My 1st session re educating a 5 year OTTB - Leading Properly” For partnership"

 

​

 

 

 

WHERE DO WE BEGIN

Prior to embarking on this journey with your off Track race horse it is important and very helpful to evaluate what your starting point is. If you objectively assess what both you and your horse's capabilities are at the start, you can then easily gauge your successes as you progress through reeducating your off track horse.  Proven experience tells me an evaluation with written diagnostic reports is the best way to get your training off on the right foot or on track immediately saving you from wasting valuable time, money and energy on unnecessary or poor training methods!  These are practical reasons for doing the evaluation; however, there are other reasons such as:

​To help owners decide the direction of a present or future training method or process.

Review past or present training program; does the program consist proper training plans with step-by-step progressive ground and/or mounted exercises with descriptions, purpose, objectives and goals?   Even though the goals or objectives or exercises may change, the implementation needs to be flexible to accommodate the horse person as well as the horse.   

Identify whether the present training is; effective and does it match the goals of the owner or if the goals have changed.

The evaluation will may suggest modifying, cutting or keeping a training program entirely. However, the evaluation itself will not suggest changing or disregarding training methods that have a positive improvement in the horse’s performance and the owner’s safety.   For example; if one or more parts of a training program are nonexistent or are ineffective, this is the portion that will need to be changed or discarded.

​

​The Evaluation/Assessment Process

I recommend using a generic training plan containing a triad of exercises that every horse must know essential for a solid Level 1 Foundation of Ground & Mounted training!  It identifies:

• Who your horse is?   

• What your horse knows? 

• What your horse offers willingly?

• What your horse needs?

 

The results of the assessment reveal the:

• ​Emotional, mental & physical state of each horse

• Temperament

• Holes in the foundation training

• Horse is trained or needs work

Trainability of each horse

Information required for the development of a proper training plan required to education the horse

When we work with an off the track horse he will score low on some of these attributes so you will need to fix the holes in its foundation training. Although TBs and SBs off the track have had some ground and/or saddle training even so you will be in a better position to determine what areas need work and develop proper training plans to develop solid foundations on the ground and mounted.  If you are unable to do a proper evaluation, I recommend you find someone who can!  The information contained in evaluation diagnostic report will enable us to develop a horse specific plan starting Basic Foundation of Ground Training.

 Your off track horse can already walk and trot safely therefore your primary goal is to create a soft and light horse with a great groundwork foundation. The groundwork lessons will prepare and improve you and your horse for ridden feel for; forward motion, stopping, backing up, canter departures, lateral movements, balance, circles, serpentines and direct/indirect rein.

 

Training Levels:

​Basic Level 1 - Prepare your horse; Emotionally, Mentally & Physically for work in the saddle.  Learn who your horse is, what it needs, how s/he thinks, learns and how best to communicate with your horse. Gaining some control of your horses five body parts & it’s feet; the head, neck, front shoulders ribcage and hindquarters.  The Foundation of Groundwork and riding exercises give you the confidence to establish the foundation for a safe, respectful and relationship with your horse.

Intermediate Level 2 – Gaining Respect & Control - Focus on gaining more control of your horse’s body parts & it’s feet on the ground and achieving true lightness, suppleness and collection in the saddle. Learn to soften and supple the horse’s five body parts for improved performance under saddle.

Advanced Level 3 - Develop timing further and learn to cue your horse to do advanced maneuvers on the ground and under saddle with a light feel and softness.

 

WHY A Foundation of Ground Training?

It’s difficult to over emphasize the importance of the Foundation of Ground Training and the impact it as when you are in the saddle!  This is the most important training the horse will first learn and will determine how successful the rider will be in the saddle.  I recommend using a 60-foot round pen because it offers a safe, controlled environment ideal for horse-training situations. Its main use is to teach ground manners, start or reeducate horses and/or deal with behavior problems. The round pen should not be used strictly to exercise your horse it is a training tool. 

​

Developing the Level 1 groundwork Training Plan

The results of the evaluation have identified the areas you need to cover during the reeducation of your off track horse.  During these exercises you will link your mind and your horse mind to the exercises.  I am not going to provide a great detailed description about the exercise but I have divided into six main groups to select from to prepare your off track race horse for its new career:

​

Touch exercises

We do these exercises so that the horse learns to accept, trust and ultimately enjoy our touches.

​

Handling, Manners, Setting Boundaries -You lead the horse from point A to point B on a halter and a rope.  There are several basic lead exercises​​

 

Yielding to direct pressure

To get to the horses’ mind we need to direct the feet also control the five body parts; head, neck, front shoulder, ribcage and hind quarters.  We teach the horse to move along with soft direct pressure to these body parts. By doing this we give direction to the horse.  Again, there are several basic exercises:

​​

Yielding to indirect pressure

Here, we ask the horse to yield, but we do not touch the horse instead use body language. We use our energy and driving aids in such a way that the horse understands which direction we ask the horse to go. These exercises are often intertwined in the other basic exercises such as Leading and Circle Work.

​​

Reinforcing calm behaviors comes into play all throughout handling and training horses. Whether we are working on desensitizing to a particular stimulus or just every day handling, and it's especially important when I know the environment is overwhelming. Instead of focusing on the negative and just waiting for the moment your horse reacts, it's absolutely vital to begin focusing on the calm and the good behaviors, even if that's rare and far between in the beginning. Gradually your horse will learn to get better at remaining calm and relaxed, even when faced with frightening stimulus, and it will learn that you are there to help it respond calmly.

 

Desensitizing

Desensitizing is when you introduce your horse to everything they may be scared of and help them understand why they don’t have to be afraid.  Horses require desensitizing to be able to handle our high stimulus, always changing, noisy, rushed human lifestyle. Between trailering, showing, training, equipment, flapping bags, barking dogs, different riders and various different homes over a horse's lifetime, it's no wonder most horses are either absolute stressed out messes or borderline catatonic. Compared to the quiet prairie what they were designed to be able to handle, our world is a constant senses overload. So, what are some ways to your horse? Here is a list of desensitizing training that I put my horses through in order to make them more confident and trustworthy: ​

 

Body Control & Movement

I like to break the horse into five different body parts the head, neck, front quarters, ribcage and hind quarters training. This helps to simplify and to give you specific goals to work toward. Many times in horse training and with life in general if we have no plan or specific goals in place, we never get where we want to go. Our plan is to have a finished safe, trustworthy and trained horse.  But our first goal is to gain complete control of the horse’s body.   By dividing the horse into five parts it gives easier and more obtainable steps to reach our goals. With time, repetition and consistency we can accomplish our plan. Remember that training must be broken down into a step-by-step process. We build a solid foundation and continually build from it.  The five regions of the horse we want to break and gain control of are the mouth, face, and poll, shoulders, the ribs or midsection of a horse and finally the hips and rear end. By gaining control of these parts of the body you develop tools to train with and feels like you have put automatic buttons on your horse. With these, you can train your horse to do any maneuver.

​

• Following a feel

• Yield hindquarters & Forequarters

• Vertical & Lateral Flexion

• Change directions

• Step under itself

• Rate itself

• Development of the bend

• Lateral Movement

• One rein stop

​

6.   Now you are ready to Lunge

The benefits of lunging your horse is that it prepares the horse’s body, mind and soul for focusing on the rider and readies him for work under saddle. Lunging correctly is the foundation of your horse’s education. Please first consider that lunging is so much more than aimlessly using up a horse’s excess energy by running him around in circles. More, it is a tool to influence the horse’s gaits, transitions and way of going to develop cadenced, rhythmic suppleness throughout. Lunging a horse well is the ideal basis of all training because it develops the strength and straightness required for a horse to carry a rider without damaging effects. It is essential that the lunging is carried out in the right way for it to be beneficial.  Get the freshness out and relax a horse.  Prepares the horse emotionally, mentally, physically for focusing on the rider and readies him for work under saddle.  Some of the exercises the off track horse first without the saddle and then tacked will benefit from:

Lunging a horse to work on their physique can be one of the most disconnecting tasks for a horse – especially lunging in side reins where the horse doesn’t have the freedom to stretch or bend right/left when needed. Although lunging can have many physical benefits, I encourage you to connect with the horse’s mind by doing exercises, maneuvers or activities that are educational, flexible that involve two-way communication! for example Sending Side to Side, through a gate, over poles, speed control, verbal cues walk, trot, canter etc.

• Tying

• Following a feel

• Change directions

• Step under itself

• Rate itself

• Speed control

• Yield hind and forequarters

• Development of the bend on a circle

• Transitions Up & down hills

• Over poles, barrels and tarps  

• Through water

• Transitions walk, trot & canter

​

7.   Mounted Training Level 1 with a Flexible Plan

During Mounted training the shortest distance between two points is through the ground.  If you want a push-button horse, you must install the buttons. That is best done first from the ground. Well-trained horses respond to leg cues, face cues and seat cues to anticipate what their rider wants them to do. A really well-trained horse and rider can perform with leg and seat cues alone. That is the fancy “bridleless” horse you see at exhibitions.  Leg cues are used to tell the horse which part of his body to move which direction. Leg yields are used specifically to move him laterally. Simply put, your horse will feel your leg or heel pressure on a certain spot on his body, and move away from the pressure (Yield) with that part of his body. The goal is to have your horse move his body off of a leg pressure so slight that a bystander cannot even tell that you have moved your leg or requested any action from your horse. It is difficult for both the horse and rider at first. But, after practice, both of you will become fluid and much more relaxed.

Your horse learned during his ground training that moving away from pressure will end the pressure. This is central to his understanding that under saddle he should do the same: move away from the pressure:

​

• Two legs pressuring his girth in a “neutral” position (neither forward nor behind the girth) moves him straight ahead.

• Right leg pressuring his girth (slightly forward of the middle) will move his shoulder away to the left.

• Right leg pressure behind the middle (just in front of the back cinch line) should move his hind quarters away to the left.

• Right leg pressure middle should help him move his rib cage away or up so that he moves his whole body left.

 

For the OTTB it will not be the first time it has been ridden and for the OT Standard it will be the first ride.  I recommend starting with the first exercise with both horses:

 

• Lateral Bend [flexion] at the stop

• Outside rein Softening the horses face

• Vertical Bend [flexion] Giving to the bit

• Softening, Stop & Back up

• Softening, Backing & forward Collection

• Turning and Guiding in a large circle

• Lateral Bends On a circle

• Neck Reining [western]

• Riding Outdoors eventually up and down hills

• Transitions up and down walk, trot and canter [the canter will likely be an issue with the OT standard bred] so do lots of riding over ground poles and up and down hills.

• Straight Lines

• Circles, figure eights, diagonals [While you are practicing your circles, continue working on your transitions. If you have trouble with a gait change, correct it, get your horse listening and get your transitions back before you continue in your circle].

• Lead Departure – Before attempting a flying lead change it is important that our horse understand a good lead departure! You need to teach the horse to do a lead departure from a walk or a standstill, and drive into that lead.  In order to do this, we have to have an understanding of a correct lead.  When teaching the lead departure, you can help yourself and your horse in picking up the correct lead by tipping the horse’s nose slightly toward the outside or to the left in order to obtain a right lead. Now applying the left leg aid in the same fashion as you would to get a side pass…you do not want him to side pass--you want him to lift his back and raise his shoulders and drive off his left hind foot.

 

 

OFF TRACK standardbred retraining – pacer & trotter

If you are considering bringing a Standardbred into your life, rest assured that these intelligent, tractable animals can easily adapt to any task you give them. After life at the track, they are accustomed to hard work, to say nothing of a great deal of attention. They actually look forward to any job you put in front of them.

“What is the difference between a Standardbred pacer and a Standardbred trotter?”
First, let's get to the differences between pacing and trotting.  In order to understand what pacing is, you must first understand the mechanics of the trot. In the trot, the horse’s legs move diagonally in a two-beat rhythm.  In other words, when the front left leg is forward, the right hind is also forward. When the right fore comes forward, the left hind also comes forward.

The pacer
It is probably the question I am asked most often, second to “Can you teach a pacer to do a normal trot and canter?” The answer is “yes”. This is a horse of a different color. Originating from the state of Indiana, the pacer is a lateral movement. In other words, if the left foreleg is forward, the left hind will also be forward.  You might be surprised to learn that when it comes to training trotters and pacers, the latter is far easier.  I know from experience that it “requires truly great horsemanship. Although the trot is slower than the pace, the horse can easily break [his stride by cantering, a basic disaster when it comes to racing]. And if, for example, you are in third place behind other horses, you can’t just pop a trotter out of the pack the way you can a pacer. You have to use a lot more finesse than with a pacer.”  Pacers are trained to the gait with the aid of hobbles.  These help keep the horse in the gait.  The horses don’t break as often as trotters do. And you can really move the horses around more easily.  Re-training a pacer for life as a saddle horse is not as difficult as some people think. Every Standardbred I have worked with, without exception, has had the mental fortitude to quickly grasp the switch.  Foundation of Ground Training is a key part of the process, as is a great deal of vocal reinforcement.  In the saddle, my vocal instruction is always paired with a lot of physical reinforcement in the form of strokes on the neck.  For those of you with arthritis or other health issues, a Standarbred pacer might be just the ticket. I have discovered that the their slow pace, known as an "amble," is a slice of gaited heaven that is exceedingly easy on the back and seat. 

Why they do what they do?
Because they are:

• Bred to do it.

• hobbled to do it

• built to do it

• muscle developed to do it

• tense to do it

• often belted if they canter.

 

Training Priority check list
There are many things that you must work through and to eliminate in order to successfully re-train the Pacer.

• Re-build the muscle groupings by relaxing the longitudinal muscles and strengthening the under muscles.

• Relax the lateral muscles

• Re-correct the neck and top line.

• Attempt to lift the back and to tighten the belly

• Gain more engagement from the hind legs and get them beneath the horse more.

• Teach the horse that it is ok to canter or trot.

• Relax the horse by being empathetic, understanding and to guide with softness.

Veterinary
Eliminate all Veterinary issues. Make sure there is no injuries and pain within the horse. Sore horses are tense horses and tense horses will Pace.

The mouth
The first thing that I do with one of these most lovely horses, is to check out the mouth. Surprisingly, they generally have a far better mouth than the Thoroughbreds off the track but they can all be improved. You have to check the 'Lateral Mouth' and the 'Front Wheel Brakes'. 

Standard Bred Horses are often stiff laterally and you will be needing to improve this for many reasons. To check out the front brakes, simply put a bridle and roller on the horse, attach two lunge reins, one to each side of the bit, pass them back through the rings of the roller, get behind the horse and prepare to long rein it, but don't.  Stand still and wait for it to go to walk forward of it's own accord. Set your hands in concrete and allow the horse the decision to run into the contact and for it to choose how much force that it will be wanting to apply to it's own mouth before giving, stopping and backing off the pressure that it has established. Right there and then, you will have felt the 'Front Wheel Brakes' and can rate them out of 10. You will want to improve that mouth if necessary.

Psychology
These horses are brain washed to Pace; by their Breeding and their Training.   A fair percentage would be disciplined for trotting and they are all hobbled to stop them doing it. You have to teach them that it is OK to trot without getting into trouble via the whip or through the mouth. This will form a major part of your challenge and much empathy and patience should be used.

Flexibility
These horses are often like boards and lack the flexibility training that the Dressage Horse gets. They are stiff through the back and the top line because the gait dictates this and they are stiff laterally as well You need to undertake a programme of methods to aid the horse to loosen up.

Teach it to flex on the ground to where your boot would sit and whilst you are doing this, teach it the forehand turn to prepare for leg yielding under saddle. Whilst holding the head around, put your fingers behind the girth and ask for the horse to yield the rear end over and off pressure which is applied on a scale of 0 - 10. Reward and Relief for any try.

Leg yielding
You should teach the horse the various Dressage moves and prepare it just like a Dressage Horse. You are going to need to ride it like a Dressage horse down the track and you will be needing some of the various aids to allow the horse to balance which will form relaxation and allow for the trot rather than pacing. Go here if you don't know how to train those things.

Dressage training Veterinary
The horse should be taught the following moves

• Shoulder fore

• Traverse

• Shoulder in

• Leg Yield

Roundness
You should be preparing the horse to be able to go 'on the bit' down the track a ways and while you are at it, start stretching the top line and back muscles of the horse. Prepare it to give it's back rather to hollow it. Go here to see what I recommend for these horses and see a photo of a Pacer on the first day. Stay away from side reins. being above the bit causes pacing during the re-education process!

CONTACT

During all of the formative training, ride the horse on a pleasure rein. You will take up a contact down the track, only when the horse is thoroughly prepared. Months down. Then, you should ride the horse 'round' and proper if you want to advance. You may need lessons, you may not.

Light is an easy-to-read font, with tall and narrow letters, that works well on almost every site.