training a green 4yr old almost 5 yr old ponie mare

Question
hi i have a 4 alomost 5 yr old ponie mare i  just got almost 2 weeks ago and  i have had the saddle and bridle on her also people on her  while i walk her around !! and  she  great she  still needs  to learn how  to move on commands and to walk with out me holding on to  her i wanted to know how i should go about doing her  ground  work training and some more training on her ..  and also  she  has  this  problem with putting her  feet in water buckets and  geting them caught i tryed to  put them  up  higher  but  she  still mangages to  still get them  caught !! do u have any ideas  on what i should do she is  in a box  stall!!!  also she has  this thing in where  she  walks  way behind  me  when iam  walking her is there anything i can  do  fo that ??? thanks  i hope u can  help megan

Answer
Hi Megan, congrats on your new pony. It sounds like you have alot of fun times to look forward to. I am going to break your questions down in stages, so here goes:

Water Buckets: It sounds like she finds "playing" in the buckets entertaining, which is dangerous and destructive. I'd suggest using 5 gallon plastic buckets for her water (several of them, horses drink an averge of 12 gallons a day) and hanging them off an eye bolt in the stall (or possibly off the stall rails, depending on your stall construction). Just be sure to water her atleast twice a day.

Ground work: I'd take a few steps back. It's wonderful that you've had the saddle and bridle on her and that she's accepting of them (and you), but if you don't have control of her on the ground (ie: leading, lunging, etc.), then you are asking for issues going straight to riding her.

Let's start with your leading issues, she needs to learn to read and adjust to your body language and that comes from time and respect. Start by asking her to walk with you, standing on her left side, facing foward, ask her to walk off. It sounds like she responds, but slowly and has found her comfort zone behind you. That's unacceptable, not to mention unsafe. One spook and she's run right over you. I want you to practice this next exercise with a halter, long rope (12 feet is ideal) and long whip (dressage or regular lunge whip). First begin by standing next to her and ask her to move her hips over, start by giving her a chance to do the right thing, just walk towards her hip, holding her head steady and cluck...if that fails, standing off her flank (not farther back, as to keep yourself our of the kick zone) gently tap her with the whip at the point of her hip. Reward any movement she makes, as long as it's away from the pressure (you and the whip). Start with small baby steps, doing both sides equally. Next do the same with her shoulders, this time you want to keep her haunches stationary and move her front end away from you (kind of like what you do in turn on the haunces in a halter class). Again, using as little force as needed and praising her for every single step. Just ask for a few steps at a time, gradually working up to a half turn and then a full. Now lets play the "what if" game. What if you ask her with your body and voice and then reinforce your request with a tap of the whip and nothing...no movement, or maybe she evens moves towards you. In that case, you want to sent up the situation so that you make doing the right thing (in this case moving away from your pressure) easy and doing the wrong thing hard (moving into you). So I would immediately ask her to lunge in a small circle at a fast trot. You want it to be a controlled lunging circle, but you want it to ask for it with confidence and authority. Lunge her a dozen or so circles then ask her to stop and repeat the above exercise. Basically we want to demostrate to her, that standing in one place and taking a few steps sideways while receiving praise is much, much more enjoyable (not to mention easier) than having to trot in a small circle. When you can control her haunches and shoulders, then ask for a sidepass on the ground, step to her barrel and right at the heart girth, square your shoulders, and say over, using whatever vocal cue you want (cluck, kiss, etc.), if you've done your homework with moving her other body parts, this should come much easier. You might have to put subtle pressure on the rope so she doesn't go forward, but she should be very willing to move by this point. Now you are ready to go back to leading exercises. By doing the above you've gained her respect mentally and physically. She should be much more willing to listen to your body language and move forward.

The next exercises I would suggest would be some lunging exercises. The lunging that I've suggested you do with her earlier, were mearly to gain her attention in quick manner and set up the opportunity for her to make the right (ie: easiest decision) in response to your training request. I'd start with a round pen and a regular length lunge line. You can do this saddled or not, but use a halter, not a bit. Start by working on her responses to your verbal cues, she should respond to walk, trot, canter (note, I use canter instead of lope, as sometimes lope and whoa sound alike) and of course whoa. She should reverse on command and back. You want to make sure that all the cues you will need to enjoy and ride her safely under saddle are present on the ground first. You also want to do desesitize her to numerous objects (tarps, logs, ropes, etc.) before riding her, as you can't control the enviroment around her, but you can control her reaction to it.

I hope that gives you some good exercises to start with, it sounds like you already have a good bond going with your pony and are going to have alot of fun together.

If I can be of further help, please let me know.

Happy Trails, Jen