Icelandic Horse
Connection
Rating Speed
Here's some questions I asked of gaited horse trainers and natural
horsemanship trainers on other lists:
> How do you train your horse to "rate speed"?
carefully
> When do you train it?
from about the fifth ride or so...
> And why?
the more control you have in speed rating the less you have to
bother with their face...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>How do you train your horse to "rate speed"?<<
By teaching them to respond to different seat positions (how I rock my
pelvis either forward or back) to speed up or slow down, followed by light
rein or leg signals as is appropriate. When the speed desired is reached,
relax all aids and "let the horse be" at that speed.
>>When do you train it?<<
Starting with about the third ride, after we have learned a little about
moving forward at a slow walk.
So the horse is pleasant to ride -- stays consistent in gait and speed,
without constant reminders, on a relatively slack rein and is safe in all
sorts of footing -- a horse that only knows "full speed ahead" is dangerous
in rough ground and going down hills.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> How do you train your horse to "rate speed"?
I use my seat and legs, squeezing my legs to go forward and sitting deeper
to slow down.
> When do you train it?
I have never trained a young horse so I don't know when you would start that
specifically but I have taught it to every horse I have had if they didn't
know it when I got them.
> And why?
So that I don't have to get in their mouth. Stopping should not be the tug
of war that you see all too frequently, I want my horse to slow down and/or
stop with as little pressure on the reins as possible. I don't think you
can achieve true collection on a horse that doesn't know how to rate speed
and isn't that the ultimate goal when training an optimal riding
horse?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think of rating speed as teaching the horse to move at slow, medium and
fast speeds in each gait. Depending on the level of push and energy in your
horse, I'd either start at a very fast walk or at a very slow walk -
whatever the horse needs. You wouldn't want to try to get a very forward
"hot" horse to walk slowly at first, but rather to start fast and work down
the scale.
The goal/purpose is to get hooked up with your horse so that you are working
together as a team. As others have said, we don't want to be tugging on the
reins to get a horse slowed down or stopped and we don't want to be banging
on their sides to get them to go. We should be able to move from slow
through medium up to fast and back down again smoothly without the horse
becoming bothered.
Most people I know would say to start this work very early in a horse's
training. I think it helps the horse to feel that somebody's got a plan and
that they are in the hands of a competent leader. I believe horses look for
and appreciate that in a rider. The first few rides it's nice to not ask too
much and just go with the horse, but after that one of you had better start
controlling speed -- better you than the horse!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> would you consider rating speed as something basic that a horse should
know--meaning should it be included in a horse's basic training?<<
Yes, I think so. I think it applies to a number of important elements:
sensitivity to the rider's balance and energy, a comfort level at speed, and
"self carriage." I think it also should be included in a rider's basic
training, as well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>How do you train your horse to "rate speed"?
The life in my body - liven up more for more speed, quiet down for
less.
>When do you train it?
First ride. And every ride thereafter.
>And why?
Why not? Why wouldn't I? It's necessary for everything I do with the
horse to have him be with me, where I am. His feet are my feet. Sometimes
I have to move slow, sometimes I have to move fast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a great topic, that at one time I thought I was so good at in
teaching a horse . And maybe compared to many Walking Horse
techniques at that time I was.
I then had the opportunity to work with Peruvian trainer named German
Baca who taught everything I didn't know about this and so much
more.....
I hope I can put this to words so it provides some understanding.
IME Rating speed starts with the ground work. Using our body and voice
as aids to instruct the horse of what we want and then is carried over
to undersaddle work later.
As they learn, extra aids such as voice can be dropped later when
they learn and understand the physical signals given. But that voice
is always there to back up a lesson if they start to slide back or get
in an insecure situation such as first time at a show or trail ride.
On the lunge I teach the slow walk and to maintain , a fast walk and
maintain this. I don't work up to gait until they have these 2 things
down and then we work at gait. I also teach this working in a straight
line in hand too. Pick your words for each and hand signals for each
so that they are very different and they are clear. When I have them
in gait we go back down through the transitions as we went up.
Starting under saddle is when the voice commands really carry over. I
start teaching rating speed about the third ride although this can
vary with horses and what they are ready for. Just like in hand, I
work the slow walk and the fast walk using the same words and tones to
move them up. While using pelvis and then legs to urge them up. I
really would rather not use heel. If they do not respond then I go to
tapping the back end of the horse to send them forward. I always give
a positive toned word when they have done what I ask. When the slow
walk and fast walk are down then we start working toward gait or
trot.
During each phase of speed you have to give them some release of the
aids and give them the opportunity to hold it on their own. If they
don't I then remind with pelvis and then leg if needed. Coming down
threw the transitions are just as important as going up. After we have
done some work at gait or trot we got back down to the fast walk,
giving a slight bump with my little finger on rein and settling my
weight down into the seat of the saddle. hold the flat walk for a
period of time. Then the same signal for the slow walk. You work up
and down this way asking them to hold a speed for a decent amount of
time so there is no confusion of what you want.
One very important lesson Gemand taught me was at the end of a
session let them go at a slow relaxed walk for a period . Not just
knock off a lesson at the fast walk. Although I see many stop right
after working gait and jump off. The horses really look forward to
this nice slow time at the end of a lesson.
Also in training rating speed , self collection along with many other
tasks it's important to give them the chance to do it on their own
once you have shown them how. If they don't just remind them with your
signals and let them try again. Good team work between animal and
human is giving the opportunity to trust each other in doing a task.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>Do you think that a horse that knows how to rate speed, is less likely to
be
a runaway?<<
That depends on what would cause a horse to run, but generally speaking, if
you're building in a feel, the horse would be more where the rider
is.
>>And how do you think this fits in with horses that go a little faster, and
a
little faster to catch up to themselves--sort of spiraling out of control?
Does this have anything to do with their inability to balance themselves
and
rider at a higher speed?<<
This is the rider getting in the way of the horse. The rider causes
balance problems in the horse when they do not sit quiet and relaxed enough
for the horse to learn how to balance the rider. Horses have no trouble
balancing themselves out in the open without a rider. They have trouble
when they become unsure of how to balance the rider on their backs and the
rider never sits quiet and relaxed enough for the horse to figure it
out.
>>Do horses that learn how to rate speed from the beginning have less of the
speeding-up-without-being-asked problems?<<
It does not matter when you begin to help them, as long as you begin to
help them as soon as you aware they need the help.
If a horse were struggling with such things, the rider would do well to go
to the round pen, loop those reins around the horn, or take them off
altogether, get settled and just ride.
Nine times out of ten, those reins caused the problem for the horse in the
first place, so let 'em go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>Would you consider rating speed as something basic that a horse should
know--meaning should it be included in a horse's basic training?<<
One thing I learned in the PP program, is the horse needs to know "don't
change gait, don't change direction".... in that order.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> How do you train your horse to "rate speed"?
This is something that Mark worked with me on last December with my then-5
year old gelding, Jimmy. We worked on it at the walk and, particularly, the
trot. As with most things, the horse already knows how to rate his speed,
it's the rider that usually gets in the way. Mark worked with me on putting
the right amount of life in my body to speed up or slow down my horse.
Until
then, my horse's trot was pretty strung out and big. He did not have a jog.
We worked on getting that jog and keeping it. The goal was to use very
little leg or rein, just internal "life" and balance. The trick was
catching
the change in speed just before it happened. It was almost like balancing
on
a teeter-totter, with just the slightest change in my body position causing
him to slow or going faster.
> When do you train it?
I don't have the answer to this one. My gelding was 5 when I started
working
on rating speed at the trot. He's six now, and we're just working on rating
speed at the canter. He's a fabulous horse, but probably slower than many
to
develop.
> And why?
Getting Jimmy to trot at different speeds caused him to use different
muscles. With the slower jog, he had to use his underline more, and helped
him to develop those muscles and begin to collect. Getting him comfortable
in the fast trot gives him somewhere to go if he's troubled in the
canter.
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