Posts Tagged ‘Training Aids’

Horse training aids provide you with a useful trade to help you have success when training your horse. When it comes to training a horse, you don’t want to pass over your investment in training aids. Horse training is a serious issue and training aids can make sure a trainer stays safe. It is best to make sure you have the following necessary horse training aids before you start training your horse.

Every trainer is going to need a halter and lead rope combination. The rope halter allows you to tie and lead which is often better than a flat halter, which is uncomfortable for the horse and prevents leaning. When you are working with a horse, it is important to have a rope halter as a part of your equipment.

Next, you need a lead rope to attach to your halter. This lead rope is used to steer and direct your horse. This is a very important training aid since it acts like a leash and allows you to tell your horse what you want them to do.

Another valuable horse training aid is the longe line. Longeing is a term for a set of training skills that teach a horse direction, posture and yielding or moving because of pressure. The longe line will allow you to accomplish these goals.

A popular training tool among many trainers is a progress string. This thin, braided rope has an eye splice at one end and a leather popper on the other. You can use it in a variety of ways. They can be a visual aid for horses to know when they are in your space. It can also be a physical tool for you to have contact while in the saddle. The progress strain isn’t heavy to cause pain, but the popper end has a distinct noise and can be used in place of a crop.

For a less traditional horse training method, you should consider getting a large rubber ball. This type of rubber ball can be bought at a toy store and can be used to successfully condition horse’s nerves. Simply roll the ball around them and gently bump it into their legs so they won’t become startled.

The horse can also be directed from the saddle in order to have them gently move the ball with their legs. This way your horse can become desensitized to unexpected movements or objects. Thereby, reducing a horse from becoming spooked.

The last less traditional horse training aid you can use is a simple plastic tarp. The tarp can be used to develop a horse’s courage while providing you with a cheap training aid. All you have to do is place the tarp in the training area and lead your horse over it so they walk across it by themselves.

As the horse walks across the tarp, it will make a noise and provide them with a strange footing environment. This will develop the trust between a trainer and horse while providing them with desensitizing to noisy situations for when you take them out on a trail ride.

This is by no means a complete list of all the horse training aids available on the market, but it can provide you with something to work with. This list provides you with the basic and necessary training aids for your horse so you can get started with your training program. Once you progress in your horse training you can start using advanced horse training aids and tactics so that you have continued progress.

Sheryll Walker is a horse training enthusiast, helping numbers of people to learn secrets of training horses.

To discover more helpful horse training aids and learn about natural horse training, visit HorseTrainingHelp.com.

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Author: Sheryll Walker
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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One of the best ways to get started training a young horse or any horse for that matter is at liberty in the round pen. First-what do we mean by “at liberty”? All that means is that we remove all control and training aids from the horse-so that there’s no halter, bridle, or lead/lunge line. Aside from being inside the round pen, the horse is basically free. A bridle or halter, of course, doesn’t really matter, what’s important here is severing direct control between the handler (you) and the horse.

Why is it that round pen training is so effective when training a young horse?

If done correctly, round pen training allows you to build leadership and trust with your horse in a fundamental way that he naturally understands. And this can be done in an essentially safe environment-something that’s really important to keep in mind. Safety should always be your priority with equines. The less training a horse has, the more control we need to maintain safety. And when training a young horse it turns out a round pen is just what the doctor ordered. When done at liberty, the horse is free to move and work through his fears without feeling panicked or confined-even though in reality the horse is confined, by the virtue of being in a round pen he can move off from a scary stimulus if he chooses to do so. Now nothing is perfect-and there will be occasions when a horse feels panicked in a round pen or even escapes-I’ve seen that happen. But in the vast majority of cases, a round pen will safely confine a horse-while giving him the ability to freely move.

Earlier we mentioned that round pen training is really effective when training a young horse. And in fact its a great tool to use when starting any horse. Let’s see why in more detail.

The first reason is that a round pen produces a setting within which it is pretty easy to establish leadership-a vital step in training a young horse. This is due to the way that horses naturally establish their heirarchy in a herd (wild or otherwise). Every group of horses that lives together has a hierarchical structure and every horse knows his rank. One thing you will see dominant horses doing is making the other horses move around. I once herd a phrase that sums this up: control the feet, control the horse. In the round pen, you mimic this behavior by controlling the movement of your equine in four basic ways:

• You tell him when to move
• You tell him what direction to move
• You tell him how fast to move
• You decide when he can come to a stop

Even better-by working at liberty you’re going to be controlling the movement of your horse using energy and body language. So its all going to seem quite natural to the horse-and he will instinctively see you as his trusted leader. Another aspect of working at liberty is that you are also building communications-another vital step in training a young horse successfully. Your communication skills which you start off in the round pen will carry over to riding-by applying pressure to the appropriate spots on the horse. In the round pen, when working at liberty, you learn to apply pressure with energy and body language. This makes the round pen not just valuable to your animal-it makes it a great training school for you too! If you are able to master communication with your horse using only energy and body language-think about how effective you’ll be when riding and using your reins and legs. You will be able to talk to your horse from the saddle light as can be.

As one specific example, if you want your horse to move out while in the round pen focus your energy and body language on his hip area. At first, you will need a tool to help out-but you should have good success without actually touching the horse as time goes on. Suppose you keep a lead rope with you. You can swing the lead rope in the direction of the hip, without actually striking the horse to ask him to move out. But what you should really be thinking about is focusing your gaze on the top of his hip-and directing energy there. Focus your gaze on the spot where you would actually tap the horse with your crop if you were using that method.

If the horse doesn’t respond, and he may not the first few times, then up the volume. Swing the rope more vigorously, and then let it strike the ground. If the horse still doesn’t move, then at this point direct contact may be necessary. But you will find with practice that less direct contact is required.

Don’t be discouraged if you don;t have complete success at first-nobody becomes a horse whisperer in a day. Keep practicing! With time you will find you need less actual contact with your horses to get them to do what you ask. Round pen training is a great place to start training a young horse or a horse you don’t know, to brush up with an old horse or to just work on your own equine communication skills.

David McMahon is a freelance author who is owned by 3 horses. For more information, please visit Gentle natural horsemanship.

Author: David McMahon
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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