Horse Training

The training system we call heeding at Meredith Manor teaches a student how to train a horse by methodically applying directional pressures that the horse feels as a shape the student wants him to take.

The training system we call heeding at Meredith Manor uses methodically applied directional pressures that the horse feels as a shape we want him to take. Training is that simple. And it is that complex.

Judging by the number of articles and videos about the subject, many horse owners appear to have trouble loading their horse into a trailer.

Predictable patterns that create a feeling of rhythm help horses feel relaxed and comfortable.

When you work in predictable patterns that create feelings of rhythm and relaxation, your horse begins to trust that you are a comfortable, safe place to be. You never surprise or startle the horse as you groom or lead or load him into a trailer or work under saddle because you always use a predictable, calm, rhythmic approach to whatever you do when you are with him.

As a horse works its way up the training tree, its handler needs to stay aware of the difference between an aid and a cue or signal. A lot of people mythunderstand the difference because the line between an aid and a cue gets blurry sometimes.

We use a lot of terms in the horse industry and expect that everyone understands what we are saying the same way we mean it.

Your first objective every time you are around a horse is to get yourself emotionally neutral. When you approach a horse in an emotionally neutral state of mind, the horse perceives you as a safe place to be. That helps him be emotionally neutral, too. Then you can open up whatever line of horse-logical communication you want with him.

One of the biggest mistakes that I see people make in their relationships with horses is failing to pay complete attention to the horse they are handling. That’s why heeding is the best program I know of for working with a stallion.

Trailer loading is not a BIG deal. It is just heeding. When you step forward, the horse steps forward. When you stop, the horse stops. Your horse stays by your side always and that includes walking next to you into a trailer.

Loading a horse into a trailer is a test of how accurately the horse responds to the step cue you put on him by heeding. Trailer loading isn’t a separate skill you and your horse must learn. It’s just applying the step cue you taught your horse with basic heeding to a specific task. When the horse understands your step as an cue, meaning he is to follow each of your steps with a step of his own, you can use that cue to ask him to enter the trailer with you.

Loading a horse into a trailer is not a separate skill that horses and their handlers need to learn. Loading is simply a response to the step cue you’ve taught your horse through heeding. The horse that has learned to stay at your shoulder, trust your consistency and trust that he’s got your full attention whenever you’re with him. He has learned that your step is a cue for him to take a step. So he will match you step for step and walk right into the trailer. The step cues are the same and the horse’s response to them should be the same as if you were asking him to walk down the barn aisle or into an arena. When the horse understands heeding, walking into a trailer is just one step away from what he already knows.

Some people make a big deal out of a horse’s gender and say that people should handle horses of different sexes different ways. We work with every horse, regardless of gender, the same way. We communicate with the horse the same way regardless of its sex. The sequence of skills a horse learns as it progresses up the training tree does not change with its gender.

The first horse I ever bought for myself was a registered Arabian mare. Her name was Rafsu and after all these years I can still remember her registration number. She was one of my two favorite horses ever and she survived my early attempts at breaking her, which was how people perceived training back then. She just forgave all my mistakes and kept on being a nice mare despite everything I did wrong.

Ground control precedes horse control. Before you snap the lead rope onto a horse’s halter, you and the horse need to start communicating in a meaningful, horse-logical way.

Heeding is a horse communication system that proceeds in small, horse-logical steps that never create fear or antagonism in the horse. It requires being consistent in the moves you make around the horse, introducing just one small bite of information at a time, and making sure that new information is just one step away from what the horse already understands. Heeding builds a solid foundation that the horse and trainer can use to play reining or show jumping or dressage or any other game they decide to play.

Ground control precedes horse control. If a horse doesn’t heed its handler on the ground, it is never going to listen when that person swings into the saddle. A lot of horse people mythunderstand ground work. They think it just means snapping on a lead rope and pushing or pulling a horse from the barn to the arena or from the stall to the crossties or hopefully into a trailer. One of the ways to make people think you’re magic with horses is if you can control the horse from the ground constantly and consistently for the purpose you want.

Years ago, I had a client with a two-year-old Arabian colt that she wanted to keep as a breeding stallion. The colt was argumentative and constantly challenged anyone handling him. I got along with him fine but he was more horse than she could handle. She was scared to death of him. The only time she was even brave enough to pet him was when I was holding him in his stall for her. She finally decided that gelding him was the best course of action.

Horses are creatures of habit. And the habits they learn can be good ones or bad ones depending on who’s handling them. And whatever habits or patterns they have when they come to you can be changed if you go about it in a methodical, horse-logical way. If memory serves, one of the horses that taught me this was a Morgan stallion that belonged to a friend of mine. This was back in the ’60s and I don’t remember the horse’s registered name but we called him Little Brother.

Most people think you control a horse by controlling its head. You put on a lead rope or a bridle and you use that to show the horse how you want him to start and stop and turn and move his feet and disengage this or that and other stuff. So how do you control a horse when you don’t have a lead rope or a bridle on him? Every day, there are a lot of people chasing horses around in pastures asking that question.