Training Tips 101: Ground Manners

Have you ever been to a horse show and watched a perfectly behaved horse walking calmly next to their owner? Their head is down. They are precisely eighteen inches to the side. If their owner slows down or speeds up, they are right there with them. Chances you are watching this perfect duo while clinging to the end of a lead rope which is attached to a rearing/bucking rodeo clown which used to resemble your horse but now is closer to a fire breathing dragon.

Yeah, been there. Done that.

You want to beat your horse over the head with a two by four until they behave, but of course you can’t do that. Not with everyone else looking on, and besides, beating your lovable turned demon child horse with a blunt object really isn’t considered great horse training. So what do you do?

What do you do when your horse tries to nip you when you feed him?

What do you do when they whirl their butt and kick at you when you try to catch them?

What do you do when they drag you willy nilly down the barn aisle, while you smile and try not to look panicked?

What do you do when instead of getting on like they have a million times before, your horse suddenly decides the trailer is an eeeeeevil torture device and rears straight up in the air?

I have had my fair share of ill behaved horses. There was Lori the dragger. Jiffy the rearer. Birdie the bucker. Zaz the nipper. Echo the bolter/bitch horse from hell. Darwin the spooker and finally, Poppy the pusher.

All of these horses made me realize the importance of good ground manners. When you are riding, you can only do so much, especially if you just weren’t born to be an amazing rider (aka me). But on the ground, you have no excuses. I don’t care what breed your horse is, what discipline you ride, or their age… your horse needs to have good ground manners. Period. What do I mean by good ground manners?


- Absolutely no biting or kicking.
- No rearing, charging, or airs above the ground.
- Leads politely
- Is respectful of space
- Clips, trailers, cross ties, single ties
- Handles well for other people
- (add your own here in the comments)


I like to think that my two horses have good ground manners. They both have their quirks (Poppy still won’t lift up her feet, but you try teaching a 1300lb draft that their hooves are better off the ground than on… and Darwin has this weird head lift thing whenever you try to put the bridle on) but for the most part they are quiet, sensible, and well behaved whenever they are being handled. They were not always this way. Let me share a few tips/tricks that helped me, and feel free to share yours.

1) HEAD DOWN: I believe this is the first thing any horse should ever learn. I read about it on a website when I first got Darwin. I had just brought home an off the track thoroughbred and had NO idea how to begin his training. Darwin wasn’t bad, persay… he just wasn’t good. He didn’t always listen when you led him. He was unpredictable. He danced on the end of the lead rope and had no concept of personal space. Enter the “head down” trick. It is fairly easy. You need a halter and a lead rope and lots of patience. Out of the stall, get your horse fairly squared up and straight. Then gently apply pressure to the lead rope directly under the halter and say ‘head down’. HOLD THE PRESSURE (not increasing, not decreasing, but steady) until the horse lowers their head. To begin with, if they dip their head a fraction of an inch release all pressure immediately and praise. Then ask again. This is a particularly good exercise for high headed horses or horses who spook on the ground easily to know. At the end of one lesson you should be able to apply pressure to the lead rope, say ‘head down’, and your horse should drop their head to waist level and (hopefully) hold it there. This is something you can practice every day. When you put on their halter to lead them out to the field, do head down. When you put on the bridle, do head down. Before you turn out, do head down. Eventually this should lead (no pun intended… OK, yes there was) into your horse naturally carrying their head low and level. It is also a good “reality check” when they start to act high strung, pop their head, or get uppity. Any time Darwin begins to have a panic attack at the sight of something white, I tell him ‘head down’ and he instantly relaxes.

2) BACKING UP: This will help with some, but not all, horses. It has worked miracles with Darwin. Not so much with Poppy. For a horse, backing up is an act of submission. It is not something they would do under normal circumstances. When they back away from you they begin to put 2 and 2 together and realize ‘oh yeah, YOU’RE the person I should be listening to’. With Darwin, all I have to do is face him and start walking towards him. He instantly will back up as long as I keep walking forward, and stop when I stop. This is because he respects my space, and is submissive to me. Now I only use backing up as a form of punishment for him. You’re going to crowd my space? Back up five steps. You’re going to try to push me when I feed you? Back up ten steps. You won’t stand when I try to get on? Back up again. I say this doesn’t work with Poppy because she just isn’t as sensitive as Darwin, and ultimately it ends up being a pushing war which I don’t want to get into, because I know Poppy is stronger than me and when push comes to shove, I don’t want her to figure it out too. Darwin flinches at a raised hand, so backing up instead of hitting or yelling, backing up is a great alternative for him. So how do you get your horse to back up quietly and respectfully? You do it very similar to the ‘head down’. In fact, start from the ‘head down’ position and take a step towards your horse (make sure you are facing them). As you step towards them pull back on the lead rope (so you are pulling it towards their chest) and say ‘BACK’ in a firm voice. If they don’t back up immediately or try to crowd you, pop them in the chest with the end of the lead rope. You need to be very firm and have excellent timing with this, because if done incorrectly it can lead to the opposite effect and your horse will try to walk all over you. When I did this exercise with Poppy I carried a dressage whip, because a lead rope on her chest didn’t faze her in the least. Ask them to back again (start with one step at a time and build up gradually). 1) Take a step towards them 2) Say back, 3) exert pressure on the lead rope, and 4) pop their chest. Note that every step is upping the degree of ‘pressure’. After a few lessons your horse should begin backing up at step 3. Then step 2, and finally, like Darwin, you should be able to walk towards them and they will back up.

3) LEADING MANNERS: Any horse can be led around. Surprisingly, quite a lot have bad manners while they are led to their field, or in to their stall, or around at a horse show. Bad manners = any type of pushing, walking ahead of you, walking behind you, not stopping when you stop, crowding, high head carriage, pulling, etc. Theoretically you should be able to walk your horse on the end of the lead rope and they should stay at your shoulder, respecting approx. an 18” distance at all times, and never pull/push/speed up/slow down unless you tell them. A test for you: go out, get your horse, hold onto the very end of the lead, and see if they will stay with you and behave. Harder than it seems, isn’t it? If your horse didn’t listen all that well, it is because they respect the LEAD ROPE, not YOU. When the lead rope pulls on their face they know to turn, instead of watching you and turning when you turn. So how do you get your horse listening to you? BE CONSISTANT. There is not magic answer to this. No wand waving or carrot sticks or games that will work. It seems silly, but the best way to get your horse to lead well is to lead them. Instead of riding, take that spare hour and work with them in the ring with a halter and lead rope. If you have a horse that tends to rush, swing the lead rope in front of their face in big circles as you walk. Stop, and if they don’t stop make them back up until they are behind you. If you have a horse that lags behind carry a long dressage whip. Speed up your walk. If they don’t immediately speed up with you, give them a firm tap on their side where you leg would go if you were riding. Face your horse’s side and step towards them. They should swing their hindquarters away from you. If they don’t, swirl your lead rope in big circles and walk towards the point of their hip. When they shift their weight away, stop swirling (this is also a great way to teach a turn on the forehand; when you’re ready to try something harder put the pressure on their shoulder and see if you can get a turn on the haunches). Eventually your horse will begin to watch your shoulders for little cues. They will pay attention to your legs. They will focus on your hands. And you will have a well behaved horse that leads beautifully.

The trick with all of this stuff is adhering to the P Equation.

Patience + Persistence = Payoff.

You can’t let your horse pull you to the field when you just corrected that behavior in the ring. When we ride, we tend to only focus on where we are riding, whether that be a ring, a trail, or a field. Once the horse is out of that area we put them on a loose rein and let them dawdle and walk out. Well, when you’re leading a horse EVERYWHERE is that ring, that trail, that field. Horses are smart. If you let them get away with pushing you just a little bit in their stall, they will remember that and build on it the next time. Little things turn into big things real quick. I always think of a girl I knew at a barn I used to board. She had a young horse and thought it was just soooooo cute when that horse nibbled at her jacket collar and played with her hair. She didn’t think it was so cute when he tried to take a chunk out of the side of her face. Who is to blame? Certainly not the horse. All those times she allowed him to nudge and nibble, she was saying SURE! YOU CAN BITE ME! IT’S OK. I THINK IT’S FUNNY! Uh, no. Not funny and certainly not cute.

So the next time you’re out in the barn, try a few of these things I mentioned. If you think your horse already has amazing ground manners, test him. Do they put their head down and yield to pressure quietly and quickly? Do they back up easily? Do they cross tie without flipping their head or moving around or shuffling their feet? Do they stay by your side when you lead them, no matter what distraction may come their way? I know ground manners don’t seem all that important in the grand scheme of things, but think of it this way: if your horse doesn’t respect you on the ground, why the hell would they respect you in the saddle?

Winter Conditioning

In my last post I asked what you, my readers, would like to read about. Most of you voted for how to keep your horse conditioned during the winter, so here you go. My early Christmas present to you!

As I sit down to write this on a quiet Monday morning, the temperature outside hovers right around 60 degrees even though Thanksgiving was last Thursday and Christmas is less than a month away. For Pennsylvania this warm streak is very unusual, but I’ll take what I can get, especially when normally this time of the year the horses are bundled up like marshmallows and I don’t leave the house without three pairs of socks on.

Winter is a tough time for riders. When its 20 degrees out instead of 70 we are naturally less inclined to spend hours at the barn. Our toes are cold. Our hands are numb. Our horses are crazy because we haven’t been able to ride as regularly as we did over the summer, and we haven’t been able to ride because our horses are crazy.

It is a vicious circle.

So before the cold REALLY sets in and the ground freezes for good (unless it has already where you live) take the time to sit down and figure out a Fitness and Conditioning Plan for your horse(s). I’ve found if you write stuff down and stick it someplace you will be forced to look at it often (probably around your computer would be best) than you’ll be more likely to follow through than just telling yourself you’ll ride on Saturday. Decide what you want for your horse. Some riders rigorously compete and show all through the Spring, Summer, and Fall so for them Winter is a great time to let their horses unwind and take a few months off. Other people want to keep showing year round, so giving their horse time off isn’t an option. Personally I do not show in the winter, or have any clinics to go to, so I will be riding and exercising my horses purely to keep them in shape. Come Spring time I would love to have two well muscled machines, but we’ll see how it goes.

Once you have a plan, you need to execute it. If you have an indoor than you really don’t have any excuse not to ride. But be realistic. The holidays are coming up. You’re probably going to be away on weekends. It gets dark earlier now. If you used to ride five days a week, don’t stress about cutting it back to three. Just be consistent about it. Don’t skip riding for two weeks and then show up at the barn and put your horse through a three hour workout. That’s how injuries happen.

Winter is a great way to work your horse in different ways than you did over the summer. If you spent nearly every lesson or ride jumping in the big outdoor, switch to dressage for the winter in the indoor. Or occasionally put out ground poles. Do grid work instead of courses. Tune up your flying lead changes. Work on extending and collecting. Perfect the twenty meter circle at the trot and canter. Get your horse stretching all the way down to the ground. There are a lot of things you can do in a smaller space that will keep your horse sharp and in shape.

But hold up, I hear you saying. What if you don’t have an indoor ring? Well then, my friend, this paragraph is for you. Growing up in Maine I didn’t have an indoor ring. I also didn’t really ride that much over the winter, but that is neither here nor there. If you don’t have an indoor ring or a place to consistently ride during the winter, then you need to get CREATIVE. There are lots of things you can do with your horse to help get them in shape and keep them there without even riding. These exercises will also benefit the people who DO have an indoor, especially on days you just don’t have the time to ride or don’t really feel like it.

1) Flexing. You can do this in your horse’s stall if you have to, or even out in their field (with a halter and a lead rope on for safety). Using a carrot or some other bribery tool, slowly ask your horse to flex their head and neck from side to side. Start off gradually – you don’t want your horse to pull something and get discouraged. Also make sure they stretch straight back; lots of horses will kind of duck their heads and cheat, but that doesn’t count. Ask your horse to hold the stretch for 3-4 seconds and go back and forth around three times. Do this four to five times a week if you can, and you will be amazed at the change in your horse’s flexibility. You can also get them to stretch down between their front legs and do some belly lifts to get them to stretch their backs up.

2) Ground Work. Unless you have the perfect horse, I’m betting your guy (or girl) does not have 100% perfect manners on the ground. And that’s OK. During the summer if they balk a little bit when you lead them or crowd you or try to dance on the end of the lead rope you most likely give a little scolding and then let it slide. After all, you have bigger and better things to worry about, like that eight fence jump course waiting for you in the outdoor. But now you don’t have that to worry about, so you can focus on more important (albeit occasionally tedious) things like GROUND WORK! A horse who has good ground work is always conscious of where his feet and body are versus where his handler is. They should follow on light contact from the lead – there should not be any pulling or balking. If you stop, they stop. If you go, they go. If you walk towards them they back up to respect your space. There are lots of ways to achieve this, and maybe that would make a good follow up post, but the best way to get a horse who is always quiet and respectful on the ground no matter what the circumstances is patient and practice. I always start with teaching them to put their head down from the slightest pressure of the lead. This comes in really helpful when Darwin has his head sky high when you’re trying to put on the bridle, or Poppy is trying to reach up and eat a tree branch because she’s a dinosaur like that.

3) Hand Walking. This is a great way to keep you AND your horse in shape. Some people don’t have ANY place to ride once the ground freezes, but your horse should be able to walk without someone on their back on any type of footing, with the exception of ice. So if you can’t ride, schedule in twenty minutes of hand walking a day (make sure you’re horse obeys step number two, first). Walk up and down hills. Walk slow. Walk fast. Walk in the woods. Walk past scary things that you wouldn’t dream of riding past. Walk up and down the driveway. If you’re feeling really invigorated, do some trotting. Hand walking seems simple, but it will help keep your horse in shape and take some of that pesky “winter energy” away. It gives them something to focus on, and gets them out of the ring… which you can’t go in anyways.

4) Free Lunging. This is a personal favorite of mine, whether it be winter or summer. Free lunging is a GREAT way to get rid of any craziness and it can be a good training tool. All of the horses I work with are good at free lunging. They walk, trot, and canter on voice command. I can get them to spin and change direction with the slightest twitch of my shoulder. They stop and turn in when I signal. It’s fun to see how far you can progress from your horse running around like a maniac humming “I can’t HEAR you, I can’t SEE you” to having them react to your smallest body movement. The only thing about free lunging is that you need a safe, secure place to do it in with good footing. A flat field with fresh snow is great, as long as your horse can get traction. A frozen or icy or really big field won’t work, because they could slip and/or tune you out.

5) Miscellaneous. A few things fall into this category that seem simple enough, but will really help keep your horse in shape both mentally and physically during the winter.

a. Grooming
b. Body Work: massage, chiropractor, acupuncturist
c. Trail Riding [if your horse is bad on the trails, try a month or so of hand walking him on them first and then try riding]


So that’s it. My five tips to keeping your horse sound and sane this winter. If you have any more tips, post them in the comments! I would love to hear from you.

The Art of Knowing When to Jump Ship

The other day I was listening to two horse trainers have a discussion about their training techniques. One had a background in natural horsemanship, the other in dressage. They were discussing what to do with a horse when they acted up. It went something like this:

“If they start to get unfocused or spooky, I disengage the hind end right away,” said the natural horsemanship trainer.

“What does that do?” asked the dressage trainer skeptically (because dressage trainers are skeptical of anything a natural horsemanship trainer has to say).

“It snaps their attention right back to you. If you can get them swinging their hind end around, then they have to listen and they can’t spook or take off.”

“Oh, well when my horse starts to act up I get him collected and do a bunch of transitions on a serpentine.”

They continued to talk about the pros and cons of stopping a horse and making it turn to disengage the hind end versus pushing them forward into the bridle and collect. I nodded along, not really picking a side, and eventually they agreed to disagree and left it at that.

I told you that so I can tell you this. Yesterday I was riding a connemara/QH in the outdoor ring. I could tell the minute I got on she was going to be frisky, and my right leg had no more swung over the saddle than she started trotting. I brought her back, did a few leg yields to get her moving laterally off from my leg, and went to work. Since she wanted to go forward I let her go forward. We did serpentines, diagonals, circles, and figure eights all at a smooth collected trot. I focused on switching the bend constantly – left, right, left, right, straight, left, right – to keep her focused on me instead of the scary things lurking in the corners (I’m moving those damn white cones tomorrow!) and a few extensions and collections down the long sides. Foolishly thinking she was now going to be well behaved, I let her take a walk break before going into some canter work.

Within five seconds of walking on a loose rein she did a half rear, spun, and took off like a rocket across the middle of the ring. As we were flying through the mud and the dirt, I had an instant flashback to the discussion I had overheard the day before and I panicked.

Should I make her slam on the breaks and make her disengage her hind end or should I get back to a trot and collect?


Disengage hind end?


Collect trot?


Disengage?


Collect?

AHHHHHHHHH!

Thankfully years of Pony Club training kicked in and I did a quick pulley rein to the right, cutting off her wild bolt mid leap. Because this particular horse has a history of rearing straight up in the air I didn’t bring her to a complete stop; as soon as I had regained control I pushed her forward into the bit and did a nice twenty meter circle. Then, swallowing my pride, I hopped down, took off the bridle and the saddle, and set her loose.

When she immediately jumped straight into the air like a jack rabbit and proceeded to go into a series of top over tea kettle bucks that would have made a bronco horse proud, I knew I had made the correct decision: when in doubt, hop down and free lunge the shit out of them.

She tore around the ring like a maniac for about ten minutes or so while I stood in the middle, patiently waiting. When her gallop dropped down to a canter I used my body language to get her to change directions in a big looping figure eight down the center of the ring. We did the 8 a few times, and then did some up/down transitions. Any time she tossed her head or bucked I waved my hands in the air and made her run. When I was satisfied she had worked the kinks out, I signaled for her to come in the middle. She began a slow circling descent in, kind of like an airplane getting ready to land, but when she popped her shoulder to the outside and threw her head, I made her run around some more. I began to ask for her to change direction more rapidly on the short side. Canter left, hit the corner, rollback, canter right, hit the corner, rollback, canter left. On the fourth turn I asked her to come in again. This time she came flying towards me, did a sliding stop about ten feet out, walked the remaining distance, and stood huffing and puffing with her head down at knee level. I gave her a pat, put her tack back on, and we went on a short trail ride around the outside of the pasture.

The lesson learned? Sometimes it doesn’t matter what your background is. If the horse is going to do crazy leaps in the air either way, I would always rather be on the ground than in the saddle. Getting off isn’t giving up – it’s just taking another route to the same destination... unless of course you're this rider, in which case you are awesome and laugh in the face of bucking/rearing/bolting/anything bad a horse could possibly do.

You're asking WHAT?

I recently started watching a new show on TV called “It’s worth WHAT?” On the show contestants have to guess how much or how little an item is worth. As I was getting in my weekly fix of horse ads on Craigslist (yes, it’s addiction) I stumbled across the following ad:

Tri-color Tennessee walker for sale 3 year old gelding semi-green broke. Very quite under saddle so far. Walks and trots nicely but is young and needs work. I have had him started but don't have the time he needs because of my work schedule. This guy has enormous potential. He has a puppydog like disposition and loves people .he is smart and willing to learn but still has a short attention span since he is so young. Asking 4000.00 OBO

I am not familiar with TWH’s. Maybe they are worth more than your average quarter horse. I do know how to read between the not so subtly disguised lines, however. For me, this ad reads as follows:

Tri-color (ooo! He’s three different colors? Now that explains why you’re asking so much) Tennessee walker for sale (notice there is no mention of papers or registration) 3 year old gelding semi-green broke. (Hold the phone. $4k for a semi-green broke three year old? Hmmm… well, he IS three different colors… I will continue to read on.) Very quite under saddle so far. Walks and trots nicely (aren’t TWH supposed to be gaited?) but is young and needs work (AKA he has basically zero under saddle training). I have had him started but don’t have the time he needs because of my work schedule (I thought it was a good idea at the time to buy an unbroke horse, but now I am in waaay over my head and have no idea what to do with him). This guy has enormous potential. He has a puppydog like disposition (just what I want, a 1200lb puppy) and loves people .he is smart (I know this because he has cleverly avoided all attempts at training him) and willing to learn but still has a short attention span since he is still young.

If these people get $4,000 for this horse I will eat my hat. I don't know, maybe there is a raging market out there for young, unbroke, possibly unregistered TWH. Maybe if these people put a little more training into him, cut their price is half, and took some half decent conformation photos they would sell this guy with the fancy braids in his mane sooner rather than later. At the very least they're trying to be honest. I hope this guy ends up with someone who knows how to train him the way he should be trained.

Buck Brannaman: A True Cowboy

I saw this movie tonight. It is a documentary about Buck Brannaman. I have never really followed Buck before. I just thought he was one of those natural horsemanship guys. I lumped him in with Monty Roberts and Pat Parelli. Boy, was I wrong. The biggest thing I took away from this movie can be summed up in the following quote:

“Your horse is a mirror to your soul.
Sometimes you might not like what you see…
Sometimes you will.”
Buck Brannaman

Your horse is a reflection of you. Who you are, what you feel, what you are afraid of. I was riding Day in the indoor yesterday. It was raining and the back doors were halfway open. As we approached the doors at a trot I wondered what would happen if some rain blew in through the door and spooked Day. No rain blew in, but she sure did spook…

Go see this movie. Study it. Learn from it. I know I will.

All Hail the Trainers

I hired a new assistant today at the barn. The girl who was here when I started just got a full time management position at a farm in New York and tomorrow will be her last day. She was really good and I’ll miss her, but that’s the horse industry for you – the doors are always revolving.

The owner came down and we watched the new assistant ride. She is young (only nineteen) but surprisingly mature and well spoken for her age. Her background is in “natural horsemanship” which the owner liked. I immediately thought of long white wands and dancing carrot sticks and Pat Parelli chasing a horse with a blue tarp, so I have to admit I didn’t expect much when the girl got on to ride Day, a sweet, very well trained connemara throughbred mare. Again, I was pleasantly surprised.

She didn’t do anything special with Day. She didn’t even ride her with any contact, but stayed on the buckle and very light through her hands for the twenty minutes or so that she rode. As the owner pointed out her back was a little arched (a symptom of being watched, I believe) but her hands were steady, her leg was quiet, and Day happily did what was asked of her at the walk, trot, and canter. The owner was very impressed. I was just happy the girl agreed to ride with a saddle and bridle.

I think there are about as many different opinions on how to train horses as they are stupid horse trainers. Speaking of horse trainers, stupid or otherwise, here are The Top Five Horse Trainers (please note that these are terribly exaggerated, and are for amusement purposes only):

1) The Classical Dressage Trainer: This trainer is most likely from Germany. She speaks with a thick accent and gestures with her hands a lot. Any horse that is not a warmblood is beneath her notice. When you take a lesson with her she often ends up riding your horse more than you do, muttering in her native language and collecting, collecting, collecting.

2) The Hunter Trainer: This trainer is almost always a native of the States. He or she is obsessed with position. “Pick you butt up out of the saddle!” is their favorite quote. They believe riding without stirrups is the key to life. Your horse must remain in a frame at all times and George Morris will come knocking on your door if your horse’s knees aren’t glued together of the fences. Or if you forget to wear your Tailored Sportsman’s.

3) The Jumper Trainer: This trainer got kicked out of the hunter ring for going too fast. “Jump high or go home” is their motto. They don’t know the meaning of the word No. They eat crazy off the track thoroughbred’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If your horse isn’t in a pelham they aren’t jumping high enough.

4) The Horse Whisperer: This trainer is the hippy of horse trainers. They don’t use a saddle. They spit on bridles. They are one with the horse and the horse is one with them. Every time the horse licks its lips they are having a revelation. It may appear to the casual observer that flicking a white wand in the air and shaking a lead rope isn’t communicating anything to the horse, but they are learning.

5) The Event Trainer: This trainer has nerves of steel. After all, they think it is fun to jump horses over immovable objects at break neck speed. When your horse takes off with you at a dead gallop and you are screaming for help, the event trainer isn’t ruffled. They know your horse is just going for a “little run.” Event horses are the ones that didn’t make it in the dressage or jumper ring, because they are “special.”

Stereotypes are abundant in the horse world. After all, what is the first thing you think of when someone says they do natural horsemanship? Or dressage? Or jumping? I know something comes to mind, and it isn’t always the truth.

I don’t belong to any one discipline. I ride dressage, but I am not a dressage rider. I show Darwin in hunter flat classes, but we are not hunters. I jump, but I am not a jumper. I do ground work with both of my horses on a daily basis, but I do not whisper to them. Perhaps my training style will develop overtime. Maybe I just haven’t found my “niche” yet. Or maybe, just maybe, horses don’t need to be trained in only one style. Perhaps they would benefit from taking dressage lessons AND doing a natural horsemanship clinic (the horror!). I guess if someone were to ask me how I train horses, I would sum up my philosophy in a few sentences:

I think your horse should always be respectful of you, and this comes from being consistent, whether you are grooming, doing groundwork, or riding. You are not your horse’s friend, but neither are you their herd leader. Horses aren’t stupid. They know that you are not a horse. Be firm, never cruel. Teach them things they can understand and remember in short, simple sessions. The release of pressure is its own reward. Horses do not understand anger and impatience. And above all… always end on a good note (my mom taught me that).

Spring Fever 101

You go to the barn one afternoon and notice your horse is starting to shed. The ground is no longer a sheet of pure ice, but is slowly starting to resemble a mud pit. The barn manager has pulled some of the water heaters out. You start to cautiously pack away your horse’s heavy weight and replace it with his medium or (gasp!) lightweight blanket. Could it be? Is it really that time of year again? Is winter finally winding down? YES! It is almost Spring.

As I write this I am sitting outside in a sundress soaking up the rays. No, Pennsylvania has not been hit by a sudden heat wave. I’m on vacation in sunny Florida for the week, enjoying seven days free of constant phone calls, cleaning stalls, and small scale barn floods. But all this warm weather has gotten me to thinking: what can we do, as horse owners and riders and barn managers, to make the transition from winter to spring a smooth one for both us and our horses?

1) Training & Conditioning. If you’re like me, you tend to slack off in the riding over the winter. It’s cold, the ground is frozen. Barn chores take twice as long to complete and by the time you’ve finished cleaning out one barn and taught four lessons, you don’t want to spend any more time in the freezing weather, even if it means finally having the chance to ride your own horse (plus Darwin is claustrophobic and Poppy covers the length of the indoor is four mammoth canter strides, which makes turning kind of hard). So it shouldn’t really be any big surprise that when the weather finally clears up you are itching to ride, but your horse isn’t because they are either a) so amped up from not being ridden for four months they just want to be FREEEEE or b) so lazy and undermuscled from not being ridden for four months they just want to sleep. Cue the training and conditioning.

Do not step into spring expecting your horse to be at the same fitness level they were in the Fall. When the weather finally clears and the outdoor footing resurfaces, lunging is going to be your best friend. Don’t even think about jumping or any of those fancy high level dressage moves until you have a good four weeks of lounging and long bouts of trotting under your belt. My conditioning program for Darwin this spring is going to look something like this:

Monday – Lounge walk/trot ten minutes each direction
Tuesday – Ride walk/trot for approx. half an hour
Wednesday – Free lounge at the trot for twenty minutes
Thursday – Hill work either in hand, undersaddle, or on the lunge
Friday – Lounge in the chambon
Saturday – Ride walk/trot for half an hour
Sunday – A well deserved day off (for both of us).


Each week the work will get progressively longer, until he can easily chug through an hour of work without breaking a sweat. Then we’ll get to the big stuff, like cantering and collection.

2) Tack Maintenance. Be honest. When was the last time you sat down, took your bridle apart, took your stirrup leathers off, got out the silver polish, and really cleaned your tack? If you’re like me it was, er, quite a while ago. Now is a great time to take the time to thoroughly go over all your tack with a fine toothed comb. Saddle, bridle, stirrup leathers, lunging equipment, martingales, girths, halters – don’t leave anything out. Pop your saddle pads in the washer. Scrub your brushes. Wipe down your tack trunk. Clean your boots. Start Spring off right with sparkling fresh equipment that will be the envy of every other rider in the barn.

3) A day at the spa. For the most part, bathes go by the wayside during the cold winter months and under his blankets and hairy fur, your horse is dirty. When you know you’re going to get a stretch of warm weather, get out the hose, your horse shampoo, and wash that horse. Scrub his mane, his tail, and his legs. When he dries off (or before) trim up that hairy moustache he’s been styling. If you’ve been letting it lax, pull the mane and bang the tail. By the time you’re done you won’t recognize the new, shiny horse that has been disguising himself as a wooly mammoth all winter.

4) A blanket saved is a… Once the spring weather really sets in, you’ll begin the long process of packing away the winter blankets and pulling out the anti-sweat sheets. But wait! Before you pack that dirty, smelly old blanket away in your tack there’s something you need to do first. Send it to a blanket cleaner. If you don’t know of anyone off the top of your head who cleans blankets, call up your local tack store. If they don’t do it themselves, they should know someone who does. You can add years to the life of your blankets by having them washed, rewaterproofed, and repaired every spring before you pack them away for the year and it is only a fraction of the cost of having to buy a new blanket (usually between $15 and $40 per blanket, depending on the weight and the repair). You’ll thank yourself come winter time when all you have to do is unwrap your blanket and put it on your horse, no cleaning or stitching required.

So that’s it! Four tips to springing into Spring. Here’s wishing warm weather on all of you from easy, breezy, beautiful Florida.