Training Tips

Also we have two brood mares and they are boarded in with him. He seems to be king in the pasture with them both. We just had a new horse come here now and it is a 6- year-old race horse thoroughbred which had a lot of drugs in him when he got here. My horse and the mares are not getting along too well with him. He chases them and screams at my horse, but my horse doesn't seem to back down from him. Is this normal pecking order or might they never get along? They are both geldings also. The thoroughbred has never been pastured either, just kept in a stall and raced for 5 years.

REPLY: Hi. Thanks for writing. Yikes. Yeah...17 hands high is an awwwwful long way to fall! Poor you!! Glad you didn't seriously break anything! Been there done that, getting bucked off is NOT fun, especially at our ages. We don't bounce as easily as we did when we were younger! So...I hear ya. Your fears now are actually feelings of "common sense" seeping in. Your mind now knows this horse isn't safe and "if you didn't see that one coming, how will you see another one like that coming?" your head screams. But over the years, I've worked to focus on safety as my primary training and teaching program. There are things you can do on the ground, specific groundwork, to test to see if your horse is safe & ready to ride before you ride. And this is why I would suggest applying horse whispering/natural horsemanship training techniques in a very clear step-by-step program, which you can learn more about in my DVD set, the Whispering Way 12-Step Total Training System, and you can order that here: CLICK HERE

After watching the videos, and after learning and applying the methods, you, as the horse's primary teacher, will have taught the horse:

How to be bonded to you more deeply so that the horse trusts you to the max and they will be far more willing to do whatever you ask, even when they are in doubt;
That you both have a "bonding place" (a "safety zone") to come back to always, from then on, if the horse is ever upset or afraid, on the ground (or later, in the saddle); we plant a one-rein stop in the foundation of every horse, on the ground first, so that in the saddle, it is automatic. This keeps you safer and the horse more rational, and feeling supported, bonded, connected more deeply emotionally to you.
How to relax the horse when they are tense about something before they are called upon to react negatively.
How to have the horse yield easily, in any direction when asked -- they'll learn how to yield properly to pressure to receive the release of pressure. All horses learn from the release of pressure what it is you want, not from the pressure itself;
How to progress bonding to even deeper levels to the point of downright intimacy; makes a horse feel like they never had it so good being with you!
How to move the horse from the rear, and learning to do that rationally, which is so important to teach a horse to do before you ever ride them, and which you'll be using for a lot of other things like trailer loading, going in and out of a gate, into a stall, and so many other places/situations; this also teaches a horse that you are in charge of their feet.
How to address effectively any fears (and the horse's reactions to them) that you flush out in their behavior at any given time; my program focuses greatly on finding the fears before they find you and fixing them -- safely on the ground first! Even lay folks can do this. It's all about: safety. This then builds a far more rational, confident, happy, trusting horse, because, in essence, you have effectively raised the horse's "fear/anxiety bar." And you will have taught the horse simultaneously in the process, how to turn to you for nurturance support when/if they are ever afraid or upset.
How to do all this first on the ground, then later in the saddle, in that order.
How to keep you safe and the horse safe at all times, throughout all of this --- always my biggest training focus.

This video set will help you to lay down an even stronger, more solid and trusting foundation under your horse that will then serve you well, tremendously, actually, when you do step up into the saddle. By the time you complete the steps, you will have a transformed horse. The final steps are in the saddle and those exercises will more deeply plant into your horse's foundation the one-rein stop/the "safety zone," and more, that will turn the horse into a far, far more rational, trusting, happier -- and safer -- horse in saddle as well.

And you can do this yourself if you just back up and learn a few things yourself there. This video set will get you there the fastest with your horse, which is why I'm recommending this route. It's designed for anyone on any level, horse or human, to get professional trainer-like results.

And incidentally...my Whispering Way Complete Training Package contains all my videos and training tools that you need to train or retrain your horse yourself the natural horsemanship Whispering Way. You can check out/order the Whispering Way Complete Training Package on my web site here: CLICK HERE

I'm a very strong believer that every horse owner is their horse's primary teacher/trainer whether they realize it or not. Every time you are with your horse, that horse is learning something. You just want to make sure the horse is learning what you want them to learn, not what you don't want them to learn! My natural horsemanship training techniques are gentle, effective, and powerful. Works with every horse every time!

But it's real important to back up and break down all teaching steps in a way that you are releasing baby-gives, allowing the horse to feel the release for the right answers incrementally, so that they learn that's really what you want.

I think this will help you to rebuild confidence again, because you'll just be doing groundwork first, and as you get going, you'll see where the holes are in your horse's foundation and now know how to plug those holes.

The other thing I wanted to suggest, just based on my vast experience, carefully assess your horse's saddle fit. I find one of the most common causes of horses bucking as they enter the canter is: poor saddle fit (it is literally hurting the horse). Read this link on my site about saddle fit -- and proper pad information: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips40.html - real important to make sure, rule out, that as a problem before you move forward to assume it's a behavioral problem.

I also want to direct you to a link on my site that shows what ground exercises you can do to work on a bucking-at-the-canter problem to work your horse past this -- safely with you on the ground: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips9.html

Also, I can see from here, I think, that you need to build into your horse's foundation the one-rein stop/safety zone which I talk about/teach here how to do that (again, it starts on the ground): http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips94.html

I know it's hard to get yourself to ride again, that's totally understandable under the circumstances and don't push yourself there, take baby steps there with yourself to rebuild the confidence, but information and new "tools" is the key!

And in all honesty, there is nothing wrong with getting a shorter horse!! Maybe you should listen to that gut feeling. You might even enjoy steering in the direction of a gaited horse for a smoother, easier ride. More & more middle aged folks, I've noticed, are steering in the direction of gaited horses for that very reason. Gaited horses seem to be the fastest growing breed purchases out there today.

As for the fighting in pasture problem, what's going on there, looks like from here...the thoroughbred wasn't properly socialized to other horses at a key age when he should have been. When he was young, he shouldn't have been kept isolated in a stall, but kept in a pasture with a number of horses so they could teach him proper horse socialization skills. Older horses teach younger horses these skills. So...I'm not so sure it's going to improve right away.

If I were you, if at all possible, I'd keep the new thoroughbred pastured, but with a fence line between him and the rest of the herd. This way, he's not isolated, but he won't be partaking of any "reindeer games" for a while. Maybe over time, just being that close in proximity to the herd, he'll start to develop proper social skills, maybe not. But I think if you don't take action, someone (another horse) might get hurt.

This has nothing to do with geldings & mares being pastured together, etc., that's fine. Is actually the natural way to keep horses. My own horses (geldings), while we were building our new training center here, I were kept at nice stables up the road where they lived in a 55 acre pasture with about 25 other horses, mixed herd -- mares, geldings (no stallions of course), young horses, old horses, living naturally in a herd environment and they all did fine.

I think you should separate this thoroughbred but with a fence line between him and the herd so he's not alone, but will stop the fighting for now. And over time you can observe how he does, see if he's learning to be more properly horse social. Pecking order's one thing. That's usually worked out quite quickly. But running rampant and not settling in and not socializing properly and fighting nonstop does require human intervention at some point. You might think about putting in with him alone a real get-along horse, if you think that will work, just the two of them in a pasture or paddock together so he can learn how to "pair bond," so that horse can start teaching him social skills as well. Though I find in my training practice that those horses who were kept isolated in stalls from a very young age, the key ages nature set them up primed to learn herd socialization skills, sometimes never become properly social with other horses -- they missed that key learning window. But you might still try the one-horse-with-him route to see if you can improve that with him. Sometimes it helps to put in with him an older more assertive lead mare type of horse who will "set him straight" there and not be pushed around. But you're going to have to feel your way around that one, experiment with different routes until you see what works best for him. Just wanted you knowledgeable on the "why's" this is happening right now with him and the horses surrounding him. Also...was he a stud for a while? Was he ever used for breeding before? Sometimes, if gelded late, the stud-like posturing can remain because by then it's "learned" behavior. If they've actually been used before to breed with mares, they just don't forget it and may still try to mate, even after being gelded. Regardless of the cause, if I were you, I'd separate him from the others for now, put a fence line between them so he's not isolated, eventually try putting just one horse in with him, and you'll probably see positive progress there over time.