, such as fire brand-

ing, chasing/gathering cattle,

gallop sprints, long trots for

hours, and hobbles. He lives

in a large herd setting and has

learned, and earned, his place

in that herd: He’s neither the

leader, nor the lowest on the

totem pole. Because of his exposure

to so many different physical

and mental situations, and

the fact that he was taught or

learned (in the herd) to cope

with them, he’s pretty solid

in both his physical and emo-

tional training. that makes

him a nice, balanced horse—the kind we’d all

feel confident on and enjoy riding.

Horse C. She’s a five-year-old reining filly that’s

been in training since she was two. She was shown

by a pro in futurities as a three-year-old, then sold

to a novice. She is physically very well trained,

but lacks emotional seasoning, such as exposure

to a wide variety of life stressors and experiences

(like the ranch horse has had). In other words,

she’s great in her comfort zone (the show pen), but

less predictable outside it, hence the imbalance.

An “emotional training” insight: this mare

has lived in a stall since she was two, with oc-

casional solo turnout in her own paddock. Since

she lacks natural interaction with other horses,

she also lacks confidence in herself as a horse; she

hasn’t had a chance to learn to speak her species’

language. I’m a strong believer in horses being

allowed to grow up, and be turned out as adults,

in groups—it gives them confidence and natural mental balance.

It’s been my experience

that you can train a horse

until you’re blue in the face,

but if the horse doesn’t know

where he fits in the equine so-

cial order, because he’s never

experienced group turnout,

there will always be a men-

tal “hole” there. Plus, there

will always be an underlying

anxiety. true relaxation to a

horse is being allowed to be a

horse . . . with other horses.

this filly would remain

fresher longer, and be hap-

pier, safer, and more balanced

over all, with more work on

her emotional training (and

time spent in group turnout). even though she’s

broke to ride, the lessons in this book would help

her achieve exactly that.

Horse D. finally, we have a six-year-old Western

pleasure mare with a poor trainer. She was pushed

early and hard to meet futurity deadlines. this

caused an apparent high level of physical train-

ing, but left the mare insecure and intimidated

emotionally. as a result, when she is good, she is

very, very good; when she is bad, she is dangerous.

an example: left on a loose rein and ridden

I’d rate Popcorn as a +7 on the emotional scale.




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carefully, the mare is able to win classes. When

she’s ridden, the instructions are “just don’t take

a hold of her face.” the mare’s poor emotional

training has made her so fearful of bit pressure

that she threatens to run backward or throw her

head and rear if you establish normal bit contact.

this mare will likely be passed around (be-

cause she can win) until her emotional problems

become so great she’ll end up at a sale. Sadly,

because she is dangerous, that could lead her

on the trail to slaughter. It’s not her fault: like

many horses before her, it happens because she

lacks good emotional training. that’s sad. and

it’s preventable.

The Teeter-Totter Principlethe horse you’ll see mostly in this book is Pop-

corn, the untouched youngster on whom I won

road to the Horse in 2006. (I liked him so much,

I bought him!)

I’d rate Popcorn as a +7 on the emotional

scale: He’s a hot horse with a high startle reflex.

When he’s alone out in a field, I’ll see him rac-

ing around, ears pinned, as though he’s racing an

invisible horse. He’s naturally that way.

contrast him to a pony we once owned named

Paige. She’s a Haflinger who rates a −9 on the

emotional scale. She’d rather stand still than

move, regardless of how hard you kick her. that’s

because no one’s ever taught her how to be light and responsive.

So how do I balance these two opposites to

zero? I’ll use the techniques on this book’s pages,

but because both horses are such far extremes

on the emotional spectrum, at first I’ll have to

push each of them to an extreme in the opposite

direction, with the goal of having them naturally

slide back to zero. for a visual, check out chart 3, “Balancing your Horse,” on page 7.

In it, you can see what “balanced” looks like,

at the top. Next, picture dull, quiet Paige as the

−9. She is so out of balance that I need to take

her the same distance in the opposite direction to

The "Quiet Danger"

So which horse do you think would be most dan-gerous to be around: the +10 fire-breather with

the high startle reflex, or the −10 kid pony who’d rather stand still and be kicked than move? If you guessed the +10 fire-breather, you just might be wrong!

How can that be? Because such a horse sends “watch out” vibes and you pay attention. You’re naturally alert when working around him, and cau-tious if and when you mount up. You’re constantly on guard around him on the ground.

But around the kid pony? Not so much. Therein lies the danger. Quiet horses tend to get less training than their high-strung brethren. That’s why the kid pony is dead-sided. No one taught him to be light to your aids. His handlers skipped over other key aspects of his training, such as teaching him to cope with stressful situations, because he was so “easy.”

Laid-back horses appear to have emotional control, but lack it unless it’s taught to them. Often no one takes the time to teach a quiet horse how to handle, say, fear, because it is assumed he’ll calmly deal with anything that comes his way.

That’s why a −10 pony (or horse) may come uncorked if exposed to stress, such as being taken from a quiet backyard to a group setting with a lot of stimulation (noise, activity, crowds). When he does come undone, no one is expecting it. That’s when people get hurt. (There is a famous old horseman’s saying, “It’s the ‘safe’ ones that’ll hurt you.”)

And that is why the balance between emotional and physical training is key in any horse you handle or ride. It’s for your safety.




7

A balanced, responsive horse.

To balance the dull, unresponsive horse, take him in the opposite direction (plus) and work your way back and forth until he’s balanced.

Similarly, to balance the hot, emotional horse, take him

in the minus direction.

As he gets closer to balanced, you’ll lean the teeter-totter right and left.

Your horse may sometimes seem too cold/dull, some-

times too hot/sensitive.

Balance!

−10 +100

+10

−10

0

+10

−10

0

+10−10 0

Chart 3. Balancing Your Horse

Emotional Training

+10

−10

0

+10

−100




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wake her up. I’ll do that by using the “go!” tips

found throughout the book, especially those in

chapters 3, 4, and 5. By taking command and say-

ing “listen to me!” I’ll get her light and responsive.

Now look at the +10 horse (or a +7, such as Popcorn). I’ll need to do the same—push him to that same degree in the opposite direction (such

as with the sacking-out exercises in chapter 4,

page 27), in an effort to have him eventually

slide back to zero.

What about your horse? If he’s dull one day,

and high the next, how do you deal with him? If he’s that way, he’s probably more naturally bal-

anced than Paige and Popcorn are. you’ll have

to deal with his “Jekyll and Hyde” emotional

reactions by going back and forth on the “teeter-

totter” as necessary. If he’s a little dull, lighten

him up! If he’s a little high, do more emotional

control work, such as sacking out, along with

transition/turn work, such as that described next

in chapter 2.

Horses are not static beings. that’s why your

training will never be a static thing. you’ll con-stantly need to read your horse and adjust your

approach to his training as necessary. this book

will help you do just that!




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