how you catch your horse

Question
hi Denise,
Okay I reserched those people like you told me to.I learned quite a bit from just their pages.I learned more then I thought I would.Like give the horse 5% and he will give back 95%.Always make the right decision easy and the wrong one hard.ohh yea how do you catch your horse well theres a couple of ways to approach it you can make the right thing easy by driving him away and making him work hard until he faces you,or you can have other people out there driving him away from them but you don't then he will realize that your the most comfortable place to be,or you can make tacking up fun like brushing him awhile then riding him,or keep him guessing by doing different things each day,or you can sit on the ground and let him check you out,or you can use the drive and draw technique by driving him away then when he turns back up and draw him.You really have to learn to think like your horse in order to change his mind setting and help him override his instings.oh and that book "Centered Riding" do you think it would be at the library?its not at big R or any other horse store around here.Is parelli a good guy to go with because I was going to buy the first set I think its the confident set,or do you think i should buy some books by Ray Hunt and the rest.Thankyou for taking time to read and answer my questions.I really appreciate it.
Cowgirl up
Samantha
p.s. I'm going to go research how to get a horse to let you handle his feet especially hind ones without getting kicked in the face!The Buckskin I'm training let me catch him today without any problem!yes!and we didn't backyard breed him we got him for free.

Answer
OUTSTANDING SAMANTHA!!!

You are right on track!  This is your first step in becoming a student of the horse.  Feels good doesn't it!  Pat Parelli's teacher is Ray Hunt.   I would go right to the source and that is Ray.  I know Parelli is really popular, and I don't mean this wrong, but I see way too many people stuck and not being able to move on with their horsemanship.  You have to see the whole horse and a single hair all at once.  Parelli limits people with his levels.  If I'm only a level one student...what do I do if my horse is having a problem TODAY and it is not addressed until level 3!!! Crazy!

With Ray, you don't have to wait or go through levels, or pay a bunch of money every week to get the learning.  At Ray clinics, you get everything.  Everything for the whole horse, period.  The cool thing about Ray Hunt, Buck Brannaman, Ricky Quinn, and these guys is that when you go to a clinic it is NOT a show.  You ride your horse with the real guy, so substitutes, or apprentices or level whatever instructors, you ride with the real deal on your horse.  Ray is the best.  He spends his life  hanging out in barns and arenas helping people and horses.  Where ever there are horses, you will find Ray.  It is how it should be.  There is no show, no bells and whistles, no fanfare, no big productions.  Just horses and people trying to get better.  No better place to live.

The book "Centered Riding" is by Sally Swift...I think I said Cherry Hill and I was wrong!!!  You can find Centered Riding on Amazon.com for about $20.00 bucks, maybe less if you  buy it used.



About handling the hind feet. There are two ways to get this done and I always do both.  The first is to get your horse good with the flag!  Be able to touch him all over with your flag.  Get it down around all four feet.  Don't make him stand for this, if he needs to move his feet, let him, just make sure he is yielding his hindquarters and moving around you in a meaningful way not just running off.  Get to the point that he is comfortable and relaxed with the flag running down his hind legs, just like your hand would do.  Your timing has to be good here.  You don't want to create a problem for your horse.  Get the flag in, expose it and then get out.  Your horse needs to be comfortable with the flag moving around him and on him both moving and standing still.  You will see a lot of this in Ricky's colt starting.  When he is good with the flag, do the same thing with a tarp and your slicker.  When he is good with these, use your hand.  Rub down his hind leg, if you are reaching for his left hind, you need to have your left shoulder about at his flank.  This depends of course, on how big he is and how long your arms are!  Your left leg will be back and your right leg forward, this makes getting kicked a little harder.  With your left hand brush down his left hind leg, when he is good about this, hold a bit of pressure on the back of the fetlock until your horse prepares by shifting his weight, to pick up the foot, release the pressure.  Now ask again, keep building on this until your horse can rock his weight off the foot your are trying to pick up and pick the foot up for you.  NEVER hold on to the foot.  Let the foot go BEFORE he takes it away from you!  You will never win a tug-o-war with a horses foot.  They need to trust you and be confident enough to allow you to have their foot. If you feel that they are about to take the foot away, let go first!  Then ask them to pick it up again.  In time, they will trust you enough to stand relaxed with their foot in the air.  They need to learn how to stand on three feet and this can take some time.  

Now I'm going to tell you how to rope up the feet, but you need to promise me that you won't do it until you attend a Buck Brannaman or Ricky Quinn or Ray Hunt clinic...promise?!  You can also see this in Buck's groundwork DVD and in Ray's colt starting DVDS.  These are the first DVD'S and the most important one's to add you your library.  Okay here goes...you will need a triple extra soft 60' lass rope.  It is about $60.00 from Kings Saddlery in Sheridan, Wy the telephone number is on my website on the favorites page.  Call them.  Do NOT use any other type of rope when roping up your horse.  Other ropes will cut and burn your horse.  DO NOT USE Team ropers ropes!  They are just like a saw and will really hurt your horse!  I think Kings even calls the rope the Buck Brannaman horse rope...get it with Bucks honda or a great basin honda.  If you get your rope, and you have access to a 60' round pen, this is what you can do...teach your horse to pack a rope.  Rope up the hind foot and allow the horse to carry the rope.  Get in time with the foot, and then send a feel down the rope that asks the horse to stop.  Hold that feel until your horse stops and then rests a toe softly on the ground.  You timing will have to be spot on when doing this and that is why I want you to get good help.  If your timing is not good you can have a real mess on your hands.  Most horses when roping up the hind feet for the first time will kick with the foot that is roped up.  Some horses will kick a lot!  Some will have to take off and gallop around the pen.  It depends on the horse and what they feel they need to do.  Your horse, I betting will need to gallop and kick.  This is why you will need help with your timing.  You will have to hold a "feel" on the rope and not release until your horse makes a try at stopping and getting soft.  This can really burn your hands is you are not careful.  However, when you get through to your horse you will be able to "pick up" the foot with the rope and set the foot down softly.  This is the best way I now how to get control of the hind feet and not get kicked.  Roping up all four feet, teaching your horse to lead by the front feet and how to stop off the hind feet as well as being able to pack a rope around his belly and flanks with confidence really changes a horse.  There are very few people out there that can teach this well.  Most people will get you and the horse into trouble so, talk to Buck, Ray or Ricky at a clinic and they will help you with this.

Watch any of Ray's colt starting DVD's.  You will see him roping up pretty much everything on a horse.  You don't have to be an amazing roper and snake a 15' loop halfway across the pen to be able to rope up your horse.  I have my horses put their head in the loop.  Just the process of having them do groundwork in a lass rope does so much for the horse.  To rope up a foot, I'll have my horse haltered, lay the loop on the ground, and have them step into the loop, then take the halter off.  With some horses, I may leave the halter on and offer them a bit more support.  Watch Ray's DVD's and Bucks "Groundwork" DVD.  If your horse can do everything in the groundwork dvd, you are off to a great start.

I have a feeling you will do a great job with your Buckskin!  He can be your learning horse.  He will teach you so much.  Thank you for not breeding.  There are so many great horses out there for free!  People lack the knowledge to get them properly trained and they just get given away. Good for you though, you get a really nice horse for free.  They can be wonderful horses but need the right person to show them the way.  Keep up the research and the good work!   I know you will make it!  

Let me know how things are going.
Smiles!  Denise