HORSE HANDLING INSTRUCTION

  This is the first chapter in the book about "Xena" the 6yo Standard Bred Mare who has never been taught to accept a rider's instructions.

The owner wants this lady to be started "under-saddle", without a saddle and bridle and bit, and in only a halter, and saddle pad with no stirrups. A very "natural horsemanship approach".

This first image shows Michael on board, with Paul leading "Xena" to help her understand what a gentle squeeze, (no kick) of the lower leg means, and that is of course to go forward.

The Halter is very difficult to see as it is a black one, but you can see how the rein is connected very simply. In fact the rein is a lead rope turned into a one piece rein, and can be easliy converted back into a lead rope for leading and tie-up and so on.

"Xena" initially had absolutle no idea what Michael's lower leg squeeze meant as you can see by her body language, so Paul needed to help her move forward as a follow-up to the leg command.

Here "Xena" is starting to get the idea.

Then, once she worked out that she was meant to go forward the steering became a problem as you can plainly see here. Michael is not jerking on the rein, nor is he pulling it, he is just holding it in the one position so "Xena" can work out she is pulling against herself.

Finally she gets the idea and has learnt to flex to the left and right, without moving forward or backward.

Soon she is quite relaxed with it all and preparing to move forward in a straight line for Michael.

Then, "BINGO", she is off, saying - "is this what you wanted me to do Michael, why didn't you say so mate............  "when can we start trotting?", she wants to know

All of the above took place on the very first ride. "Xena is an absolute joy to work with", said Paul, "she is a real sweetheart and wants to please once she understands what is required of her."

This was only the second time Paul had handled her. The first time was the day before when he entered her yard after her owner had delivered her for training. Paul spent only 10 nminutes getting to know her and she connected with him in a very small space of time because she figured out he was no threat after he communicated with her in - "horse talk".

This Mare had previously been mishandled by a male and was very suspicious of men in general, but all is turning out well because both Paul and Michael handle her properly, with kindness, positive feelings and respect.......... 

 "we did not tell this mare to do anything, we ASKED her, and she obliged.........................

After only one week of training, Xena is now in the big wide world of the open arena, learning to weave between the posts, under Paul's watchful eye, and ridden very nicely by Michael. Xena is still working in the saddle pad and the halter.

"hang-on", Xena says, "I am not going in there, it looks like a very strange place".

She hesitated with the new task of walking between the logs..............unsure of what she was getting herself into. This is not unusual for a young green horse with something foreign and heavy, ( a rider) on her back.

So, instead of asking Michaael to kick her harder and harder to make her go forward, wrong, wrong wrong, Paul assisted her and gave her confidence by leading her through and walking through with her to show he that there was nothing to fear, or to be concerned or worried about.

Then, hey-presto, Xena strolls on through all by herself, all grown up now................

This is the only way to educate horses, by asking and showing, not by telling, forcing and making.

"Some horses are bolder than others, and we need to read each horses personality and psycholgical profile to decide how best to approach a training programme for each indvidual horse", says Paul.

Xena was trotting nicely in the round hard and now she is trotting a few paces at a time out in the open arena. "

Who says you can't ask a horse to collect on a loose rein and in only a halter

Xena needed to, not only be taught to move of the leg, turn left and right, trot, halt, but to do what is one of the most difficult things for a young green horse to learn, and that is to move in a straight line. She is now doing that, a lot better. Sometimes she forgets, but a gentle reminder brings her back onto the straight line.

Paul says, "when educating horses, make allowances for them making mistakes, and forgetting from time to time in the early stages. Let them make mistakes, and then correct them in a kind and positive way. Never berate them for making mistakes, because it is probably the riders fault in the first place, by not giving the correct, consistent aids to the excercise in question"

Introducing ''Genesis" - a 3yo Mare who has never had any handling by human hands, as the following photos will show.

She is totally against any contact with humans, and not due to rought handling either, she has just never been handled at all. Her owner, Kylie, has just not had time to work with her because of holding down two jobs and building a home on her 40 acres. Unfortunately "Geneise" has just had to wait. 

To exacerbate the problem, "Genesis" mother does not think much of humans either, although at least she can be caught, "Genesis"can be caught, no way............

After 90 minutes of working her in the Round Yard, this is as close as Paul was able to get, which was major progresss compared to when he first started, at that time, she just took off and cantered away as soon as he started to approach.

 As you can see here, "Genesis" is totally suspicious and not trusting at all.....................

Usually Paul is able to have a horse "connect" with him and follow him around within 5 - 15 minutes, but not this lady, no sir......................she was not having any of it...................

Paul was able to get a little closer here........................................................

And here, he achieved "touch and sniff" but still could not put his hands on her neck or body

So, the only other solution was to put a roping loop around her neck to get her used to a foreign body being attached to her, which is the next step to domesticating her towards humans.

The old method that trainers used to use, and unfortunately some still do, was to put a loop around the neck and tie the horse to either a tree or a very strong pole and leave the horse there to get used to it. The problem with that is the horse gets even more terrified and thrashes about and can generally do themselves harm, so Paul never adopts that method. He leaves the rope on the horse and allows the horse to run around in a holding yard or a round yard to get used to the rope and to eventually accept it. She will accept it on her own terms and in her own time without any extra pressure. She is under enough pressure just have the rope there.

This proceedure takes as long as it takes. "it is entirely up to the horse" Paul says, "they are all so different".

Paul is gradually moving closer to "Genesis" here, but leaving her plenty of room to escape, which......

she does at a very fast rate...................too fast for the camera to catch it......................

you can just see the rope trailing behind her if you have good eyesight..............................

Kylie believes that there has been a Gene transferred to "Genesis" from the Sires line that causes her to be so resistant.

.........................................................3weeks later =

UPDATE re Genesis- it has been 3 weeks since Genesis was put into the round yard with the rope on and she has made great progress indeed. Kylie followed Paul's intstructions of leaving her in the round yard, providing full feed and water of course, and to stay in there whilst she ate by sitting right next to her feed bin. Also to enter the round yard at non-feed times and just sit in there on a chair and read a book, or write letters, notes etc., whatever paperwork Kylie needed to do, and just wait for Genesis to approach her. Approach her she eventually did and came right up close and sniffed her and stood right over Kylie with her chest up to Kylies face, which was a terrifce milestone of advancement for Genesis.

On the other hand, when Paul came back after 3 weeks and entered the round yard, Genesis did not want to have anything at all to do with him, so he vacated, and is now leaving it all up to Kylie to complete the connection due to her excellent rapport with Genesis now. Genesis and Kylie are beginning a very strong bond together. It will still take many weeks for Kylie to be able to ride her, but she is well on the way.

Genesis is now out of the round yard and in a nice grassy paddock again with trees and a shelter where Kylie can coninue her bonding programme.

Well done Kylie and Genesis.........................

Nikita, one of Paul's pupils, is riding her Arab Gelding "Zodiac" in their first Campdrafing Cilinic in North Queensland. "Zodiac" was raised and started under saddle by Nikita's Mum, Helen, "and she did a fine job of it too, he is an exceptional horse to work with", says Paul. The family has moved to North Queensland from the Sunshine Coast where Paul was giving Nikita riding instruction. Nikita certainly has increased her confidence and riding ability since then.

..........................................Well done Helen, Nikita and "Zodiac"