Train the way it works for you
Christina Mai Aug 5, 2015
Most horses in Iceland grow up in big herds in endless seeming pastures. In the beginning of their training, they first need to learn to be closed in in a stable and being touched by a human. This alone is very much to ask for from a young horse which has grown up almost wildly. That is why I train the youngsters step by step and do not ask for too much in the beginning. First, I teach them to be calm when I approach them and touch them all over their body. Then I introduce the rope halter first in their shoulder area and stroke them with it on their body before I put it on their head. Putting a rope halter for the first time over the very sensitive mouth and ears and tying it stuck to their head can be very threatening for many horses.
Usually I manage to put the rope halter on all youngster on the second day of pretraining. But some youngster can be more difficult- like the three year old mare Hrauna that I trained this summer. She was very shy and insecure. The fact that she did not accept treats from my hands for many days showed that she was extremely sensitive in the area around her mouth. While I could soon brush her all over her body and lift up her feet, it took me a long time of calm work being able to touch her head- and finally the area around her mouth. It was okay to touch her with the ropehalter all over her body, but when it got close to her mouth she got very stressed and tried to escape or stood on her back legs. I could tell that it would be very hard to get the rope halter on and let an experienced friend who came for a visit to do it- in order to avoid teaching wrong behavior due to failed attempts. Disa is a tall and strong woman and she could stretch over Hrauna and somehow get the rope halter over her head while Hrauna was jumping around.
The next day, I thought that Hrauna would have learned to be less scared with the halter and tried it myself- but no success. Being 1,65 meters “tall”, my arms kind of weren’t long enough for getting the rope halter over her head without getting in a dangerous position while she was jumping around. So I needed to find another way. I decided to start at the last instance that had worked for us: Just touching the head and mouth with the rope halter and breaking the whole act of putting the rope halter on into smaller steps, working towards the final goal. That took me a much longer time than “just getting” it on somehow fast enough- but it was the best possible way for me to do this. Training my patience and getting tired in my arm muscles from stroking the rope halter closer and closer to her mouth, I finally got the rope halter over Hrauna’s mouth with her standing still and being calm. The next day I was much faster in getting the rope halter on and Hrauna was standing still while I did it.
Everyone of us needs to find a method that is working for himself as a trainer or rider out from his mental and physical abilities. I would have been much less successful in trying to get the rope halter on while the mare was jumping around, what would have been no problem for my taller friend. So I decided to choose the way in which I was best in order not to teach the horse wrong behavior through failed attemps.