Horse Training

As spring approaches, I look forward to being able to work with the horses more. I mentioned in my previous post about possibly joining the Jackson mounted patrol. Some of you may be wondering what is involved in such an endeavor. Volunteers for the patrol become liaisons for the police and the community, and help reduce officer overtime hours for special events such as parades and high traffic events. Volunteers are equipped with radios and are the eyes and ears of the sworn duty officers. Volunteers can direct traffic, answer questions, be on the lookout for problems such as accidents, fights, drunks, etc. The key to the patrol is well trained horses and riders who work together as a team. Horses need to be calm in any situation involving crowds, noise, vehicles, and unpredictable situations. The volunteers and their horses go through 40 hours of training in the spring, and must be certified each year. Horses and riders learn to ride in formation, which is the key to controlling an unruly crowd.

The heart of the training involves desensitizing the horse and rider. Typically, obstacle courses such as the one Heidi has set up each year at Hansen Horse Ranch (where Amigo boarded when I moved here) are used that simulate a busy environment such as one may experience during a parade or downtown event. After a summer of training Amigo on Heidi's course, he improved dramatically and by July 4th I rode him into downtown Driggs amidst the crowds and traffic.

Horses have relatively poor eyesight compared to their other senses. Their depth perception is especially poor, so that any solid contrasting shape looks like a deep hole to them. Anything flapping in the wind could be a threat. They are also frightened of things that are not found in their usual world. A well thought out obstacle course and training program can help all of this. Just about any object can be used, but to be considered should be safe for the horse and rider. Typically items used include construction cones and delineators, old tires, tarps laid out on the ground or flapping in the breeze, ropes, ribbons, balloons, anything bright and flappy, water noodles, barrels, mail boxes, water boxes, landscape timbers, and pallet bridges. Anyone can build a course in their own pasture or corral if they have a little room. There are also several resources available on the web from the experts. Let the horse live with the stuff, it helps acclimate them. In fact, getting a horse to walk over a tarp can be so difficult, some people resort to feeding the horse on the tarp. If he is hungry, he will eventually walk on it to eat, right? Patience is the key. It took me several days before I could get Amigo over Heidi's painted pallet bridge (he would do a normal unpainted bridge). It took several more days when she added tractor tires and ropes, and about a month to get him to walk over a tarp. It took several months to get him to walk through a water box. Experienced trainers can get it done quicker, but I am still learning.

By contrast, horses have very sharp ears and noses. They are by nature afraid of smoke and loud sounds, or anything acute to these senses. If you live in a rural area where shooting guns and burn barrels are legal, you can get a good jump on these things. Take your old molded hay or cardboard and put your burn barrel up wind of the corral. Get them used to smoke. Eventually you can put the burn barrel in the corral and ride the horse through the smoke. Same thing with guns and fireworks. Start with a small fire cracker or 22 pistol blank and fire them off while the horse is feeding. Eventually it will get used to the loud sound and not flinch. Then move closer and work your way up to a louder gun. Once the horse is completely used to you firing off guns whenever, you can employ a brave friend to hold the horse while you fire a small caliber firearm from the saddle. Never fire over the horse's head because of percussion. I guess now would be the time to mention that anytime you introduce something new to a horse, it is best done while leading the horse (unmounted) and in an enclosed area. If you lose the horse or are thrown, at least it isn't running in the road (I should follow my own advice on this one).

This work isn't only for horses that will be used on patrol. Desensitizing training can be beneficial to ANY horse, because you never know when the unexpected will happen. This is especially true on trails. If you happen on something your horse won't do or doesn't like, you either have a fight on your hands or you are turning back or going around (which is sometimes not possible). You never know what you may encounter, and a prepared horse is a safe horse.

The point is that ANYONE with a little room and a little patience and horse sense can do a lot of this work on their own. I was lucky because at the last two ranches Amigo was boarded, four wheelers were used a lot to feed and clean. It is very helpful if a horse is used to small motorized vehicles such as you might run across on National Forest land or county roads. When I am riding roads, I frequently have more problems with smaller, slow moving vehicles than with larger faster moving vehicles, opposite of what one might think.

You can even start colts with desensitization. The Hansens worked with Smooch sinch he was a six month old and now as an unbroken two year old, he will lead over any of the bridges or tarps or obstacles in their course. The foundation is there, and I can't wait until he is three or four and ready to be a horse to see what his potential is.

Part, or much of the reason I want to join the patrol is to learn more about this stuff. Wish me luck if I am lukcy enough to be able to join this year.