How To Improve Your Trail Horse
Ride with 2 hands until he is real good at keeping same speed at trot (or
gait) and canter and listening to you. You will be stronger and quicker with 2 hands then 1, especially if your horse is not
fully trained.
When on trail every 10 min
or so give him something to do-change speed (trot 10 steps, then walk or stop, then canter 20 steps, then back to walk etc),
go over log, leg yield, serpentine, stop and back up, circle around a tree, something to keep his attention on you
Don't let horse look around, his head should be straight and
down, anytime he lifts it up, or looks around, pick up contact and hold till he drops his head and relaxes, there is no reason
to look around unless you want him to spook, if you do this all the time, he will just naturally keep his head down in time
and pay attention
When riding with buddies, try to
switch up, being in front, back and next to each other, so both horses practice and don't get in their mind that they
are the leader. Horses have a social order, and they compete for it daily just like you see on animal
planet. So they need to understand when they are working, there is no order just what you tell them. If you don't
they will compete for it when you are riding them. Just like people, there are natural followers and natural leaders, you
can't expect the follower to lead if he never gets to practice and you can't expect the leader to follow if he has
no trust in the other horse leading.
The lead horse looks for danger in
front, the followers look for danger behind them, that is why the lead horse usually has his ears forward and the follower
has his ears back. Remember horses have strong instincts and to make them good trail horses, they have to learn to not listen
to those instincts but to listen to its rider, which is always his leader.
When trotting or gaiting, always be ready with your reins to show the horse the speed you want, if a jog,
use alittle leg and be ready to half halt if he goes too fast, if you want a foward trot use more leg and less rein, then
steady him with the rein when you have the speed you want. Same thing goes for a flat walk vs a running walk. Relax the rein
anytime he stays the speed, half halt anytime he gets faster. The horse wants you to leave him alone so once he figures it
out, he will keep that speed. When slowing down always sit, relax then pull and the horse will start to slow down as soon
as you sit and relax. If trotting next to another horse, you must both keep the same speed, talk with each other. Other wise
you just made it a competition for the horse and if they bite at each other, pin ears etc, they are doing what is natural
and you and your buddy need to fix what you are doing and get the same speed.
If trotting in a line, the lead rider always needs to check on the other horse to make sure they are not
getting too far behind, as this also will set some horses off. If you practice over time getting further away from each other,
then its not a big deal.
Cantering - you must talk
to each other, lets canter now, so you both ask your horses at same time, other wise when the lead horse canters, the follower
will automatically want to go to (instincts)
Either canter in a line, or
canter next to each other, never pass each other or gallop until your horses can canter well and are under control on the
trail. If you pass a horse the other horse will fear that he is being left and will be eaten (instincts).
As soon as you canter, pick the speed by using your reins, don't just kick and go and hope he stays
slow, pick a slow canter or a working canter, talk with each other- hey i'm right behind you can you speed up or slow
down your too far ahead- otherwise they will act up, buck etc.
If horses are good, keep cantering for awhile and let them practice, if getting
strong immediately come back to a walk and walk for awhile, till they are calm and then canter again. Try to canter multiple
times on the trail, so it just becomes a part of trail riding, try to canter each trail ride
Never canter toward home as this will always be faster and you can make your horse barn sour.
When he is fully trained, then you can occasionally canter toward home.
Always try to canter in different places, horses anticipate and if you always canter a certain hill, they
will remember and try to canter there. If you don't have alot of places to practice the canter, then sometimes canter
the top of that hill, sometimes canter the bottom, sometimes just trot or walk , change the routine up.
Lastly your horse should know how to do a one rein stop before you ever go
on the trail, teach it in the arena, then, if he spooks or ever tries to run off, you can immediately do a one rein
stop, and he will stop. The only way you can do this immediately is for you to practice it everyday, so it just becomes a
habit and you don't have to think when it happens, you will just do it. If he has galloped 20 feet, no it will probably
not work until he comes back to thinking instead of reacting, thats why you need to practice it and do the one rein stop before
he can even try to go 20 feet.
