Training Tips

QUESTION: Hi Sylvia. I wonder if I can ask your advice. I have a 4-year-old native pony in to be backed and I am having trouble communicating forwards to him. His owner has done a great job of groundwork over the last few years and done a lot of halter work. He has accepted everything really well, round pen, tack, rider on board, long lines - however, he gets really stuck about going forward without someone on the ground out in front. Have tried using another horse as a lead, but even on the halter off the other horse, this pony still gets stuck. I have a good rider who is putting enough energy into her ask, but more often than not, the pony appears to not understand the pressure. I know I have missed something here and would be really grateful for your advice. Many thanks!

REPLY: Yeah, "sticky horses" are sometimes the hardest horses of all to train, I think. Give me a spooky, jumpy, scared initially horse to train any day over a sticky one! LOL

I would always want to rule out pain as an issue first, especially in the case of a sticky horse, which I'm sure you've probably already done. But if you're not sure if pain might be an issue there, you might call in an equine body worker to do a thorough exam in that regard. I have a list of Equine Body Workers starting here on my web site to find one nearest you: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/EquineMassageTherapists.html

After that's ruled out, you're then left knowing that it's a behavior issue. In fact, all the more good reason to call in a body worker, because when you're completely assured an issue is not pain, then you're left to feel more comfortable about pressuring the horse even higher when needed. What you have to do with sticky horses who shut down willingly and they don't want to move is: you have to go higher up the volume of pressure, but always doing it in sequence. Like this:

First low, then build, build, build, build with no pause/no release, in that sequence.

I think it might help to back up and work on this again from a solid-trained ponying horse. What's stuck in a sticky horse is their hind quarters (that's where the engine is, like a motorboat with the engine in the back). Up on your riding horse, ponying this youngster (you can learn how to pony a horse here: http://www.naturalhorsetraining.com/TrainingTips168.html), you can get your horse to turn into the ponied horse's hind quarters to unstick them. You're never going to get them unstuck via trying to ask them to come forward, or pulling them forward. You're only going to get them unstuck via pushing into the hind quarters to get them moving. I think a lot of ponying work from you up in saddle, and working, working, working those hind quarters (that would be lots of turns into the horse if/when they suddenly refuse to go forward) will go a long way there. Plant a verbal cue of a kiss or cluck to mean you want movement as you do this work there. Horses don't like much turning in circles and quickly this sticky horse will find it more comfortable to go straight and follow instead. Every time he freezes up there suddenly, don't get in a yanking contest, you'll never win that one; instead, turn into his hind quarters again and make him keep pivoting there. He'll tire of that and prefer quietly walking forward instead. So...you're giving him a choice there in this ponying exercise: walk quietly beside me when I ask, or pivot in circles at my directives. He'll quickly start choosing: walk quietly beside me here when asked.

For when in saddle on this sticky horse, I carry in my pocket when training my Training String and I'll pull it out to use for many different purposes, including with a sticky horse. Higher up the volume (after I've already given the horse a chance to comply lower on the volume of pressure) will then be the use of my training string on their hind quarter. But it's done in precise sequence so the horse learns the sequence and what happens highest up the volume. For example with a sticky horse I'm asking to go, who is refusing to go, I'll do a lot of turning them and bumping their hind quarters over with my inside leg to get them unstuck (it's easier to get a sticky horse going via turning them first, instead of going straight), but if he gets stuck there, ignoring my leg cues, my hand with the string is going to raise up beside me and slightly back (that's next up the volume) and if that hand raised back is ignored, the string is going to tap his butt. If that one smaller tap is ignored, I'm going to tap harder. It's a one-two-three thing and quickly the horse learns the sequence there and will start complying lower down the volume.

The problem with sticky horses is they have somehow learned that if they just hold out and do nothing, the asking magically quits. And as you know, all horses learn from the release of pressure what it is they can do/get away with. When you release for the wrong thing, they quickly learn that's what they can do/not have to do.

So, with sticky horses you just have to get tougher usually. Fair, but tough, and always in a volume sequence so that it is fair to them -- starting very low, then building, building, but not quiting until you get at least a try in the right direction, then release/stop asking. Reward for the try with a release of pressure.

I do believe that the pony there understands the pressure, he's probably choosing to ignore it. Ask yourself: if a lead mare out in a herd asked this pony to move, would he move? Or would he just stand there ignoring/refusing? You know the answer to that already: He'd move. So, he's not considering the amount or type of pressure there as meaning anything significant to him to motivate him to move. And he's most likely just stoically ignoring.

Another thing you can do there is have your rider give her cues for "go" (again in a volume sequence) at the same time she's tipping the horse off balance a little via turning the head a little to the side and bumping that inside hind quarter and if the horse still refuses, you, the trainer on the ground can give some taps to the rump (again in a volume sequence) with an extended training wand (safe distance). This way the horse starts to learn there's a definite sequence there and consequences (higher up the volume of pressure) if he chooses to remain stuck. Be real consistent with that sequence and quickly he'll start complying lower and lower down that volume of pressure.

It's not your imagination that sticky horses can be tough to train -- they can be murder at first sometimes!

It's funny, but I witnessed this very problem at the North Carolina Equine Extravaganza Trainer Challenge in Raleigh, North Carolina. I was there to judge the 3-day colt-starting trainer challenge. The 3 2-year old horses that were dolled out to the trainers couldn't have been more different from each other. One was overtly fearful and wild acting at first--very spooky. And of course an audience pleaser for his craziness at first. Another was pretty "average," but the 3rd one was VERY quiet and I could see the audience snickering that somehow this 3rd trainer got an "already trained horse." Which of course wasn't the case at all, they all came from the same breeder, same herd, same level of non training.

I quickly saw (even if others might not at first see) that the trainer with the "quiet horse" had the biggest obstacles to surmount. This quiet horse was a "sticky" horse. Just wouldn't easily move the feet when asked, and I mean in every stage of training, and this guy was quite a proficient trainer with very good skills there, I could see. See...the truth is...You simply cannot train a horse unless they move. So you must get the horse moving in order to teach them what you want them to learn. And when you have a stoical horse (often they are introverted and quiet on the outside) who has a mechanism in place to "shut down" to your pressure, you must build a sequence there, low to high, that means something to him. And that may well mean that highest up the volume is a spinning rope snap on the rear, like a "horse bite" that is highest up the pressure scale after starting low and building to that.

I found myself watching most the trainer with this so-called quiet (but very sticky!) horse, even though I was well aware that the audience was probably watching the "wilder" horse because that was probably far more entertaining to them. But I've been there done that with the wilder ones and could see that the trainer with the wilder horse was doing what we all do to get them trained, and it far more fascinated me to watch the trainer with the sticky horse work very patiently with it as he blocked out the world. He was good. Very, very good. But it was quiet, uneventful and probably very non entertaining to some layfolks. But not to me! Because this was one sticky horse! And that wasn't the trainer's fault -- it came to him sticky. But this trainer was quite good I could see, at first gaining the horse's trust, then building upward to teach the horse to move those feet, which you could see was the first time anyone had ever really asked this horse to do anything! There are a few things I might have done differently there myself, but I understand that it's such an unnatural environment, these trainer challenges, and no trainer really trains there exactly like they would outside that realm.

At weekend's end, the trainer that won the challenge was the guy with the initially spooky horse, though that was not the more difficult horse challenge there, I felt, because with my expert eye I could see that the guy with the quieter sticky horse had much more difficult obstacles to overcome there, and it just wasn't all going to get accomplished in those 3 days/couple of hours, and he did a very good job there. Excellent, actually, in my assessment. I'm not really sure if the audience understood the deeper dynamics there in training, especially with a sticky horse and how difficult they can be to train. I walked away actually greatly admiring the skills of the trainer with the sticky "quieter" horse maybe a tad more than the one who fixed the higher energy horse, which in all honesty is easy for anyone with proficiency. It's always easier for proficient natural horsemanship trainers to bring down the energy of a horse who has too much of it; it's much harder to bring up the energy of a horse who has none or has learned to shut down there and not listen/not move their feet when asked, I think.

Anyhow, the answer is with a horse like this: you must climb the volume and show the horse a consequence for remaining immobile when asked to move, but done fairly. Envision yourself a lead mare out in a herd and you are asking a horse to move away from you (when riding, you're asking a horse to move away from your leg cues). It's no different from that. Don't tip toe around it, get more assertive when needed, but fairly, and in a sequence, so that the horse has the opportunity to comply lower down the volume. If he chooses to ignore that lower down the volume pressure, you must build and not release until you get at least a try in the right direction, then release. Get creative! Set up scenarios where you can flush this out and work on showing the horse that this stickiness no longer works for him.

Sometimes when I get a difficult horse to train, I'll sit back at night and think more about it, and come up with creative ideas to get the horse past a particular individual issue. This creativity in training is endless really.

But I'd advise back up and return to ponying this horse off another horse and work on moving those hind quarters, using your riding horse to accomplish that, pushing into that ponied horse's hind quarters to get him loosened up and more compliant to your requests to move there. Keep remembering: it's the hind quarters you're asking to move, like a motor boat with the motor in the rear. Forget about the front quarters in this regard. Work to unstick the hind quarters. And I find backing up and working on that from up in saddle on another horse, ponying the sticky horse (which, BTW, that trainer at the trainer challenge indeed did and I applaud him for that), can work wonders usually. Just make sure even there that you are not releasing for the wrong behavior. After you've done the hind quarter pushing-over from up on your horse, then to go forward, you might also (if you think this will help) bring up there with you your training wand, to tap the ponied horse's rump if he chooses to hang up there. Make his ignoring there never an option with you. Ignoring was never one of his choices, show him.

I hope some of this helps! Be patient and consistent and as assertive as you need to be and you'll get there eventually (imagine trying to train your sticky pony there in front of a big crowd who is "judging" you! Now THAT'S pressure! LOL)