2 years, 2 months ago
My horse goes from trotting to loping to full gallop on its own without me asking it to. How can I train it to only transtion when asked?
This 9 year old mare is half quarter horse and half Tenesse Walker. I lease the horse. When i asked its owners why she does that their response was that its because thats what Tenesse Walkers do.When she transtitions, she does it within seconds, then I have to stop her, whcih she does.
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M$3 Answers
Hi Cristina,
Before I answer your question I want to let you know that I have owned horses continuously for 34 years, and have trained them professionally.
The short answer to your question is yes, you can train the horse to transition only when asked. I find it pretty funny that the owners use the excuse "she does that because that is what Tennessee Walkers do". First of all, if she was doing what Tennessee Walkers do, she would be gaiting, rather than trotting, and second of all, they are doing nothing more than making excuses for bad training.
It is more likely that for some reason (usually physical) she is more comfortable loping or galloping than she is trotting. It could be a condition issue (trotting is a more difficult gait for the horse than loping) or a pain issue (she may have back pain, hock pain, shoulder pain, etc. that has gone undiagnosed).
She may also have been trained to do that, inadvertently by her owners/riders, as trotting is a more difficult gait to ride than a lope or a gallop, and her riders may have developed a pattern of quickly transitioning her from a trot to a lope or gallop, a pattern which she quickly began anticipating.
You can interrupt the pattern and retrain the behavior, but you will need to be consistant. If it were me, I would begin with reinforcing walk to trot to walk transitions, stopping and allowing her to rest (it is the release that teaches the horse) when she is listening and responding well. Move from the walk to trot transitions to trot to lope to trot transitions, allowing her to rest when she is listening and responding to you rather than making the decisions herself. Downward transitions are very important, because she is anticipating upward transitions. Shake up her routine, so she can't anticipate what you are going to ask, to keep her listening and responding. Practice until you not only have a response, but you have lightness in the response.
Get good control of your body as well, because you may be accidentally cueing a faster gait. If you are nervous that she might rush into a lope or a gallop, you may actually be anticipating it in your own body, setting up for it, and she might misread that as a cue. Keep your body centered and relaxed, and in the proper position for the gait you are riding, not the gait you are about to ride.
I hope this all makes sense, and I do hope it helps as well.
Good luck!
Before I answer your question I want to let you know that I have owned horses continuously for 34 years, and have trained them professionally.
The short answer to your question is yes, you can train the horse to transition only when asked. I find it pretty funny that the owners use the excuse "she does that because that is what Tennessee Walkers do". First of all, if she was doing what Tennessee Walkers do, she would be gaiting, rather than trotting, and second of all, they are doing nothing more than making excuses for bad training.
It is more likely that for some reason (usually physical) she is more comfortable loping or galloping than she is trotting. It could be a condition issue (trotting is a more difficult gait for the horse than loping) or a pain issue (she may have back pain, hock pain, shoulder pain, etc. that has gone undiagnosed).
She may also have been trained to do that, inadvertently by her owners/riders, as trotting is a more difficult gait to ride than a lope or a gallop, and her riders may have developed a pattern of quickly transitioning her from a trot to a lope or gallop, a pattern which she quickly began anticipating.
You can interrupt the pattern and retrain the behavior, but you will need to be consistant. If it were me, I would begin with reinforcing walk to trot to walk transitions, stopping and allowing her to rest (it is the release that teaches the horse) when she is listening and responding well. Move from the walk to trot transitions to trot to lope to trot transitions, allowing her to rest when she is listening and responding to you rather than making the decisions herself. Downward transitions are very important, because she is anticipating upward transitions. Shake up her routine, so she can't anticipate what you are going to ask, to keep her listening and responding. Practice until you not only have a response, but you have lightness in the response.
Get good control of your body as well, because you may be accidentally cueing a faster gait. If you are nervous that she might rush into a lope or a gallop, you may actually be anticipating it in your own body, setting up for it, and she might misread that as a cue. Keep your body centered and relaxed, and in the proper position for the gait you are riding, not the gait you are about to ride.
I hope this all makes sense, and I do hope it helps as well.
Good luck!
source(s):
Lots and lots of experience.
Lots and lots of experience.
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Training a horse is very tricky. You have to train it correctly otherwise it will not follow your instruction. Horse training requires a lot of care and concern. For help and philosophy on horse training visit this informative site:
http://www.happy-horse-training.com/training-horses.html
http://www.happy-horse-training.com/training-horses.html
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