Ask the Expert: Randy Byers

Over the years, Randy has devoted time, resources, and effort to develop his knowledge of horsemanship. He believes in the need for continued education through reputable sources and the application of sound principles through a trainer who can help you meet your goals. Trust is also very important in the equine industry; that is why Randy proudly conveys the name of “Lyon’s Legacy,” the most trusted horseman. Randy is a well-rounded and experienced horseman who brings knowledge, ability, and real talent to the horse and rider training experience.

Good training results in increased safety around horses, and Randy knows that if a trainer is going to help people to further their skills and meet their goals, he needs to teach in a way that is easy to duplicate and apply. So whether you ride in competition or just for your own pleasure, the goal is to help you gain control and confidence with your horsemanship in an enjoyable way.

Learn more about Randy at http://www.randybyershorsemanship.com/

Ask a question now!

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Question:

My name is Briana. I’m training a 2-year old mare and she does not know her ground manners. What do I do and how do I teach her good ground manners?

Answer:

Thank you for asking these questions. This is a very widely researched topic. There are many books, videos, DVDs and other educational products that focus on ground manners in the marketplace today.

There are two reasons why you want ground manners: One, you want to be an effective leader and gain respect from your horse. Two, you want to use this stage to develop transitional cues to help with your introduction to saddle work in the near future. In order to gain respect, you need to gain control of your horse’s feet. That is the short answer to the first part of your question, “…what do I do?” If you get control of her feet, you automatically establish yourself as the leader and achieve respect from your horse.

In answer to the second part of your question, “…how do I teach her good ground manners?” you will need to learn and execute techniques on how to gain control of your horse’s feet. There are a variety of detailed exercises and maneuvers you can use to achieve this. You also will need to know how she thinks and you will need to think like her.

Read the rest of Randy's answer in the August issue "Trainer's Corner" column, coming August 1!

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Question

I have a 12 year old paint that was trained as a barrel racer. I didn't buy her to barrel race, nor was she advertised as a barrel racer. When I tried her out, her owner told me she was very light in the mouth. I tried her out in the arena only and she was fine, but I also rode on a very loose rein, in fear of the "her mouth is sensitive" statement. When I got her home and went out on the trail, I realized she didn't know how to do a slow lope, just run. She DOES NOT LIKE THE BIT and is distracted by it and can't concentrate at what you’re asking her to do, because she is so busy jawing at it. In the arena she will trot and canter mellow on a loose rein, she can be collected, but then we get back to the bit issue. I don't know if she's actually collecting or bending her neck down to jaw at the bit. On the trail, she is like riding a rocket at anything faster than a walk. I've been working on going from a trot to a canter on the trail, and reward her when she finally canters mellow. How do I get her to slow down, collect, and accept the bit and stop being so neurotic about whenever the reins are gathered and the bit makes contact with her mouth?

Answer

This is a great question and you have given me lots of detail to help in forming a response. I like to define a ‘broke horse’ by saying that you have full control of direction and impulsion. This is not just one question but three separate questions, with three separate answers. They have to do with (1) attention span, (2) contact, and (3) speed control. These questions don’t surprise me with ex-barrel horses. In this discipline it is about time and speed, there is no need for collection. I appreciate your question about collection. To many people, collection is unnecessary and they do not feel it is important.

The simple answer to your questions is that your horse is resistant, is lacking knowledge and respect.

First, I would like to reply to your statement about your horse being distracted and inability to concentrate. What is the length of time a horse can concentrate? The answer is the same length of time YOU can concentrate. Think about this: if you take your attention off of the horse, will the horse continue to concentrate on a certain task? NO! Ask yourself, who is the one distracted by the bit? Don’t worry about all the fidgeting with the bit; that goes away over time.

Second, “accepting of the bit”: contact or no contact, what to do? This is where she lacks respect and is resistant. If a horse is not quiet with the bit, you don’t use it less but more. Think about this, if your horse is worried about a plastic bag, do you never show him one? NO! You desensitize him to it by repeatedly introducing it to him while raising the response (usually fear) and waiting for the correct response (quiet acceptance). The purpose of the reins and bit is to communicate to the horse. You cannot successfully communicate if you always have resistance to the bit. If you practice lateral bending, serpentines, side-passing, counter-bending, hips-in, shoulders-in, leg-yields, and more exercises, she will learn to calmly accept the bit over time. All these exercises require you to pick up the reins and ask her to give and move a body part. Your reins are like picking up a phone and calling your horse to communicate.

Third, “slowing her down”: this is where she lacks knowledge. You said that you reward her when she slows down; I would like to know how you reward her. Let me see if I can help you understand a fundamental principle. Your horse has been taught to run, but now you are asking her to slow down. She does not know it is wrong to go all out. Two things need to happen first: you need to think slow and raise and lower her response. Go find yourself an open field so you have room to maneuver. There are a couple of ways to approach getting her slowed down on the trail, but it takes preparation and understanding that when you move a body part or change direction you can slow the horse down. If your horse is familiar with a couple of maneuvers, then you can use these maneuvers on the trail to slow her down. The key is to make sure your horse knows the maneuvers and is not worried about the maneuvers themselves. If you have control of the shoulders or hips at the canter, you can do hips-in, reverse-arcs, and leg yields to get her slowed down. The other way is to change directions, but this will require lead-changes or counter-cantering. These are two ways or strategies to slow her down.

There is a third way, and it is my preferred way, but it requires you to build a cue to slow down (slow-down cue). The cue will be the outside rein and leg. Simply put, this is called a reverse-arc at the canter. You bend the nose to the outside using your outside leg to hold her and keep her from changing directions. Make sure you have her on the correct lead first. You’re causing her to be out of balance and slightly uncomfortable, so she will begin to look for the answer, the reward or the release. Once she finds the answer (i.e., slow down), put her back to straight. By using the reverse-arc to slow her down, you keep her going forward and her ribcage straight. This cue builds a slow-down cue on the outside rein and leg. I particularly like this method because it is a solid cue in conjunction with your seat and rein. If you were to do lots of rollback and speed transitions to slow her down from canter to trot and back up again, you could possibly take the forward out of your horse and create another problem entirely.

Keeping your horse going forward is one of the most important things you can do for your horse and to keep riding safe.

Hope this helps you get a clear perspective how do work with your mare.

~Randy Byers Horsemanship

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Question:

I have been raising a family for the last 20 years and I need help with my confidence. I was a real fearless rider when I was younger, but now I'm nervous. Last year I got hurt and I am not sure if I just want to just hop on. My horse is so pushy on the ground when I lead him.

~Diane

Answer:

Diane,

Confidence is "Leadership in action.” Fear is your brain telling you that you have no control. No doubt to some people the fear of getting hurt or doing the wrong thing can be crippling. There are two types of fear: rational or irrational. A morbid fear is an irrational, intense, persistent fear of certain situations, or activities. The main symptom of this disorder is the excessive, unreasonable desire to avoid the fear. Rational fear is reasonable and can be healthy.

If you have a morbid fear of heights, would you just climb to the top of a long ladder and say, I am cured? No. It takes small steps to build confidence.

When we take horses out of their natural environment, they still have the need for leadership, and they fear what they do not know. Horses are instinctual herd animals bent on survival at all costs. Fear is what drives a horse to run or fight what they don't understand. For this reason, we as their stewards need to give them leadership. If we fear that they are going to hurt us, we have lost control of the horse. The horse will know this and lose confidence in your ability to lead. At this point, the horse will take it upon itself to control its own body and activities. You will be left as the subordinate.

Unknowingly, we can teach our horse behaviors that can cause us to be fearful. For example, when you pull on the horse’s mouth, the horse may react by rearing up. Our gut reaction, the fear of getting hurt, will cause us to release or let go of the reins. This is teaching the horse to rear. It is not the horse’s fear that teaches, but our fear that will teach a horse to have a certain behavior.

Have you been too kind to your horse? This is another example of leadership gone astray that leads to fear. If we approach a horse with food, kisses, cuddling, loving attention, and affection, the horse can see this is as an inferior and subordinate action. It will treat you as a subordinate, not a leader. Does this mean we have to always treat the horse like soldier? No, but unbalanced behavior will confuse the horse on the proper leadership role. When you put two horses together, they don't always get along. Most of the time horses will spend the first day kicking, biting, and gnashing their teeth at each other. They need to get leadership established so they can feel safe.

The solution is simple. Take small steps to establish better control of their feet. A horse can move in six major directions at three major speeds. If you have ever lost control of your car while driving on an icy road, you know how frightening it can be. The same can be said when you’re sitting on top of your horse while it is going in a direction or speed that you can’t control. By learning exercises and maneuvers such as counter-bending, hips-in, side-passing, shoulders-over, backing-circles, leg-yields, and half-pass you to gain control of their feet. This will help you to feel safe and more confident. In turn the horse will see you as a leader. When you are confident and take the lead, the will understand and do what is natural. Your fear will start to diminish as you regain control. Are you ready for some teeth gnashing?

By Randy Byers Horsemanship

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Question:

I have a gelding that is quiet as can be on the ground. He is very respectful, laid back, and calm-natured. Under saddle he is broke to death – very soft in the face, neck reins well, moves off my leg, naturally uses his hind end, pivots, spins, has a great stop, level head set…but anytime we move out of the trot he just wants to go. I’ve tried circling him each time he attempts to speed up or simply changing directions when he wants to go (literally until he is foaming with sweat), let him go his desired speed until he tires himself out, and even done weeks of slow work before moving into a lope. It is almost like he feels like he has to go that fast – like he is afraid. I have ridden a lot of horses that are simply the “want to go” type of horse, but I truly don’t believe that is this gelding. It is frustrating because he is VERY soft mouthed, but when I ask him for a lope I can’t stay out of his mouth. I can make him change direction, stop, move off my leg, etc. at the lope, but I don’t want to have to be at that point. I want to be able to quietly transition into the lope, maintain a comfortable speed, speed up or slow down on command, and complete maneuvers by simply asking him. He is an extremely athletic gelding and has a ton of talent, and I want him to live up to his potential.

He has regular farrier care, vet care, and has no physical issues that I am aware of. I started him as a two year old, then he was out of the picture for a few years, and I have had him back for the last year. Since his two year old year he has been ridden inconsistently, but received professional training in team roping and basic training. He will be 7 this spring.

Any advice? Thank you! Jan

Answer:

Jan,

This is a great question and you have given me lots of detail to help in forming a response. I like to define a ‘broke horse’ by saying that you have full control of direction and impulsion, regardless of how good your ground work is and how soft he is. Using this definition, he is not broke, or not broke enough. The quick and simple answer to your question is that he does not have enough miles on him at the canter or that you are not ‘thinking’ slow.

It is a mental game.

With that said, there are many ways to slow a horse from a canter to a nice slow lope. By going back and doing more ground work, transitions, roll-backs, or changes of direction, it is sometimes possible to slow down a horse. To some extent, these do work. But you told me you have already tried these methods. I want to help you understand a fundamental truth: “A change of gait is not a change of speed.” I have trained many horses to break into a canter from a standstill or from a walk without going any faster than a working trot - because I ‘expected’ it. The funny thing about this is that sometimes when I put the owner back on their horse, the horse is several degrees faster because the owner does not understand it is not about a change of speed, but about a change of gait. So sometimes this is a mental game between you and your horse.

Now for a solid physical way, but not the only way, to fix a fast canter: As I said earlier, your horse may need more miles under him at the canter to slow down. In most cases it really doesn’t matter how much trot work you do, it comes right down to how much canter work you do. At the canter, the horse may think differently, because of his built-in ‘flight response’ to run from fear. In his mind he sees you as the leader and you have told him to run.

Also, you need to assess your level of riding skill. Can you feel leads? How is your seat? How is your sense of timing and feel? To fix this, you need to have a good seat and be able to detect if your horse is off lead. Most of all, you need to be able to work through this.

It is obvious your horse is not comfortable at the canter. This is a perfect opportunity to work on exercises you have done at other gaits. First make sure you have a consistent, solid cue for the departure. I like to apply more pressure to the outside rein and leg, then hold him with the inside leg and kiss.

Once you are in the canter, check to make sure he is on the correct lead,. If not, he will be more uncomfortable, causing more anxiety. Get on the correct lead first, in both the front and back. In your question you said you are able to control his shoulder with your leg. So now you will apply outside rein and leg to get a counter-bend (nose pointed outside the circle), just as you did at the walk and trot. Make sure you apply enough leg pressure to keep him from changing directions; it is better to do this in a 60’ round pen. A word of caution here - most horses are taught to go with leg pressure. When applying leg pressure, he may speed up at first until he understands that you are putting up a barrier to keep him in the circle. Use that outside rein as a parking break. The more you pull back, the more his nose will be going outside the circle. Make sure you counter-balance the rein with your leg. This will help move his hip to the inside, further making him uncomfortable. The more the bend, the more uncomfortable he will be.

Horses are looking to be straight and in balance. What you are trying to do is make your horse out of balance and uncomfortable. If he wants to be comfortable, he will look for the answer. As soon as you feel the slightest reduction in speed, put him back to straight. Only work on one side at a time. You may work a few days or a week just on one side. Once you feel a good change of speed, quit him for that day.

Don’t worry about being in his mouth. When teaching a new maneuver, you need to teach it with the bridle until the horse knows what you want. You don’t need to worry about making him hard in the mouth, because once you have him soft in the feet, he will be soft in the mouth. Most importantly, don’t allow the fear of speed and uncertainty train the horse.

Remember this - Most reputable trainers spend more than 50% of their training time with a horse at the canter. If you have not ridden him at a canter 50% of the time, he has not had enough. Also, don’t overestimate how broke your horse is by how well he walks and trots. It is at the canter that determines how broke you horse really is.

~Randy Byers