15 year old gelding

Question
Rick,
My name is Nate and i asked you a question about my horse always panicking and you gave me some great tips that worked. But now i have another problem I am working in a round pen with the horse and I am using a ring snaffle bit and he does great in the pen. But my only concern is when i let him out of the pen to ride around in the field he doesn't want to do anything but run and I am having a problem with him not walking straight I will make him turn and i will try to straiten him out by pulling on the opposite rein and he will just turn the other way so basically i have him going in a zig-zag any advice? Thanks Nate.

Answer
Hey Nate, you want a horse to learn to ride "between the reins".  You do this by helping him find the right answer.  You don't want to pull on a horse, you may cause the horse to pull on you, but you don't pull.  This is a very misunderstood concept.  The difference is very important. Don't pull on a horse, just hold the reins until the horse stops pulling.  Big difference.  So when teaching a horse to go straight, you only leave an inch or so of slack in the reins.  If the horse turns his head more than an inch he will be pulling on the rein, Not you pulling you are just holding the rein and not letting him take it.  So you don't want constant pressure which is why you want to leave the inch or so slack, soon the horse will learn that the only place to keep his head, without pressure, is between the reins and straight.

In order to help the horse, I would find a fence, ditch or road to help him go straight.  Horses are not concerned about going straight in the wild.  They just walk and go, so straight is human thing.  My little guy still wants to test me and not walk straight, so I just use that as a training opportunity.  If he wants to go left, I give light right rein and use my left leg to push him right, then he goes too right, I use my right leg to push and guide him left, after a while he starts moving off my leg and I use less and less rein.  Later he will learn if he walks straight, I will not use any leg or rein, so he learns that is is easier to go straight in order to get me to stop putting pressure on him.  

If you make a big deal about him going straight, it will be a big deal.  He is not being mean or stubborn, he is just being a horse.  So enjoy him and use this time to figure him out, see how you can get the desired result by doing less, being soft, and not getting in a hurry.

My little guy loves to go for a ride because I take him to nice green grass and let him snack and eat.  So he tries to work me and thinks he is sneaking over to eat once in a while.  What he does not know is I So if he see grass to the left, I will make go straight with light leg pressure and keep his head between my reins, then since I know he wants to go there, I will use leg and light rein and turn him into the grass, he wants to go there so he moves perfectly with little light cues from me.  It becomes a game, later he will try to stop and I will make him pass it and then bring him to another area.  Every problem becomes a training event.  

Don't ever blame a horse for being a horse.  His job is to survive and to either dominate another herd member or be submissive to the herd leader.  You are the herd leader so it is his nature to try and test you, not to be mean, just being a horse.  Too many people are just looking for a fight or to feed their ego by scaring or hurting a horse to fear them or listen to them.  That is not horsemanship.  Horsemanship is understanding the horse, knowing how they think, getting your horse to do what you want by doing less the right way, verses more the wrong way.

When you say you try and straighten him out by pulling on the rein, you are teaching the horse to pull against your pull and to fight you. If you teach that, he will win he is stronger.  You can hurt him with the bit and he may give in to pain, but that is not a partnership or relationship with your horse, he will not respect you as a good leader but see you as human that causes pain.  If you are going zig zag it is because of You.  All horse problems are people problems.  If you left him alone he would go zig zag, he does not go zig zag in pasture when you are not riding him, so who is causing this, YOU!

Try riding him with lose reins and not doing anything.  Don't pull or try and direct him, just let him go where he wants.  He will not zig zag.

If you get the wrong answer from the horse, you asked the question wrong.  Work on you and not the horse.  The horse knows how to be a horse, work on what you are doing and do less, that will make you and your horse better.

As for the running.  This is caused by being rode hard too fast and never taught how to walk.  If he does good in round pen, only walk him for the next 5 rides.  No running.  Walk him in round pen, then walk him outside pen, but just around the pen, then move 10 feet away from pen and walk him around the pen, if he wants to run, bring him back to pen and do it again, slowly work away from pen while walking.  A horse is designed to run and does it well, they never need practice at running so don't do it.  If you teach him to walk and to stop and to trot and to stop and to trot and go to a walk, he will learn downward transitions and then when he runs he will know and understand how to slow down to a trot and to a walk.

If he wants to run, stop, back him softly and calmly, don't get mad or fight him, don't show him who is boss and get hard on the bit, just stop him, take a step or two backwards, stop him and then walk off.  You have to give him better signals and cues, he has to learn that you body is slow, relaxed, calm, and only a light squeeze means walk.  The more you walk him off slow and calmly, the better he will get.  Never let him run back to the barn.  If you must run him do it at different places so he will expect to do.  It is better to not run a horse for the first few months of training.  As I said, a horse needs no training on how to run.  Don't waste time on and teach or start bad habits.

Hope this helps,

Rick