April 18, 2011 - Bringing the stirrups into play

 It's time to move on to the next step and work specifically towards that first mounting.  There was a post on an internet bulletin board last week asking about training a young horse which got me thinking about how I prepare a horse to accept the rider mounting up.  I usually work alone with my young horses due to two experiences I had fairly early on.  In the first case I wasn't involved with the training, just watched a guy mount a green horse for the first time and he had his helper block the horse's eye from seeing him mount up.  That wasn't a problem until it came time for him to dismount and the horse was badly spooked by seeing him shift off to the side to dismount.  Even when the helper went back and blocked the horse's vision again, the horse knew what was happening by the weight shift and it was a very dangerous situation for everyone involved.  In the second case I was working with a horse who got easily distracted by someone on the ground.   Even without having his vision blocked he just wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing, and I was afraid he'd miss something important.

Longeing Rory with the stirrups down and loosely tied together with a spare stirrup strap to limit movement.

The post on the BB got me thinking.  I want mounting up to be anti-climactic for me and for the horse.  In order to increase the chances of that happening I break the process down into what things the horse needs to be okay about before the big moment.  He needs to be okay with me making a sudden sharp jump up beside him. And a sudden jump down beside him. Okay with weight in one stirrup pulling to one side. Okay with seeing me up behind his head. Okay with something moving against his sides as he moves. Okay with weight on his back. Okay with that weight shifting as he moves. He needs to know whoa. Steering would be a good idea, though perhaps is not necessary for just getting on and off.


The first time hopping up beside him, Rory walked off - I was moving ahead too fast.

For something moving on his sides I use a spare stirrup leather to tie the stirrups together under the horse's belly - just tight enough that they won't flail and bang when he trots or canters, but loose enough that they will move a bit.  I took my spare stirrup leather out with me today, and after the few minutes of longe command refreshing I pulled the stirrups down and buckled them under Rory's belly.  Rory was completely unconcerned by the irons at his sides, and I even loosened the belly strap to allow more movement after the first minute.  On to the next step.



Pulling on the saddle, pulling on the stirrup leather, bouncing up and down while pulling on the saddle, and reward.

  The next step covers weight pulling to one side and a little of the sudden up/down movements beside him. I stick a knee in one stirrup and hang onto the saddle while bouncing my other foot off the ground. If the horse moves I can just step down, halt the horse, reassure him and try again.  Rory was okay with me pulling on the saddle and putting my knee in the stirrup, but started walking away when I bounced up and down.  I was asking for too much at once.  What was most important for him to do was to stand still while I bounced up and down, so I took a step back and rewarded him for standing still while I wiggled his saddle, and then pulled it towards me.  Then I changed to pull on just the stirrup leather, again rewarding for standing still.  The next step was to bounce up and down beside him with a little pull on the saddle as I did so.  Rory very quickly figured out that he was to stand still in order to get his carrot chunk.


And finally back to the knee putting weight in the stirrup as I jump up beside him.

 After Rory was standing still while I bounced up and down I tried putting my knee in the stirrup again and leaning on it before trying to bounce up.  I use my knee in the stirrup because it would be very difficult to get stuck in the stirrup, and I can just step down if the horse starts to get concerned.  It also lets me work from the ground without having to worry about a mounting block.  This time Rory stood still.  He did consider moving when I put my knee in for a second try, but I just checked him with the lead rope and waited for him to settle in balance before bouncing up again.  Each time I did the exercise I jumped a bit higher. 

I just work one side at a time for anything new.  I feel it's important to introduce one concept at a time and allow the horse to gain some understanding of what is wanted.  To a horse turning left is different from turning right and they need to be learned separately.  When the horse is learning something new he's getting the right answer by chance, not by understanding.  Asking him to do several different things he doesn't know can frustrate the horse and make him sour or unwilling to try because he doesn't understand what is wanted.  We want to work both sides of our horse evenly, but a couple of days working on one side before introducing the lesson on the other side is not going to make the horse unbalanced or over developed on one side.  It will allow his brain to process the lesson and he will likely gain an understanding of the "right answer" a little faster.  Which is not to say that we can't introduce something on both sides of the horse on the same day, but it is a good idea to do another exercise that the horse does already understand in between.  Right now Rory's lessons are short and I'm happy to work one side until he's showing that he's understanding the general idea before going to the other side.  Today I put weight in the left stirrup, and will work on his left again next time.  When he's comfortable with what I want, I'll move over and repeat the process on his right side.