My filly turned 3 in May and I started her ground work when she turned two last year. I tought her how to move in the round pen, how to come into me, how to bend to pressure, change directions, etc. I have also gotten her used to having the girth on. I used a bareback pad and lounged her in the round pen. I have also gotten her used to me jumping all over her. Just yesterday I jumped on her and rode her around. I let her walk where she wanted to. The question I am asking is how to I teach her to move forward when I want her to? Also what other things can I do with her? I am training her to ride in a hacamore. I have also done lots of desensitizing with her. Thank You!
Training in progress!!
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patandchickens
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If you are asking in the first place, then the method I'd recommend for installing a "forward" cue is one or the other of the following:
either a) teach the horse a clear very well-understood "forward" cue while longeing or roundpenning, make sure that a helper can elicit that response from her too, then you go sit on the horse on the longe or in the roundpen. For a few times, have ONLY the helper cue the horse to go forward, you (the rider) just sit there doing nothing whatsoever other than quietly following along with the horse's motion (this assumes a good quiet following seat; but if a person hasn't got a good quiet following seat they shoudln't be trying to start babies anyhow so I will assume you are relatively ok in this regard). Once the horse is clearly fine with that, the next time 'round you give a verbal cluck plus a very gentle nudge-and-release with your leg (or whatever other forward cue you want to use) and then have the helper give his own cue immediately following it. (The helper will hear you cluck to the horse, thus can use that to time his own cue). Do this a buncha times, IN MULTIPLE SHORT SESSIONS, and the horse will soon come to regard the cluck and/or leg aid as being equivalent to the helper's forward cue. At which point you can now work on your own, no assistance from the helper.
or, b) teach the horse on the longe or in the roundpen to go forward calmly and controlled-ly from a verbal cluck (or any other verbal cue you prefer), then do that in the exact same circumstances (on longe, or in roundpen) while you are riding the horse. Same deal, first do not give any physical cue at all, just make sure you've got the horse confidently working off the verbal cue; then once that is going well you can add a simple nudge-and-release leg aid, or whatever, with the cluck coming immediately after it.
If you find that the horse is confused by the "already known" cue once it has you sitting on its back, then you need to back up a step and get the known cue more firmly installed first, and also doublecheck that you are not doing something to distract or disturb the horse as you are sitting on it. If the horse seems fine with the known cue, with you on his back, but when you start adding a leg aid the horse either stops responding or gets upset, then that tends to mean you need to rethink the way you're giving that physical (leg) aid as you are probably using too much or not releasing it quickly enough.
What kind of hackamore are you using. Bear in mind that only a sidepull (which some people would lump under "hackamore") gives you directional control. Any other kind of hackamore I can think of offhand will be QUITE POOR for steering with (at best, you can get some steering but at the expense of having every steering attempt accompanied by "whoa!" as well, since you cannot separate direction from leverage). If you are experienced at using no direct-rein cues to steer and at training young horses that way from the very beginning (training them to steer ONLY off leg/seat aids right from the start, which is not easy but can most certainly be done, at least if you are brave and have an enclosed area to work in), then it is ok not to have good steering via the reins. However for the vast majority of riders' purposes, they'll need to use the reins for some degree of steering at least on a green horse, and therefore any kind of leverage hackamore tends to be quite a poor choice (confuses the horse and slows learning). Because sidepulls don't have leverage they are not a problem with this (although I am still not a big fan of them for starting babies, personally). Just a thought anyhow.
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
either a) teach the horse a clear very well-understood "forward" cue while longeing or roundpenning, make sure that a helper can elicit that response from her too, then you go sit on the horse on the longe or in the roundpen. For a few times, have ONLY the helper cue the horse to go forward, you (the rider) just sit there doing nothing whatsoever other than quietly following along with the horse's motion (this assumes a good quiet following seat; but if a person hasn't got a good quiet following seat they shoudln't be trying to start babies anyhow so I will assume you are relatively ok in this regard). Once the horse is clearly fine with that, the next time 'round you give a verbal cluck plus a very gentle nudge-and-release with your leg (or whatever other forward cue you want to use) and then have the helper give his own cue immediately following it. (The helper will hear you cluck to the horse, thus can use that to time his own cue). Do this a buncha times, IN MULTIPLE SHORT SESSIONS, and the horse will soon come to regard the cluck and/or leg aid as being equivalent to the helper's forward cue. At which point you can now work on your own, no assistance from the helper.
or, b) teach the horse on the longe or in the roundpen to go forward calmly and controlled-ly from a verbal cluck (or any other verbal cue you prefer), then do that in the exact same circumstances (on longe, or in roundpen) while you are riding the horse. Same deal, first do not give any physical cue at all, just make sure you've got the horse confidently working off the verbal cue; then once that is going well you can add a simple nudge-and-release leg aid, or whatever, with the cluck coming immediately after it.
If you find that the horse is confused by the "already known" cue once it has you sitting on its back, then you need to back up a step and get the known cue more firmly installed first, and also doublecheck that you are not doing something to distract or disturb the horse as you are sitting on it. If the horse seems fine with the known cue, with you on his back, but when you start adding a leg aid the horse either stops responding or gets upset, then that tends to mean you need to rethink the way you're giving that physical (leg) aid as you are probably using too much or not releasing it quickly enough.
What kind of hackamore are you using. Bear in mind that only a sidepull (which some people would lump under "hackamore") gives you directional control. Any other kind of hackamore I can think of offhand will be QUITE POOR for steering with (at best, you can get some steering but at the expense of having every steering attempt accompanied by "whoa!" as well, since you cannot separate direction from leverage). If you are experienced at using no direct-rein cues to steer and at training young horses that way from the very beginning (training them to steer ONLY off leg/seat aids right from the start, which is not easy but can most certainly be done, at least if you are brave and have an enclosed area to work in), then it is ok not to have good steering via the reins. However for the vast majority of riders' purposes, they'll need to use the reins for some degree of steering at least on a green horse, and therefore any kind of leverage hackamore tends to be quite a poor choice (confuses the horse and slows learning). Because sidepulls don't have leverage they are not a problem with this (although I am still not a big fan of them for starting babies, personally). Just a thought anyhow.
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
