Ask The Trainer

Q: I have a four year old gelding that I am just starting on the barrels. When I ask him to move over off the first barrel he feels like he is leaning against my leg and he throws his head up rather than moving over. Do you have any suggestions to how I might solve this problem.

A: It is important that before you start your horse on the barrel pattern that your have all your "controls". This includes getting your horse to move off your leg, and being able to move your horse's hip and shoulder at any given moment. You need to have this accomplished before you expect your horse to be able to do this on the pattern, particularly with any speed. I start doing this first at a walk. When you press your leg on your horse he should move off of the pressure.

Q: I am in the process of getting my horse seasoned. I am having trouble getting him to finish his turn on the back side of my second and third barrel. He seems to turn the first one fine, then he just sorta bows off the other two. What am I doing wrong or what can I do to stop him from doing that?

A: Well, several things could be happening. Mostly likely, you are dropping your inside hand as your horse leaves the barrel. When you do this, rather than helping him finish the turn, it encourages him to bow out of the turn. You might have his nose tipped towards the barrel, but his body would be bowing out, and fading from the turn. The best thing that you can do to correct this is remember to keep your inside hand high and forward. Lift your horse's shoulder without slowing him down. Then, as you leave the turn, keep your hand high and forward, but don't keep pulling on his face. Instead of trying to 'pull' him around, use your outside leg and force him to straighten his body as you leave the barrel. This should keep him from fading and bowing out of the turn.

Q: I am having trouble getting my horse to stop. I pull back and say whoa, yet he keeps charging ahead. He doesn't seem to be pulling against me, but yet he isn't stopping either. He is mostly ignoring me. I have a high ported bit on him, but he acts like it doesn't bother him. What should I do to get him to stop? Should I look for a more severe bit to put on him?

A: There could be several reasons for your horse's lack of "whoa". I am not one to jump right to putting a severe bit on a horse. Let's first examine some of the fundamental reasons your horse may not be stopping. First of all, there are several basic issues to address. Has your horse had his teeth floated by a good vet or equine dentist lately? Sometimes, if your horse has issues going on in his mouth, it will cause him to be resentful of the bit, hence ignoring you when you ask him to stop. Another issue is what is your body telling him to do? Your hands might be saying "whoa" while the rest of your body is saying go. I see this time and time again. It is a common mistake for people to pull on the reins and pull themselves right out of the saddle. If you are pulling yourself out of the saddle, not only is your body leaning forward, but your heels are usually up and squeezing into your horse's belly, sending your horse some very mixed and confusing signals. Make sure when you are preparing to ask your horse to stop that you sit back, deep into the saddle, sink your heels low and push your feet slightly forward. Then ask your horse to "whoa" not only with your hands (and body as I mentioned above) but also with your voice. Tell your horse "whoa" in a good strong, firm voice. If you are correctly telling your horse whoa with your hands, voice and body, your horse should stop, and you should immediately release all pressure on your horse as a reward for stopping. If you are doing these things, and your horse is still refusing to stop, perhaps you should examine his whoa training. At what speed does your horse decide to not listen to whoa? Does your horse stop well at a walk? trot? lope? run? Your horse must have a solid whoa at a walk before he trots, trot before he lopes, lope before he runs. Your horse may need to go back to the basics and learn to stop from a walk or trot again. I see so many people skip these steps. I see people riding colts, who haven't learned how to stop at all, and expect them to stop at a lope when the horse doesn't stop well at a trot or even walk. You should begin at a walk, and communicate whoa correctly with your hands, body and voice. Once your horse is solid at stopping from a walk, get him solid at a trot, then lope, and then begin to increase your speed. I feel pretty confident that one of these methods will work for you without having to move to a more severe bit.

Q: I have noticed that my horse is a lot more excited and hyper when I take him to public places with other horses around. He seems to be a lot spookier than he is at home, everything seems scary to him. What do I do to help him settle down? Will he always act like this?

A: Most horses act differently in public than they do at home, especially when you first start taking them places. The more they go places, the more they start to act like they do at home. They get used to the sites and sounds, and begin to understand that their rider will take care of them no matter where they are. However, we do have to deal with our horses spooking and looking around until they do get used to being in new places. I try to keep my horse busy doing exercises or more constructive activities, rather than looking around and being afraid of everything. If your horse is spooking at something along the fence, rather than jabbing him up there to face it, sniff it, or look at it, keep him busy doing circles at a trot in front of it. If he continues shying away from the object, take him farther away from the object to do your circles. When he gets comfortable with the object from a distance, continue circling until you work your way back to being directly in front of the object. Keep doing circles here until the horse no longer remembers he was afraid. Once you master this going one direction, change and do circles the other way. You may have to move you horse back out away from the object now that he is seeing it from a new side until he is comfortable enough to work close to it.

Thanks for your questions!