Ignoring verbal and physical aids on lunge line

[BrownDerby]

OP, I do not know if this will help you or not, but I give my horse a cue that gives her permission to graze on our hand walks. I taught her the head down cue. I say “head down” as I touch her poll at our designated grazing spot. When grazing time is over, one quick yank on the lead rope. If no response a twirl of the end of the lead rope, we mean business.

The ride starts as soon as the halter is on. No ears back or sniping at other horses, NO pasture manners when you are in charge. Your job is to clear the other horses away (keep the horse safe) by being a leader, Walk with purpose and destination.

Horses can have varying behaviors with different handlers. We see this in dogs too. I might be an 8, while my trainer is a sure 11.

Good luck, sounds like this horse will teach you a lot

[Jackie_Cochran]

I used to get grief from more experienced horsepeople 60 years ago because I would OCCASIONALLY let my horse graze some during our longer rides.

We’d be going on for a while, passing lots of grass and yummy trees and bushes, then we would stop and rest. Often I would stop my horse by a luscious, clean looking patch of grass and tell him “OK, time to eat.” When I wanted him to stop it was “ENOUGH”, enforced by a mild yank on the lead rope or rein if necessary.

Sometimes my horses would act like they felt not-so-well, then I’d put the halter and lead rope on, lead him into the woods or find an overgrown weed patch, and tell him “OK, time to eat” and he would zero in on ONE species of vegetation. Usually in this case I’d let him eat it as long as he wanted to, usually just a few minutes. When he stopped eating it I would tell him “time to go” and lead him away.

He did not abuse this privilege.

However I had a Paso Fino mare that would try to abuse this privilege, and guess what, I did not “let” her eat during our rides. Occasionally we had a few arguments about this but I was consistent and she learned that I would NOT just let her grab a snack whenever she wanted one. The first horse was my angel from Heaven, the second horse could be a mare from Hell when she felt like it.

Vladimir Littauer’s training system is based on teaching voice commands on the lunge line during initial training, and using them pretty frequently at appropriate occasions during riding. ALL my horses learned voice commands, from foal to fully mature horses. “Common Sense Horsemanship” and “Schooling Your Horse” by Vladimir Littauer have thorough discussions about training voice commands.

[SuzieQNutter]

As said above startcwith leading. One click and the horse starts walking before you do.

I clicked yesterday and Sim did not move. I immediately tapped behind me with the whip. I received a much bigger reaction from hubby than Sim. It is because of hubby that Sim thought it was okay to ignore him. Nope. Sorry buddy.

Say halt and the horse halts before you do. Back is a not pushing thumb on the chest and the word back. You should always have 2 signals for back, as you only want one horse at a time to back out of the float.

Once that is established and immediate. You click, the horsecwalks forward, you take a step back and you are in the correct position for lunging.

You may need to lunge with 2 lunge reins, as he has been trained that he can stop and eat whenever he likes. It is harder to retrain than it is to train.

[OverandOnward]

@Jackie_Cochran

I used to get grief from more experienced horsepeople 60 years ago because I would OCCASIONALLY let my horse graze some during our longer rides.

If it matters at all … I was told that long ago the U.S. Cavalry determined that it was better to let horses graze on long rides, during even a brief pause. With manners, of course!

I’ve had trainers in recent times who felt that horses needed to keep something in their tummy even during work. Didn’t have snack breaks, but just let them eat some handfuls of hay before grooming and tacking.

It makes sense as horses are designed by nature to be eating more than half of the time.

[Jackie_Cochran]

My inspiration was from “Adventures Unbridled” by Moyra Williams. She trained several of her horses to go unbridled except for and emergency dropped noseband with reins attached, and when she went fox hunting the other riders said she was so lucky to be able to let her horse snack during the hunts because she did not have to clean the bit.

Her response was that she ALWAYS let her horses snack during a fox hunt, whether or not there was a bit in the horse’s mouth. She wrote that she got hungry during the hunt, had her sandwich in the sandwich case, and though it was only fair that the horse got to eat during the hunt too when it had an idle moment and was hungry. She just cleaned the bit.

I bought that book many years before I got my first horse. What she wrote made sense to me as long as the horse obeys me when snack time is over.

[MsM]

I bought a horse that had been “yahooed” on the trails. The owner pretty much jumped on and galloped off, often racing other horses. Poor horse would be worked up into a lather by the time he was tacked up. I worked on getting him relaxed, first in a ring. The trails were more challenging as he was sure we were going to race. Among other techniques, I started allowing him to grab leaves when we were walking or standing still. It was a great pony pacifier. He turned into a sensible trail horse and I reduced the leaf-grabbing to only when given permission (and I always found time for his snack)

[OverandOnward]

I think it is a good point that snacks can be pacifying to animals (and occasionally create bad habits if not managed well).

A horse’s primary anxiety is “my life is always in danger “. Maybe a snack helps them think “ok at least I won’t starve today”.