TRAINING TIPS by Edie Lehman

BEFORE WE RIDE - THE USE OF THE ROUND PEN

Before stepping up on a young horse, we would like to do everything possible to see that nothing unpleasant happens, either to the horse or the rider. Our first ride should be a pleasant experience, meant to get the confidence and trust of the youngster and to instill a good work ethic. In order to accomplish this end, we will do everything possible to see that we have a "broke" horse before we step on the first time. We would like the colt to walk, jog, lope, stop, and back willingly before he's ever mounted. We find the round pen the easiest way to do this, since it is easy to keep the colt's attention and keep him under control. The round pen, used correctly, starts the colt bending his body, relaxing his back, and moving at relatively cadenced gaits in both directions before we even add equipment. By working the colt loose in the round pen, we can teach him to go forward, to stop, to turn , and to find his balance at all gaits. Before we add equipment we want the colt to "know where his feet are." Regardless of the colt's natural tendency, we must now teach him to reverse by turning into the wall at our command . The last step in our introduction to the round pen is to put a longe line on the colt and teach him to longe on a line with a halter or a bosal. The round pen lets us avoid putting a lot of pressure on the colts head while getting him to pay attention to a line. This process is generally spread over several days to make sure that each stage is well learned.

Providing that our colt is gentle and generally well behaved, we have also let him start wearing a snaffle bit while tied in his stall. By letting him wear his bit for an hour or so at a time we can get his mouth accustomed to carrying the bit. We will also let him wear a surcingle while being longed once he is good on the line, and from this point on we will discourage any tendency to buck or run with the equipment. Once he is comfortable in the bit and surcingle, we like to teach the colt to "follow his head", by bitting him to his own tail. Given a chance to think this through, most colts seem to take it in stride. At first we hook a lead rope to the halter and the ring on the snaffle and run it through the side ring on the surcingle; by holding the rope in one hand and the colts tail in the other and applying some pressure, the colt soon learns to follow his tail. We then tie him to his tail and leave him in the round pen until he relaxes and moves about without pulling on the bit. As soon as this occurs we undo the rope and change everything to the other side, again giving the colt a chance to feel the pull before he is tied solid. Besides teaching the colt to follow his head, he learns to be tailed and gets used to ropes hanging around his legs which can save a lot of kicking later on. Once the colt gives his head readily when bitted, and seems willing to stay soft in the bridle, we can go on with our first ground driving lesson. From this point on, given a gentle colt, we are about seven days from our first real ride. These seven days need not be consecutive, but it is easier if there are not too many days totally off.

Day one-Today is a long day. First we will bit the colt for a few minutes and let him soften his neck. Next we will longe him lightly with both driving lines attached to the snaffle bit; we need to get rid of any excess energy now, but we don't want our colt tired. The sight of the lines back on his back can be a surprise, so with one line still attached directly to the snaffle, we will hook the second line to the side ring on the surcingle and longe just enough to make sure there is no problem. If the colt is at all unsure at this point, then we will go on with this work out until he is relaxed. These are the foundation steps, and a few extra minutes now can save a lot of headaches later. Hopefully our good colt is perfectly at ease so we will go on and put both reins through the upper driving rings on the surcingle and then walk him quietly for a few minutes and call it a day.

Figure 1- comfortable in the equipment

Day two-Today we must decide how much repetition is necessary; too much can make our colt fussy, but not enough can be a disaster. Probably we will bit our colt for just a few minutes, then hook the lines and drive! Today we will take out any extra energy by making our colt go forward around the round pen until he will slow to a walk. With a light pull on the outside rein and a few steps to the front of the colt we can turn him into the fence and send him back the other direction, again making him go forward freely around the pen. ( We must also be sure to flip the reins high enough as the colt turns to not get one under his tail, although this is a lesson all colts should learn!) Within a few minutes we should be able to turn our colt easily from the walk or the trot and have him move off readily. Most colts seem to enjoy this exercise and if we use light enough hands we can have really nice rollbacks from this day on. Remember, if there is any difficulty at any stage, an extra day now will save many days later .

Figure 2 - Moving forward willingly

Day three-Today we hope we can treat our colt like he's broke. We can probably put our equipment on and go drive. We expect to walk, trot, and lope, and rollbacks at any speed should take only a light touch on a rein. We usually try to make this day easy and rewarding to our colt. After our short drive, we return to the barn and get acquainted with a saddle pad up close and personal. We take the pad and let the colt smell it, then we rub it all over his body until we can walk up to him and toss it on his back from either side. This is a good time for lots of petting

Day four-By now we know our colt is a star. We can walk, trot, lope and rollback at will , and by releasing the rein during the rollback we have now got our colt sliding into the rollback and rolling right over his hocks. With a very light touch on the inside rein we can get our colt to flex ever so slightly to the inside, and by doing so get him to soften his neck, lower his poll, and start showing some sign of collection. Today we can throw the saddle pad on and , after letting him look the saddle over , we can saddle up and go to the hot walker or the hitch rack for an hour or so. Unsaddle and pet the star.

Day five-Today we take the star to the round pen to drive only briefly, asking him to stop completely from any speed when we say "whoa" and to stand still while we flip the reins over his back and play "jump rope" with them while standing directly behind him. This seems crazy, but we find it solves most kicking and bolting problems in one or two easy lessons. Today we pet the colts backside while still standing directly behind him. Now we really like him! Then it's back to the barn for a saddle and back to the round pen for a quick longe , letting the stirrups flop and saddle strings fly. What a nice colt!

Day six-With any luck at all we can tie up the loose ends today. What ever parts of our foundation we aren't sure of , we need to polish now. After a quick drive and a few stops ( we now expect to stand quietly),. we are ready to flip the reins over the colts backside again ( still standing quietly) and then the final touch is to ask him to back. Soft hands and a little patience and we should have this done; the secret is often to use a little more pressure on the outside rein and to release at the first step back. After a couple of tries, this is old hat , too. We saddle our perfect colt, longe him for a few minutes, now with the running martingale and reins just as we plan to ride. We jerk on the stirrup leathers a few times for good luck, put a foot in the stirrup and hop up and down a few times for more good luck.

Figure 3 - The beginning of a rollback

As always, we do this on both sides. It's also a good idea to reach across the colt's back so he has to see something above and behind his head. Now we pet the perfect colt and get on him. Now we pet him everywhere we can reach because we're so glad he's a perfect colt.

Day seven-Today we ride the perfect colt and, because he's perfect and we did our homework, we expect to do everything under saddle that we did in the lines. We will warm up by repeating whatever parts of our program we think may be weak or may simply give our colt confidence. The best scenario is that we can saddle him and longe him lightly like the broke horse we think he is! Once warmed up , we will get on him and relax him a moment, then ask him to go forward. If he is reluctant (and this is common) we use a ground person in the center of the round pen to help encourage the colt. This second person is a good safety measure in any event, because our colt is used to relating to commands from someone on the ground. Once the colt is going forward, we simply go on through the work out he has been doing in the lines. If, at any point , the colt seems unsure, we simply repeat the previous maneuver that he did well and go on. The important part is that the workout for this day is comfortable for the colt and we make sure that we stop while we are all still having fun. This is the best way we know to keep our colt perfect! And, if we need to add a day here or there, we are just building on to a foundation that will be good for a life time.

Photos working Brumarba Ibn Shai ( *Simeon Shai x Bint Zlabiya ) full brother to Shaia, Canadian Reserve National Halter Champion Mare, and Brumarba Sunshain, '98 US Top Ten Yearling Filly. He is a ¾ brother to halter and performance winner Mai Shai, who in addition to show duties is a Search and Rescue horse and lesson horse and substitute in the Foothills Riders youth drill team.