Circles on a Lead

As discussed previously, the cues to call the horse are to step backward, call him with your voice cue, and possibly motion to him with the whip. After your horse is doing that from a standstill, it’s time to add some energy to the equation.

Start by sending the horse around you, wearing a halter and long lead, on a left circle in a round pen. Hold the rope in your left hand and a longe whip or training stick in your right hand. Once the horse has gone around in one or two circles, swing the whip under the rope and out in front of him, which will block his forward motion.

At the same time, call your horse with your voice cue and step back, drawing him to you. Repeat this a few times, then go the other way and repeat the exercise with the horse traveling on circles to the right.

Leave the lead on in the beginning to help the horse understand that he should come to you, that way you can pull on the lead if necessary. Since you have already taught the horse how to do this from a standstill, this part should be relatively easy.

Loose Horse

Once you have had some success, take the halter and lead off and repeat the exercise with the horse loose. Send him around, cut him off just a little bit, and at the same time back up to draw him to you.

In some ways it becomes easier once the horse is loose because you don’t have to worry about getting tangled up in the lead rope. However, if you’re having any trouble, just put the halter and lead back on until the horse figures this exercise out.

You can practice this at different gaits, but I often find the trot is best because there will be enough energy without things getting too fast.

Liberty Circles

There are some misconceptions when it comes to horses circling at liberty; the main one is that a horse running around in a round pen without a halter on is not really a horse circling at liberty because the round pen is holding the horse in. It seems if the pen were bigger, then the horse would be farther away, so it’s not true liberty.

We always start in a pen, but you want to work toward the horse circling with a strong enough connection to you that in theory, he could be doing small circles around you in a 100-acre field.

The only tool you will need for this part is a whip (either a longe whip or buggy whip) or a training stick. Start by backing up to draw the horse to you.

When he comes to you, stop backing and use the whip to guide him around you as if you were longeing. However, only send the horse about half a circle around you and then back up again and call him to you.

Stop and pet the horse. Keep building off of this. Draw the horse to you, then have him start to circle a bit more, and then draw him back again.

What keeps the horse with you is the thought that he shouldn’t go far because at any second, you are going to call him back, and then he can stop and take a break. Your horse should look at being with you as his “happy place” for this training to work.

Advancing to Next Steps

Build up to where your horse will circle a few times around you before you call him back. If you notice that he looks like he’s going to leave while doing a circle, call him back right away (before he leaves).

If the horse does leave, move him briskly around the perimeter of the pen once or twice, then call him back and repeat the exercise. He will likely learn quickly that it’s easier to do the small, slower circles around you than the bigger, faster ones around the full pen.

Practice on both sides at both the walk and trot. Eventually you can do liberty circles at the lope, but make sure the trot is nearly perfect first.

Once your horse will come to you and circle both ways, you have an excellent liberty training foundation on your horse. From here, the world of liberty and all its possibilities open up to you. You can add obstacles, work in different settings, work with more than one liberty horse at once—and the list goes on. Use your imagination and have fun with it!

Watch our webinar with Jason & Bronwyn Irwin.

This article about building on liberty training basics appeared in the August 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Building on Liberty Basics appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

There are several ways to get started with liberty. Everyone has their own style, but I am going to explain how I start training a horse for liberty. What makes liberty work is to make the horse’s favorite place in the world with you.

I basically want to turn you into a giant magnet for your horse so that he is either with you, or if he is away from you, he will be thinking about getting back to you. This is the invisible connection that keeps a liberty horse attached to the trainer—his desire to be with that person.

However, even though the goal is to work at liberty, I like to begin the early liberty training with a halter and lead rope attached instead of turning the horse loose. With the rope attached, I can teach the liberty cues much easier, because I can help the horse more and keep things slower than I could if the horse was free in the very beginning.

One last point before you start: make sure your horse has good ground manners before you begin this training. If your horse is pushy and doesn’t have good ground manners, that’s going to cause problems.

In the early stages of liberty training, you are going to be bringing your horse to you a lot, which teaches him to want to be with you. However, if your horse is rude, then he will likely end up pushing into you, which isn’t safe.

To get started, you will need a halter, lead rope, and a longe whip.

Watch our webinar with Jason & Bronwyn Irwin.

Step 1

Pick a voice cue to call your horse. It can be any word or a whistle or just about any other sound.

If you ever watched old Westerns, you have probably seen at least a few where the hero whistles or calls out and the horse comes running to save the day—usually just in the nick of time. This is the same idea. I usually say the word “here!”

Step 2

Stand your horse beside the arena wall or a good fence. Start out with the fence on your horse’s right side.

Stand in front of the horse holding the lead rope in your left hand and the longe whip in your right hand.

Step 3

Back away from your horse, and at the same time lower your whip. Give the voice cue to come to you, and then tap very lightly on the horse’s left shoulder.

If your horse starts walking toward you when you tap him, that’s great. However, if he doesn’t, it’s OK. As you back up, the lead rope will tighten, which will give the halter a tug and bring the horse to you anyway.

What is important is to give the voice cue before the tap on the shoulder; the horse needs a chance to respond to the verbal cue before feeling the tap.

Step 4

As the horse is walking toward you, keep backing up. When you’re ready to stop, say “whoa” and lift your whip straight into the air.

The whip going up like this encourages the horse to stop, and later on, the whip being held up can be the cue for the horse to stand still, no matter how far away you are.

Repeat these steps several times. Once your horse is coming to you willingly, just motion toward him, but don’t tap as often.

Step 5

Turn your horse around so that the fence is now on his left side. Stand in front of him holding the lead rope in your right hand and the longe whip in your left hand, then repeat all the same steps tapping on his left shoulder.

Repeat until your horse is walking toward you as soon as you motion with the whip and begin backing away. Be sure to be very inviting to the horse with your posture and expression.

When the horse comes to me, I pet him (usually using the whip) to teach him that all pressure goes away as soon as he comes to me.

Step 6

The idea behind using the fence and tools as described is to make coming to you the easiest thing for the horse to do.

The horse is held in on one side because the fence is there; he likely won’t go the other way because the longe whip is there, and he can’t go backward because of the lead rope attached to him. Coming to you, therefore, becomes the most logical thing for him to do.

However, we don’t want to be stuck at the fence forever, so now it’s time to get away from it and move around in the middle of the arena. Sometimes I will hold a second whip (such as a dressage whip) in my other hand. This way I can gently guide the horse back toward me if he veers off to either side. If you’re holding two whips, you would lower both to bring the horse to you and raise both to ask for the stop.

Step 7

If your horse is coming to you the moment you call him and is following you around willingly, it’s time to get rid of the physical connection. Take off the lead rope or put it around the horse’s neck. Practice calling the horse to you and stopping him, and if it’s going really well, you can get rid of the halter and lead rope completely.

You’re now working at liberty! To learn the next steps, stay tuned for Part 2 of this liberty training series.

This article about how to start training a horse for liberty appeared in the July 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post How to Start Training a Horse for Liberty appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

As a clinician, there are a few training mistakes that I see again and again that are pretty easy to avoid once you know to watch out for them. At one point or another, I have fallen into all of these traps myself, and would like to help others avoid them.

1. Boring Your Horse

This problem is becoming more common all the time. It usually comes from a good place on the part of the trainer; he or she is trying to be thorough and cover all the necessary training steps, then repeat them until the horse has it down pat.

Although repetition is important when it comes to training horses, non-stop repetition is boring, takes away a horse’s desire to learn, and makes the training uninteresting. Think about the most boring teacher you ever had in school, and you probably get the picture.

Start to think in terms of quality instead of quantity when it comes to training. When you’re getting a good response from your horse, move on from that lesson for the day and do something else. Also try mixing in new lessons or putting little twists on old ones to change things up.

2. Only Trail Riding or Only Riding in an Arena

If you always ride in an arena, you stand a pretty good chance of ending up with a horse that knows a lot of maneuvers and handles well in a controlled environment, but he’s probably lacking in overall life skills because he hasn’t been exposed to much.

If you always ride in a straight line on a trail ride, you will likely have a horse that is very quiet and has been exposed to lots of things, but probably doesn’t handle very well—and he likely steers like a big cruise ship.

You need both types of training. You don’t need an actual arena to do what I’m going to refer to here as “arena-type exercises.” To have a well-rounded horse, you should work on improving suppling, steering, leg-yielding, and all the other exercises that you might do in an arena that will get your horse well-trained and handy.

You also need to spend time riding your horse on the trails to expose him to the world and to mix things up. Better yet, practice your arena exercises on the trail to make for a really well-rounded horse.

3. Too Many Programs

With so much horsemanship information available today from so many different sources, it’s very easy to get swamped with information and overwhelmed. This becomes a problem is when you take all this information and jumble it together, or even worse, constantly change the program you’re using.

Not all horsemanship programs fit together, and thinking you’re going to throw everything into a big bowl and mix it together often isn’t that effective. Think of it this way: If you add chocolate chips to a pancake mix, you have a slightly different type of pancake, which is fine. If you add onions, trout, and a bag of chips, it’s probably not going to be a very good mix, even though all those things are good on their own.

As you become more experienced, you can add little parts from different programs, but in the beginning, it’s usually better to stay the course with the program that you’re planning on using.

Constantly changing programs can be the most damaging because the horse never gets a chance to succeed. If every lesson is something completely different, he never gets a fair chance to learn anything properly.

This would be no different than if someone tried to teach you five new languages at the same time; chances are, you’re going to be overwhelmed and throw your hands up in frustration. I have seen several people take this approach with their horses, and they often end up with a horse that shuts down because he feels that he never gets a win and has never done anything right. Some horses will take it harder and completely blow up because they’re so exasperated.

I’m not saying that you can’t learn from everyone. But you need to stay the course with your training if it’s working and make small changes as you go instead of constantly making big changes.

If what you’re doing isn’t working, then you can make some bigger changes as needed. Also, as you get more experienced, you’ll know what can be added into your program with good results.

4. Tack or Equipment “Quick Fix”

Of course, you should use good tack and equipment that fits properly and is suitable for the job you’re trying to do.

What I’m referring to here is constantly looking for that one tool that’s supposedly going to fix everything with your horse. We all know that person who’s always buying a new bit, is constantly changing saddles, and is looking for every new training contraption on the market to fix the problems they’re having with their horse.

Switching equipment can help in some cases, but more often than not, the changes are minor. The main problem that I have with this isn’t so much that the person is changing equipment, but that they’re putting the focus and effort in the wrong places.

Assuming your horse is sound and healthy, 99 percent of the time the solution to training issues rests with you, his trainer. I can’t begin to tell you the number of times people have told me they were going to buy something new to fix a problem when it couldn’t have been more obvious that the person was making a training error.

While you shouldn’t be opposed to changing equipment if you’re having a problem, ask yourself honestly if you could be making a training error that is causing the problem. It’s pretty hard to buy the solution to a training problem—it’s likely going to be matter of working on yourself and your horsemanship.

What to Do with the Knowledge of Common Horse Training Mistakes

By being aware of the mistakes that are frequently made when training horses, you can spot the traps more easily and avoid them. I hope these tips help you in your horsemanship journey.

More Horse Training Advice from Jason Irwin

◆ Jason and Bronwyn Irwin Horsemanship Website
◆ Teach Your Horse to Stand Still While Mounting
◆ Training Your Horse to Cross Water

This article about common horse training mistakes appeared in the October 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Common Horse Training Mistakes appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Crossing water is one of those things that’s either fun to do with your horse, or it’s exasperating—there doesn’t seem to be much middle ground. However, if a horse is trained to cross water willingly, it’s easy and very useful.

To teach your horse to cross water, pick a water crossing that isn’t too deep so that you don’t get into trouble. Generally, the narrower the water crossing, the easier it is to get the horse to the other side. However, the narrower the crossing, the more likely the horse is to try to jump it instead of going through it. An area without heavy mud is better because if the horse feels his front feet sinking in the mud before he even gets to the water, you’re going to have more trouble getting through.

First Steps to Crossing Water

Ideally, you’ll want to start introducing your horse to water crossing by following a rider on a more experienced horse through the water the first few times. In some situations you won’t have another person to help you, however, so we’ll treat this as if you’re by yourself.

Start by riding your horse back and forth beside the water a few times. This lets him see the water, and turning back and forth also lets him know that you’re the one calling the shots. Occasionally when a horse gets near water, he will get nervous and stop listening to you. The more your horse does this, the more you should turn back and forth before attempting to cross the water.

NOTE: When turning your horse back and forth, always turn toward the water. I never turn away, because if my horse is nervous, he might bolt away once he’s facing away from the water. Also, for the purpose of this exercise, I don’t want him thinking that turning away from the water is an option.

Approaching the Water

Once your horse is listening well, it’s time to approach the water. Pick the spot where you’re going to cross. You must be very specific here. Don’t attempt to just cross the water wherever—you want to cross at that one specific spot. If you’re too vague, your horse might take advantage of your indecision and go near the water but not through it.

It is now your job to keep your horse’s nose pointed at that spot no matter what he does. If he spooks, bolts, backs up, et cetera, you still need to keep his nose pointed at the spot you want to cross. If you can do that, eventually the rest of the horse is going to follow his nose. Approach the spot straight on; don’t come in on an angle, or it will be too easy for him to veer off to the side.

Walk your horse toward the water; chances are he will get close and then stop. When he stops, just sit there and let him look. Take all pressure off him and pet him if you can. If you let him stand for a minute, this will let your horse know that this spot is a good place to be.

This is important, because if your horse starts to really resist going into the water and you end up in an argument, it’s easy to find yourself farther away from the water than where you started. If you let him have this one rest spot, at least you will be able to get back to it and start over from there.

Now that he’s standing and looking at the water, chances are he will start moving again after a few moments. If he moves toward the water, allow him to go. If he tries to move to one side or the other, keep his nose pointed at the spot and then use your legs to keep him straight.

If your horse backs up, squeeze very lightly with your legs. Eventually he’s going to stop, and the moment he takes a step forward, release the leg pressure. If he takes 20 steps backward and only one step forward, I’m still happy.

Keep working at this. Most horses that don’t want to cross water will give three or four good attempts to get away by turning to the right and left and by backing up. If you stay with this and remain calm while keeping your horse’s nose pointed straight at your designated crossing spot, your horse is going to start to see that there is no escape.

Once he realizes this, usually he’ll take a few steps closer to the water. Be sure to let him stand and relax when he does this. The biggest mistake you can make is to start squeezing and kicking when your horse starts moving forward. He’s already doing the right thing by moving ahead, so don’t ask for too much.

Investigating the Water

Eventually your horse is going to get right up to the water. Chances are high that he’ll now start pawing at the water and put his nose down to investigate. Allow him do this, because even though he’s not crossing the water, he’s interested enough to be investigating it instead of running away from it.

It might take two minutes and it might take 20, but if you keep up with this, eventually he’s going to cross the water. How long it takes depends on how quickly he understands that moving forward is the only option.

Be aware that your horse might jump a narrow crossing, so you might have to grab the horn or some mane if that happens. When horses cross for the first time, some will cross at a snail’s pace. However, most will rush through once they get partway in. Just let your horse rush out and then walk some big circles once you reach the other side. Keep doing that until he is calm and relaxed.

Cementing Success in Crossing Water

Once your horse has settled, I recommend crossing back and forth several times. You’ve done the hardest part, so repeat it until your horse is doing it easily so you won’t have to start at square one another day.

Once you’ve crossed a few times, ask him to go through without letting him stop or put his head down to investigate and think about it. You now want him crossing the water as if he’s expected to, not like he has to decide whether it’s a good idea each time.

If you have a horse that keeps on jumping water instead of going through it, you there are a couple of things you can try. One is to keep crossing back and forth until your horse becomes a bit tired. At this point, most horses start to slow down and think about the crossing instead of overreacting.

Also Read: Teach Your Horse to Go Through Water on the Trail

If I have a horse that will not stop jumping the water, sometimes I’ll find a water crossing to practice that’s very wide, where the horse can’t reach the other side if he jumps. A shallow pond or a round pen after a heavy rain are good choices. Once the horse realizes he can’t jump to the other side, he’ll likely start going in properly.

Try to end your session on a calm note. If you repeat the water crossing lesson a few days in a row, you will likely have a horse that crosses water willingly for the rest of his life.

All the best to you and your horse!

This article about crossing water with your horse appeared in the August 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Training Your Horse to Cross Water appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Just because many horses move off when their riders try to mount, it doesn’t mean that the issue isn’t a serious one. It can range from inconvenient to downright dangerous if your horse takes off when you’re halfway on. For safety’s sake, instead of just getting by and trying to keep the problem from getting worse, dedicate a little time to teach your horse to stand still while mounting. Here’s how.

Before Teaching to Stand Still While Mounting

It’s tricky to teach a horse to stand for mounting if he has so much energy that he won’t stand still, period. To make the following exercises easier, it’s a good idea to longe your horse or work him in a round pen before starting the lesson to get rid of any excess energy that makes the lessons harder.

Your goal shouldn’t be to hold your horse still; he must learn to stand still on his own without relying on you to hold him there. The more you try to hold your horse still, the more most horses will want to start moving. If nothing else, you’ll accidentally teach your horse that when you’re not holding him, that’s his cue to start moving.

Test and Back

To begin the lesson, have your horse tacked up and stand beside him on his left side, assuming you usually mount from the left side. (Note: If you normally use a mounting block, don’t use it in the beginning, as this will make this stage easier, plus you’re not actually mounting at this point.)

Hold both reins in your left hand. Have the left rein run directly to your hand, and have the right rein run behind the horn or the pommel of your saddle and then to your hand. Using your right hand, start creating a stimulus to trick your horse into thinking that you’re in the process of mounting up.

You can pull the horn, swing the fender, put pressure on the stirrup, et cetera. Start small and gradually increase what you’re doing until your horse takes the bait and walks off. When he does, immediately take hold of the right rein with your right hand. Now holding a rein in each hand, put pressure on the reins and ask your horse to back up. Don’t go too fast or put too much pressure on the reins, but use enough that he realizes he wasn’t supposed to move forward.

Now let your horse stand, then repeat the process. Keep creating a stimulus and backing him up every time he tries to move forward.

Once your horse won’t move, stay in the same position and try jumping up and down a little bit. Some horses move off because they see the rider start to raise up in the stirrup, so this is another way to see if he’s really going to stand still while mounting. If the horse moves off, just back him up again. Keep this up until your horse won’t move a single step forward.

The next part depends a bit on you. If you can put your foot in the stirrup and you can stand up in the left stirrup and stay standing in the stirrup, do that holding the reins in your left hand while putting your other hand on the saddle or horse to balance yourself.

If your horse wants to move a little bit, back him up one step using your reins. If he wants to really move, step off quickly and back him up from the ground.

When you find standing in one stirrup awkward, then skip this step. Instead, do more preparation work on the ground first before trying to mount up.

After Mounting Your Horse

Once you feel good about getting in the saddle, go ahead and do so. If your horse is standing still, immediately start petting and rubbing him. This is for two reasons: One is to obviously reward him for standing still. The other is that the rubbing and petting will give your horse something to think about and will often keep his focus so that he won’t be thinking as much about walking off.

If he does move forward, immediately back him up and then begin rubbing again. Once he has been still for 15 seconds or so, ask him to move forward. It’s very important that you ask him to move instead of letting him move when he chooses to. You need him to wait on your cue to move forward—I can’t emphasize enough how important that is.

Toward the end of your normal ride, dismount and repeat the mounting lessons. When your horse is fresh, standing still doesn’t seem like a good idea to your horse. It’s easier to get the standing still training done later on when your horse doesn’t have as much energy and really doesn’t want to move as much.

Repeat these lessons over several rides and gradually lengthen the time that your horse stands after mounting before asking him to move forward. Even when he knows how to stand still, it’s important to begin rides by mounting and waiting for 30 seconds to a minute before moving. Once that becomes a habit, you will have a horse that stands like a statue while you get on, and he won’t move off until you ask.

This article about how to teach your horse to stand still while mounting appeared in the May 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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