Andy answers your training questions...

As you no doubt heard me say, I get tons of
emails every day. If I spent my entire day
answering them...I'm not sure I'd have time
to eat and get my beauty sleep.(It'd take
more than sleep to get my beauty)

So, I have my staff sort them. They go
through 'em and pile up ones they think I should
address.

And since I can't respond to most emails per-
sonally, I have to close my eyes and pull emails
at random from the stack.

Those that appear in today's tip are the
"winners."

With that said, here we go:

Dear Andy

When I ride Nino he does just fine until I leave
the back gate to go ride the trail and then he
does everything he knows to do besides bucking
me off to get back to the barn. Everytime I have
taken him out I have tried to change directions.
I think it is all me because he knows what he is
doing. The girl told me that I may need to start
using spurs and getting on him when he decides
to go back to the barn. My question for you is
that I am reconsidering that I am actually capable
of having a horse. I love him to death but I am not
being hard enough on him. What should I do?

Thank you
Cindy D.



Cindy,
You have a barnsour horse. The causes
can range from not riding enough, herd bound,
willfulness, and more.

I don't agree with spurring your horse.

Instead, when your horse wants to go back to
the barn area make him work. Let him know if he
wants to go to the barn it'll be uncomfortable.

So, let him go back. When you get close
by then put him to work. Change gaits from
trots to canters to walking. Do figure 8's.

After you've worked him pretty good, walk
him away from the barn. If wants to come back
then smile and say "okay." (Train yourself to
love it when a horse does wrong so you can learn
to fix it and not get frustrated with it).

Then put him to work again.

Then walk him out.(When you walk him out
from the barn it's important you make it a
leisurely nice walk...no work)

Pretty soon, he'll decide the barn isn't
such a hot spot to be at.


*************


Hello Andy,

If you ever have anyone asking you any questions
on shoeing a problem horse, please send it out. My
mare will not let the ferrier near her. She paws,
rears, head butts, and whatever else she decides
to do. I can't keep her barefoot forever. I can't
even take her trail riding in the mountains w/o shoes!
She will let me clean her feet no problem
but when the ferrier trys to nail the shoes on it
just doesn't happen. My ferrier is awsome. He has
been a ferrier for 20 years! Any advice would be
greatly apperciated.

Bare-footing in Monroe, North Carolina




North Carolina,

The habit or resisting feet taken up for shoeing is
like most other habits which are caused by mishandling
a horse and/or bad treatment. (By the way, I'm not
suggesting you mistreat your horse)

There are even some horses so wild and nervous
that they will resist even good management.

There are lots of different ways to get a horse to
subject his feet for you.

One way is to pick the back foot up and hold it
forward and up. If the horse resists keep holding
that foot...and to some degree you can elevate it
while holding it.

When he stops resisting, let him have his foot.

Do this enough so the resistance melts away.

Holding the foot forward will transfer to holding
the behind him. He'll think you can hold his foot
whether or not you hold it in front or back of him.

When you get his feet "hold-able" then tap on his
feet with a small hammer to get him used to it.

Just be careful doing this. I don't want you to
get hurt.

Now,...I gave you an "in a nutshell" technique. It's
hard to describe what to do in an email.

Another thing you might consider is reading Jesse
Beery's methods. If you don't own a copy you can
see his amazing information at this web address:
http://www.horsetrainingandtips.com/Jesse_Beery.htm


*************


Hey Andy its Lora,

I was just wandering if u had time to answer a quick
question for me that I really need help with. Well,
the thing is, is that I got this new horse that these
people were selling because they don't ride there
horse anymore. So I thought that I could give the
horse a good home living with my horses. Because
I would definitely ride the poor thing cause I ride
all of mine on a regular basis. But the problem
that I ran into that I didn't know how to deal with
all that good was that the people that I bought
the horse from never really rode it and also when
they did ride it, they weren't experienced enough
with horses and they told the horse whoa when they
wanted him to slow down. And so now the horse won't
stop when I say whoa it just slows down. All my
horses that I train know that when I say whoa, they
make a complete stop. So I'm so confused on what to
do now on teaching him that whoa means stop and not
slow down you know..... So I would really appreciate
it if you could tell me how to make the horse completely
stop when I say whoa instead of just slowing down.
Thank you so much for everything,

Lora




Lora,

The command "whoa" is THE MOST ABUSED and misused command
a horse is given. Inexperienced riders will tell a horse
to "whoa" when they really mean for the horse to slow down.
It's a natural reaction for the inexperienced rider.

To fix this is simply a matter of retraining the horse.

First, make sure your riding habits aren't teaching him
to "not" whoa. With riding habits in check you can retrain
him.

If you have him doubling (see the NO BS QuantumLEAP Horse
Course) then you're ready for the next step.

Walk him closely, along side a barrier. Hold your hand
closest to the barrier outwards toward the barrier. Hold
your hand out about a foot. Say "whoa" as you do the
stop aids for stopping (such as sitting deep in the saddle,
rest your elbows at your side, etc.)

As he sees the barrier, he'll stop because it's in his
way. Remember to pet him. Then ride him further on
and do it again.

Do it 3-4 four times in each direction and he should
start to get in the habit.

Don't stop in the same place all the time either - he'll
anticipate it and stop when you don't want him to.

If your horse is confirmed in the habit of not stopping
you may have to try other methods. Again, Jesse Beery's
book shows in detail how to teach a horse to stop.

In fact, Beery knew full well how important it is for
a horse to stop because your very life may depend on it.
It's perhaps the most important command you and your
horse should know.



**********

Andy,

I have been receiving your horse tips and have tried several
on my own horses. I was amazed how easy they were to do,
and how well my horse reacted. I have worked her in the
round pen with no problems at all. AND you will love to
hear this...I was able to get her to back with me in the
saddle THANKS TO YOUR BACKING tips. She would back on a
lead, but not with me on her. I put your tip to the test
when I got home last night and she caught on fairly easy.
Of course I plan on continuing with this until she really
has it down. But it was exciting to feel her give and
actually step back.

I know you can't possibly answer all your emails, but I
think this would be a great tip to include in your mail
outs. Surely I am not the only person with this problem. I
am not sure how long the mare will be with me, but I would
love to get some time in the saddle and not just trotting
around my small pasture!

Thank you for all your wonderful tips. I look forward to
getting them and try several. Some work for my colt, while
others have worked on my filly (too bad they don't all work
on all my horses), but as you have said yourself some
horses need different techniques.

Mary E.

(Note: I did not include people's last names because I
either don't know them or I didn't ask them if I could)


Mary,

Thanks for your comments. I'm pleased you're having
success with my information.


Sincerely,

Andy Curry



P.S. Yesterday, I told you about a lady who had
a clever Halloween costume. She attached sponges
all over her self.

I said yesterday I'd reveal what her costume was
just so I could drive you crazy and keep you in
suspense.

So...have you guessed what it was?

The most common answer I got was "Sponge Bob
Square Pants"

But guess what...that's not it.

To get the answer, click the address below:

http://www.horsetrainingandtips.com/sponge.htm