Mountain Horse Training

When you're riding the back country, horsemanship follows some different trails. You have to assume nothing will be possible to do in the way you might normally do things. One of these is saddling your horse. Two obstacles immediately come to mind. First, the off side of the horse may be the uphill side and is the only one available to you. Second, at one time or another you will have to work on the horse when it can only be ground tied. Two young ladies whose parents sent them to me for horsemanship lessons have been learning about back country riding. In the photo below you can see them doing the basics. One young lady is picking the hooves of one horse while the other young lady is offside saddling another horse while both are only ground tied.

So how do I proceed? Start at the beginning, and train the horse to ground tie. Using a vocal command (I use whoa) and body language (stand tall just off to the side at the front of the horse) I step back and put some slack in the lead rope. If the horse attempts to move forward I shake the lead rope with my hand clearly visible to the horse and give my vocal command.

Continue until the horse doesn't move when you are at least one horse length away. The next step is to do the same thing while the lead rope is on the ground. Drop the lead rope to the ground and give your vocal command. If the horse tries to move, hold your hand up in a stop attitude and give your command. As the horse progresses move around all the sides of the horse while he's ground tied. If necessary go back to the lead rope in your hand portion of the training until he gets it right.

At this point you need to get the horse to stand comfortably while you proceed with other business. Ground tie the horse and do a small chore. Keep an eye on the horse with your peripheral vision and admonish it with your vocal command if it tries to take a step. Keep working on it until the horse can stand comfortably for 10 to 15 minutes without taking a step and with you at least once going out of sight of the horse. This should now be a regular part of the ground work you do with your horse. As always at the end of the session praise the horse and give him a lot of positivity when he gets it right.

On to the other training. Start with the brush and move from there. My horses like being groomed, most do. I ground tie the horses and give them a quick brush which gives them a sense of security. Then I move to their hooves with a hoof pick. At all times if they attempt to move give your command and start over with that portion of the exercise. For example, if I'm picking the horse's hooves and he tries to move I drop the hoof, move to his front, take up the lead rope and give it a shake while giving him a whoa. I then drop the lead rope and go back to that hoof. Continue on with all aspects of handling the horse until it can be saddled, packed, and adjustments made from both sides while only being ground tied.