The first day dressed
We like to start the riding training of our horses sometime between ages 3 and 4. Horses need to mature physically before adding the weight of a rider. That said, we do like to get an early start on groundwork; things like leading politely, standing tied, picking feet, and getting dressed.
Odin, our Frisian cross gelding, is a year and half now, so today I thought it was a good time to introduce him to being tacked up. What I normally like to do is just put something on their back and see how they react. I don’t tie them or hold them while doing this, as I think they should be given the option of refusing if the situation becomes too intense.
This morning, I took a saddle pad and just placed it casually on Odin’s back and turned away from him like I was busy doing something else. He just stood there with a quizzical look on his face. Since he didn’t move away or seem worried at all, I went into the tack-room and got a lunging girth. I put that on his back as well and just casually started “messing” with it. Odin turned his head to see what was going on, so I just went ahead and put the girth on.
Odin seemed to be saying, “Ok, what are you up to now? “. I just totally love to train horses using positive reinforcement, with no pressure, and most of all, give them the time to reflect on what I am doing. Odin, of course, thought that the little treats offered as a bribe were a good trade off 😊
When I took the tack off, he didn’t react at all, just stood there, and waited nicely. Throughout this whole process, Odin was not wearing a halter, nor was he tied in any way. He had the choice of walking away at any point, but choose to stay. I will take that as a huge win. Of course, I must add, that Odin and I were alone inside the stable with no distraction from the other horses.
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