I usually dislike rodents at the barn, but I got to thinking….Could I train a wild squirrel to be friendly? I wanted a squirrel to enjoy hanging out with me….maybe even be able to pet it. The only problem with that scenario is that I am secretly scared of touching the little guys. No problem. I found a squirrel willing to work around my phobia.
Meet Spot. Spot is easily recognizable by the large patch of fur that was missing from his back, his torn left ear and the orange snaggle tooth that sometimes protrudes out of the right side of his mouth. He’s a real looker.
Spot was easily target trained to the end of my whip. When Spot hears my voice, he comes out. He sits next to my whip waiting for a carrot. He is so comfortable around me that he hangs out while he eats. He lets me pet him with the whip. I scratch him around the ears and stroke his back. He seems to enjoy the attention. He could easily run off and eat his carrot, but he sticks around until he is done. He waits patiently for the next carrot. He will stay around for quite awhile, leaving occasionally to chase off an interloping squirrel. But then, he comes right back to my whip.
The only challenge with having a squirrel friend, is that they are pretty sneaky. Sometimes while sitting in the tack room, I turn around and find Spot has been sitting quietly behind me the entire time. He scares the crud out of me! Oh well. I will enjoy his company while I can. Squirrels don’t last long around here.
Meet Easton. He is a confirmed tooth grinder. He has been grinding his teeth under saddle daily since he was purchased over a year ago. His owner and her trainer tried just about everything. Nothing worked.
I had a request for a “how to” on this subject so here it is….How to teach your horse to stand still without being tied. This is one of the most useful “moves” you can put on a horse. I originally trained Tucson to stand/ground tie when I was doing a lot of jumping and setting/resetting my own courses. I didn’t want to lug my horse around to the fences with me. I found that this command was useful in soooo many ways. Cross ties full? No problem. Forgot something in your tack room? Just park your horse and leave him standing. Tucson could stand while I was completely out of sight. It prompted more than one confused rider to announce “loose horse!” Continue reading “The Stand Command”→
Today is the day. I didn’t wake up thinking I’d back Wiley for the first time today, but all the planets aligned. I knew he was ready from a training standpoint. Plus, it was a warm 70 degree day right smack in the middle of winter (gotta love Southern California). Wiley had a couple of really big turnouts during the previous week, so I was confident he wouldn’t be overly excitable. And, most importantly, I had a friend with excellent riding skills that wanted to assist. When a day like this comes along, you just have to go for it!
Special Note: Wiley is only 2 1/2, so I am not planning on really riding him. Because Wiley is already so large, I am going to get him used to a rider on his back before he gets to full dinosaur size. I will putz around on him a few times and then stay off him until he is 3.
Getting Ready for the Big Day
A bit of prep work needs to happen to make sure day 1 in the saddle is as stress free as possible. Wiley has lunged lightly in the saddle a few times with no reaction. I have also worked with him a few days prior to make sure that mounting up would go smoothly. All the steps I went over with him are shown below. There is nothing earth shattering here. All of this is pretty basic stuff.
Horse’s First Day Under Saddle: Step 1
After a brief lunging session, I pulled down on the stirrup with my hand to get Wiley used to the feel of weight being put in the stirrup. I rewarded Wiley for standing quietly. I did this a few times to make sure he was good and relaxed. (Note: all the pictures actually show Amy demonstrating how I performed each step. I practiced steps 1-5 with Wiley before this day as part of the prep. All of these photos were taken the day Wiley walked with a rider on his back for the first time. When backing a horse for the first time, it is great if you have a friend to help you, but it can also be done without help. Amy is an excellent rider, so I know she will stay relaxed even if Wiley doesn’t. I stayed on the ground to handle (and comfort if needed) Wiley as he goes through this part of training.
Pulling down on the stirrup.
Horse’s First Day Under Saddle: Step 2
After Wiley was thoroughly bored with pulling on the stirrup, I began to put my foot in the stirrup (as Amy is doing here). I made sure my toe made contact with his belly and moved it around a bit to get Wiley used to the feeling. Let’s face it, you are going to end up bumping your toe on your horse’s side while mounting sooner or later….might as well get that over with before you do it accidentally!
Putting the toe in the stirrup and letting Wiley feel it on his belly.
Horse’s First Day Under Saddle: Step 3
Wiley is good with the foot in the stirrup, so it is time to start bouncing up and down a bit. After each bounce session, Wiley is rewarded for standing still. Wiley needs to see the movement and feel the tug on the saddle to get comfortable.
Bouncing in the stirrups.
Horse’s First Day Under Saddle: Step 4
Time to stand in the stirrup. Wiley takes a good look back, but doesn’t offer to move. Good boy!
Standing in the stirrups.
Horse’s First Day Under Saddle: Step 5
Time to put the belly on the saddle. Sometimes the horse can get nervous when he sees you cross over the middle, and Wiley did give it a good look the first time I put my belly on him. He didn’t try to move away though. I slowly started petting him on his shoulder and hind end to get him used to movement and the feeling of being touched while on him.
Amy with her belly on Wiley.
These 5 steps were repeated for a few days until Wiley was completely comfortable. I performed them on both sides, so Wiley can be mounted from either side. Now he is ready for the big day. Just because Wiley is comfortable with me performing the steps above, doesn’t always mean it carries over to another person. Horses don’t always generalize well, so Amy repeated all the steps above (and that’s how I got pix!).
Horse’s First Day Under Saddle: Step 6
Finally time to get all the way on! Amy does this slowly but with confidence, making sure she doesn’t bump him on his rump while putting her leg over. At first, Amy maintains a low profile as she is doing here.
Staying low while giving Wiley a comforting pet.
But soon, Amy can sit up and pet Wiley. He even stops paying attention to her- a sure sign he is ready for the next step.
Wiley is showing signs he is ready to move on.
Horse’s First Day Under Saddle: Step 7
Time to move the feet. This is sometimes a strange feeling for a horse. Wiley doesn’t seem overly bothered by it…although he is going to keep an eye on Amy just in case.
Wiley was just a bit tentative at first, but it wasn’t because of the rider. Wiley was trying to figure out what I wanted him to do, so he started offering up an alternative…the maneuver we worked on yesterday seemed to be a good choice. Check out the video below for his first steps under saddle. See if you can guess what we worked on the day before.
As always, when training Wiley to do something new, the session is really short. I know Amy is going to get off Wiley’s back in a few minutes, but Wiley doesn’t know that! The session needs to be short enough that Wiley doesn’t decide it is his job to get Amy off his back. Wiley gives Amy a short pony ride and then he is done for the day. What a good boy!
Although I can’t ride Wiley and develop his body, I can do a lot of work developing his mind! Lately I’ve been working on the Spanish Walk. Every new trick he learns helps teach him how to learn. He is starting to actively listen/look/feel for commands. He is getting easier and easier to train. He is still a giant goofball horse and definitely has a dose of 2 year old ADD, but he loves to learn. He gets so excited when I start teaching him things. He follows me around like a giant puppy. I just have to take into account his short attention span, but he is getting better every day.
Training the Spanish Walk
The Spanish Walk is a pretty simple movement for a horse to learn. I like to start training this movement at liberty so the horse always has the choice to play along or go do something else. Nothing is forced. I keep training sessions short and try to end each session before the horse gets bored. It leaves them wanting more. Here’s Wiley learning the movement. Sorry the images aren’t great. It is a bit tough to cue Wiley, and hold a camera and click at the right time…but I am getting the hang of it.
Train Horse to Spanish Walk: Step 1
While standing on Wiley’s side, I give the command “Lift” and use a long whip (driving whip is best but anything will do) and start to tickle his lower leg. You can also tap.
I kept tickling or tapping until Wiley moved his leg to stop the tickle. As soon as he picked up his foot, I rewarded him. Any movement is OK at first. I just want Wiley to get the idea that the tickle or tap does not go away until the leg moves.
Wiley is being tickled until he lifts his leg.
Train Horse to Spanish Walk: Step 2
Once Wiley, could reliably lift his front left with a verbal “lift” and a tickle of the whip, I asked for the right front. I didn’t change my position, however. I just reached the whip farther over to the right leg. Once Wiley could lift his front right, I alternated between the legs, but Wiley remained in the same spot. He just picked up whichever leg I cued.
Wiley on some of his first lift attempts.
Train Horse to Spanish Walk: Step 3
Now for the (sometimes) tough part. Getting a horse to move forward AND lift their legs. Some horses, like Wiley, get this pretty easily. Some horses seem to take forever to coordinate their back feet with their front feet. They start walking their front feet and their back feet stay stationary. They end up looking like a super parked out Morgan! Don’t worry if your horse is on the slow side of learning this movement. Stick with it. It will come.
I asked Wiley to “walk on” and then ask for the “lift.” At first you may have to touch each leg to help your horse understand, but later on, just putting the whip out in front with the verbal “lift” is enough. In the clip below, Wiley is easily coordinating his front feet with his back and getting pretty consistent with lifting his legs.
Train Horse to Spanish Walk: Step 4
Notice I haven’t yet tried to train expression into Wiley’s Spanish Walk. I like to wait until a horse is comfortable coordinating their feet to train in the bigger expression. Below, I am beginning to shape Wiley’s walk to offer more expression.
This Spanish Walk shows more expression.
Train Horse to Spanish Walk While Ground Driving
Once the Spanish walk is confirmed, you can add it to your horse’s ground driving and under saddle repertoire. Since Wiley isn’t saddle broke, I am just adding it to his ground driving.
To get a Spanish Walk while ground driving, I need to change the aids a bit. This is where the verbal cue “lift” comes in handy. It will help Wiley understand the new aids. While Wiley is walking on the long lines (but lunging in a small circle) I give the command “lift” and then add the new aids – squeeze my left rein and then right rein in coordination with the leg that I want him to lift. If he needs more information, I will tap his left leg with the whip. When he takes a few Spanish Walk Steps, I reward him. My goal is to phase out the use of the whip as an aid. When that is complete, I simple get Wiley walking and say “lift.” I then alternate squeezing the left rein for the left leg and then the right rein for the right leg. It doesn’t take too long before you can get a horse to take a few steps as Wiley is doing below:
Learning the Spanish Walk on long lines.
Why Teach a Horse the Spanish Walk?
This is one of those “tricks” that is really useful later on in dressage training. If your horse is not very forward, like Wiley, you can use the Spanish Walk to train a stress free passage. You can also use it on any horse to get a more expressive passage and to have more control over the cadence. If you are ever at a dressage show, stand by the warm up ring and listen to the breathing of the horses while performing the passage. You will easily detect those that are stressed out while performing the maneuver by their breathing patterns. What I strive for is a a relaxed partner that clearly understands what I am asking and gives it to me willingly. I will eventually show you how to transfer this over to a passage on Wiley. However, he is just a young pup now, so that will have to wait. Go ahead and sign up to receive blog updates now, so you don’t miss out!
Del Mar Horse Girl 