Training a Horse Tips

So you want to jump into horse training? There are a few questions you need to ask yourself before getting started:

• Do you have the facilities you need? (at the very least, a round pen to work your horse in – 6-foot tall – 50-feet wide is best.  No larger than 100 feet. No smaller than 30 if possible.)
• Have you researched what you want to teach your horse?
• If you don’t know anything about what you want to do, have you found a source to supply that information ?(friend, horse trainer, riding instructor, book, video, tv show)
• Do you have the equipment needed? (long whip for working in the round pen, long lead line (lounge line), good halter, appropriate saddle, blanket, and bridle)

Once you check to make sure you have the above, you are ready to get to work!

Although there are a ton of gadgets you can buy, most horse training can be done with the basic equipment you already have.  Yes it is nice to have new toys to play with.  Buy a few if you would like, but most are not necessary.

You may ask…”Why is a round pen so important?”  It is simple really.  A horses natural response to virtually everything is to run.  Predator attacking?  Run away.  Want to avoid something?  Run away.  You will want to use this natural response to your advantage.

When growing up I had the luxury of being able to ride over several hundred acres of land (and I did!), but I spent a lot of time inside a round pen with my quarter horse Tuffy.  There are many different ways you can work in a round pen.  I am going to cover a few of these now:
Working on the lounge line (long lead line) with a halter
Your horse will not automatically know what you want from him once you enter the round pen.  You must train him to work within the round pen like you want him to.  You accomplish this by having him walk, trot, or canter around you while he is on a lounge line.

You might walk your horse around the pen a time or two at first.  This will allow him to look everything over and ensure him that no “boogie man” is going to jump out and grab him.  Then you will want to slowly slide your body closer to his hind quarters.  As you go further back, also drift away from your horse slightly.  Here is where the long whip comes in.

Most likely your horse will try to turn and come towards you.  This is the hard part in the beginning as it is confusing for your horse.  Use the whip to just touch his rear slightly.  In most cases this will be enough to make him keep going away from you some.  He will probably not make a perfect or pretty circle around you…..in fact, he may only get a few feet away from you in a circle.

At some point he will most likely turn towards you.  If he does this, say Whoa and freeze.  Then pull the lead line and have him walk towards you.  Pet him and give him a minute to process what has happened.  Try it all again.

You will need to continue this process over & over until he learns that what you want is for him to go around you in big circles.  At first he will probably stop fairly often.  At some point you need to teach him that he only stops when you ask him to stop by moving your body into the path he is going (step in front of him…or in that direction and say whoa).  I also tend to straighten both arms out shoulder-height.  It’s a visual cue that also helps tell them to stop.

Turning On A Lounge Line
Part of working in a round pen is to have a horse go one direction at the speed you want and then turn at some point and go the other way.  The way to do this is have the horse stop and face you.  Then walk towards the opposite direction you want him to go and ask him to start moving again (cluck, move the whip, verbal commands…whatever you prefer).

Once you two get the hang of things, you will be able to walk in a round pen, ask your horse to go around, ask him to stop, turn, & continue, and ask him to stop & come to you.  Now you are ready for off-lead work.
Free Working in the Round Pen
This is my favorite thing to do.  I absolutely love it.  Basically you do the same things as above, but you remove  your horse’s lead line and/or halter.  Working free in the round pen allows you to accomplish amazing things.  A simple example:

One time at a horse show I saw someone walking their horse.  The interesting thing to me was that they had thrown the lead rope over the horse’s neck.  This man was walking his horse without holding on to anything.  When he turned, his horse turned.  Now, I know that may not sound too hard….but to feel confident that your horse won’t bolt away or just stop following at any point is important.  After seeing this, I decided I had to find a way to do this myself.

I headed straight to the round pen the next day.  I lounged Tuffy a bit without a halter and then stopped him and asked him to come to me.  He did all of this great as I had already trained him to.  After a quick pet & praise session from me I turned to walk off…..Tuffy just stood there.  I took about 8-10 steps, then turned and looked at him.  He just stood there……so I raised the whip and had him begin going around again.
*Note: The whip should be used to just touch your horse
Also, I typically stretch both arms out when asking a horse to stop and lower both arms towards the ground when I ask him to come to me.

I ran him around for 4-6 more laps, stopped him & called him to me.  I praised him and then walked away again…..same result.  So around he went again.  The third time I did this, when I walked off….he followed me.  A ton of praise from me followed by a bite of feed from the barn and I let him go for the day (**This is important – your horse will think about what he has done, so it is good to give them a break after they learn a certain amount).

The next day I tested him – he went around, stopped and walked to me, and then followed me.  However, he didn’t keep following me.  After a certain amount of following he just put his head down and started looking around the pen…..so around he went again.  A couple of more times and that was fixed.

The next day was my “goofy” day.  I did the same thing, however instead of walking off and expecting him to follow me a squatted down and hopped/squat-walked away from him (you can crawl if your knees aren’t too springy).  Of course he didn’t follow me….he probably thought I was a nut!  Anyway, I believe that only took one time running around the pen before he decided it was good to follow me.

I then was able to walk, hop, skip, crawl, or even roll and my horse followed me as long as I wanted him to!

Simple, fun, and effective.
From that point on I was always able to throw the reins or lead rope over Tuffy’s neck and never worry about him wandering off or not following whethere I was at home, in the pasture, or out at a rodeo, parade, or horse show.

Don’t underestimate the power of the round pen.  You can teach your horse anything.  They don’t like to exercise any more than we do, so they will pay attention and try to do what you ask to avoid having to run.
Riding in the Round Pen
The last way to use the round pen is to ride in it.  Don’t think this is boring; it is actually very effective.  This is the perfect place to teach your horse to turn properly.  Ride around the pen and ask him to turn in towards the fence – he should duck his head and turn on his hindquarters.  Don’t let him throw his head up during a turn.  Having the fence there will help you train him how to turn properly when you are riding.

There are many other thing you can do in a round pen while riding, but this post is already way longer than I expected.  I just got caught up in fun memories I guess.  Well, I hope this helps give you a little confidence to just jump out there and get started along with a few ideas of what is possible.

For more tips, you can visit Horse Training 101 @ Fix My Horse

Happy Training!

-Angelia

Tags: basic horse training, horse training, how to lounge a horse, leading horses, lounging horses, round pen