• 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?

Jobi spent fifteen months away from me, first owned by (unknown at the time I sold him) a horse dealer with a very large equestrian facility and then sold to a family who owned him the majority of those months. I will never know how he was ridden or handled, though I have no doubts he was very loved by the family I bought him back from.

I was turning Jobi out to pasture yesterday, after riding him for the first time since he returned home, and couldn’t help but think that experiences change you. In the time we were apart I have grown to be a very different person than the one who never knew the loss of a horse. All of the people I interacted with and paths I had to take during that year have shaped me into someone, who is in many ways, unrecognizable from who I was before.

I think this applies to horses as well. They are already unique and individualistic. They have personalities and act out of emotion, feelings, and exist in the moment. They also learn how to expect, and by that I mean they learn what habits the people and horses around them have, and they adapt to co-exist with those habituated people and horses.

In Jobi I can see the effects of being handled and ridden by different people. I can see that he now expects it is okay to be pushy with his body, pillage for grazing grass whenever it suits him on the lead. He expects me to be less than careful in bridling him, and that I will never ask him to lower his head. He expects me to be wary at the speed of his walk under saddle and that I will want him to slow down.

Somehow though, he still expects that a canter depart should be asked for in the way I trained him. I can see changes in the way he interacts with the horses in his new herd now, he is more defensive than he has ever been before. He has come to expect that the horses in his herd will push him around in some way, that he has to be the aggressor in order to survive, where he once was content in expecting the horses of his herd to take care of him and keep him safe.

I see some of the same in myself after all that has happened this past year, a sort of defensive protection. Wariness. This has sharply contrasted against all the kindness shown in support of me bringing Jobi home. Perhaps I can spur that same emotional reaction in Jobi through kindness, call it the “pass it on” rule if you will.

Now I wonder how the two of us will change, which of our expectations will grow or remain the same. Where will we struggle – together and individually, and for how long. He is the best friend I’ve known for so many years, each of us finishing each others’ sentences until we separated and now in reunion we must navigate through the maze of differences that have developed in that time. My half is working at becoming whole again with Jobi.

One thing I know for sure, there is no turning back and no time like the present. Jobi is with me forever, and I carry him with me now even in the short times we must be parted.

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.

It is easy to fall into this habit of niceties with the horse. He does something well and so we praise and praise him and give him endless breaks because we do not wish to stress him or want to emphasize the fact that he did what we wanted. I have seen this mostly prevalent with riders who are more shy or lack the confidence in what they are doing with their horse. Perhaps the horse refused a request of theirs or flat out evaded in a way that frightened the rider and now they deal with him with kid gloves.

When a person envisions a business transaction however, it is devoid of this wishy-washy feeling between the parties. Both present the details of what they want to have accomplished and what will be the agreed upon price or outcome. Emotions are left outside of the board room.

This was a theme I was reminded of with Aligarh today, only our second session together. I realize the value in rewarding him and letting him know that what he has done is exactly what I asked for. At the same time there is only so much value in drawing out these rewards into lengthy transactions. Does he know he is being worked unless I make such a show of the reward that the contrast is striking and obvious? I want him to feel the work is fun and enjoyable and so the reward is rolled into that rather than completely separate.

Already he traveled more straight on the lunge without kicking his hindquarters to the outside laterally as much. He was also less resistant through his body and on the whole moved with more grace and relaxation than yesterday. This was evident as his tracking began to develop at the walk. When the horse first begins to step forward and march properly in the walk his whole body reflects it when it happens – the neck naturally drapes into a fluid arch and he reaches down and forwards. The back rolls and the hips no longer move in a stilted manner. The rib cage rolls from side to side as it ought to. The connection from the horse’s nose to your hand on the lunge line immediately softens into this wonderful buttery feeling.

Aligarh also felt comfortable enough to show some resistances. His friends in the pasture decided to wander out further away to graze and he was not having that. His attempts to throw a fit were met with unemotional responses on my part. He wants to be emotional and fight, and I refuse to get involved in the fight. What I do wish to become involved in however, is his attention which has been drawn away from me and put on the horses in the pasture.

He would come around the circle on the lunge and as he began traveling directly in their direction he would then try to bolt sideways, locking his neck and resisting the lunge line. I merely traveled with him and asking him to back – I want to regain straightness which has been completely lost. I cannot gain forward yet as he is not straight to travel forwards – I would merely incite energy which could result in running backwards, running further sideways or rearing. None of those are what I want, so instead I get steady steps of backwards movement at my request until he becomes straight. Then I ask him calmly forwards into a walk. When his straightness changes is again when he attempts to resist and move sideways so that is what I watch for – when he changes his straight travel I then ask again for the backing to bring him back to straight.

After a few minutes of this he calmed to a low simmer, changing his resistance to merely the neck. No longer attempting to travel sideways he locked his neck up and wished to walk or trot around the circle steadily leaning on the lunge line. How does one fix this, a common enough evasion that many horses present?

There are two things at issue – one is that he is on the forehand and the second is that he is attempting to change his bend. Rather than traveling with a natural bend in the direction he is going the bend has changed to the opposite. Walking to the right he is bent to the left or vice-versa. He has also put the majority of his weight onto the inside front leg. Solution – half halt. Elevation of the neck to the degree necessary that he changes the bend and moves the weight from that inside front leg back to a more balanced position. Once that is done he travels with the correct bend and no more leaning on the lunge line.

Even with the quirks he was so much fun to play with tonight. Those are expected and really the two he gave were very common. They have to be dealt with whether it is on the lunge or in the saddle and to be honest, I would rather correct them on the lunge first because that is the easy place to deal with them. We got some great tracking at the walk tonight, more relaxation and worked through some of his hesitations. His halt is fairly solid from the walk and surprisingly square, practiced changing directions and that will help immensely with bringing his attention back to me and off his pasture mates.

Aligarh is quite the lovely gelding, both in appearance and personality. Foaled in 2004, he is sired by the Dutch Warmblood stallion VDL Orame, who has been successfully competing on the international scene in Show Jumping. Aligarh’s dam is a Bashkir Curly mare of Native American bloodlines. Interestingly this combination has resulted in this stout, handsome horse with a bold personality.

There is always a story behind every horse, though I am at times loath to play to it because the horse generally cares little about that – it is instead us humans that like to get wrapped up in the details of their story. It gives us a scapegoat in the event of a problem arising that we are stumped by, we can blame it on some event in the horse’s past that would make him prone to behave in such a manner.

The important part of Aligarh’s story is that he is largely unhandled, and yet still tame. He is first one to the gate to say hello, unabashedly herd bound, catches, leads, loads, bathes. He likes being groomed and will stand to be hosed off loose in the pasture. His feet can be handled and trimmed with ease in the paddock, near his pasture mates, but taking him outside of his comfort zone quickly reveals the fact that he is as of yet untrained, only tamed. There is a big difference between the two.

His gaits are relatively flat, though not quite daisy-cutter. He still has a certain awkwardness when he canters about and reminds me of a yearling in that regard. Despite his flat movement, when he trots he has a very regal look to him. Heavy boned, thick through the body. To be honest there is a lot about him that delights me, far more than a horse who is a big fancy mover and perhaps causes people to gasp in admiration just with a single look to him standing still. Aligarh is not that horse. To me, however, I can see his diamond in the rough gleaming brightly. I enjoy seeing the change that inevitably comes from Classical work done properly. The horse’s posture develops and before you know it they transform from flat average movers to the most splendid thing you ever laid your eyes on.

Just where does a person start with training a 7 year old? I am unafraid of his age, a factor I feel is in my favor. He is mentally interested in interacting and physically there are no issues of whether he is mature enough or not. To me he is the perfect specimen – unspoiled at an early age now he just needs to be gently shaped. We begin on the lunge. He already knows how to be caught, led and groomed. Lunge cavesson is on and adjusted properly. From there it is still leading, bringing that forward energy along and encouraging him to feel comfortable leading the way. His position is with his shoulder even with me or slightly ahead and I give him the freedom in the lunge line he needs to take that position but nothing further without holding him.

Aligarh already gets this readily. The time spent leading throughout his life has mostly been with encouragement to take this position from both sides. Once he is steadily moving ahead in such a way I give him more distance and take the position of lunging him. I still walk with him because I want to encourage a larger circle – he is not physically developed and I do not wish to force him to a specific lunge circle. That will come with time.

Immediately my attention is on his feet, his tracking. This is the gauge I will follow during his time on the lunge for the rest of his training with me. The hooves do not lie and give away all the secrets of his balance, impulsion, straightness and intentions. At the walk he ideally will land with his hind hooves 6-8 inches ahead of his front hoof prints. Right now he landing directly in the front hoof prints or a few inches ahead. Laterally he is far from straight and his hind hooves land skewed to the outside of the circle going both directions.

At the trot he bobbles between over-tracking and under-tracking, and again continues with the lateral imbalance as his hind hooves are thrown to the outside of the circle. How does one achieve straightness on the lunge when it is the hind legs to the outside? The shoulders have to be addressed and utilized. Only by realigning the shoulders can you correct this on the lunge. Pulling the horse’s head into the circle will continue to push the hindquarters outside. The shoulders must be encouraged to move out on the circle. But how?

A great question… Half halts and the development of an indirect rein through the lunge. The half halt redistributes weight onto the hindquarters; effectively helping to “ground” them and allow freedom of the shoulders into the correct alignment. The indirect rein actually moves the shoulders while making the hindquarters the new pivot point.

I actually achieved a few strides periodically of this transition with Aligarh today. He offered it more freely traveling to the right than the left. You can immediately begin to see the development of the passage in doing this as well. Beudant wrote of the simplicity in first teaching the horse to passage and then piaffe, even before teaching him to canter. I have to agree.

Baucher and Comte d’Aure, who mastered the greatest equestrian difficulties, could doubtless have had their horses at the passage as quickly as they wished had not tradition, holding the passage to be the result of long and learned preparation, prohibited them from even dreaming of such procedure.

As a matter of fact, a passage is more readily taught an untrained horse than is a correct gallop-depart.

- Beudant (1931); Horse Training

I kept the work short, there is no use in tiring him out. A seven year old horse must be trained using his mind, not by wearing him down as is often done with 2 and 3 year olds. Besides, his mind is so much more interesting to interact with than his body to fight.