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Dear Dr. McDonnell,
I am a 12-year-old girl who
recently got a 14-year-old Quarter Horse. She is a doll, but there is
just one little problem -- she hasn't been ridden in about four years.
We are hiring some-one to come and work with her, but I was just
wondering if you know of any good training tips for me to use with her
during my spare time. Your advice is greatly appreciated!
Sierra
Depending upon her temperament, there is
likely a lot you can do with your horse "on the ground" while
you are waiting for help to get her back under saddle. One option would
be to start doing some exercises by just leading her around or in a
round pen, or working on a longe line. Much will depend on the
facilities, your level of experience, and the help and guidance
available. It's good to choose exercises that will establish clear and
simple communication between the two of you. That can include getting
her to move at various gaits and to stop on voice or visual signal
command. This will help to establish your communication skills and get
her used to paying attention to you and following the basic commands.
Tack shops and the Internet should have
lots of books, tapes, and other resources available for you and your
parents or trainer to review. One of my favorites for young equestrians
is a little book by Linda Tellington-Jones and Andrea Pabel called Let's
Ride! It has a lot of suggestions for fun and worthwhile activities
aimed at building a good working relationship between you and your
horse, even before you get on. You can get it at ExclusivelyEquine.com,
State Line Tack stores, or Amazon.com.
I also think it's fun to teach your
horse some tricks. You'll be surprised how every horse can learn them,
and it will teach you the basics of how horses learn--both good and bad
habits. The On Target Training (Clicker) method is a recently
commercialized system for training horses to do all sorts of things,
using classic behavior modification methods in animal training. There
are fun tricks and practical behaviors to teach your horse that can be
done in a stall or paddock. Again, these are good methods for general
horsemanship and good for any horse-human relationship. Most
importantly, they show you how horses learn, then you can take it from
there for the rest of your equestrian career.
So, talk to your parents and see what
they think of these suggestions. If you think they might be too
ambitious for the moment, you can start interacting with your mare for
turn-out, grooming, and feeding in an organized, methodical routine. For
example, you could go to her stall door, have her approach you, put on
her halter and lead, take her to cross-ties, groom her in a systematic
fashion, take her for a walk, then go back to her stall. You can build
up to leading her over little poles and other obstacles to build your
trust in each other.
Good luck, and let us know how you do.
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