Helping people understand how to train a horse

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Helping people understand how to train a horse

• Objective To demonstrate training techniques
  for horses, positive versus negative
  reinforcement, interactions of animal learning
  and behavior, physiology, husbandry and
  conditions of training.

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Things to know before training

• Breed type and characteristics
• Conditional state of horse
• Performance standards
• Husbandry Practices
• Physical Requirements
• Nutrition
• Learning and Behavior
• Training Objectives and Techniques
• (click any above to review a section)

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Horses are versatile animals. Different breeds
can be used for many different purposes.

• Different breeds have been developed for
• -Sports events hunting, dressage (show horses),
  jumping, racing, rodeo, barrel racing, polo
• -Agriculture
• -Pleasure riding
• How many horses are there in the US?

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Types of Breeds

• What kind of breeds are used?
• Hot blooded breeds (what is this?)
• Cold blooded breeds (what is this?)
• Warm blooded breeds (what is this?)

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Differences between Breeds

• Hot blooded (refers to saddle horse and racing
  breeds)
• These horses are characterize by athleticism,
  energy for stamina and endurance, sensitivity and
  intelligence
• Used for hunting, jumping, racing, pleasure
  riding
• Examples Arabian, Barb, Thoroughbred
• Return to previous

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Differences between Breeds

• Cold blooded (draft horse breeds)
• These horses are characterized by heavy muscling,
  and a calm and steady patient temperament
• Used for Ranch work, driving, hauling,
  show-rodeo, trail and pleasure riding
• Examples Clydesdale, Percheron, Belgian
• Return to previous

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Differences between Breeds

• Warm blooded(dressage and jumping breeds)
• Combined quickness and agility of hot bloods with
  the larger build and calmer temperament of cold
  bloods
• Characterized by agility and temperament
• Used for ranch work, western pleasure horses,
  trail and pleasure riding, showing
• Examples American Quarter horse, Appaloosa,
  Spanish mustang
• Return to Main Topics

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What Condition is your horse in?

• Question How old does my horse need to be to be
  trained?
• Initial training begins as soon as you receive
  the horse. The first step is to create a bond
  with your horse. Specific training after the
  horse is a yearling depends on the use of the
  horse.
• Age Range of Horses
• Foal-younger than a year
• (Foal is 1 years old Jan 1st regardless of
  actual birth month)
• Yearling-1-2 year
• Colt-male under 4
• Philly-female under 4
• Mare-female over 4
• Stallion-intact male over 4
• Gelding-castrated male at any age

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What Condition is your horse in?

• Where did you get your horse? Has it been
  abandoned or mistreated?
• Every year, thousands of horses are rescued from
  neglectful or abusive situations.
• Rescued horses have had little or no positive
  human contact, and their fight-or-flight
  instincts are set to flee from loud noises,
  sudden movements, harsh voices and unfamiliar
  objects.
• Is your horse healthy? Find out by comparing body
  condition scoring. (Click Here)

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What Condition is your horse in?

• How do I train an abused animal?
• 1. Start by spending time with the horse as
• often as possible.
• 2. Grooming creates a bond with your horse.
• Make sure every movement and touch is
• gentle, and avoid crowds or other horses
• until your horse in used to the new
• environment.
• 3. Once trust is gained, training can begin
• Click Here for more information on dealing with
  abused horses

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What Condition is your horse in?

• What do I expect from my horse? Is the use of my
  horse for sport or leisure?
• Performance of horses, whether in sports or
  leisure, depends on both their physical abilities
  and their temperament.
• How is performance evaluated?
• Answer working, riding and racing ability
• Return to Main Topics

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Performance of horses can be divided into
working, riding and racing

• Working Measurement of Performance
• Based on pulling ability or power.
• Cow sense-the ability to work with cattle, the
  usefulness of rounding up cattle on a range,
  roping an animal.
• Common breeds Clydesdale, Belgian, and American
  Quarter horse

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Performance of horses

• Riding Measurement of Performance
• Has a steady and patient temperament
• Is intelligent and sensitive to response
• Stamina oriented
• Common breeds American Quarter horse, Appaloosa,
  Arabian, Thoroughbred

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Performance of horses

• Racing Measurement of Performance
• Speed and endurance
• Running ability and longevity
• Best average track time
• Common breeds Arabian, Barb, Thoroughbred
• Return to Main Topics

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Husbandry Care and Management

• What kind of care do I need to provide my horse?
• Housing Pasture versus stables
• Horses are grazing animals therefore they need
  open areas to freely move about to obtain food,
  water and shelter.
• Pasture animals receive adequate amounts of
  exercise, and enjoy company of other animals.
• Horses kept in stables are limited on exercise
  and are often deprived of opportunities for
  social interaction.

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Husbandry Care and Management

• Maintenance
• Grooming strengthens the bond between horse and
  human, massages skin and muscles, improves
  circulation, improves hair coat quality, and
  allows own to inspect for scrapes, cuts, and
  swelling on skin.
• Hoofs should be picked clean daily to prevent
  infection, and to inspect for sign of injury.
• Teeth maintenance for health digestion.

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Husbandry Care and Management

• Management Practices
• Should be managed and fed individually
• Horses need to be socialized by formation of
  bonds with other animals for comfort and
  reduction of anxiety
• In training, a horse bonded to trainer will be
  submissive and readily follow commands
• Click here to review costs that you can expect
• Return to Main Topics

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Physiology

• Why do we train horses?
• To increase speed, strength and endurance to
  perform same amount of work with less effort.
• From training over time can strengthen heart
  muscle, in crease aerobic activity (more oxygen),
  change confirmation of muscles and increase lung
  capacity for respiration.

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Physiology

• Nutrition, what do horses require?
• A proper diet for the horse includes a soluble
  (dissolvable) carbohydrate, fiber, fat and
  protein, minerals and vitamins.
• Click here to see requirements
• Horses require different levels of energy based
  on the level of work that they do. To find out
  how much energy is required (click here work and
  energy cost)

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Different foods supply needed nutrition

• What do horses eat?
• Common legumes and grass hays fed to horses
• Legumes alfalfa, clovers
• Grasses bluegrass, bromegrass, orchard grass,
  timothy hay
• Horses also need
• Cereal grains barley, oats
• Some Apples and carrots
• Minerals and Vitamins
• Water

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Physiology

• Body Composition
• The horse has 3 types of skeletal muscle fibers
• White fibers (type II, fast twitch), anaerobic
  metabolism (without oxygen), low oxygen capacity,
  high glycolytic capacity (sugar production for
  energy), no lipid (fat) , fast contraction.
• Red Fibers (type I, slow twitch) aerobic
  metabolism (with oxygen), high oxygen capacity,
  intermediate glycolytic capacity, high lipid,
  slow contraction.
• Intermediate fiber, mixed metabolism (Type II,
  fast twitch), high oxygen capacity ,some lipid.
• I want more information on differences between
  fiber types (See Fiber Types in Horses)
• Return to Main Topics

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Learning and Behavior

• Natural Behavior
• Horses communicate through their body language
  (ear position, head and neck position, movement,
  pawing and tail swishing, nudging, biting or
  kicking) and vocalizations (whinnying and
  squealing) to communicate feelings and
  intensions.
• Fight or Flight instint-to flee when danger is
  near
• Horses are have a very social hierarchy. They
  respond to a dominant member of the herd and
  trust its leadership, dominance and protection.
• How do you determine if a horse is acting normal?
  (Temperament Test)

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Can you distinguish horse behavior?

• Q. 1 A horse is stationary in resting position,
  looking on the ground for food and nuzzles
  trainer. The horse has no vocalization and a
  normal tail carrying position.
• What temperament score would you give this horse?
• 1 see correct answer
• 2 see correct answer
• 3 see correct answer
• 4 see correct answer
• 5 see correct answer

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Can you distinguish horse behavior?

• Q. 2 A horse is walking to a novel object with
  ears erect and suddenly stops and makes vocal
  sounds at the object. As the horse progresses
  back and forth toward the object its tail
  occasionally elevates.
• What temperament score would you give this horse?
• 1 see correct answer
• 2 see correct answer
• 3 see correct answer
• 4 see correct answer
• 5 see correct answer

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• You are correct, the answer is a score of 1
• Return to question

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• You are incorrect, please try again
• Return to question

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• You are incorrect, please try again
• Return to question

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• You are correct, the answer is a score of 3
• Return to question

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Training and environment greatly affects the
learning capacity and behavior of a horse.

• A negatively environment affects the animals
  learning ability, trainability, along with the
  welfare of the horse.
• Environmental variables include, but are not
  limited to nutrition, t rainer experience, degree
  of and housing. The environmental condition a
  horse is exposed to may affect its learning
  ability.

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Behaviors to look for when training

• Alertness of surroundings
• Looking around with interest, ears erect in
  direction of surrounding noise/activities.
• Moving in direction commanded
• Approachable
• Standing when resting
• Eating regularly
• Responding to exercise
• Return to Main Topics

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Training Objectives

• We want to train so that our horses follow
  commands by
• Being lead by hand
• Standing while being groomed
• Picking up feet for health care
• Riding (pleasure, jumping, racing)
• Trailer loading
• View what we are looking to accomplish
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vGCAS_KW28Ng

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Training Techniques

• Initial Training
• Positive and Negative Reinforcement
• Positive
• Clicker Training Method
• Round Pen Technique
• Natural Horsemanship
• Horse Whisperer
• Rarely Technique
• Negative
• Aversive pressure

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Initial Training

• Equipment used for initial training of the horses
  includes a lead rope, halter, saddle pad, bridle
  with a jointed snaffle bit and reins
• Training begins with exercises that were
  accomplished by gently applying pressure on the
  lead rope that is attached to the halter.
• Habituation training is performed with a saddle.
  Once the saddle and pad are placed on the
  horses back, the trainer tightened the girth and
  releases horse to adjust to the equipment.
• Once the trainer had mounted the horse, the
  riding period began. The primary objective during
  this period was to obtain forward motion of the
  horse. Using hands, legs and body weight as cues
  at the walk, trot and canter, the trainer
  encouraged the horse to move forward.
• Return to training techniques

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Clicker Training Method

• To enforce a correct behavioral response, a
  conditioning technique, the sound of a click is
  used as a auditory response to performance.
  Trainer reinforces a correct performance with the
  sound of a click and rewards the horse with
  food.
• View this technique with Jack Lawrence, horse
  trainer. http//www.youtube.com/watch?vFHUGYq2shY
  U
• Return to training techniques

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Round Pen Technique

• Initial training using the round pen is based on
  the understanding of the behavior of the horse,
  minimizing the stress associated with training.
• To see this technique, view clip with Jay O Jay
  http//www.youtube.com/watch?vNhRq2AiegC8
• Training differences in behavior
• View differences of training from pasture versus
  stall housed horses

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Differences in total training time in round pen
between pasture and stalled horses
Return to training techniques
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Natural Horsemanship

• The principle of working with horses by appealing
  to their natural instincts and herd mentality by
  the trainer becoming the leader of the herd.
• The trainer must gain the trust of the horse and
  train that biting and rearing is not acceptable
  around people and to face fears of spooky
  objects.
• Return to training techniques

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Horse Whisper

• What is a horse whisperer?
• A horse whisperer is a horse trainer who adopts a
  sympathetic view of the motives, needs, and
  desires of the horse, based on natural
  horsemanship and modern equine psychology.
• There is speculation that the trainer must be
  saying something to the horse in a way the horse
  could understand and accept.
• Return to training techniques

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Rarey technique
The Rarey technique is a method of calming horses
that have become vicious and fearful of humans
due to abusive handling or other traumatic
events. Return to training techniques
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Aversive Pressure

• Learning to perform tasks in order to avoid or
  alleviate an aversive pressure (application of a
  riding whip).
• First lightly touch the animal with the riding
  whip and increasing pressure until it responds
  with a correct response.

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Importance of Training

• It is essential to know how to take care of your
  horse before training begins.
• You need to know what conditional state your
  horse is in and how to take proper care and
  management of your horse.
• Know different training techniques, or have a
  trainer assist to find the best technique that
  works best for you and your horse.
• Most importantly with training, create a bond
  between you and your horse, let your horse know
  who is the leader who will insure its safety.

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For more information on training techniques visit
these trainers on the web

• Well Known Horse Trainers
• Buck Brannaman Peter Campbell
• Mark Rashid Monty Roberts
• Ray Hunt Steve Jefferys
• Pat Parelli John S. Rarey