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joann mitcham
Member
Username: joann
Post Number: 48
Registered: 8-2004
| | Posted on Saturday, Aug 11, 2007 - 5:39 pm: |   |
I looked around at all the training and behavior categories but did not see anything on how to pony another horse. Anyone with suggestions? |
Holly Wood
Member
Username: hwood
Post Number: 2090
Registered: 3-2001
| | Posted on Saturday, Aug 11, 2007 - 7:29 pm: | |
Joann, we just had a discussion on this subject, but I don't remember what was the title of the post. I can't remember, but it seems that if you do a search of the words that some posts would come up. |
Tonya Bauer
Member
Username: pbauer
Post Number: 279
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007 - 7:29 pm: | |
Dear Joanne,
The discussion that, Holly, referred to was originally posted by: Diane Freese on Monday, Jul 23, 2007...under the title: Trail Riding Safety.
Hope this will help!
My Best,
Tonya |
cp
Member
Username: cpacer
Post Number: 391
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, Aug 16, 2007 - 11:39 am: | |
Hi Joann,
I don't know what stage you're at in your ponying, but my suggestions for beginning are:
1. Get the riding horse used to having ropes touching his neck, sides, ears, head, anywhere a rope might accidentally hit him (get handy with the rope yourself)
2. Make sure the horse to be ponied is very light in the halter from the ground first
3. If horse being ponied plants his feet then use the riding horse to move the ponied horse's hinds. It's great when the riding horse figures out it's his job to get the ponied horse moving cause they'll give them a little nip in the hind to get them moving (less work for you)
4. If you're doing it in a western saddle and plan to use the horn for leverage, then get your riding horse used that kind of pressure on the saddle. You can practice by dragging a log or something to make sure he doesn't get worried about it
This is just what I was taught when learning to pony--others might have better ideas... |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: imogen
Post Number: 993
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, Aug 16, 2007 - 3:33 pm: | |
cp - would you mind explaining exactly how you get the planted horse to move its rear end? What approach do you take exactly?
We are going to have a lot of fields with maize cut available for riding in the next month or so and I plan some ponying lessons for my 2 yo but the riding horse I will use is a bit silly so I want to know what I am trying to do first...
Thanks...
Imogen |
cp
Member
Username: cpacer
Post Number: 392
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Friday, Aug 17, 2007 - 10:19 am: | |
Hi Imogen! I will try and share what I was taught without getting long-winded, and must make it known that I'm far from a pro on this!
I had a horseman/clinician work with me on this, but did it before the horse I wanted to pony was light in the halter, so he lagged behind and planted his feet a lot. I'm not very coordinated with the rope which made it kind of difficult for me to try and control my horse, mess with the ropes, and try to get the other horse moving.
It was very helpful for me that my riding horse was pretty good maneuvering with only leg queues, and for us a prerequisite to doing anything is to have good front and hind-quarters down (a basis according to the trainer I work with).
We had a 12' lead with a popper on the pony horse, so with the lead in your hand as you go to walk off and the horse lags you turn your riding horses energy (using a front or hind) to the hind of the pony horse and motivate (pop if nec.) him to move/disengage hips as you continue the movement out of the circle and forward, of course taking the pressure away as soon as he does. And when he stops, you do it again, and again, and then on the other side. It's a lot of work! Luckily my riding horse started helping me get the hips moving out by giving a little nip so I wouldn't have to use the popper—I would turn my horse around toward the other horses hip and soon enough he knew to get moving before any nip would even have to take place.
In later sessions we worked on getting the horse being lead lighter in the halter from the ground, which I think would have been helpful to have done beforehand. I'm sure you know how to do it from the ground, it's almost the same just using your horse instead (I guess teaching this from a horse is easier for people who have been doing it for a while, not me though). Anyway, for the ground lesson it was almost the same, but didn't take as much movement on our part for him to know what I wanted. When he'd start to lag on the lead I'd focus my energy on his hip while maintaining a forward motion.
Don't know if this made any sense whatsoever, but hope it helps. I'd be happy to try and elaborate on any part of it! |
Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: imogen
Post Number: 994
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Aug 17, 2007 - 4:57 pm: | |
Perfect except... what is a popper?
Imogen |
cp
Member
Username: cpacer
Post Number: 395
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Friday, Aug 17, 2007 - 5:12 pm: | |
it's the little leather thingy at the end of those trendy rope halter leads. End of a regular lead line would probably work too, or even a longer style crop if that's what you might be used to (one more thing to carry though). |
