[Bella]

Okay, first off to make a long story short, I met Jim and Sandra when I first spotted their horses on the road.. they eventually gave me my first horse, Babe. Every year they get a new foal from Babe's mom, Gypsy who is kept at a PMU farm (which was just shut down unfortunately.. not sure what is going to happen to Gypsy). This is the 5th foal off of her (Babe was the first) and by far the best looking of them all. He is a year old now, and about 5 feet tall already. He's build very nice and although he acts like a young stallion, he loves people. Jim plans on having him gelded soon.

Anyways, I've got it in my head that I am going to train this guy myself, since I haven't trained any of the foals since Babe. And first off, I want to train him for Halter and Showmanship, because he definetly has the right build for it.

My question (finally) is what tips can you all give to me? He is halter broke and has tied a few times, however he likes to lag behind while being led. How would you go about teaching him to set up and turn away and such? When I trained Babe I didn't focus much on the halter work, other than basic ground manners, so I want to start this guy out right.

Please offer any advice and tips and cautions that you can! Our first show won't be until June 19th, and thats only if he is gelded in time. I will go get some pictures of him tonight, and get my friend to upload them tomorrow night for me. Sorry for babbling so much!

-Bella :running_:

[Blistering Winds]

Every time you stop, set his feet. The plant feet are the rear rigth and the front left. Those should set firm aand you move the other feet till they are perfect. You should move by asking for forward and backward movement, not with your feet or hands.


Second, use a butt rope for a while and when he lags, jerk it.

[spyro1]

Ok, setting his feet up every time you stop him and stand is a great idea. You can use your lead rope as a guide, hand up by the snap, gently push back to get his feet to move back, gently pull forward to get his feet to move forward. Always set up the back feet first, that way you can manually set the front if you need to. when setting him up, make sure that he is not too far under himself, or set up too far out, (stretched out) his legs should be straight in alignment with his shoulder/hip.
As for the butt rope, if he is as big as you say, I wouldn't bother with that, I would invest in a dressage whip, holding it behind you, ask him to move forward, if he does not, tap him with the whip. When asking him to trot forward, lean slightly forward, DO NOT LOOK AT HIM!! When asking to stop, straighten upright and way *whoa*. He should stop immediately at your shoulder.
Ok, getting him to turn away from you is pretty easy too, turn your body towards him, applying presure away from you with your lead rope. He won't know what you are asking at first, this is where your dressage whip comes in, take the handle of it, apply presure with it into his shoulder, to get him to move away from thr pressure. Once he moves even one step away from you, reease the pressure and reward him, asking for more steps each time you do it. He will catch on that when you turn into him and take steps, he is to move away from you. halter is great fun to show Good luck with your new boy!!

[Bella]

Thanks you guys

I had lots of fun training my own mare to do halter properly, but she was already 3 when I started doing that and I didn't really know what I was doing. She does what I ask, but we certainly aren't the smoothest at it I really hope that I can get this little guy (they call him Sonny which I personally really don't like for him) doing things properly in time for the shows!

-Bella

[Bella]

Oh yeah.. I won't be able to get those pictures tonight since the sun decided to hide and rain came out.. again! :P

[spyro1]

Can you kindly open the door and send some that rain down here????

[Bella]

Hehe, believe me if I could I would

Though it is nice for the crops, it is absolutely killing my riding arena. I haven't even begun jumping yet this year because it is just too muddy. Poor Babe.. got a show in just under 2 weeks and she has barely been ridden a handful of times this spring. I'm gonna have to do some major cramming to get ready in time. >.<

-Bella

[130amanda]

The idea of using a whip is good. Remember it is an extenssion of your arm and not punishment. I like to use a longe whip and hold the string part (or cut it off). This is a little longer than a dessage whip and allows you to tap butt to get the horse to move up to you. Don't tap legs or you will develope a kicker. If he moves up too far, use the whip to set a boundary in front of his nose. Just remember LIGHT TAPS instead of one hard tap.

[Bella]

Aww, I'm not sure if I'll be able to show him this year. Jim 'checked' him last night, and couldn't seem to find any testicles. So, if they haven't dropped yet, we won't be able to get him gelded. He also has a hernia that needs to be fixed too.

Anyone know what causes hernia's? 3/5 of the foals from the same mare have had one.. only Sonny's is big enough to need corrected.

Oh well, even if we can't show him i'll work with him lots. He'll just be that much better at next years show

-Bella

[Blistering Winds]

Some are hereditary. Some are because momma and/or baby end up standing up too fast and the umbilicus is pulled too soon.