Training a newbie horse and rider to hunt?

[luvmyottb]

How do you train your horse to hunt? I will give you my background and I would appreciate your input. This past hunting weekend in Virginia looked like a perfect opportunity for a wannabe newbie like me!

I think I want to learn to hunt. But, I am somewhat chicken and get nervous at the prospect at galloping across an open field. Doesn’t make for a great hunting princess, does it? I am a 50 year old rider, had horses as a kid with no fear of anything. Started riding again at 40, with my first formal lesson at 43 in hunters. Fast forward to present, I have a 10 year old ottb mare, athletic and eager to please. Sensible most of the time. Trail rides and works in arena. I have taken her to a local hunt club for the hunter paces off and on for the last couple of years. Seems like a great atmosphere with really nice people.

My goal this spring was to take my mare to every hunter pace this year which equals out to about 2 a month. I want her to become bored with going out and not think it is a big deal.

We had a great time at the hunter pace yesterday. She was relaxed, came back to me with half halts if she got a little quick and didn’t spook at anything. We mainly trotted and cantered a little bit in the open. I rode with my daughter and our steady, solid Quarter horse who is mare’s buddy. Now, she doesn’t mind if he gets in front of her. But here is my concern.

We missed a turn in our pace and backtracked and came upon 2 other riders who helped us get back on the correct path. We were facing a steep embankment which my mare really loves to run like a mountain goat up the hill. She gets fired up about the hill. So, 2 riders go ahead of me. My mare sees the others go up the hill and figures she is back at the track and must catch up. She gets excited, rears a bit and runs up the hill. In her excitement, she trips, I lose my stirrup, but we get to the top and I get her under control again and wait for my daughter. :eek: Amazingly, I am pretty darn calm about the whole thing, but now in retrospect, my thought is can you train the excitement out of the horse? She wasnt being bad, she was excited and wanted to go. Clearly, not what I wanted from her, but she temporarily lost her sanity. She was great the rest of the ride.

I am not sure if I am equipped with the necessary skills to teach this horse to hunt if she feels as if she needs to be at the head of the pack. It will make for a miserable ride for me. I want to be 2nd or a 3rd flight (I dont think they have a 3rd flight) and enjoy the ride. I participated in a hunting 101 clinic with her last year and she was having a mare day and refused to stand still, just was jiggy the whole day. She was really forward and not relaxed. Does one send a horse out for hunt training or do I just spend time with her at the paces and gut it out? How do I get over my fear of cantering/galloping out in the open and the loss of control?

Thank you for reading my novel, I look forward to your input.

[Nlevie]

Hi - I’m the same age and started hunting about 15 years ago. I too had ridden a lot - showed, jumped, evented, but galloping in a group was, and still is, slightly nerve-wracking for me, so don’t feel bad. I was never concerned with the jumps, just having control of my horse and worrying about whether others had control of their horses. I have since determined that most people really don’t have great control and some just don’t care, so it’s up to you to worry about yourself and not get into harms way. Some horses will never settle and be quiet in a group, but others just need time and the right conditions. I believe you need to work up to it - starting with trail rides in a group where everyone is just walking and trotting, no speed, and changing your position in the group. Then you can work up to some short gallops, and take advantage of any oportunities your local hunts have for trail rides, paces, hound exercises and cubbing before even thinking about actually hunting. Not everyone can successfully hunt a TB - they are so sensitive, but IMO make the best hunters IF they have the right mind for it. Good luck.

[Hinderella]

I have no training tips to offer, being a beginner myself. However, I strongly encourage you to visit Hunter’s Rest and go out on one of her made hunt horses to experience the hunt first hand, and perhaps then you’ll feel better equipped to make your decision yourself. Seeing the hunt firsthand will also let you see for yourself what your horse will need to learn.

As I learned on this past weekend, the most important gait for a foxhunter is the HALT (Now I’ve got it right, HR !!). If you’re riding third field, your horse may have to stand while first & second field go galloping by, and must learn to stand quietly at the checks.

Perhaps HR or someone else here can tell you whether there is anyone that you can send your mare to for training.

[SLW]

Does galloping make you nervous or are you nervous about galloping across unknown terrian?

I wouldn’t throw in the towell on the mare because of one scoot up a hill following two other horses. Especially if she waited nicely for your daughter to follow you. Like a driving horse, teaching “wait, patience and whoa” is critical for a hunting horse, IMO. It can be taught.

To answer your question, yes you can send a horse out for training making it clear to the trainer what your hunting goals are. Find a great, honest trainer and listen to them. It is possible your mare is not suitable to hunt but likewise, it is possible with some training and new skills you and she would get along great.

I’m not a pro. Like you, I’m a 50 something rider who use to show and knows how bad south things can go if A, B or C happen. The mare I’m hunting this year has required me to take it slow, real slow. Honestly, it wasn’t until about 4 weeks ago that she “got it” and began to chill.

My mare & I bonded at a Joint Meet a couple weeks ago going across a cow field. The Master had stopped to get a gate and she put someone else in charge of our group and we set off loping in tall grass. I saw the first ruts/tractor track/cow path buried in the grass and thanked God Almightly I have a chair seat. Grabbed mane, loosened the rein and braced. The next stride showed a second set of ruts/tractor track/cow path. My mare landed deep in the rut and bounced out…into the THIRD set of ruts/tractor tracks/cow path and I groaned. On the fourth stride we bounded out of the mogels and hand galloped off. She didn’t give a “yee hah” buck, head shake or high five. It was “just business” and after owning her since last August, I finally fell in love with her.

Good luck!

[Equibrit]

You will have to grin and bear your horse’s learning process (or get somebody else to), until it’s all very ho-hum. She will either get with the programme or she will not. When a TB gets it, out hunting, it is the most rewarding experience you could have.

[Hunter_s_Rest]

Paul Striberry is among hte best foxhunter trainers and he’s in Southern Pines, NC but I know there are more.
Just an aside, a hunter pace is Nothing. Like. Foxhunting. ONly in name. Great training to take a horse to all of those sorts of things but please don’t imagine b/c a horse does hunter paces well/perfectly that necessarily she’ll be good in the hunt field. May indeed be true but it is no measure.
(PS Thanks for the thumbs up Hinderella.)
She’s correct - you should hunt a made, quiet veteran once or twice or many times so you know what’s going on/going to happen (and it can easily be done to your comfort level) so you can gauge for her/help her/teach her.
Good luck! Tb’s make absolutely the best hunters and most are perfectly suited. You’ll be great, I bet!

[xeroxchick]

[QUOTE=Nlevie;5498398]
I have since determined that most people really don’t have great control and some just don’t care, so it’s up to you to worry about yourself and not get into harms way. QUOTE]

I wonder, with whom do you hunt?

[luvmyottb]

Thanks for the responses. Got me thinking. I have to be able to experience a hunt on a horse that is safe and knows it job or at least on a horse who I know won’t have a hissy if overstimulated by the hunt experience. God knows I will be bombarded enough by the excitement and just learning what actually goes on in a hunt. I have to get my confidence up and know what to expect before I can ask OTTB mare to take care of me. She will need me to be her calm, confident leader :yes:before I take her out.

So, I may have plan. Take her out as much as possible and trail ride with others and let her think it is really boring. Just continue to work with her. Experience a hunt on a made horse to find out if it is something I will enjoy or experience a hunt on my husband’s horse, steady, calm and slow Quarter Horse who has no desire to be in the lead or rip roar through a open meadow. He is just an all around standup kind of horse. I could learn to hunt with him. He could be my confidence builder to figure out if I want to hunt with OTTB mare. Possibly???

I think I need to contact the local hunt group also and pick their brains as to how I would begin to learn. Hunting may or may not be for me, but I certainly would like to find out:winkgrin:

Oh, and yea, the hunter pace is not what hunting is like at all. The hunting 101 clinic gave me a much better feel as to what to expect. The mock hunt gave me a jolt when the MH flew by us on a narrow trail when all the horses were expected to stand by quietly. Scared the bejeebers out of me! I was on OTTB mare that day and her eyes were as big as saucers, but she didn’t move.

I am so excited to try hunting. I just want to try it on a slower horse. Feel free to handout more suggestions. It has got my brain ticking away. Thanks.

[whicker]

Paul Striberry is very good with both horse and rider. I cliniced with him with my dressage diva last August at Hunter’s Rest. He has a lifetime of experience to draw on and a kind style. Please get in touch with him, and at least watch him teach, or audit a clinic.

There is a hunt truism that “green rider on made hunter, OR made hunt rider on green horse” NOT green rider on green horse. One of the pair needs to know how to handle the situations in the hunt field to be safe.

I’m a long time, very experienced hunter and rider, bringing along a sensitive hanovarian mare. It isn’t easy, and takes tact, zen- like calm, and strategy. I ride third field with Betsy (Hunter’s Rest) as field master. She is very kind to be aware of how we are doing and giving us what we need to be successful. Success is a very loosely defined term.

Like people, horses can take in only so much new information before over load freezes the mind. The learning curve isn’t a straight line, improving each time out. There are days when the horse has trouble coping and one may go in early. One has to end on a good note, to want to go again.

I train with Hunter’s Rest in between hunts to practice the scenarios we will have in the hunt, so my mare has the idea of how to handle them. My mare wants to know the horses around her are wise. She wants to pick the one she deems the leader she wants to follow. By being with Hunter’s Rest’s horses, she has a known herd to stay in and feel safe.

My mare has been improving, and we had a perfect day out hunting with Melvin Poe.

The following week, she had an anxious, wouldn’t settle day on the coth hunt day. She had come in to the first heat cycle of spring and was hurting. I had the vet out, and discovered that she had also picked up a tick borne, easy to fix, disease. Now, I know to forget hunting her when I see that pained look in her eye.

Hunter’s Rest has encouraged me to ride one of her lovely made hunters to keep me remembering why I want to hunt. She is right. It helps so much to enjoy the day and see the action, without the distraction of training. I quite grateful to her for taking me under her wing.

[Jynx]

Walking hounds can be a good time to train a horse. If it’s okay with the staff managing the walking, when I take a newer horse out (or even my old tried-and-true), I will intentionally go slower & drop back, halt while the rest of the riders go ahead, turn around and go away from everyone, etc. My goal is to get the horse to understand that I am in charge, and it’s okay to leave the herd.

Another very good thing to work on is maintaining the distance you choose from the horse in front of you: two lengths, three lengths, whatever you choose, at any speed. (I really appreciate not having another horse’s nose on my back.) Trail rides are great for this.

I’ve heard that OTTB’s can revert back to track mentality. I tried hunting mine when he was 22 and had been and eventer and dressage horse since he was four. He did not have a lip tatto, so he had never been in an actual race, but he still thought he should be up with the hounds! He’s sorta a pain in the butt whenever we’re out with a group of horses.

[Lifting_Chickk]

I wish my horse would get excited once and a while. Most of the time, I have to check to make sure she’s still breathing… :lol:

Enjoy your mare, she sounds like alot of fun!

The best way to develop your horse for hunting is the wet saddle blanket method. Lots and lots of good experience and exposure to the environment.

Good luck! And I do hope you get to go hunting in the near future…

[jawa]

Whicker makes a good point about a new to hunting horse feeling confident in there herd. I might also add that familiar surroundings are also helpful.

When I took my first hunt horse hunting for the first time I trailered with a friend who had a made hunter. They bonded in the trailer, and even though there were a few stressfuloments, he took cues from his trailer mate. As we went out with the hunt more often, he did better, especially so if he had his “friends” nearby. Same friends, new fixture=a slightly stressed horse. New horses, new fixture=a more stressed horse.

If you can trail ride with a hunt nanny (for you and your horse) that could help settle the nerves as well.

[Ponyclubrocks]

Did not read all the responses so forgive me please if I am being redundant. In my experience it is not the running in a group that undoes horses new to the hunt field, it is rather the checks, and even more so the making way for staff or other fields where your horse has to stand stock still while a horse or an entire field comes blasting by you, Having the field reverse can also cause problems. The hunts I have ridden with over the years have always had a few Kamikaze riders and it is good to know who they are and stay clear of them if possible. I always try to create a “space cushion” around my horse; easier to control in front of me, not so easy in back of my horse unless I want to bring up the rear. I always try to maintain 2-3 horse lengths between me and the horse in front. My horse has learned that I and I alone decide when we change speeds (up or down). People are always commenting on how amazing my horse is, how he listens to me and is so well behaved and responsive. Well it isn’t an accident, it is the result of lots of deliberate consistent training. Some people drag a horse out of the field after it has stood around for weeks, knock the mud off them (barely) and then complain bitterly when their horse acts like a nut job. I say, poor horse, had no training and preparation to do the job right in the first place…enough… I am on my soapbox now. Best of luck to you with hunting. It is a wonderful wonderful thing to participate in. Every time I ride out I think to myself “I am the luckiest person in the world!”

[TrakJumper]

Personally, I would hunt a made horse for a season before trying to train your horse to hunt. I hunted a made horse for a full season and it definitely took me that entire year to know what to expect what would be expected of me with my own horse.

They say it takes 3 seasons to make a hunt horse. Now, there are some rare ones that are perfect immediately, but in my experience the 3 season rule is much more accurate. Your horse sounds like she’s liable to get seriously worked up in a large group, especially at speed. Mine was similar and he took the Entire. Three. Years.

I’m not sure who you would be hunting with, but my hunt is pretty freaking traditional with the rules. If you’re a newbie without colors, you’re expected to be at the back. Period. I spent my entire first 2 seasons with my horse fighting with him until we got on a legitimate run (when you are allowed to pass slower riders but NOT the fieldmaster). He wanted to be up front and we weren’t allowed. Honestly, it was a nightmare. He would get so pissed he would buck, try to drag me to the fences, etc. We went through different bits like he went through shoes. I am a very confident rider and I swore up and down that I would never make my own hunt horse again. And this is a horse that loved hunting from day 1. Loves the hounds, loves to listen for them, NEVER kicks, stands at checks, etc.

That said, now that we’re in our 4th season together, he’s everything I ever wanted. Going through making him together has made us so in sync with each other and every hunt is a dream. Now, granted I have my colors and am more senior and get to ride closer to the front. That honestly helps with his attitude, but we really do have a blast together and we do some serious tearing across those big fields and it is fantastic!

I guess what I am trying to say is that you need major confidence in your own abilities before you try and make that mare your hunt horse. I also think it helps to establish good relationships with your fellow hunters before you’re the poor schmuck on the batshit crazy horse that takes a season to start settling down. People will be as patient as possible with you if they like you already. But you better believe they are looking to you to reprimand your horse immediately when it misbehaves. I mean if your horse even threatens to lift a leg to kick out, you give it a HARD whack with your crop that makes them think otherwise. It takes a lot of confidence to be ready for whatever reaction they have to a reprimanding.

Maybe have an experienced hunt horse trainer take your mare out the first several times and get the first few mind boggling hunts over with for you? Then you can take it from there. Good luck.

[whicker]

Trakjumper, Please

Trakjumper,
I sent you a p.m.

[Simbalism]

I ride a TB mare. I have done a variety of activities with her , but mostly a ton of trail riding on group rides. I think this was of the most benefit when I took her hunting the first time. Now mind you we went in 3rd flight on opening meet of a large hunt, but my mare was her normal self. She was quiet no spooks and she went in a hackamore. I have done a few hunter paces and as others mentioned absolutely nothing like a hunt. There is way more energy and excitement surrounding the hunt. I would continue taking your horse out on as many group activities and follow the advice of others about taking a seasoned horse out to experience hunting.

[pleasantmeadowfarm]

Options, options.

Luvmyottb,

You have options. I too started hunting on a mare who would spook walking from the barn to the outdoor arena. I participated in the Foxhunting 101 Clinic, and I wasn’t sure who would pass out first - both my mare and I had heart palpitations. I too was terrified to go at pace up/down hills without being able to dictate speed. We spent almost half of our first season circling behind the Second Field at checks at a walk. I’m sure we clocked in an extra 5 miles or so at checks. EVERYONE in my hunt was ubber supportive and gave me helpful hints. By the end of the season, and start of the next she was a SAINT. When we both took a breath and realized we were capable of handling all that hunting entails, we now have a much stronger bond than I ever could have imagined.

Hunting on a made hunt horse a few times will give you a good idea of what to expect without having to stress over how your horse will react.

With permission, taking your horse out for hound walks a couple of times (along with a quiet made hunt horse to give your OTTB confidence) is a great low stress way to introduce your horse to hounds.

Some hunts allow newbies to join Roading Hounds before Cubbing season begins. Our hunt goes out multiple times a week for a few weeks before cubbing season on quiet country back roads. It’s a great way to introduce new horses to being in a close group where hounds can and will occasionally dart in and out around you.

To recap, go out on a made field hunter first. Hunting is truly a life changing addiction in so many positive ways. If your husband has a quiet steady mount you can trust, your early hunts my be best experienced from the QH’s back. You can then take your time introducing your OTTB to all the sights and sounds, when you yourself can take a deep breath and give her more confidence. You’ll have two lovely fieldhunters before you know it!

I wish you the best of luck. Even those of us that know how fragile we are, can hunt, and LOVE every second of it. By posing your question here on COTH, you can be assured you have an incredible team of experts to guide you through every step. Trust me, it was this very COTH crew that gave me the confidence to achieve a lifelong goal just two short seasons ago!

[whicker]

Pleasant Meadow, the original Hunting Princess

By the way, Pleasantmeadow was our first joint mentoring newbie hunter. It was because of her enthusiasm that we started helping more newbies experience our form of nirvana.

Watching the newbies faces change from fretting to huge grins that keep going is so much fun for us!

[mortebella]

I would look for that option where there’s a hunt following a clinic that is comprised just of the clinic-ers and the hosts. There’s a hunt near me that does one of those a year, and I’m in very hunt-scarce territory (my thinking being if I can find one, I’ll bet you can.) Although I had to scratch out of it last year because my horse was unsound so I can’t really say from personal experience, this seems to me the safest possible way you could audition a combination of green and green under the eye of some powers that be who could give you some honest guidance about your readiness to be bringing her along in the “real deal” situation. Best of luck (from a second wave Hunting Princess :))

[bigbaytb]

luvmyottb…

another tb rider here:) mine came off the track in october of 05. (however, i used the same game for my coming 7 year old mare when she was 4) . mine is laid back, but he can get a little nervous.

I trained to event that winter (just worked starter and BN level at the time) and did start to do combined tests and ht’s that spring/summer. I also would hack out with friends and did some mock hunts. I did bit up a bit more, went to a myler combination bit. (i was the only foxhunter at the barn, so it usually involved me with some dressage and western friends). at all gaits, i would place my horse in various spots in the “field” (the place i used to board at only had a hay field for us to go around). as time went on, we went from discussing gait changes, to not so my horse would learn to take the unexpected. mine learned to be fine in front or behind and to keep spacing., I learned that he wasn’t a kicker if someone was too close.

also, that summer, when the hunt had it’s summer rides, I went on every one. I started in hill toppers to make sure he behaved. many times I would start there and move up to 1st field…and times I moved back if he was too full of it. one thing i learned was that he would really get excited, but i would stay relaxed and not pull…helped to keep my horse calm. he only gets excited when we first get to a hunt (even now) but I have a short warm up regime that I always do (just alittle trot and canter) to get him to focuses on me.

So even though you haven’t hunted, be creative with friends to practice if there are no summer rides. it at least will be a “controlled” environment for you to see how your horse will react.