To be more specific, was his natural tendency to rear or buck under saddle when he doesn’t want to do something.

Questions like these always make me pause. Not because I don’t know how to answer, but because I don’t know that when a person asks this type of question they really want the answer I have to give; which is that a horse only reacts in these ways when we as riders fail to understand the horse communicating he is uncomfortable or not ready long beforehand. It is when we continue pushing the horse that we eventually force him to respond in bold ways to get our attention.

I started Aligarh under saddle this spring, and he’s been very good. Did he act out ever? Yes, he bucked one evening, his second ride and first being ponied. Why? Because I failed to see he was telling me he was uncomfortable with the speed we were progressing at. Plain and simple, it is my fault he bucked – not some natural tendency on his part to misbehave.

To the contrary, Aligarh and every other horse I have started under saddle have all been very interested in working and learning and avoiding conflicts. I argue that it is not a horse’s innate nature to “misbehave,” whatever that is anyways.

Perhaps if we take a step back and look at what “misbehavior” looks like anyways, is it not just the horse doing something we do not want? That is the joy of relationships right there… it is a partnership and comprises of two separate minds coming together. They may not always agree but they don’t always have to disagree either if communication and compromise are in full force.

I rode Aligarh today, it has admittedly been too long as I’ve been swamped and then sick. First ride in my Dressage saddle but he moved out beautifully at the walk, is turning nicely and halt is spot on. We are still working in just a halter but he is as sensitive in that as he could be in any bit. There were moments where he was unclear about whether he wanted to move out, if he wanted to go the direction I was asking. Rather than applying more force to him I merely waited him out and let him sort out what it was I wanted. Very shortly it clicked for him. Honestly, had I pushed him though I would have incited “misbehavior” in no time flat.

So many times in working with horses the definition of reality depends on the direction of your perception. Is the horse misbehaving or are we? Perhaps another great question would be what is our natural tendency as riders to misbehave?

Among those has been his complete inability to relax and stretch down into the snaffle while being ridden. Instead every effort to encourage him to stretch down and out has only resulted in further dropping of the back, raising of the head, neck and lateral resistance.

Here is where I inject the idea of incorporating the double bridle in an unconventional manner. Up to this point I had only ever worked him in a snaffle, even through collected work as that was all that was required. Now he distrusts the snaffle and any action made through it; so how do you break through a mental/emotional barrier with your horse and reestablish communication, trust and ultimately relaxation?

I decided to make an attempt by incorporating the double bridle. My reasoning went along these lines :

1. The curb bit applies an action on the mouth completely different from that of a snaffle, separating any bad associations he may have with the snaffle bit and its action.
2. The double bridle, as opposed to riding bitless or in a curb alone, allows me to transition from using the curb back to the snaffle in order to reestablish a good relationship with the snaffle bit and reduce or even eliminate further use of the curb bit.
3. The curb bit’s action works on the poll which should, in theory, encourage lowering of the head and eventually stretching forward, down and out; the ultimate goal.

Generally speaking the double bridle is, for many, considered the coveted step towards further collected work and even the Grand Prix. For me it has become something outside the box, an effort to reach my horse through all of the baggage he is carrying.

I rode him for a time in the double without touching the curb reins, and even just on the snaffle rein alone the addition of the mullen-mouthed curb seemed to settle him some. Still, he refused to stretch down and out. His gaits could only progress so much and his physical conditioning could only improve to that limit as well.

Finally, I picked up the curb rein. I rode him holding the reins in the Fillis style, with the snaffle rein held between the thumb and index finger and the curb rein coming up through the bottom of my hands. I wanted to be able to influence each rein as separately as possible so to keep any confusion for him at a minimum with the new bit coming into play.

They say the curb bit in the double bridle acts on the skeletal structure of the horse, directly influencing the joints. Whereas the snaffle is influencing the muscular structure. The curb is a powerful addition to communicating with the horse, and also very important to be judicious with its use since it is a leverage force and therefore what amount of pressure you hold in your hands will be multiplied in the mouth of the horse you can easily overpower them.

Jobi’s initial reaction was to bring the head higher – but still no different than his attempts to resist the snaffle rein. What was different with the curb however was shortly after raising his head he made another response and lowered his head, stretched his nose down and out and chewed the reins softly. A first since he has been back at home with me.

Success!!

It is well documented that the curb does not act on the horse’s mouth in a way that encourages lateral suppling or flexion. The function of the curb is to flex the neck longitudinally, lower the head and bring the nose inwards. I do however want to make the argument that a horse who is in resistance and head-high is also void of lateral suppleness and flexion, be it through action on the snaffle, curb or a bitless bridle. Meaning, that if the horse is resisting through the snaffle it will be lacking in suppleness as much as a horse worked solely in the curb bit which does not act on the mouth in a way to create lateral suppleness and flexion. It is important that the horse be able to work in relaxation, one of the base principles of dressage to begin with.

Jobi and I have had several rides now like this, a few of riding solely on the curb rein at walk and trot. Our latest ride however was on the snaffle alone and I am very happy to report that Jobi is making the connection and we’ve broken through much resistance. His walk has improved to such a degree that it is like night and day, his back is involved again and no longer like riding a plank of wood. Transition into trot is energetic and still relaxed, and the trot itself is missing the pogo-stick bounce which is tell-tale of a hollow back.

There are times when one needs to act like a scientist in riding and training the horse. To theorize solutions to problems and to explore rather than accept only what has been handed down in writing and popular practice. Asking questions is the start to all of that and by continuing to ask questions we open the door to hearing answers from our horse as well; who knows better than we do what he needs at any moment.

This is a great opportunity for the training of my two, and I cannot express how rewarding it is to connect with close friends who you “get” and vice versa.

I took Jobi over earlier today and the two of us rode for a while before being joined by one of her young students who is also participating in the Mustang Challenge training her first horse ever. Afterwards I drove back home and picked up Aligarh and deposited him safely into the barn for the evening, although his interpretation of safe may differ from mine – he was calling nervously between munching hay when I left for the night.

2012 Horse Training Goals

Spring is coming fast, and with having enjoyed such a pleasant winter I am eager to get both of these boys moving along. Jobi & Aligarh have very different issues needing address so I will be bounding from one side of the spectrum to the other.

Jobi

Returning to work, Jobi and I will be working on regaining his physical conditioning, communication and connection through the reins and responsiveness to the legs. He has taken on the habit of resisting against the reins and ignoring the legs from being ridden heavy handed and legged. Forward, forward, forward is a major element to working through these issues.

Aligarh

Mr. Greenie is just beginning his riding career, coupled with working through his issues of anxiety and nervousness. He learns very quickly and tries hard so I see him moving along with few bumps in the road.

Horse Weekend

I’m taking the opportunity to begin acclimating Jobi to the double bridle starting this weekend. He is a long way from using the curb of the double, but getting him comfortable to wearing the second bit is not jumping the gun.

If Aligarh is still alive in the morning and has not suffered an anxiety inspired heart attack then all will be right with the universe! ha ha

• Ponying accustoms both horses to being in close proximity to one another and helps to desensitize each other to being bumped by another horse and having their personal space more closely occupied.
• Ponying builds your skills as a rider to manage control and direction of two horses simultaneously – encouraging a greater use of the voice to communicated with the horse being ponied and having to develop more subtle aids in directing the horse you are riding.
• Ponying can be effective in teaching both horses to take turns being the leader and the follower on rides just by adjusting the length of your ponying rope periodically, encouraging a more relaxed atmosphere during group rides.
• Ponying can be used to maximize the quality of physical conditioning during periods of limited riding time. If you are a rider with only a short block of time to exercise several horses in a day and find it increasingly difficult to give each horse the best physical routine ponying can help supplement this by doubling the length of exercise vs. time available.

For me, ponying first became a habit on solo trail rides. My goals were to a) condition two horses for 25 mile rides, and b) train a green horse to become a reliable trail horse. My dilemmas were limited time and the fact that I could not consistently rely upon other riders to join me when taking my green horse out on the trail. To solve the problem I turned to ponying off my experienced trail horse, which allowed my green horse to become comfortable outside of the arena, familiar with differing terrain and new stimulus on the trail, and to build muscle without the stress of a rider initially. Once it was obvious that the ponying routine was working effectively for my green horse I began switching horses for the return ride; riding my experienced horse out to the half-way point, changing tack and riding my green horse back to the trail head. Since my green horse was already in a state of mind to be relaxed about going down the trail and having some miles under him before we switched out he was more than happy to mosey back to the trail head in a relaxed state of mind, while also becoming comfortable having to take over the lead of ponying another horse down the trail.

Now, that green horse of mine is the experienced trail horse ponying young horses.

I am writing this post under “Project Horse” as well because this evening marks the first genuine ride, not just sitting in the saddle, of Aligarh. Things have settled down after a particularly busy holiday / new year season and with the graciously mild winter weather starting this week I had it in my mind to get some ride time with both Jobi and begin it with Aligarh while the mild temps remain. I have a particular distaste for starting youngsters when the temps are too much below freezing – my hands don’t handle the cold well so I have a tendency to lose grip strength.

Aligarh did well, I have not ponied him before so spent some time walking and trotting around the arena with him, changing directions, speed and moving into his space to get him accustomed to being directed by the lead horse, in this case it was Jobi. He was a true natural at it and after 15-20 minutes my boyfriend Jason marched out donning his helmet (standard attire around here for any rider, worth the investment of $30), went through the routine of patting the saddle, making noise with the stirrups, moving the saddle back and forth a bit, jumping up and down, weighing each stirrup and then finally getting on board.

There are some horses that after a time you get a feel for how they are likely to react when first ridden. I have always known in the back of my mind that Aligarh is the sort that will offer a few bucks, not so much out of fear or lack of preparedness, but based on his personality. He is the sort of horse who bucks when he plays, when he is challenged, when he is presented with anything new to his body, when a blade of grass blows in the wind or if the temperature is just cool enough to feel crisp. We got a few walk steps in and then he offered 4-5 bucks, not major, then he stopped. Everyone okay, safe and sound, Jason still soundly aboard and feeling calm about the situation. So we proceeded walking around the arena, changing directions, looping around some intentional obstacles that have been set up for some time. We asked him for some calm halts and then returned to a nice forward walk. As soon as he gave a truly “this is a comfortable thing for me to do” walk and halt I had Jason dismount and that was the event of the night.

I want to come back to what ponying offers when working with the young horse and starting a horse under saddle. I like to compare it to lunging a horse and using leading as step between catching the horse and teaching him to lunge. If you have a young horse who has never been taught to lead you would not expect to catch him and begin teaching him to lunge without first teaching him to be led in from the pasture. Ponying can be like that – a bridge for communication when transitioning from leading/lunging the horse to sitting on his back and giving direction.

A big hurdle for some in training a young horse under saddle is to go forward properly and to respond to the aids quietly and lightly. Ponying allows the horse to be guided in the proper direction and speed while the rider implements the aids they wish to use to communicate these things to the horse. Slowly the rider begins to direct the young horse more and more and the lead rider less and less until the green horse is able to understand clearly what the rider wishes from them. Lunging the young horse with a rider up can also be very effective in this way if the horse has been trained to walk, trot, canter, halt and change directions on the lunge before putting the rider up.

Out of curiosity – do you use ponying yourself and if so how and what benefits do you find in it? Any that are similar or different from what I’ve expressed above?

Pictures at the bottom!

Let’s start with the approach – the saddle. I am never in any rush to sit on a horse for the first time in an English saddle. Why? Because I prefer safety over bragging that I can do it just fine without a saddle horn just in case. I also like:

1. A western saddle touches more places on the horse’s body,
2. weighs more on his back to begin with,
3. distributes weight across a larger area of the back.

All of these things are A’s in my book.

The goal in starting Aligarh under saddle, as with any horse, is to do it in a way that is logical, calm and relaxed. I don’t want him stressed because he isn’t going to learn nearly as much as if he is relaxed.

This leads me to my next approach – using a halter instead of a bit, hackamore, side-pull or lunge caveson. Some key reasons for this include:

1. He is already comfortable with the halter,
2. he knows what I what when I communicate through the halter which means
3. he isn’t going to be confused or feel uncomfortable with a strange piece of equipment.

Besides, if I can’t get on him for the first time in just a halter and rope then he isn’t ready to have me sit in the saddle. Call it a test of preparation, I’ll just call it common sense.

Now, for anyone who knows, I ride in a Dressage saddle. That doesn’t mean my tack storage is devoid of a Western saddle, it merely means it hasn’t been touched in ages. The last horse I started was in a Dressage saddle because she was too small for my Western. I do more retraining, than starting from scratch it would seem!

I won’t go into detail, but let me just say briefly that despite neglect I truly LOVE this saddle. It is petite, the seat is like some kind of cosmic dream and even I can hoist it up on Aligarh’s back without busting a hernia. Oops, I digress…

A run down of my approach, starting a couple days ago -

1. Saddle, girth, walk around the paddock (did I mention I started him in the paddock? Great location..) on both sides.
2. Lunge casually at the walk and trot in both directions on a long lead rope. The one I have is around 20ft, a yacht line that I discovered.
3. Tighten girth again if necessary.
4. Flap the stirrup fenders up and down against his sides on both sides until he is calm at the halt and walk (if he reacts at all).
5. Lift up and throw down the stirrup fenders against his sides – imitating if the stirrup were hooked up over the horn and were to fall off on its own. Do this until calm if any reaction, again at the halt and walk on both sides.
6. Push and pull saddle back and forth on his back lightly – just so he can feel it shift but not to dislodge it or mash it over the withers.
7. Tighten girth again if necessary.
8. Take up the lead rope so there is contact between your hand and his halter when you hold the horn of the saddle, put knee in the stirrup and apply some (but not all) weight. If he tries to wander or is nervous reassure him with voice/rope contact. Once calm step down and praise.
9. Walk a little bit, change sides and repeat the above.
10. Repeat on both sides several times until completely calm and relaxed.
11. Lean all of your weight in the stirrup with your knee on both sides until he is calm and relaxed.

(Can you tell I like lists?) The above is what we accomplished the first day with the Western saddle attached. Moving forward to last night…

1. All of the above.
2. Place foot in the stirrup, stand up and lay over the saddle seat. Pet and stroke the wither area, encourage him to look to both sides with his eye so he sees you and is not surprised. Step down.
3. Walk about some, repeat on the other side.
4. Repeat on both sides several times until he is calm and relaxed. If at any time he is not quiet, standing still, he is NOT ready to move on. Keep practicing.
5. Tighten girth if necessary. (kind of important on a young horse that the saddle does not slip around and bug the crap out of him. Especially since we are taking our time in mounting and leaning more on each side during each step than you would in just getting on a trained horse.)
6. Place foot in stirrup, stand up and without leaning over the saddle rub his withers, side and rump gently. Repeat on both sides.

At some point your intuition just gives you the green light to move forward when first getting on. It is important to listen to  your gut feeling! Next time stepping in the stirrup and standing up I swung my leg over and sat down. Put my foot in the other stirrup and proceeded to rub him down at the withers and down the neck. He didn’t seem to mind the weight, the presence of a leg on both sides. He did seem slightly put out that his pasture mate decided this was the right time to wander out to the pasture away from him and graze.

It is important to be on the lookout for any tension -

Throughout all of this Aligarh was pretty relaxed. He was sighing, head was gently hanging. Occasionally a back foot would take a rest and he was totally digging on getting face rubs as praise. The one sign of any tension was when I was standing up in the saddle but hadn’t sat down yet – his tail would start to swish consistently and constantly. No bugs at issue. I started scratching his butt while I stood in the stirrup and the tail swishing stopped immediately and did not come back – he also let out a nice sigh.

So, I sat in the saddle for a few minutes, long enough for him to move his feet around a little and feel the weight of a rider as he did so. Dismounted and praised him heavily!

The following are some snapshots – apologies for the lighting but we were up against dusk settling on us. The pictures of me sitting in the saddle look awkward – because I’m leaning forward most of the time to rub his neck and withers in reward.

Yay for Aligarh!

This is a real shame because the manner in which we choose to lead the horse and to the extent it is incorporated in the training process can not only increase the quality of the horse’s training, but also help to speed it along in certain aspects. Today I get to bring you a video update of me working with Aligarh, my project horse demonstrating just a few short moments of the work we did. I highly favor these short sessions (in all we worked 15-20 minutes today excluding grooming) as I find the horse begins to look forward to working more quickly and also stays very mentally involved.

Both videos demonstrate the same work, just on different sides. Aligarh is extraordinarily herd-bound and I was hoping to capture some of the tension he presents when being worked out of sight of his pasture mate. There is a lot of background information to give in regards to these videos, and also in the overall value of leading, so bear with me as I begin to hash them out in a (hopefully!) organized manner.

The clips are short, brief, to the point. I want to point your attention to Aligarh’s hooves and the movement of his hind limbs, his hindquarters, the top of his hips. The purpose of what we are doing in the video is to develop forward, tracking of the hooves, and eventually calm.

Right now his forward is merely quickness, his tracking is short and uneven, and calm is something that cannot even be spotted in the distance yet. All of these things are necessary however in order to bring him to straightness, balance and eventually collection.

I am leading Aligarh, in a longe caveson with a lead rope attached, asking him to move as forward as possible at the walk and to lower his head at the same time.

1. Lowering the Head : He will only hold onto tension for a longer period of time if I ask for forwards with his head held up in the air paying attention to the fact that he cannot see his pasture-mate. If he were less tense working out of sight of other horses or in general this would not be such an issue and I would likely work him at more of a distance using an actual longe rope and not focusing on him lowering his head at the moment.
2. Forward : As he moves it looks as though he is speeding around more than he ought to – and that is correct. However, until he develops stretch in his muscles and the strength to propel himself forwards efficiently he will move in the manner shown in the video. Forwards does not mean fast, but in the beginning this is a common sight. It is no different for any athlete – those out of shape/condition will look awkward while those who are at top condition will use their body more gracefully and their muscles will work less while producing more.
3. Tracking : As he continues to propel himself forwards and begins to develop stretch in the muscles his limbs will be able to travel further underneath his body and that is how the tracking begins to take form. His hind hooves at the walk should ideally land 6-8″ in front of the front hooves’ track on the same side.

Also take note of how his hindquarters move at different moments in the videos. Initially it is stilted, almost bouncing high in the air at the walk and looking very stiff. Then he begins to relax a bit and the hind legs can come under his body more, as a result his hindquarters move more flatly and gracefully.

During one of the clips you can catch him begin to lick and chew some. This is important because tension affects the mouth/jaw and if you pay attention the horse will show you his tension through the mouth/bridle/quality of contact.

So what is my point about the value of leading?

Leading the horse is more than just leading the horse. Sure, there are no big bangs (generally) and it is more boring than even the idea of in-hand work.. Still, there is a quality inherent to investing in the leading of the horse that cannot be replaced in the same capacity with other forms of work.

The horse begins his intro to handling, training, performing by being led. Leading is also the gateway to developing your relationship. Some lessons first tackled in the leading phase include :

• Forward – believe it or not, teaching your horse to move forwards does not begin on the longe or under saddle. It begins when you are leading him to and from the pasture! Many riders do not take advantage of this and instead lead their horse at a lackadaisical pace, later wondering why they are constantly having to prod the horse under saddle at every stride for “more forward!” If the horse is introduced and expected to move forward at this beginning stage of training and it is continued on the longe it will become a natural state of motion and under saddle work will become second nature.
• Half Halt – despite common myth, the half halt does not rely upon the rider’s seat and legs. It can be performed using the halter, the longe caveson and the bridle all from the ground well before it is asked for under saddle. Developing the half halt in this way makes starting the horse under saddle simpler and pre-installs a balanced halt before your butt ever reaches the saddle!
• Bend – when leading the safest position is next to the shoulder of the horse, followed by having the horse bent in your direction. This inhibits the horse from ever moving into your space if he should spook without first giving you notice by changing his bend. Now your horse is already practiced in bending to the direction of travel for when you begin riding.

Leading helps to develop training on the longe, streamlining the transition from leading to longing.

Longing is merely leading of the horse from a distance. That is the view I take of it, which allows me to train the horse in a manner that makes longing a natural progression from leading. The horse does not become confused because the transition is gradual and makes sense. All of the cues are the same with only a slight variation due to the new distance.

If you watch me longe a horse one note you may make is that I do not look at the horse straight on, or point my body towards the hindquarters. With a horse who is completely trained to longe this may change slightly, but particularly with the green horse my body points more at a 45 degree angle to their head. This is intentional and with purpose. When I lead the horse I do not look straight at his body, or at his hindquarters. I am making a transition from leading to longing, and in both I want him moving forwards just as I am moving forwards. I do not want to constantly look at his hindquarters either because then I am constantly putting pressure on that area with my attention – and thus desensitizing it when I actually want to emphasize my attention there, requiring me to use MORE pressure than necessary.

This is the same reason why I carry the longe whip down and behind me instead of in front of me or in the air. I do not want it “on” until I actually have something to say with it.

If longing is just another form of leading then it also makes sense to begin practicing all of the elements of longing when first leading the horse. I expect my horses to walk forward with full energy, to half halt in order to stop, and to bend in the direction of travel with me. Part of my commitment too is that I practice leading my horses on both sides, not just the left. Afterall, I longe them on both sides too.

This update is not going to be the kind that goes on to explain why one should always try to remember correctly whether they have or have not saddled their un-started horse before just going at it like it is an every day routine. Instead, I want to explain why it can be important to go about it as though it is an every day routine. Not always, but there are situations where this is a benefit.

My normal routine with saddling a horse for the first time is not anything too exciting. I rub them down thoroughly with the saddle pads, girth and have them smell the saddle and so on. This is something I do with them if it is the first time I’m saddling them or the twentieth, they are after all green and might have an off day. Today was no different with Aligarh and his first saddling, one of the important reasons to do this ritual throughout the early parts of training in case you have a mental lapse like myself and go about saddling a horse who has never had a saddle on believing that he has. Sigh.

In spite of me, Aligarh took the entire situation with an air of calm. Really, this is how all my horses handle being saddled for the first time though. Again, why I was not questioning whether he’d been saddled before since nothing was amiss.. He never flinched with the saddle pads being put on and the saddle. With girthing he wanted to take a step back but I merely asked him to move back to where he was previously and he did so readily and without tension.

And then we did a whole lot of what we have been doing – walked. Laps and laps around the arena on both sides. Taking moments to halt when he was relaxed and forward and would gently chew the bit. Changes of direction were met first with asking for a half halt (resulting in a step backwards with head/neck elevation). I asked him to soften to each side with his neck and in checking his tracking he was indeed tracking up beautifully at the walk.

Now here is where I began to second guess whether he had been saddled before.. I dropped the stirrups down and began making noise against the saddle flap with them and he was completely startled. This is a standard procedure type of action for me in the first saddling situation so I found it odd that he would react so strongly. Keep in mind, my interpretation of a “strong reaction” is that he raised his head, went slightly bug-eyed and his body jumped. His feet never moved though.

So, I kept on making the noise until he stood quietly followed by bunches of praise and repeating on the other side. Dropped stirrups meant it was time to do some more walking. I moved him out as though to longe but at a closer distance as I had him by the reins only. From this position once I got a forward walk from him I proceeded to reach out and lift the stirrups up, make slapping noises against the saddle and also dropping them so they would gently bump his sides. No reaction! Good boy.

At a halt I checked his girth tightness and then put my knee in the stirrup on each side and lifted myself up so he could feel some contact and weight/pressure against the saddle and his side. Back to walking after no reaction.

Overall I could not be more pleased with Aligarh after tonight. Our sessions have been irregular but this is how I would expect him to progress whether we were working every day or once a week. Consistency in how he is handled makes a world of difference and I’m seeing more developing in his confidence to be away from and out of sight of the other horses in his pasture as we are working in the indoor arena.

Today marked our first venture into the riding arena to both groom and work. A place where he is unable to see his herdmates, is unfamiliar with his surroundings, and has previously felt and expressed panic. I kept in mind all of these things in the way I approached the day.

Oh, but before I forget! I wandered out to the way back pasture in an attempt to find the stray ponies and catch Aligarh – they spotted me and continued to stare as I marched closer and closer. I was expecting them to stay at the furthest point away from the gate and wait for me to walk all the way there, and then I was surprised. Aligarh decided instead to pick up a brisk trot and come flying straight towards me, making a slight deviation to come around the side of me, slowed once he got past me to turn and proceeded to walk straight to me to be haltered. Nothing quite makes me smile so brightly as to have my horse excited to see me and make an effort to be involved.

He was easy about walking in the arena even with the others in the pasture lagging behind and leaving him. Instead of putting him in cross-ties I straight tied him and proceeded to groom him that way. He stood quietly just taking everything in, enjoying the grooming. His habit of being heavy about picking up his feet is starting to fade as he anticipated what I wanted and offered his feet to me today. I bridled him easily and off we wandered.

Our last work had been in-hand with some head elevation, half-halts, lowering the head and “flexions” to the left and right. Today it was back to the basic – forward. I cannot have him calm and relaxed in the arena away from his herd mates if he isn’t moving forwards with all his effort so that is where we start. Took a few laps before he began to get the idea and fall back into the habit, but it came pretty rapidly as it ought to over time. His head began to lower and sway softly rather than being high and stiff. He marched along and as soon as he relaxed his head and neck for half a lap I asked him to stop with a half-halt and my voice – immediate response with complete lightness, elevation of the base of the neck and a nice square alignment of his hooves.

Rinse and repeat on both sides. Before changing sides I asked him to elevate his head and neck while standing in front of him – as we had practiced last time – and then lower his nose to the ground immediately following.

In the end as I was removing his bridle his best bud began calling to him from the pasture and he naturally became distracted. I simply asked him to take a step back, bring his head back in my direction, lower it slightly and open his mouth so I could finish taking his bridle off. He was already relaxing again as I slipped his halter over his nose and once again tethered him to the grooming area. Brushed him down and he was calm as a cucumber – great night for a snack reward.

I don’t mind that he is a horse apt to being disrupted by his herd mates. Why? Because it shows me that he attaches strongly to those that he trusts and feels close to. The key to making this relationship work is to develop that kind of trust and closeness with him and make him feel herd-bound to ME. Once that is achieved there is no question about whether I have his complete and undivided attention.

So, bridle on, adjusted… can tell it has been a while since I’ve used this bridle as it somehow got assembled wrong. Fixed that, now back to the putting the bridle on and making sure it fits him. He takes the bit no problem and then proceeds to perform the obligatory mouthing until there is a nice stream of green saliva pouring out and onto my arms – lovely, nothing like some decoration!

I’d rather have him mouthing the bit than locking his jaw shut tight around it…

I’m not after an endless string of neck flexions, just an intro to the basics of how the bit communicates. Starting with head elevation – elevation from the BASE of the neck. Elevate, then lower the head to the ground, rinse and repeat.

Then add in walking. Walk, halt with a half-halt on the reins, elevate the base of the neck, lower the head to the ground, walk forwards again asking with a reverse half-halt on the reins. Wandering to both the left and the right directions.

Then adding in a few steps of backing up following the elevation of the neck, step forwards, elevate the neck, back up, walk forwards.

Then to each side. On the left side the right rein runs up the side of the bridle and over the poll back to my right hand. Left hand holds the left rein and makes contact and waiting for him to soften to the left and eventually turn his neck to a soft bend. Once he does the contact is released and much praise is made. Reverse and repeat to the right side…

He is responding quickly, perhaps more than I expected initially? He is very eager to be brought from the pasture and just in general is bonding quickly. In hindsight knowing his tendency to become herd-bound this should come as no surprise that he would become quickly and strongly attached to a person as well. He now comes up from the back of the pasture, solo, just to say hi to me.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this changes his work on the longe line, and how rapidly.

His being herd bound does not bother me terribly, mostly because I know the cure – I have to become his herd. I have to become someone he feels attached to, dependent upon, someone he trusts in as much or more than the horses in his pasture. How is that accomplished? Through time and actions, and today walking is part of that process.

Aligarh’s pasture-mate Dolly was out on a stroll with her owner down the road before I had a chance to catch him from the pasture. Both him and Phoenix were obviously upset by Dolly’s disappearance when I wandered out but the catching process was not complicated. I had already been planning to work on leading at the walk and no better time. If I were to attempt longing Aligarh with this distraction and the stress of his missing friend it would be a constant attempt to correct him. Already I am able to envision how it would go down – there would be inconsistent circles on the longe, lack of normal contact on the line, moving into and out of the trot at will, looking all over to find his friend, whinnying and in general both chaos and concern on his part. What can I do with him that is a solution to all of this? Leading.

After a nice grooming he donned the longe cavesson and off we marched… or rather, off I marched. With the longe whip I encouraged him forwards to catch up to me, to walk with his shoulder in line with me, and he responded by giving me a big forward trot running himself right into the longe line. For a while he struggled between a moderate but not forward walk and jumping into the trot. After about 3-4 circles he suddenly gave out a sigh, head relaxed down and forwards some, the mouth began moving a bit releasing the tension it had before and off he went into a nice marching forward walk in which I actually had to pick up my pace to keep with! Yay! Lots of praise, I was expecting at least 5-6 laps before I’d see anything remotely close to this. A couple of transitions between walk and halt and then we changed direction.

His bad side… the right. Every horse has a better and worse side, no surprise there. This side he really emphasized the trotting and I had to shorten the length of longe line I had given him to his head a bit at first so that I could influence his pace more effectively while also being subtle about it. This side took the 5-6 turns around the circle before he managed a full lap without trotting some. Lap 8-9 he gave me some march to his pace and at lap 11 he was softening in the mouth and a slightly lower head position. I halted him and gave him lots of praise. My tendency is to give praise verbally anyways, as an immediate way to communicate to him that he is on the right track, but gave him a chance to stand still and relax a bit. It is, afterall, more work walking at a swift pace than one might initially think. A couple of walk / halt transitions and he was done for the evening.

What I noticed after just a few circles was that his attention wavered from Dolly, despite her reappearance and released back into the adjoining pasture, and instead Aligarh seemed to be in the work zone. This will also help build his walk on the longe when he is at a distance, although he knows the gaits to transition into he does not yet have the push to track up properly yet. It’s a work in progress.