There’s an old saying that goes:

“Being caught with your pants down.”

Listen to this.

In January 2004, 3 men in Spokane Washington decided to streak through a Denny’s restaurant at dawn.

They wore only hats and shoes.

They got out of their car and left it running.

And that,…was their mistake.

In the middle of their streaking escapade, someone stole their car.

Unfortunately for them, their clothes were in the car too.

The 3 naked guys had to hide behind parked cars until the police came to put them in jail.

That’s the epitome of being caught with your pants down.

One of the worst places to be caught with your pants down is with horses.

As you know, horses can be full of surprises and you want to eliminate all the surprises you can.

That’s why we do things with them such as desensitize, lunge, lead, drive, and others.

One way to eliminate some surprises and help your horse understand what you want is to drive him.

When I say drive him, I mean you’re standing behind him on the ground and asking him to move while you steer, stop, and back him.

It has lots of benefits.

It teaches your horse what it means when you pull on a line to get him going left or right.

It gets him used to having something and someone behind him.

It gets him learning to listen to you while you’re behind him.

It’s a great way to reinforce “whoa” and “Back up”.

There’s a lot of good you can do with it.

Plus, it’s pretty safe for you to do because you’re on the ground.

So the question is, how do you do it?

I’m glad I asked.

Here’s a few notes from from one of our horse training videos by Sue Robertson in her Groundwork DVD to give you the gist.

Before you drive your horse, he should know how to tie, lead, lunge, change directions, back up from the ground, saddle, and lunge with a saddle.

First, use a snaffle.

People disagree on the bit to use but the snaffle is easiest on the horse’s mouth.
(See our sale on the Beery 4-Way Snaffle Bit http://www.horsetrainingresources.com/BeeryBit.html)

But even if you have hard hands you can still hurt the horse so be aware of that.

Get two 22 foot cotton lines.  This is essentially cotton rope that is 5/8? thick.

Next, put the saddle on the horse and hobble the stirrups. (This is assuming your horse is already used to a saddle)

Hobbling the stirrups means tying them together underneath the horse so they don’t flop around.  They can be a little loose but you don’t want ‘em flopping around.

Next, always start on the “off” side.

The off side is the right side.

Run the line through the stirrup and hook it to the snaffle.  Run the other line.

Talk to your horse at all times – especially at first because this is new to him and he’ll likely need reassurance.

Plus, you’re his protector and he’ll need to learn to trust you.

Now your horse may get antsy and anxious.  This is normal for a horse that’s not been driven.

It’s even more normal for a young horse.

Also when driving, the horse may look back and that’s okay.

Once they’re accepted the rope and they see it won’t hurt them you can start to drive them like you’re lungeing them.

It’s best to drive in a round pen if you can because if you drive in a large open area you may be constantly fighting your horse for control.

So doing it in the round pen you can stand in the middle.

It’s keeps you away from his feet, keeps you safest, and lets you do the job.

Then ask them to move.

My favorite command is “Step”.

Just one word.

“Step!”

You don’t have to yell it.  You may have to increase your volume a bit to increase the urgency to your horse though.

As you ask him to step forward, make sure you give him an opening.   In other words, don’t stand in front of him and close him off.

Always have an open door.

You may have to kiss to him to move if and when he doesn’t understand to step.

Do figure 8’s, small circles, and large circles.

Why?

Because you want them to keep thinking.

Otherwise, you’ll bore them – just like what I talked about yesterday.

A bored horse is a poor student.

Also work on teaching them whoa.

You also want to teach them to stand and back up with it.

If you’ve never done this with your horse, you should.

These are all valuable horse training tips you need to know.

It’s fun and it gives that extra feeling of knowledge and confidence you should have.

Plus, you may find some holes in your horse’s training and you can fix them.

If you want to see this done, you can see it on Sue’s groundwork video.  To see more, click the following:

  http://www.horsetrainingresources.com/dvd-robertson.html

A couple more things.

If your horse doesn’t want to pay attention to you, then make him do “S’s”.

He’ll learn to put his head down and pay attention to you.

If he wants to go left, you make him go right.

Never, ever let your horse decide what to do.

Why?

Because when you’re in the saddle and he decides what to do…you’re in for a wreck.

He should “ALWAYS” look to you for instructions.

Never, ever, ever let him decide what to do.

There’s more to the driving thing, but this gives you a great start.

I hope you try it because it’s good for the horse and you.

http://www.horsetrainingresources.com/dvd-robertson.html

Another valuable group of horse training tips – the more you learn, the more fun you’ll have.