April 09, 2006

Hi Steve!

Checked out your website tonight and read the training log with great interest. There are some things I'm wondering if you could expand on for me, the one-rein stop done on the ground, leading rein and how it evolves into using with the long lines, and highlining. I'm assuming the techniques you're using with these four drafties would also work with light horses. Thanks for any information you would have time to pass on to me.

Cliff S.

Wembley, Alberta

Dear Cliff,

You're right, these training techniques should work as well for a saddle horse or pony as they do on draft horses. Your second sentence above has four distinct questions that deserve four answers you'll find listed below. I only have a short time available at my webmaster's place today to answer these questions, so I'll get a start on the answers today and plan to add more detail as I get more time to respond.

One Rein Stop (from ground);

Trainers have various names for this exercise, and varying ways (some good, some not so good) of physically applying this activity that is sometimes also called "lateral flexing", "lateral bending", or "indirect rein". One rein stop accomplishes postitive mental changes in horses who would have a primitive reaction to rein pressure. It's a safe, easy, and very relevant way to teach horses that pressure on the halter or pressure on the is to be responded to, not resisted. Resistance to the one rein stop usually amounts to: extreme preference for straightness in the head and neck (stiff necked) behavior; and/or, a disrespectful backward or crablike sideways movement of the feet. When a horse begins to respond well to one rein stop pressure, he'll begin to stand still when he feels the rein being applied, and he'll also be getting much softer about following the rein pressure instead of resisting its pull. The way I like to apply one rein stop on an uneducated or poorly educated horse is pretty easy. Start by positioning yourself beside the equine, just back of his shoulder, looking at the head and neck. Find a place on the lead rope that will only slightly turn the horse's head when the hand holding the lead rope is placed on the horse's shoulder. Remember that distance from your hand to the halter, with the goal of being able to shorten that distance as the horse begins to respond properly to the pressue. Bring your lead rope hand to the middle of the horse's scapula (middle anterior/posterior on his body, and also middle dorsal to ventral). This may require quite a bit of effort on the trainer's part at first, and it also might precipitate a lot of foot motion from your subject, but do your best to hang in there until 1. the horse stops his feet, and 2. he also looks toward your hand and quits pressuring the lead rope. A few repetitions on each side of the animal should begin to produced markedly better response. The goal at first is to train you horse to follow your hand pressure without ever tightening the lead rope. That goal is usually attainable in just one session, even on horses that wanted to resist with 100lbs. of pressure when first introduced to the activity. Around Day 13 of the training log, you'll notice that we begin to add another layer of meaning to the one rein stop when we give the horse the problem of having someone hold a one rein stop for extended periods of time. This is part of the concept of trying to set up your training tools to have more than one meaning. Most trainers make it so their horses know that reins are for stopping, turning (in a very primitive way), or slowing (usually constantly). It broadens the communication when reins not only mean stop, but also mean go. And, when turning, it's nice to have your subject know that an indirect rein is asking their hind feet to move in a particular way, and that a direct rein is asking for the front feet to move in a particular way.

Leading Rein Start:

Most people involved in natural horsemanship use the leading rein start in their ground work without even realizing what they are doing. In lateral lunging, getting the horse moving around you on a circle or speeding up a horse that is already out there on the circle starts by the trainer stiffening the elbow of the arm with the lead rope, thus removing slack from the lead rope and communicating to the horse "Go Forward". Lateral lunging is where horses first learn that a rein being pressured in a particular way is going to be their first cue to go forward. Lack of leading rein (see "two meanings" teaching above) is also being taught when we bring something scary into a horse's space while expecting him to stay.

Leading Rein Start In Long Lining

When long lining, horses quickly grasp the concept (from their previous experience at lateral lunging) that pressuring one rein is going to be their cue to go forward in the direction indicated. Starting your horse with a leading rein makes it so the driver of the animal is the only one who can strongly communicate "Go Forward", because the driver is usually the only one holding the communication device that sends the critter forward. Evil bystanders who think it's funny to send a horse forward by kissing, clucking, slapping their leg, yelling "Git Up" or whatever else they can think of simply can't get your horse going if he's been trained to go forward on a leading rein. Interestingly, leading rein starts send a horse forward because of respect for the rein, not because of fear of being slapped by the rein or whip. This changes the look of how horses go forward from a halt. Instead of looking like he is chased forward, the horse looks like he moves respectfully forward. It's a huge difference in motivation that produces calm and steady movement from the horse instead of the usual - frantic and scared. Leading rein start in long lines is taught by first getting the driver behind the horse with a long line in each hand, and the horse is a round pen or similar sized space. The reins are usually through the stirrups on a saddle when I begin to teach this, making the rein position clearly a leading rein instead of an indirect rein. Interestingly, all rein guides on harness are usually putting the rein into a leading rein position because of the positioning of the rein terrets on the harness. Back of the rein terrets, it doesn't matter what the trainer is doing with his or her hands - bending elbow, straightening elbow, walking way over to the side of the horse or wrapping the rein around the horse's rump. The last thing affecting rein orientation from the hand of the trainer to the head of the horse is the rein terret, and that is saying "Leading Rein" in all cases. In a nutshell, start to teach this by pulling one rein or the other to a logical outcome. When a rein is pulled, a great outcome is for your horse to move his front end (not the rear) so that the pressure is relieved. I let a horse know that I expect him to do more than just tilt his head when I pull a rein. I want him to move his front feet in that direction. The way it usually works out is that a horse will shift his front feet to one side and stop. You then pull the other rein (after releasing the first rein you pulled) to a logical outcome (the animal moves his feet in the direction indicated). After a few to quite a few repetitions of this activity, the horse will try stepping forward in the direction indicated when he feels the rein being pulled. The horse begins to feel his way respectfully forward and attentive to the bit. You've just executed your first leading rein start!

Highlining

A highline is a piece of horse packing equipment that we've begun to use when lateral lunging horses that would think about leaving their trainer. We want to get out of the round pen with our groundwork activities as quickly as possible to keep horses and humans from getting bored. If a horse in the open (no round pen) thinks he's going to make tracks back to his buddies, we go to our highline set up in our woods. A highline is a tight rope or chain suspended between two trees at a height of about ten feet above the ground. A lead rope is tied to the high line and dropped toward the ground, suspending the snap at a good height for tying horses, about four or five feet above the ground. For lateral lunging, we tie our 13' lead rope onto this lead rope snap dangling down, providing enough length that a horse can't step over the rope but allowing room for the horse to move freely around the tie place which is above the trainer's head. If a horse thinks he's going to leave you when you are out in the open, he quickly learns you have more power than he thought, causing the animal to lighten up on the lateral pressure on your rope.