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Discussion on Training a pony horse | |
Author | Message |
Member: Lorrieg |
Posted on Wednesday, Apr 7, 2004 - 10:58 pm: Does anyone have any suggestions for the safest way to begin to train a horse to become a good ponying horse.We have a very good solid mare that I think would be good for ponying other inexperienced horses, but I want to be sure that I go about it in the safest manner possible. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Lorrie |
Member: Dartanyn |
Posted on Thursday, Apr 8, 2004 - 3:57 pm: Sorry Lorrie, don't quite understand:1) Is the mare going to BE the ponied horse or... 2) Is the mare going to be the lead horse for whichever horse you chose to pony? I have 3 geldings and ALL are ponied by each other at various times and for various reasons. Their individual personalities do limit them as to which ones could be safely ponied by a strangers horse; but they are all accustomed to it as I would do it for reconditioning and around the property where they are kept if I had a less experienced rider up on one of them. Probably the biggest thing to ascertain is does your mare handle other horses - ones she is stabled/pastured with or complete strangers, well? This would be, I feel, the biggest determining factor in whether to pursue this or not. Ponying itself has only proven to be a slightly modified type of leading; just from horseback and not from the ground. The lead horse needs to be relaxed and not a kicker and the packed pony should be the same. This is not a combo that comes up without at least some thought and observance though. Allow alot of trail movement space while working through the first few times, and every so often you can challenge your ponied horse to move directly behind your lead horse on a narrow pass-through to prep them for narrow trail spaces. Because the horse is a herd animal, they pretty easily slip into this type of use. That's my small take on this....hope it helps! Dawn |
Member: Lorrieg |
Posted on Thursday, Apr 8, 2004 - 9:12 pm: Hi Dawn,Thanks for your reply! To clarify the situation better, I would like to use the mare that we have to lead (or pony)the other less experienced horses, all are horses that she is familiar with. She is not a kicker, nor are the others. I appreciate your input, and I'm sure it will be helpful! Thanks, Lorrie |
Member: Paix |
Posted on Friday, Apr 9, 2004 - 4:08 am: Hi Lorrie,I have a 24 y/o QH gelding: Salem. I have had him 13 yrs and I am the second owner. Before that, he was a young girls "colt-to-grow-up-with" trail horse. He is very social and is always the one I put with mares, stallions, new horses, babies, etc. He is very reliable and consistent in how he behaves in a herd. Ive ridden him with a direct rein up until I recenlty decided to train him to be a pony horse. Going from direct reining to neck reining was pretty easy - I mean that he is a pretty willing horse, but there was definite confusion in the beginning. To be a good pony horse, for me, I need to be able to rely on them while my focus is predominately on the other horse. He does very well with the slightest leg cues, so this has helped tremendously - he is very used to leg cues and slight weight adjustments in the rider. We have been working at it for about 6 mos. He ponied a copuple inexperienced horses in the beginning and then I realized that having him pony a more experienced horse was a better way to start off. So, at this point, he has ponied mostly experienced horses and a couple young stallions I was getting under saddle. Working with the more experienced horses helped a lot so they BOTH knew what theyre doing (basicallly) and this gave him a lot of confidence (and me!) while we were working on the different handling. I used to have a wonderful pony horse that I never had to put much focus on, I cld just let my body do the cues and trust he wld always respond well. That allowed me to be relaxed and put my focus on the young ones who needed my attention. Also a PLUS for the safety of all three of us! I think, if you have not already worked with a "fluent" pony horse - that getting some time on their back and working with them will help you know better how to direct ur mare. It really helped that I had this one gelding for so long that was an incredibly generous pony horse. We got many babies under saddle together! This helped me know what to work on most with Salem. I wasnt sure if you wanted more specific training techniques or a related story-experience. Im happy to share more specifically if you had any specific Qs. Salem is doing very well and really enjoys working out and having a job. He and I will start ponying my young stallion in the next few weeks. Good luck and have fun! |
Member: Lorrieg |
Posted on Friday, Apr 9, 2004 - 9:49 am: Thanks Dina,It's been a long time since I have ponied another horse, so I think your suggestion of starting by ponying a more experienced one is a very good idea. If I have anymore specific questions I'll let you know, meanwhile take care and congratulations on having such a good guy to help you work with your youngsters! Thanks, Lorrie |
Member: Brandi |
Posted on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2005 - 3:20 am: Hope it's okay to rekindle this discussion...slightly modified.I am having a rough time with a ponyhorse and a "packed" horse, and could use some advice. I have a 10 yo gelding being re-habbed from a tendon and ligament injury, requiring, at the moment, 45 minutes of hand-walking 7 days a week. I also have an 11 yo mare in a reconditioning program requiring 5 days a week of riding, about an hour a day. Time constraints led me to start ponying the gelding from the mare, so she gets a nice long warm up while he gets his required walking, but it's not working. The mare is typically bold, but she harbors fear of the gelding, therefore spends way too much time acting aggressive (pinned ears and head nods/chomping at him) to try to scare him off. The gelding is reasonably well behaved, but not afraid of her, and will occasionally nip at her. I try to keep them focused on their respective selves, but each time I ride it's getting worse. He tends to be a bit reactive, so when he skitters or shies, she freaks out and flies backward from him. Once he's at the end of his rope (which is NOT tied to her, but in my hand as long as I'm able to safely keep hold of it), and begins coming toward us (usually calmly walking at this point)--because he's responding to the pull of the rope--she thinks he's bearing down on her and continues to scurry backward or spin like crazy away from him. I have to somehow get him to back up a few steps (seeming submissive to her) in order to get her to stop and try to get them back together. Once I get them organized again, she gets dead-set on kicking him. And just as I knew it would happen, today when she tried to kick him for about the 3rd time, he bites back and gets me right in the knee. No major damage, I had jeans on thank goodness (to think the first time I ponied them together I was bareback and in shorts on her!). But I know now that I've got to fix this before I get hurt. Fortunately she's not a good kicker due to a leg injury from when she was young, so I'm mostly only worried about me, getting bitten or unseated between the two of them during a dual freak-out like the one that happened in the first 3 minutes of our session today (I have a solid seat but I'm not stupid enough to think I couldn't lose it easily). Am I crazy to think that I can make this work? She's an exceptionally well trained horse who, though never a great pony horse, was trained to tolerate young horses and their antics. Unfortunately my gelding is obviously a threat to her, and because he is stall-bound due to his injury, they are completely unable to "work out" the hierarchy. All of my geldings have always gotten along fine, even when ponying the lead horse from the low-man. And this mare has only been with me for 4 months--I know NOTHING about mares (except that they can be VERY cranky, even when pregnant!). If there is hope to fix it, which horse should I be concentrating the most on? So I'll tally up the votes on who thinks I would be crazy to continue and those who think I have a fighting chance, please send your advice. And if anyone has any tips on how the heck I am going to accomplish both sessions independently if I can't get them to work together, please share. Thanks. |
Member: Chrism |
Posted on Tuesday, Jul 26, 2005 - 11:50 am: There is something called a body wrap the TTEAM people use. It is basically 2 polo wraps end to end, arranged in a figure 8 around the horse. The smaller top loop is around the neck and the larger loop is around the butt, under the tail. It criss crosses in front of the saddle. I have seen it used to give a horse security (cradling it in the wrap) needed for loading, in scarey new places, learning new things. I have also seen it recommended for kickers working in an arena that are fearful of horses coming up behind them.I am not sure if it would help your lead horse, but it might be worth a try. After putting it on (make sure it will stay put), be sure the horse is acclimated to it well before deciding to mount. Then work a bit without the ponied horse. Assuming all goes well, you can try ponying again. For more on TTEAM try: https://tteam-ttouch.com/ I've not other ideas. |