Horse Training Tips – Training Fads

Dear Friend and Horseman,

Welcome to another Horse Training Tips Newsletter.

In this issue, I'm going to answer some of the questions that were sent to me by several of my members. I think you will find the answers to their questions helpful.

I made a couple comments in this issue that I know will get more than a few readers upset with me. These comments are not meant to belittle anybody. They are just my personal opinion based on my practical experience.

Okay, lets get started with the training questions

Question

Hi Larry:

I am having an odd problem with either my horse or myself- I am not sure which one of us is the problem. I know this sounds weird but please read on.

I have a 5 year old gelding, trained to do reining and working cow. At home he is close to being perfect in everything, at the neighbors arena he makes very few mistakes, and practice time very few mistakes, show time rolls around in the warm up arena he is okay and relaxed before our class until its our show time and he walks into the arena.

He may start his class okay until he sees the judges or figures out he's the only one there and he just gets goofy. He can't stand still when he's suppose to, he races through the center like he's going to a fire, and he forgets how to stop.

I tried correcting him during class time and we were told to leave the arena, that there was no more schooling allowed during class time according to AQHA rules.

How do i get him over this? I give him the benefit of doubt that maybe it was me- but I have had other people ride him in class and he does the same to them. I have had judges stand up from their chairs!! This is serious.

He knows all of the maneuvers, he can slide 25 feet off of whoa, at home or practice, but during class if they took the fence away, I'm not sure where we would be today. How do I change his attitude to be good in the actual class?

thank You

Karen

My Comments

Hi Karen,

Sounds to me like your horse is "show-smart" and is cheating you when you are competing in a class.

Keep in mind, without actually seeing your horse, I can only guess here. However, your problem is so common with reining horses, I'm pretty sure I know what's happening.

Your horse’s behavior is usually associated with a reiner that has been shown enough to start anticipating the reining patterns. He's anxious about being shown and is in a hurry to get through the pattern.

The bad news is that once they get this way, you will never be able to totally “fix” it. However, you should be able to “manage” it.

If you would have paid attention to this behavior when it first started, you could have prevented your horse from getting so bad.

All you can really do now is enter several classes and school him whenever he isn’t working correctly. Go to small schooling shows until you get this handled. At the larger reinings, they have what is called a "paid practice". Go there and school.

At home, never put a whole pattern together. Work on getting him tired and then let him stand there and rest for SEVERAL minutes after executing a maneuver.

The idea is to always keep him guessing about what is going to happen next. Do not let him anticipate ANYTHING.

Also, at the shows, make sure you are loping him enough prior to the class to get him good and tired. Ride him for a couple hours until he is really looking for a rest.

Sounds like you may be handling him too carefully. When he makes a deliberate mistake, let him know you won’t tolerate it. Stop him and correct him. Remind him that he is a horse with a job to do and you are serious about it.

Also, make sure you are riding him at the show, the same way you ride him at home.

If your horse is working well at home, chances are you are riding calm and relaxed. If you go to the show and you're nervous, you are going to ride stiff and tight. That alone is enough to cause most horses to freak-out and make mistakes.

I know this sounds overly simplistic but many people pay no attention to it.

It may be a good idea to get help from a local reining trainer about this. Make sure the trainer has had some success in reining, as this problem will require "reining specific" expertise.

Take care,

Larry Trocha
Larry Trocha Training Stable
HorseTrainingVideos.com

Question

Hi Larry:

I'd like to ask a question about head position and training/showing vs trail riding?

I've been working on my horse's head position and he's coming along just fine. However, sometimes I want to just take him trail riding and let him relax and go without constantly correcting him (with all of the new sights he raises his head to look around more than in the arena).

Can I do this and not undo my head position training? I'm concerned about confusing him if I don't correct him EVERY time he raises his head on the trail. I'm afraid of hurting my score in a show because I didn't correct him EVERY time.

Thank you in advance for your efforts and advice.

Lynn

My Comments

Hi Lynn,

You asked a very good question.

I don’t think you will have to worry about the head position while on a trail ride; unless it gets really bad.

Horses can tell the difference when you are just trail riding for relaxation and when you are seriously schooling.

Most horses realize that when they are in the arena they must work well or they will be corrected.

If you want to play it safe though, you can do your trail riding with totally different equipment or maybe a particular bit that you will use exclusively for trail riding.

That way your horse will know when you put that particular bit on him, its relaxation time.

Take care,

Larry Trocha
Larry Trocha Training Stable
HorseTrainingVideos.com

Question

Dear Larry,

My husband and I have a reg. paint stud – he is not quite a year old yet and has a great personality. We are relatively new to this kind of horse ownership. Before, we have had already trained horse for pleasure riding only. We have been working with him a little – he leads great and faces you. He was really imprinted well.

I have begun working him in the round pen. Our question is how do we know what potential he has for reining?

Can you train them yourself as a new person to this type of training or do you need a professional trainer. Anyway, what ever information you can give us would be great to get us started.

Thank you for your time,

Sincerely,

Tammy

My Comments

Hi Tammy,

Reining is a fairly advanced event. If you don’t have any experience with it, you may need some help from a “professional” reining trainer. I'm not saying you can't learn to train a reining horse yourself. I'm just saying things may go better if you had some expert guidance.

The best thing you could do is purchase a trained reining horse and spend some time learning what a trained horse feels like. Go to some small shows and compete. Then you'll know what to shoot for with your colt.

As for the potential of your colt; there is really no way to tell until he’s been ridden at least several months.

Yearlings and two year olds change quite a bit as they grow. However, there are several characteristics that might give you a clue to the colts suitability for reining. Here are a few things to look for:

Hopefully, the colt has good conformation. You want the colt to have a big, kind eye and a flat forehead. Horses with a bulging forehead are usually trouble.

You want a colt that lopes pretty… a good mover. As the colt lopes you want his feet to stay close to the ground. You definitely don't want a colt that has a lot of knee action (like a gaited horse) when loping.

As for disposition, ideally, I like a quiet, willing, laid-back kind of a colt. Now this is what I want for reining (for cutting, I want a colt with a lot of personality).

You mentioned your colt was imprinted as a baby. That is unfortunate as imprinting appears to hinder a horse’s training for the performance events (it seems to changes their natural instincts and attitude towards humans).

I know my statement above will cause some people to totally lose their minds but truthfully, that has been my observation over the years.

I carefully choose the words "appears to hinder a horse’s training" because there is a possibility the bad minded, imprinted horses I've trained, would have been bad minded even if they hadn't been imprinted. Or perhaps the imprinting hadn't been done correctly.

I doubt it though because many of my horse trainer friends have also come to the same conclusion.

However, it doesn’t mean an imprinted colt won’t make it as a performance horse. It just means he may be more difficult to train.

Take care and good luck with your colt.

Larry Trocha
Larry Trocha Training Stable
HorseTrainingVideos.com

Let me clarify what I mean

I know what I said above about imprint training, will get the blood of a lot of folks boiling. They believe that imprinting is great. So be it. We all have the right to our opinions.

I would like to make a point here though about horse training and horse trainers in general.

In the real world, the most accurate test of a horse's training is competition at the big shows… the top events.

If you can manage to win at the big horse shows, that win is usually worth tens of thousands of dollars. In some cases, winning a particular event could be worth millions of dollars in awards and future business.

Needless to say, the trainers who compete at those big shows are looking to train the best horse they can. They want to use the training methods that get the best results.

If there is a training method that works better than what they are currently using, they want to know about it.

Most top performance trainers try it all. They keep what works and discard what doesn't.

The end result is a training program that is very, very good. Its a program that has proven its effectiveness in tough competition, judged by top horsemen.

If you want to learn how to train performance horses, you should try to emulate these successful trainers. Try using the training techniques that work so well for them. See if those techniques will work for you too.

Unfortunately, it is this type of proven training program that the average horseperson seldom gets the opportunity to see. The information isn't readily available to him.

On the other side of that coin, horse owners are literally bombarded with information about the latest horse training "fad". They read about it in the horse magazines and web. They watch it on TV. They see it at horse expos and clinics.

The training "fads" and their corresponding marketing campaigns are everywhere.

To the horse owner, it appears this is the right way to go. You really can't blame him for accepting what he sees in the "media" as the best way to train a horse.

Its just human nature to assume that the person who is publicly touting a certain horse training method is a verifiable expert. After all, the guy has written a book. He conducts clinics. He even has videos. Surely he knows what he's talking about..

Yes, we ASSUME that a person who does all these things, knows what he's doing, an expert. Well, in my opinion, maybe he knows and maybe he doesn't. Appearances can be deceiving.

Personally, I'll take the advice of the guy who has WON on the testing ground of competition, over the SELF-PROCLAIMED expert, every single time.

Many people ask me who some of my favorite horse trainers are. Well, its a short list. And the list of top trainers who can actually teach or explain how they train is even shorter.

To find out more about the trainers I consider to be top hands and the training videos they have to offer, go to my "Recommended Trainers" page.

Well, this wraps it up for this newsletter. I hope you liked it.

Until next time, have fun training your horse.

Larry Trocha
www.HorseTrainingVideos.com