Journey of Infinity Chapter 1

Infinity is a 3year old WelshxArab recently gelded colt. Chante Lingenfelder rescued the little man a few years ago and since then she started halter training and on the lead out rides to show our little man the world. Before the big day to collect Fin came Chante spent time to get Fin used to walk over any object so that he can be prepared for the horse box. They even had horsebox practice that went extremely well.

18 September 2016 Fin joined the Kirsten family on Wunschdenken Hof in Firlands Park, Gordon's Bay.

The Kirsten family went to collect Fin on the morning of 18 September and on arrival the little man was ready for his trip. He was extremely calm even when the Horse box ramp was opened however then came the sports. This little horse decided that he will not get into the box.

The Kirsten family was totally prepared for this and therefore had to change into the "strap" method. This method consist out off using a strong car towing belt (normal lunge rein usually break), then to take it around the horse and by tightening the belt/strap to literally pull the horse into the horse box. Fin tried pushing his shoulder onto the assisting people but this was luckily countered by one of the gentlemen assisting. Once the gate behind Fin was closed he was as calm as can be. The idea will be to start horsebox training during the pony club camp with this little man and get him used to the horse box and to realize that if he assist us then no one will fight. For now this lesson will have to wait since we first need to establish ground rules on the basics.

LESSON 1: Accepting the Cavesson (19 September 2016)

This is the basic on how to teach a horse to easily accept a Cavesson. Remember ONE STEP AT A TIME. Since lesson 1 we have not had a problem with this again.

LESSON 2: Accepting the bit (26 September 2016)

Teaching the horse to accept the bit. Allow the horse time to understand what is expected of him

LESSON 3: Leading, stopping, back-up, bending and stepping under

Step 1 is to ensure the horse understand how to be lead. The horse needs to follow you as its leader. You walk in front of the horse, slightly to the side (so you can keep an eye on your horse). The horse follows you based on respect and trust. When the horse tries to pass you or stops, you should change directions immediately. When your horse is pushy and gets into your personal space, you can create space by using the end of your rope as a tail and move it from side to side. Once the leadership have been established you can continue to Step 1.

Step 2 is to control the horse by using a stop command. When you stop, the horse should make the same movement and stop as well. In the end, you should be able to do this exercise with your back turned towards the horse. If your horse does not stop immediately it is recommended to first stop while facing the horse while keeping 2 or 3 meters distance between you. Then make yourself bigger and if necessary lift your arms. I prefer using a fist in the air as my stop command. This signal need to be constant so that the horse can start to understand the command.

Step 3, rein-back or back-up, is good to determine hierarchy and is preferable used on dominant animals (Fin is definitely benefiting this exercise). Put some pressure on the nose and chest of the horse and ask it to step backwards. If the horse moves away from the pressure, release and reward your horse. The goal is to be able to give pressure without even touching the horse so that it moves backwards, away from your energy.

First try for Emelda and Finnie. See how unsure both of them are. Also note that they give him time to work out what is asked and as soon as he understands he gets awarded

Second attempt and a much better product

Step 4 Hindquarter yield: the horse learns to yield to subtle physical pressure on the hind quarters. The horse takes a step to the side (steps over) with the hind leg while the forehand remains in the same position.

Teaching the horse to yield with its hind quarter. This allow the horse to understand what is expected of him and how and where to place his legs.

This is a more experienced horse showing how it is done.

Step 5 is the starting stages of developing the horse physically. Every horse has from nature a supple and a less supple side, because the muscles are uneven in length. To develop the horse symmetrically, you should ask the horse to walk circles to both left and right. You ask the horse to take some stelling, which makes the muscles on the outside lengthen and the muscles on the inside relax. At the same time, you ask the horse to bring his head forward down, to relax the back muscles and tighten the abdominal muscles.

Once the horse have mastered step 1 to 5 you can move on to the next stage to lunge the horse. Fin reached this stage now and we will in the next few days commence into the next phase.

Chapter 2 to follow will include the saddle and tack training, Lunging and Long reining. Chapter 3 will include first stages of riding and schooling. Chapter 4 will mainly be on Boxing and this will include various types of difficult horses together with how to resolve Fin's boxing problem.

#training #acceptingbit #lunging