maya2008
Well-Known Member
So... seeing as I'll be doing this myself without the expertise of anyone else, I'm hoping that I can pick people’s brains on here, even if it’s just the act of talking things through with others.
She’s not a ‘train by force’ mare in any way, shape or form. You simply cannot just hold on and wait for her to accept anything, because she will panic, won’t ever get used to it, and she will injure herself or someone/thing else in the process. Then she’ll start to lose her trust in you. She’s also got a hefty percentage of Welsh D in her if her looks and movement are anything to go by, and there’s that Welsh sharpness and sensitivity making life interesting as well!
I have been mindful of that in everything I have done with her. I train her loose, in the open. If she’s scared, I demo with her willing herd mates and show her it’s ok before I try with her. When she’s struggling, my other mare stomps up, shoves her head in between us, distracts the special one, shows I am the furthest thing from an unpredictable mean human ever, and helps out.
Every now and then, she has to move away or pull free to remind herself she can, that she’s not trapped. That she’s ok. She goes a step or two, then comes straight back. When she had a moment with the rope, I let her go. Let her run, waited for her to come back to me. Unlike your average horse, letting go means she will come back, that she’s less afraid next time. She’s a very solid 14hh and my chances of holding her are nil anyway!
I’ve done a lot of work on making me her safe space. Being with me brings nice scratches, grooming, carrots, help (if the rope dangles or her headcollar is lopsided). Running away from me means dangling ropes and being alone (the others in her herd stay near me and just watch if she does that!). I have taught her that I won’t hurt her but will insist on her cooperation, by just walking her down if she says ‘not today’ and then quietly doing whatever, lots of rewards, nice experience, leave. So she gives a token protest at most now!
She’s generally very willing. Give her time to think and she’ll try to find a way round her own issues - for example clipping the rope on. She has issues with it being done from the left as that was her previous experience, so offered me her right side, psyched herself up and then kind of screwed her eyes shut and went, ‘do it now!’
Currently, she’ll catch, within 5 min or so (she doesn’t even walk away, just turns her head away until she’s ready), lead, voice commands ‘walk on’ and ‘whoa’. Learning ‘stand’. Can touch all over including with rope (not a massive fan of that but carrots rule so she will), pick up front feet, brush, untangle mane, move her head around with a hand on the headcollar. Next steps are being comfortable with a longer rope and then moving on from ‘stand’ to teach a ground tie so she doesn’t worry if it’s dropped and we don’t end up with a long ‘snake’ chasing her!
I will then need to introduce some form of bridle. This is where I’m stuck! I’m not convinced that a bit is a good idea at this stage. In a year, fine. Now, when the connection is still fragile and growing and her training isn’t ‘set’ I think there is a lot of potential for her to do that young horse thing when they have a moment at something, get reins tangled or lose rider and get foot stuck in reins etc. She would full out panic at that, and then could easily hurt her mouth - even just a bit of bruising would set up the trauma response in her and we would have issues for the future. Bridle will be combined with a ton of voice commands and training, to give light signals only.
So, any ideas on which variety of bitless might be best tolerated would be wonderful! General requirements are:
- leather (so it would break if it needed to)
- soft and comfy (she only tolerates soft things on her head so fluffy headcollars are yes, standard webbing ones are no!).
- clear light signals that easily release so she doesn’t feel trapped
- go on easily without much faffing
- not need reins that go in a continuous loop, (as I plan to start with mine unbuckled so she doesn’t have a loop to get a leg stuck in if anything happens).
- be officially ‘a bridle’ for insurance purposes, so riding in the fluffy headcollar is a no.
Saddle etc is easy. But bridle…
.
She’s not a ‘train by force’ mare in any way, shape or form. You simply cannot just hold on and wait for her to accept anything, because she will panic, won’t ever get used to it, and she will injure herself or someone/thing else in the process. Then she’ll start to lose her trust in you. She’s also got a hefty percentage of Welsh D in her if her looks and movement are anything to go by, and there’s that Welsh sharpness and sensitivity making life interesting as well!
I have been mindful of that in everything I have done with her. I train her loose, in the open. If she’s scared, I demo with her willing herd mates and show her it’s ok before I try with her. When she’s struggling, my other mare stomps up, shoves her head in between us, distracts the special one, shows I am the furthest thing from an unpredictable mean human ever, and helps out.
Every now and then, she has to move away or pull free to remind herself she can, that she’s not trapped. That she’s ok. She goes a step or two, then comes straight back. When she had a moment with the rope, I let her go. Let her run, waited for her to come back to me. Unlike your average horse, letting go means she will come back, that she’s less afraid next time. She’s a very solid 14hh and my chances of holding her are nil anyway!
I’ve done a lot of work on making me her safe space. Being with me brings nice scratches, grooming, carrots, help (if the rope dangles or her headcollar is lopsided). Running away from me means dangling ropes and being alone (the others in her herd stay near me and just watch if she does that!). I have taught her that I won’t hurt her but will insist on her cooperation, by just walking her down if she says ‘not today’ and then quietly doing whatever, lots of rewards, nice experience, leave. So she gives a token protest at most now!
She’s generally very willing. Give her time to think and she’ll try to find a way round her own issues - for example clipping the rope on. She has issues with it being done from the left as that was her previous experience, so offered me her right side, psyched herself up and then kind of screwed her eyes shut and went, ‘do it now!’
Currently, she’ll catch, within 5 min or so (she doesn’t even walk away, just turns her head away until she’s ready), lead, voice commands ‘walk on’ and ‘whoa’. Learning ‘stand’. Can touch all over including with rope (not a massive fan of that but carrots rule so she will), pick up front feet, brush, untangle mane, move her head around with a hand on the headcollar. Next steps are being comfortable with a longer rope and then moving on from ‘stand’ to teach a ground tie so she doesn’t worry if it’s dropped and we don’t end up with a long ‘snake’ chasing her!
I will then need to introduce some form of bridle. This is where I’m stuck! I’m not convinced that a bit is a good idea at this stage. In a year, fine. Now, when the connection is still fragile and growing and her training isn’t ‘set’ I think there is a lot of potential for her to do that young horse thing when they have a moment at something, get reins tangled or lose rider and get foot stuck in reins etc. She would full out panic at that, and then could easily hurt her mouth - even just a bit of bruising would set up the trauma response in her and we would have issues for the future. Bridle will be combined with a ton of voice commands and training, to give light signals only.
So, any ideas on which variety of bitless might be best tolerated would be wonderful! General requirements are:
- leather (so it would break if it needed to)
- soft and comfy (she only tolerates soft things on her head so fluffy headcollars are yes, standard webbing ones are no!).
- clear light signals that easily release so she doesn’t feel trapped
- go on easily without much faffing
- not need reins that go in a continuous loop, (as I plan to start with mine unbuckled so she doesn’t have a loop to get a leg stuck in if anything happens).
- be officially ‘a bridle’ for insurance purposes, so riding in the fluffy headcollar is a no.
Saddle etc is easy. But bridle…
.
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) and am investigating bridles. In a year, I’ll be pottering round the countryside in a snaffle like everyone else, just gotta get there! 
and many have done the ‘losing rider through giant spook, panicked few steps until realise they’re behind you and stop, get tangled on bush/fence/tree’ manoeuvre. Previous versions have been sensible enough to get stuck and WAIT for me to fix it. I don’t think she would (although I will do my utmost to train her to do so), her panic response is so immediate. With bitless, the leather would break before any damage was done to her. Then she’d sidle back to me sheepishly and we’d cobble together what we could and walk home. With a bit…what if she bruises her mouth and then (being her) is terrified of one thereafter? If I wait until next year, she’ll be out of the baby stage and be far less likely to have any incidents. Then we can introduce a bit, start proper schooling etc.
