Articles

Who's Leading Who?     

  December 2003                                                                                                                                  Article Written By Steve Sikora

    As with most athletic endeavors, and I do consider riding horses an athletic endeavor, the basics are what make the difference between being average or being a superstar. Often times it is the execution of these basics that separate the good from the great. In my opinion, leading properly is the most important skill to have your horse master.
    But what is really good leading anyway? Proper leading is made up of a number of components. The first is body position.  I expect a horse to hold her position in relation to my body. I like to keep her eye just aft of my shoulder (you may adjust this exact position as you deem necessary). My horse should not be out in front of me leading me and she should not be behind with me attempting to drag her where I want her to go. This position should be maintained with no input from me. Second, is speed control. If I choose to walk at a brisk pace my horse must adjust her pace to keep up, even if I decide to run. When I choose to slow down, my horse must slow along with me. Should I jog along and then stop suddenly, so should my horse. Third is turning. When I turn away from my horse she should turn without the addition of pressure on the lead rope and she should speed up as necessary so that she maintains her position (her eye just aft of my shoulder). As I turn toward her head, even if I jog, she must yield out of my way.
    What does this level of leading offer me? First and foremost it offers a greater level of safety. Many people are hurt each year because of unsafe leading issues. Their horses step on them, or swing their heads and cold cock their owners, often breaking their glasses and cutting their faces or worse. Secondly, having your horse leading well will allow you to see past your horse and thereby giving you the opportunity to see things coming toward you that otherwise would have been hidden from your site. Being able to see where you are going when you turn towards your horse is also a huge help. Horses that do not lead well will often drag off their owners breaking their handler's fingers, bruising hands and a variety of other unnecessary injuries. Lastly, teaching your horse to lead well will teach your horse to engage her mind on you from the time you first touch her at her stall or turnout. By having your horse's attention immediately, it eliminates wasted time spent after grooming and saddling trying to get your horses attention back on you.  So now instead of working the first 15 minutes (or longer) of the ride to regain control, you can have complete control right from the start.
    Working with your horse becomes easier when your horse leads properly.  Instead of constantly redirecting your horse and building up frustration you can do other
enjoyable tasks. You can talk with others or enjoy the scenery and still maintain complete control of your horse with little to no input from you. When your horse leads well you always have an unoccupied hand to pick up brushes or tack or carry other various items. Your horse will hold her position regardless of what you are doing.
      Leading well will also improve your horse's manners, which farriers and veterinarians will appreciate. Many vets tell me that they get tired of dealing with horses that are not well mannered. When that unexpected lameness shows up your vet will be able to diagnose the problem more quickly because your horse has been taught to trot off on command and therefore flexion tests are easier and will not have to be repeated.    

    Who do you think the tired veterinarian will squeeze in, the well-mannered horse or the ill-mannered horse?  Farriers will get the shoeing done more quickly and more precisely if they are able to concentrate on their job instead of having to correct disrespectful horses.  Which puts you first on the call list when your next shoeing is needed? Others will want to be around you and your horse because everyone likes to be around well-trained and well-mannered horses. Just like the parent whose children are out of control will loose favor with friends so will the horse owner whose horse is ill mannered.
      Teaching your horse to lead well not only benefits you but your horse as well. By your vigilance and consistency your horse will know what you expect of him. Horses
need consistency and routine in their lives in order to feel safe and secure. When you are around your horse you are the alpha.  They want to get direction and instructions from you in order to feel content and relaxed.  If you do not take the position of commander they will and that is when things go wrong and get out of hand.
     Teaching your horse to lead properly is not only beneficial but also fun. You will enjoy your horse more and create a stronger bond that will last a lifetime. You will be safer and so will others around you. You will be more relaxed and confident around your horse when it leads like a pro.  You will have your horse's attention more quickly and have greater control with less input from you. And to top it off you will be building a
better relationship with your horse. And isn't that why you bought her to begin with?
    Have fun and ride safe!

AM I FINISHED YET?

October 2004                                                                                                                                          Article Written By Steve Sikora

How long does it take to finish a horse? This is the question that I hear quite often. While it seems like an easy thing to answer, I feel that my horse is never finished. It could be said that a reining horse is finished if it were to win the futurity, in that case the answer would be three years. Or if we are talking about a trail horse, it may be considered finished when it crosses water, doesn’t spook when a deer jumps up and keeps perfect footing on thin steep trails.

Why then would a horse never be finished? To me finished means that there is no more to learn, no more to experience, it means the end. If I am not improving something on my horse, I am loosing ground. When I ask my horse to do just a little better transition, we are both moving forward. By accepting whatever my horse does-and it may have done it pretty well-I have given up on moving forward, and I can only then move backward. Each time I ask any horse that I am riding for something, I want it to be a little better than the time before. By constantly raising the bar, the horse will keep improving.

 Age does not matter when teaching a horse, horses can learn well at any age. The limiting factor in the level of performance is the horse’s health, and I would not ask a horse that is physically unable or would be physically compromised to do more than would be healthy. This would not stop me from asking the horse to make a better turn that is off of the bit with a soft neck.  I once bought an eighteen-year-old Arabian that was “hard mouthed” and had not been out on trail or loaded into a trailer in a long time. She became a great trail horse and would go anywhere I wanted off the bit and fluid in her movement. She had just been given up on. They felt she was too old to change. I never did get her finished, but she became a good friend until she died in an accident at twenty-one. 

 I have never seen a horse that has learned all that it could. Just as I have not learned all that I can. This is not to say that you would want to teach every horse everything all at once. When training to show in a particular discipline, often it is better to stay with elements that will help in that discipline so as not to compromise the horse’s consistency. What we can do is to take a horse that was thought to be finished as a rope horse and make it a good trail horse. It may take time as it may not have had spook work done or been out on trail before, but the journey is what makes it fun. I have recently worked with a horse that had been trained to be a reining horse, her new owner wanted to take her out on trail and found her to be very nervous. While the show ring was very comfortable for her, the trail held many items that to her were frightening. She is becoming as confident on the trail as she has been when showing; all she needed were the tools to get there. And while she was considered a finished horse, this new work has offered her new challenges and helped her grow emotionally.

 Each day that I work with horses, I learn something new. I am not yet finished. The horses teach me about themselves and guide me to new ways of helping them to learn. What was considered the best way yesterday might not be the best way today. Taking the time to help yourself by attending clinics and demonstrations will help you learn more. Constantly learning new techniques and improving the way you work with your horse will get you both to a higher level. Maybe even a level of communication that you previously thought was only possible if your horse was finished.

Eliminating Trailer Woes #1

December, 2004                                                                                                        Article

By: Steve Sikora 

Having problems getting your horse into the trailer? Or maybe your horse will go in sometimes and not others. Does your horse bolt backwards out of the trailer as soon as you open the door of the trailer? These are some of the most frustrating and dangerous problems that I am asked about. Many horses have not been trained to the point that they will enter the trailer and stand calmly until they are asked to back out. I will cover here how to get the horse ready to load. All of these lessons should be taught away from the trailer.

So how do we go about teaching a horse to load into a trailer consistently? I will start by making sure that I have control of the horse’s body. This means that I must be able to control the horse’s head and movement forward and backward as well as have control of both the front and hind quarters.

 Being able to ask the horse to drop their head is a big aid in teaching them to load well because it helps the horse to calm down. I will teach the horse to drop their head with a very light pressure down on the lead rope. Each time the horse moves their head in the correct direction, I let go of the pressure. With a little time and some patience, the horse will be dropping their head all the way to the ground with no pressure at all.

 Forward movement is essential to loading a horse. I usually use a kissing sound backed up by a tap on the horse’s hip. This cue is very important and the horse must be very good at it. It may take hundreds of repetitions before the horse becomes consistent. This cue can also be used for the wash rack and a host of other areas, so it is very handy to have on a horse.

 Next and of at least equal importance is a cue for the horse to back. I have seen many horses that were put into trailers and got stuck in them for hours because they were never taught to back out. By teaching the horse to back up using a very light pull on the lead rope, as well as being able to send the horse backward with no more than a look at their chest and a kissing sound will be needed. It may take more to motivate the horse to step backward at first. I may use a wave of the lead rope toward the horse’s chest to help motivate them backward. Starting out I only look for one small step back, asking for too much will overload the horse. Horses do not do a lot of backing on their own, so be patient and build up to several steps over time. The horse with almost no hesitation must follow this cue so that it will be effective when the horse gets a little nervous or excited.

 Now for the hindquarters, I must be able to ask the horse to move its hindquarters over as soon as I ask. Being able to move the hindquarters over is essential to keeping me safe when I get the horse up to the trailer. Some horses that do not want to enter the trailer will move sideways pinning the person loading them against the trailer. So for my own safety, I am going to be sure to have a cue in place so that I can move the horse away from me. This cue should be as light as lifting the lead rope up and looking to the horse’s hip. It will not start out that light, and I may use a dressage whip to tap the horse until they take one step over to the side. As I work on this over time the horse will begin to understand what I am asking and move over willingly. I will spend as much time as is necessary in order to make the horse consistent.

 Gaining control of your horses front quarters or shoulders is next. If I do not have control of the shoulders, I may be run over if the horse moves toward me, or I may be dragged off if the horse turns away from me. In order to keep the horse’s shoulders from running over me, I must teach the horse to step away from me. This can be taught by walking toward the horse’s eye expecting to them to step away. If moving toward them is not enough to move them, I start to make a kissing sound. If the kissing sound is not enough, I will put my hands up toward their eye motioning them to step off. Most horses will step off at this point. Once they step off, I stop whatever it took to make them move. I keep repeating this series of movements until the horse moves away from me every time that I walk toward them. This will take some time, but is time very well spent.

 Controlling the horse’s head, front quarters, hind quarters, forward and backward movement sets me up to be successful when I move on to loading a horse. All of this work is done without ever approaching a trailer. By not working at the trailer it has allowed me to teach the horse more quickly as the horse is not worried about the trailer, only learning the exercises. As always keep yourself safe and if things are not going well or something is not understood, get help. Next month I will cover approaching the trailer and finally getting the horse in.