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  Discussion on Training for trails?
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Member:
Gwen

Posted on Saturday, Dec 9, 2006 - 8:47 pm:

I was wondering if anyone had experience with desensitizing an older (nine years) horse to trails. As many of you know by now, due to health reasons, I am changing my plans with my QH. I am trying to make him into a trail horse, and he is of the very excitable nature. I am trying to slowly expose him to new things and he seems to be getting better, but I am wondering if I can ever truly trust him to be "bombproof". I was thinking of taking him to a clinic/workshop sort of thing and work on natural horsemanship type stuff. ANy thoughts??
Member:
Ajudson1

Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2006 - 9:38 am:

Gwen,

What were you doing with him up to this point? You can introduce him to all kinds of things in whatever your training area may be. (I hate to say arena or round pen as not everyone has those)

Have him walk over logs, plastic, tarps and make a wooden bridge for him to walk on. Can you from the ground have him walk with a plastic garbage bag on him? All over him? Then you have it while riding him?

In an enclosed area, is he very responsive to your aids? The main anti boogy man devices are the one rein stop, and disengaging the hindquarters. When he is afraid of something, keep making him face that scary thing. Then go back and forth in front of it until he will stand by it. If he's really scared, let him move a good distance back in forth of the monster while making him turn towards it each time you change direction.

He may never be "bomb proof", but I think if he has confidence in you and you keep slowly exposing him to new experiences you will really start enjoying trail rides. The main thing is sit deep and don't be worried yourself.

Take it slow too, a short jaunt every day after arena/round pen work. Say 10 minutes walking around the farm, or on an easy trail. You can also start by ground drivig or just leading him in new areas.

If you can do a clinic on natural horsemanship by all means do so. You can both only end up the better for it.

Have fun!!
Member:
Alden

Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2006 - 10:00 am:

First off Gwen the horse's age isn't a problem, in fact with the proper ground work and training age isn't a consideration at all.

Now for bomb-proof, there isn't any such thing. I hate using absolute statements but this is about as true as you'll come across. That doesn't mean you can't make a horse good and quiet on the trails. It does mean your horse is a horse and will always be... You guessed it, a horse.

Angie's suggestions are right on, lots of ground work, lots of desensitizing exercises and lots of slow precision riding work.

One other comment on desensitizing exercises, the object isn't to make the horse comfortable with every possible spooking thing out there, that can't be done. The object is to teach the horse to respond in a manner acceptable to the rider. You want that horse to say "OMG what's that! What'd we do!"

Then you have a horse that you can trust, not boom-proof, but a trustworthy trail horse.

Good day,
Alden
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2006 - 12:20 pm:

Ditto to the above . . . and expanding on Alden's post with which I whole-heartedly agree:
The most important things you can do to train a horse for trails is to recognize where your horse's attention is at all times, and teach him to keep his attention on you. The way I was taught to keep or ask for the horse's attention is to touch the reins and see if the ear on that side "listens," and if I ask for it, that the eye on that side comes back to me. If your horse is aware of you and gives to the bit whenever you ask, then you will be able to keep the horse or put the horse wherever you ask him to be.
Other than getting horse 100% light and responsive to bit pressure, the other thing you can do is expose him to as many objects and experiences as possible. I was taught that it's okay for my horse to be afraid, but he has to turn and face what he's afraid of and not move his feet. If he starts moving his feet, I ASK him to move them in a circle near the scary object, and then when I stop asking, he should be "happy" to stop and look at the object.
I often "spook-proof" my horses. After doing lots of bit work with them so that I feel that I have control of their front ends, and doing turns on the forehand so that I know I have control of the back ends, I have someone bring all kinds of objects (grain bags on brooms, plastic bags, umbrellas, baby strollers, bicycles, tractors, balls, dogs, etc.) as I'm mounted on the horse . . . with the objective being that whenever the horse is afraid, he turns to face the object instead of spinning and fleeing, which is often the time when most folks leave their saddles.
I learned what I know about this from John Lyons and from doing it with lots of different horses. The key is to have a strategy in mind for every kind of scenario that you might meet on the road (What will we do if we meet barking, charging dogs? What if a tractor and harrow come by on the road? What if we come to a clothes line with flapping clothing? What if we come to a group of kids playing kick ball? A mountain biker? A motorbike or ATV? A herd of bounding deer or a flock of frantic pheasants? hmmmmm . . . try saying THAT five times fast . . . What if the heifers in the field down the road come charging to the fence when we ride by?) . . . and be sure that your horse is responsive to your cues before you head out on the trail.
Member:
Gwen

Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2006 - 1:30 pm:

Awesome ideas! Angie, I have done many trails and even hunter paces throughout my ownership (seven years) with this guy. However, he has always been a sort of wildcard. I have been trying desparately to get him to work better in the ring, but because of his soundness issues, he needs to do more crosstraining. SO before, I was willing to "tolerate" his behaviors on the trails, as it has been infrequent. But now I am boarding at this awesome barn with TONS of trails and I really want to start enjoying my boy in this way. I love your ideas, and they make so much sense. I worked on some "tricks" with him yesterday and will continue to do so.
He mostly does this up and down thing when he is stressed, worried, etc. I have been taking him out on VERY SHORT rides, just staying on the property and he has gotten better already. Today we went just out of sight range from the other horses (and he clearly loves it!), but when it was time to go home, he had one of his temper tantrums. I think it is getting less intimidating for me now. I will keep plugging away! Thanks for the AWESOME ideas!!
Member:
Mcbizz

Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2006 - 1:37 pm:

Gwen, My two cents worth...
If you can find another rider with an experienced trail horse to buddy up with it can really make getting out there with a novice trail horse much easier for you and your horse. Someone who is on the "same page" with their goals as you. (Hard to find, I know!) I was fortunate enough to have a rock solid Quarter Horse gelding who was a great teacher to my younger horses until he died at 31...I ponied my green horses from his back and it was invaluable.
Now, I walk my horse (excitable Arab!) out, saddled and bridled with halter under the bridle and lead rope (14 ft) attached to the saddle horn. I get on when he's calm, if I feel I need to, I can get off, lunge him a bit, get back on when things settle down. I talk to him a lot, let him look at things, even sing a tune or two...it calms us both!
I never go without my cell phone, helmet and yes, I do wear a safety vest...there are some big hard rocks out there!
Member:
Sswiley

Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2006 - 2:45 pm:

Depending on what your trails look like, I would send him in to a WORKING circle when he throws a tantrum. And depending on how naughty he is being, throw every schooling excercise at him. All the while looking for those moments of sanity and releasing or rewarding accordingly.
Member:
Jojo15

Posted on Sunday, Dec 10, 2006 - 3:09 pm:

How does one train for trails? they are all different. I guess the best thing i did was always ride first with someone that knew the trails. Then i can/would be able to tackle it alone. I think teaching the horse his confidence would help in this. If he wouldn't traverse something on his own, he would with another more capable horse. Water/hills/rocky inclines/downed trees, etc..

and we always started small. Did the "trail" which could have been just the neighborhood slowly. very slowly. a 1/2 mile. then the nextime add that same 1/2 mile and go a bit further. until i could do it all without incident. dogs running up to you/ kids running/bicycles/cars/houses/ etc.. all that becomes ok with alot of repetition. Plus you are training you, too. Once you go thru a bad patch whatever it is and you come out ok that time, the next time you have that added gumption for the next time... experience is the only way to train for the un trainable.... i'd say it took years... and lots of miles...

Desensitising sometimes is hard.. I know my girl has seen a garbage dumpster right in the middle of the barn everyday for years, yet that didn't mean that when she saw one somewhere else like on the side of the road waiting for pickup she didn't act like a goofball before getting to it. and of course, on the way back... but for me the deal here was that her antics NEVER put me in danger.and she trusted that i was not out to hurt her. We talked it thru alot. You might find us still there after an hour...that ended our "trail ride" and we would not leave till she relented thru it. or next to it. or whatever... I would see the rest of the group coming back from a great ride.. I'm still at the garbage dumpster... patience...

This did not work on my TB... And i stopped trying to make her a trail horse after too many of those little episodes. Its not to say it couldn't be done just not by me. if i'm nervous around the unknown, how am i to expect my horse not to be. The TB compounded the issues. The QH didnt...

I bet you could find some good information on police websites. They do some awesome things with horses. but i do know they start with some of the calmer types. (though i've seen many TB's in the force)..

Some horses are just not meant for the trails. the new endeavor they come up against everytime they ride vs. the emotional spent you feel by riding them...you need to decide if your horse fits that bill.

I don't think every horse can be trained for some things. My horse hated ring work/dressage... but put her on the trail and dam she is the prettiest, smartest, calmest thing out there.(granted calm as the situation presents, wild boars in the bushes, would make one horse buck and take off, mine would snort and shiver only but still listen to me)... I never really trained her for any of it. Unless for repetition... i never considered that training.

One lady at my old barn used to bring that scary thing and move it closer and closer to the horses stall till it was in there with him.... ha. you'd find all sorts of things in there. Stuff she'd find on the trail or he'd spook over... seemed to work for her. She just went really slow..

I think its doubly important to make sure you have all the safety stuff with you too when you are out there. I wish i could put a GPS tracker on some horses out there...

good luck it really is fun...
Member:
Scooter

Posted on Monday, Dec 11, 2006 - 10:07 am:

When I was training Hank for trail we would go out so far and when I felt his nervousness coming on, I would get off and let him graze for awhile. Then get back on and go home.

We went a little further everytime and he got so he looked forward to our "picnic". He is not a spook, he was just herd bound. He still can get nervous on trail, but what I taught him in the arena and our picnics he is pretty good.
Member:
Gwen

Posted on Monday, Dec 11, 2006 - 7:44 pm:

Once again ladies, great ideas. I will continue to try to incorporate all of these techniques and keep you updated on my "greenie's" progress!
Member:
Lynnea

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006 - 12:51 am:

I only want to add the word PATIENCE...
When I decided to turn my morgan mare into a trail horse after she was a pleasure driving horse , I found patience my only salvation.
She had been somewhat burned out from training and I didn't like the way the trainer treated her, so home she came. Well, not only did she not want to be ridden, she didn't want to be fooled with at all.
So I started from the very bottom. Since putting a foot in a stirrup to get on sent her racing....I got on from the fence. She didn't want a saddle, I used a bareback pad. Resented the bit, I switched to a hackamore. All this took a little over a year for her to be somewhat happy. Then I started taking her out my gate to begin my trail teaching.....it took almost another year to motivate her around the block!!!
However, to make a long story short, I have been taking her to horse camp for three years now...and with the exception of water...she loves it and constantly wants to blaze her own trails through brush and trees. The first deer she saw surrounded her and she stood perfectly still for me.....and I know it was the trust I had developed with her from the patience I took in giving her the time she needed to adjust to a change in her life. She is a very energetic horse, her father belonged to me and she inherited his powerful spirit, but like he was, she is smart.She worked hard at trying to get her way and I am sure she was not wanting to cooperate because of her experience in training.
But, once she learned to trust me, and gaining that took time and patience, she is so much fun to ride at camp and she enjoys it as much as I do. When we build our campfire at night, she lies down and curls up in a pile of shavings and watches the fire with all of us.
Everyone's suggestions are great above, I also used many of them...but the patience is also very important. Taking the time is well worth it.
Member:
Gwen

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006 - 6:24 am:

Thanks Lynne. That is definitely worth mentioning. It is tempting for me to get frustrated with him because I think to myself, "he is nine years old, and put me through so much with his health issues, why can't he just be a good boy??". But when I am of sound mind again I remember that he can do it if I provide him with the right leadership.
Member:
Lynnea

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 12, 2006 - 11:24 am:

Gwen, I do understand the frustration...my mare was 12 years old and I pictured riding the trails with her in no time at all.....After all she had all that driving training...exposure to crowds , etc. But the key was changing her whole way of thinking and that took tons of patience and understanding, not feeling disappointed or taking anything personally.
I am truly proud of her accomplishment...Our horses are all individuals, just like us, and finding the way to become one with them is a challenge, but extremely rewarding when it all comes together.
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