1. Why Pulling The Horse’s Reins Won’t Make Him Stop When He Bolts
2. Training Foundations: Teaching The Basics for Safety and Control
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1. Why Pulling The Horse’s Reins Won’t Make Him Stop When He Bolts
Andy Curry discusses the bolting or runaway horse and why pulling back
on the reins is fruitless:
I get quite a few questions from
people perplexed over why their horse wouldn’t
stop once it spooked and bolted.
They’d say, “I pulled and pulled on
the reins and it didn’t stop him at all.”
Another would say, “It seemed like
the harder I pulled the reins, the more deter- mined he was to go.”
Fact is, no one…and I mean no one…is capable of pulling the
reins to cause enough pain and discomfort in the horse’s mouth
to get him to stop.
No one!
That begs the question of “Why?”
Seems contrary to the way it “should”
be.
Often, the way something “should be” is not
how it really is in the horse world.
This is one of those instances.
First, the thing to remember is horses
learn to stop through training….
not being pulled on by the reins.
They aren’t brakes.
The brake pedal on the horse is actually
inside his brain.
His brain will control the legs.
So it’s with the brain we must work with.
A horse can get so frightened that their brain
is consumed, overwhelmed, and inspired ONLY with
saving himself from danger.
He can be so frightened, he’ll forget
you’re on his back.
He doesn’t know that a plastic bag rolling across
the field from the wind won’t hurt him.
He can NOT reason that like you and I.
But he “can” associate that the bag won’t hurt him.
And that’s done through desensitizing.
But I digress.
Back to pulling the reins to stop.
A pull on the reins to stop a horse should be used
as a “signal” to stop – pulling on the reins is not
the stopping mechanism itself.
Thus, you have to take time to teach your horse what a stop is.
Essentially, you’ll stop riding when you want him to stop.
He feels it through your seat.
And there are different ways to teach a horse to stop.
I won’t go into it here because that’s a long subject.
We have videos where some of our trainers teach stopping.
If you want to read about them, click on the one or
more of the following:
J.J. Rydberg:
Sam Burrell:
Diana Quintana:
So you know, these videos show a lot of other
training as well as stopping.
Onward.
Now when your horse is spooked and someone’s pulling
on his reins, pain in the mouth from the reins pulling
him get overridden by the fear of his life being in danger.
It’s like pain doesn’t even exist.
In fact, if you pull harder, the horse may run harder.
That pain can turn into adrenaline and really fire him up.
And here’s a little trick.
If you’re observant, while riding your
horse you will nearly always see his body movements
before he takes off.
For instance, his head may come up. That’s a classic
sign of “Oh my gosh…DANGER!” in the horse’s mind.
That’d be a great time to talk to him and get
his mind directed back to you.
If both his ears are pointing forward because his radar
is locked into that strange sound, talking to him can
get an ear back to you so he pays attention to you
instead of some weed-eating monster.
Also, being quick to turn him in a circle before
freaks out is a good tip.
That gives him something to do and takes his mind
off the spooky object.
And since a horse can only think of one thing at a time,
giving him something positive think about is a great tactic.
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2. Training Foundations: Teaching The Basics for Safety and Control
Are you training a colt or have a horse that needs some basic training
so you can ride safely and have complete control?
Trying to ride a horse that is out of control is just dangerous! It
is especially dangerous if you haven’t been around horses much and
aren’t sure what to do when the horse blows up underneath you.
I’ve published a few articles about how dangerous horse riding and
horse handling is. The statistics tell the story – THOUSANDS of
folks get hurt, broken bones, concussions, severe disabilities,
and even die every year.
If you can’t completely control your horse then your taking a risk.
Here’s a few foundational basics that you must be able to do
before your horse is considered safe:
1. Teach the basic commands “Get UP” and “Whoa”
2. Be able to handle your colt or horse on both sides without them
moving or shying.
3. Teach them to come to you and take a bridle or halter without
throwing their heads or moving away.
4. De-spook the horse and teaching the horse to overcome fear
of things flapping in the wind, noises, etc.
5. Be able to safely mount the horse without it moving away.
6. Safely handle the horse without it crowding you.
7. Teach basic reining.
Once you can safely handle your horse and are able to completely
command them, then you can ride safely and go on to more
advanced training.
Would you get in a car and drive off through hills in a car
with no brakes or no steering? Sort of ridiculous, isn’t it?
Why people would get on a horse they can’t stop, can control,
that bucks or rears, shys at everything on the trail, or
that they simply can’t control is beyond me.
It’s nothing less than an accident waiting to happen.
This is exactly why we offer the Jesse Beery Horse Training Course.
Everything you need to know, including curing all those bad habits
and much more, is taught in the complete, 8 volume course.
We offer it in printed books, as downloads, as books on CD, and
even have all 8 volumes as audio books in MP3 format.
The audio books were professionally recorded by the
“Voice of The Outdoor Channel” and sound great.
You owe it to yourself anyone who may be around your horses to do
the proper basic training. See the Beery Course here:
Prof. Jesse Beery Course in Horse Training
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Ok.. enjoy your horses – just do it safely.
Charlie
P.S. Remember – the Jesse Beery Illustrated Course in Horse Training also
comes with two bonus books:
“The Arabian Art of Taming and Training Wild Horses” and
“Breaking and Training Colts”.
Both bonus books are great additions to your horse training library.
You can see the entire table of contents for each here:
Prof. Jesse Beery Course in Horse Training
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Just starting out with horseback riding? Need some professional help?
It is normal for anyone just starting out to have lots of questions,
be somewhat fearful and at times confused about how to start
and learn the right way.
That’s why we wrote:
“Horseback Riding: The Complete Beginner’s Guide”
This book takes you as a beginner, who knows nothing about horses,
and gently leads you through all phases of riding, horse care,
grooming and much more.
It completely prepares you for your first real riding lesson s
o you start with knowledge, understanding and confidence when
you mount the horse for the first time.
Horseback Riding: The Complete Beginner’s Guide
http://horsetrainingresources.com/RidingBook.html
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