Reader Question: Longeing A Rescue Horse
Friday, August 8th, 2008 | Horse Training Tips
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Deanna
If I were to begin working with an abused horse. Would it be best for me to start ground work? I was thinking small steps like, leading, getting used to being touched Kindly.
I realize there isnt a time limit on the first few steps. But my question is I have found that when longing a horse I can make it step off just by my body posture? What body posture should I use when asking the horse for a Whoa? I am longing with a long cotton lead and not free longing. Secondly(if you dont mind) what should I do to ask the horse to go the opposite direction? I seem to have no problem making her go left but going right it seems she wants to stop. So before i teach her wrong I want to ask.
Thank you.
my name is Carolyne and im 36 and been riding a long time. This is my first rescue horse and I don’t want to be threatening. I use a calm voice and move slowly around her. She is doing fantabulous.
Carolyne
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Hi Carolyne,
Thanks for the great question. I’m really happy to hear that you are rehabbing a horse! You are correct in starting out calm and quiet with ground work. I always like to work from the ground up.
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Something I’ve learned from Cesar Milan is that when working with rescued or abused animals is that the past is the past. “Don’t dwell on the animals past, each day is new and live in the moment.” Words to live by…
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When longeing I never reverse the horse without first stopping, walking up to him and then reversing the horse, walk away while saying “whoa” and then start to longe again. I know many trainers ask the horse to reverse while longeing, but that creates problems. The problems are created because the horse learns he can change directions out on the longe line. It’s a really annoying problem to correct, I’ve had to retrain a bunch of horses that were trained this way, and it’s a pain to fix for me and the horse.
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A good tip for stopping the horse on the longe line is to first say whoa, and if that does not work, put pressure on the longe line while you say whoa, and if that still doesn’t work, step toward the horse, put pressure on the line, and say whoa. Continue that until it works! Your horse may back away from you when yo put pressure on the line. If he does, release all pressure and continue to say “whoa”.
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If she stops going to the right, tap your longe whip on the ground behind her back hooves while clucking. Cease the tapping when she moves forward. Don’t hit her with the whip and she will eventually learn that it is just an extension of your arm and nothing to be afraid of. I would also in the beginning work her right, then left, then right again to keep her even on both sides.
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Here are some posts I’ve written about longeing that may help you out with the horse.
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Longe Line Trouble Shooting
Deanna
2 Comments to Reader Question: Longeing A Rescue Horse
thank you deanna, it worked like a dream. when i turned away she wanted to stop and follow me. so i did as you said and said whoa first and if she didnt i applied light pressure but it took her no time to get it. then i asked for a stop before switching directions. Good idea on the right left right. you know i was going left right left. i even noticed this evening while brushing her after our longeing session that her muscles are more developed on the left than the right. i guess she is a lefty? lol
i did have to tap the whip on the ground, which seemed to drive her a bit forward it also worked in me making her keep going and wait till I cue her that we are done going in that direction. She would go a bit and then just quit,like ok im a good girl im done now. so by the 3rd time I saw her body posture change right before she thought of stopping and i just tapped the whip on the ground and she kept on going and didnt stop on me.
I dont longe her long, tonight we went from walking and trotting back down to walking for about 25min. shes a very nice mover.she even keeps her eye on me. once i send her around she makes darn near perfect circles.i was getting a little tied up while sending her to the right with the longe line in my right and the long whip in my left and all this extra line folded back and forth so towards the end instead of tapping the whip i just tossed the rolled up end of my long longe line towards her back feet but didnt touch her with it. that worked good too.
thanks for helping me through this road block.we ended our lesson on a good note.
DeannaAugust 9, 2008
You’re welcome! So glad I could help. I was going to say she was a lefty in my explanation, lol.
That’s great that she keeps her eye on you, that means the two of you have good communication.
She sounds like a fast learner so what you can do instead of using the whip, keep it with you on the ground in case you need it, but you can pretend that you have the whip in your hand and give her the same signals you would if you actually had the whip. I like to do that when a horse is smart. The less aids I need to use the better.
Great job, and I’m glad everything worked out! If you have any other obstacles in your training, feel free to e-mail me anytime.
Deanna
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August 9, 2008