Well, it all depends when you get them in hand, and what methods others used as they were foals. You are really at the mercy of what their earliest handlers used as methodology, and what sort of imprint they made on the foals minds. Of course every horse is a different case from the perspective of them having their own personalities.

I was lucky enough to own mine from six months, and have him in hand from a yearling. He had a lot of positive handling from birth, which I reenforced from the moment I had him. I could touch him anywhere at anytime regardless of what he was doing without raising his suspicions against me - I used to hang on his back or neck as a game while he was in the pasture long before I ever attempted to back him. That he was easy-going, and curious, looking at new experiences as adventures made the process easier - I had backed him months before he ever went to a professional trainer, and had him led around for short distances with me on his back. he biggest work for the trainer was in training him to the bit, and the leg commands.

My wifes mare always was more cautious approached with new things, but similar methods helped with her. She is a bit hotter tempermentaly, so we had to take a slightly different approach, more traditional - but in either case they were more 'gentled' than 'broken'.

What you can and cannot do depends entirely on the horses temperment, and how much and what type of handleing it recieved. I do not believe all horses have the aptitude or training from a young enough age to have some of the more modern methods work. Yesterday at our stable, a hot blooded mare left her owner to be carried away in an ambulace - the owner being an advocate of the newer methodology, with a horse which I believe was not as receptive to the sort of training as currently advocated.

If your teaching a stallion to lead at two, then to my mind you have a long row to hoe regardless of method you choose. I prefer mine to being trained to it in the first few months. I do think spending time with the horse, and trying to understand horse behaviour, and building a bond of trust before ever backing it leads to superior results, even with using more traditional methods.

--------------------

Never work with the horse if you're angry or upset.

Always end the session on a positive note.

If you have never "broken" a horse before, my advice is to work with a professional trainer. That way you won't make mistakes that you can otherwise easily avoid and thus not ruin the horse.

When our horses arrived, we bonded with them by spending 2 years in the pasture with them. We did not attempt a backing until they were two years, but because they were draft crosses, more experienced equestrians recommended not doing anything serious with them until their skeletal structure matured a bit.

We knew our limitations when it came to the task of putting bit and saddle to them. We did not have the experience and didn't want to ruin both our experience and the horses' experience, so we sent them to a trainer that taught horses in the style of equitation we thought would be most useful to what our goals were. We chose Western as neck reining is a primary component.

As Bob said, for my mare, we use a combination of both "natural" horsemanship (we don't subscribe to any specific system) and old time sacking out.

Don't know if it's been helpful or not. Good luck.

Jenn

--------------------

Unfortunatly since we are on the farm, and time is such a vital constraint, he had not been touched before we got to him, just left him in a back paddock. Unfortunatly we had not even had time to hand feed him Mobs of fun.

And when I say break, I do not mean the old fasion, "tie them up to a post until they fall over from exaustion" break, there is just a definite element of dragging them round the yard Mobs of fun.

Until then we had no experience with 'backing' (a much more appropriate term then 'breaking') but Finn has so far been a complete success. Like the earlier posts we handled him regularly from the day we got him so he could bond with us and us with him. This included the basics like halter training, grooming, cleaning his feet, etc.
When he was big enough I started lying over his back, etc.

During training sessions with the other horses we kept him nearby so he could get used to all the noise and action.

Last Summer when he turned 3 I put a saddle and bridle on him almost immediately without any problems. I put this down to the fact that he was used to me lying on his back and so he just thought it was another part of the games that we silly 2 legs were playing with him.

Ditto for mounting and sitting on his back which I did the week after in one 5 minute training session. After then we turned him out for 6 months to let him grow on a bit more before we started actual riding. In the last couple of months I've basically completed the process as I now ride him comfortably at the walk. However we will be sending him onto a professional shortly for final schooling so we can get the other aides taught to him correctly.

The fact that an amateur like me can do 90% of the backing reflects the time I invested with bonding with Finn. He's also never been mistreated so he has total trust in me. We just need him to grow another couple of inches and then he'll be into jousting.

So do a lot of handling. Short training sessions (no more than 15 minutes) that finish on a positive note and be firm but not cruel. Remember that horses are herd animals and if they trust you and see you as the leader of the herd you can't really go wrong.

--------------------

URL=http://www.jousting.co.nz

How much training does a horse need to jousting, over and above that needed for stock wrk and the like?

How well can you "read" a horse? By that I mean, anticipate his next move while he's thinking it, not react after it is done? For instance, is he looking at you with both eyes in stereo (you have his attention), or is one wandering? (He is looking for an escape route.) If you don't know what your horse is thinking then you don't want to fool with a stallion.

Some horses, drafts especially, are quite easy to "gentle", but some of the more hot-blooded sport horses can be a handful. Getting them to accept you on their back is the easy part - getting them to canter while keeping their hind legs on the ground can be rough on old bones!

--------------------

quote:

---

then you don't want to fool with a stallion...B]

---

--------------------

A true bucking horse, bucks because...well thats what he does. It's what they are programed by God to do. They don't make good saddle horses, they don't need to be coerced into bucking. They are also somewhat rare, and worth alot of money to a stock contractor.

Unfortunately, as a rider, I have seen too many "Bucking Prospects" that were simply green horses who were terrified out of their minds. I have seen a few bad Stock contractors who attempt to coerce/force/scare a horse into bucking. The result is almost always the same. Instead of bucking the horse does something stupid out of blind fear. My final rodeo consisted of walking up to the chute, finding a terrified and shaking young colt with his head tied down to the chute gate. I had just watched one of the saddle bronc riders have a similar colt back out of the chute and roll on top of him. I put my riggin in my bag and went home.

Point of this little story is...

If you can't force/scare/coerce a horse into bucking, how are you going to use those methods to teach him to be your mount.

A horse will do amazing things, he will give 100%, and will attempt almost anything you ask, as long as you ASK, and do your part to assure him that by trusting you he isn't going to get eaten. I think any method of training a horse that relies on the human forcing the animal to do something are inferior. Methods that build a relationship and work to convince the animal that the human's idea is in its best interests are far superior.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lachlan Yeates:
G'Day all.

I was wondering if many of you break your own horses? And what method do you use? The old blood and sweat method? Or the newer horse-man-harmony method? I've just finished dragging a 2 yr old stallion round the yard (but he is leading well now) and was wondering how other people do it? The problem is always time though

---

--------------------