What are the general steps in training a horse?
Not going to be training any horses myself, but I’m curious. What are the different phases of training, from ground training to green broke?
What exactly IS the process used to train horses to ride?
This is just my curiosity, I’ve always wondered how we teach them things like leg and stuff 
The most important part of training is forming the correct relationship. You need to have *mutual* respect, understanding, trust, and cooperation.
My favorite training tool is a soft rubber currycomb. When I’m grooming, and the horse reaches around to bite an itchy place, I immediately go there and scratch it for her. I’m letting her know that I’m paying attention to her interests, her concerns. I expect the same kind of attention from the horse, to my concerns. If I’m moving through "my" herd (any herd that I work with), every horse there is aware of my presence and if they’re in my way, they will move. If they have an itch, they might move toward me to get skritched, but they are always aware and polite.
At dinnertime, I put the food down then make the horse step back and give me some small response before it is permitted to eat. Once it is eating, I do some grooming so it will associate my presence with good things.
After that relationship is established, it’s easy-peasy to introduce each piece of tack and stage of training. Think in terms of helping the horse understand, rather than forcing it to submit. Yes, you must be the executive partner, the ultimate decision-maker, but any good boss gives their worker respect, and the worker is more willing and motivated to give the boss their best performance.
(ask me how I know about this first hand… A couple of bosses recently who *don’t* give their worker any respect)
I take my green horses for walks down the roads and trails. It is a great way to establish and strengthen that relationship. You are right there on the ground with the horse – much more reassuring than just being a weight and a presence on its back! You are facing down the blowing paper monsters, bicycle monsters, and deadliest of all, the baby-buggy monsters, right there at the horse’s side. When the horse accepts your leadership, your word that these monsters aren’t really worth all that worry and energy, then that acceptance transfers to responsiveness and a true respect that has nothing to do with fear.
Don’t be afraid to be silly – if you think about it, everything we ask of a horse is silly to them. "You want to put your butt WHERE?!" "And tell me to leave the safety of my herd? Are you insane?" By introducing each phase in baby steps, we can help them see that this silly stuff is really harmless, and even enjoyable, so they decide it’s OK to humor our silly notions.
I like to hit those metal signs along the roads as we walk. The first time or two, I might get a strong reaction, but the more foolishness I can safely expose the horse to, and help it accept, the more confidence it will have in my leadership and in its own calm acceptance. It will develop the ability to pause and think when it sees something new instead of reacting. My horses have seen elephants picketed outside at the circus (almost touched nose to trunk), bison 2 feet away behind a very stout welded pipe fence, all kinds of traffic and heavy equipment, challenging terrain, bridges, you name it, and they accepted it all because Mom said so.
One mare I had was still green when I was riding her and she stepped into a thrown-out rumpled chunk of re-mesh, the 6" square wire mesh they put into concrete to make it strong. I got scared, but I had done my homework with her and she trusted me to get it off her foot without panicking. I said Whoa, she stopped, and though she shook it just a couple of times, she stood quietly while I bent it open and removed it.
Start with a saddle pad, or even a small towel. Keep everything calm, just wipe, rub, and flap it around the horse in a way that the horse can accept it without fear. When that’s no big deal, proceed to a bigger item. Follow this process with every new piece of tack, allowing the horse to understand and accept each baby step before moving to the next.
The slower you go, the faster the horse will learn, and will learn to *think* instead of a panicked guessing at what will stop the stress.
Teach as much as you can from the ground. Giving to the halter, the bit, and pressure where your leg will go, backing up, moving sideways, anything you might expect when riding – do it from the ground first.
With a trusting relationship established and basic maneuvers taught from the ground, the first mounting can be utterly uneventful. The horse is prepared for that big step of having a person on his back. There’s no need for the fireworks that we associate with ‘bustin’ a bronco’. Once mounted and riding, there’s no end to the adventures and mutual enjoyment a horse and a human can experience together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gZ0×8AVaBI
References :
Well, you start by halter-breaking. This obviously teaches them to lead, but, more importantly, it teaches the horse to respond to pressure. Then you can move on to desensitisation to the saddle and bridle. After that, it’s up to the trainer. Most will use a longe line to teach the horse to accept a rider, and to learn stop/go commands. Then reining is taught either on the ground with driving reins, or in the saddle. Once the horse has the basic idea, then it’s just practice, practice, practice. The more time a horse spends under saddle, the better trained he’ll be.
Teaching them leg aids is a whole nother animal to intitial training.
The main concept during training is to teach the horse to move away from pressure. When pressure is applied to a certain part of the body, the horse will try to figure out how to make it stop. When he figures it out, he is rewarded by a release of pressure.
References :
There is not enough space in all of YA to properly answer that question. The most important part of breaking and training a horse is done on the ground preferably in a round pen here you can really teach the horse to give to pressure.
References :
The most important part of training is forming the correct relationship. You need to have *mutual* respect, understanding, trust, and cooperation.
My favorite training tool is a soft rubber currycomb. When I’m grooming, and the horse reaches around to bite an itchy place, I immediately go there and scratch it for her. I’m letting her know that I’m paying attention to her interests, her concerns. I expect the same kind of attention from the horse, to my concerns. If I’m moving through "my" herd (any herd that I work with), every horse there is aware of my presence and if they’re in my way, they will move. If they have an itch, they might move toward me to get skritched, but they are always aware and polite.
At dinnertime, I put the food down then make the horse step back and give me some small response before it is permitted to eat. Once it is eating, I do some grooming so it will associate my presence with good things.
After that relationship is established, it’s easy-peasy to introduce each piece of tack and stage of training. Think in terms of helping the horse understand, rather than forcing it to submit. Yes, you must be the executive partner, the ultimate decision-maker, but any good boss gives their worker respect, and the worker is more willing and motivated to give the boss their best performance.
(ask me how I know about this first hand… A couple of bosses recently who *don’t* give their worker any respect)
I take my green horses for walks down the roads and trails. It is a great way to establish and strengthen that relationship. You are right there on the ground with the horse – much more reassuring than just being a weight and a presence on its back! You are facing down the blowing paper monsters, bicycle monsters, and deadliest of all, the baby-buggy monsters, right there at the horse’s side. When the horse accepts your leadership, your word that these monsters aren’t really worth all that worry and energy, then that acceptance transfers to responsiveness and a true respect that has nothing to do with fear.
Don’t be afraid to be silly – if you think about it, everything we ask of a horse is silly to them. "You want to put your butt WHERE?!" "And tell me to leave the safety of my herd? Are you insane?" By introducing each phase in baby steps, we can help them see that this silly stuff is really harmless, and even enjoyable, so they decide it’s OK to humor our silly notions.
I like to hit those metal signs along the roads as we walk. The first time or two, I might get a strong reaction, but the more foolishness I can safely expose the horse to, and help it accept, the more confidence it will have in my leadership and in its own calm acceptance. It will develop the ability to pause and think when it sees something new instead of reacting. My horses have seen elephants picketed outside at the circus (almost touched nose to trunk), bison 2 feet away behind a very stout welded pipe fence, all kinds of traffic and heavy equipment, challenging terrain, bridges, you name it, and they accepted it all because Mom said so.
One mare I had was still green when I was riding her and she stepped into a thrown-out rumpled chunk of re-mesh, the 6" square wire mesh they put into concrete to make it strong. I got scared, but I had done my homework with her and she trusted me to get it off her foot without panicking. I said Whoa, she stopped, and though she shook it just a couple of times, she stood quietly while I bent it open and removed it.
Start with a saddle pad, or even a small towel. Keep everything calm, just wipe, rub, and flap it around the horse in a way that the horse can accept it without fear. When that’s no big deal, proceed to a bigger item. Follow this process with every new piece of tack, allowing the horse to understand and accept each baby step before moving to the next.
The slower you go, the faster the horse will learn, and will learn to *think* instead of a panicked guessing at what will stop the stress.
Teach as much as you can from the ground. Giving to the halter, the bit, and pressure where your leg will go, backing up, moving sideways, anything you might expect when riding – do it from the ground first.
With a trusting relationship established and basic maneuvers taught from the ground, the first mounting can be utterly uneventful. The horse is prepared for that big step of having a person on his back. There’s no need for the fireworks that we associate with ‘bustin’ a bronco’. Once mounted and riding, there’s no end to the adventures and mutual enjoyment a horse and a human can experience together.
References :
Been doing this a few decades.