The best selling book by Cherry Hill “What Every Horse Should Know”
has just been released in Italian 2017
To see a complete list of books by Cherry Hill and all of the translations, visit her Chronology page.
Paula
Posted in Books, Bridling, Catching, Check, Cherry Hill, Desensitization, Forward, Free Longeing, Gaits, Ground Driving, Ground Training, Half Halt, Halter Training, Handling, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Loping, Mounting, Personal Space, Respect, Riding, Road Riding, Trailer Loading, Training, What Every Horse Should Know, tagged cherry hill, ground training, Italian, riding, training, what every horse should know on November 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »
The best selling book by Cherry Hill “What Every Horse Should Know”
has just been released in Italian 2017
To see a complete list of books by Cherry Hill and all of the translations, visit her Chronology page.
Paula
Posted in 101 Ground Training Exercises, 101 Ground Training Exercises - Spanish Translation, Books, Bridling, Catching, Desensitization, Exercise, Free Longeing, Ground Driving, Ground Training, Halter Training, Handling, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Personal Space, Press Release, Respect, Trailer Loading, tagged cherry hill, equine, ground training, horse, horse books, training on October 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »
Posted in 101 Ground Training Exercises, Books, Bridling, Catching, Desensitization, Exercise, Free Longeing, Ground Driving, Ground Training, Halter Training, Handling, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Personal Space, Press Release, Respect, Tack, Trailer Loading, Training, tagged cherry hill, equine, exercises, ground driving, ground training, horse behavior, in hand, lessons, long lining, long reining, longeing, longing, lunging, sacking out, training on April 19, 2012| 1 Comment »
101 GROUND TRAINING EXERCISES
for Every Horse & Handler
8 1/2″ x 11″
255 pages
over 200 drawings and photos
comb bound and punched for hanging
“Every moment you spend with your horse is an opportunity to instill good habits and develop his respect, trust, and willingness to work with you. All horses need a solid foundation of in-hand and guide-line training in order to be safe to handle and ride”.
Cherry Hill’s comprehensive collection of 101 ground-training exercises leads you and your horse through catching, yielding, turning, sacking out, backing, longeing, long lining, doing obstacle work, and much more. Every exercise is fully illustrated and described in easy-to-follow, step-by-step language that you can refer to during your ground training work — simply hang the book in the barn or on a fence post, and your’re ready to go! The exercises include clear goals, variations, common problems to watch out for, and lesson reviews.
Posted in Behavior, Books, Bridling, Catching, Desensitization, Free Longeing, Ground Driving, Ground Training, Halter Training, Handling, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Personal Space, Respect, Riding, Trailer Loading, Training, What Every Horse Should Know, tagged book review, cherry hill, equine, ground training, horse, horse care, horseback riding, riding, training, what every horse should know on July 25, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Behavior, Check, Forward, Ground Driving, Ground Training, Half Halt, Halter Training, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Riding, Rushing, Training, tagged balance, equine, exercises, ground training, horse, horse pushes into bit, horseback riding, riding, rushing horse, training on May 14, 2011| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Exercise, Hoof Care, Lameness, Longeing, Stall, tagged equine, exercise, exercises, fitness, health care, hoof, hoof care, lame horse, lameness, longeing, riding on April 20, 2011| 5 Comments »
Hi Monika,
There was a salty and sweet vet that I worked with once that used to look at a horse like yours and say, “All she needs is fresh air and exercise.”
A horse that has not been out of her stall for a month will “stock up” which is a horseman’s way of saying “swell in the legs”. Some horses stock up if they don’t receive daily exercise. All horses should have either free daily exercise (turnout in a large area where they can run and buck and roll) or daily exercise such as longeing or riding.
But before you even think about exercising the horse, she needs hoof care. All horses should have their hooves attended to (trimmed or shod) every 6-8 weeks. When a horse’s hooves have become so long as to begin cracking and breaking off, it is way past due for the horse to have farrier care.
When a horse limps at the trot, that means the horse IS in pain – it hurts to put its weight on that hoof or limb.
So my suggestions are to get the horse hoof care immediately, keep her on a 6-8 week hoof care program per your farrier’s recommendation and exercise her daily.
Then your sweet horse will be comfortable and will last you a lot longer.
Posted in Behavior, Exercise, Forward, Ground Training, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Riding, Training, tagged equine, forward motion, forward movement, ground training, horseback riding, impulsion, in hand work, long lining, longeing, riding, training on April 7, 2011| 4 Comments »
Posted in Ground Driving, Ground Training, Long Lining, Longeing, Snaffle Bit, Tack, Training, tagged bridle, equine, exercises, horse, lessons, riding, snaffle, snaffle bit, tack, training on August 21, 2010| 1 Comment »
If you are going to use a bit when training your horse, the logical choice would be a snaffle bit. Alternatives to using a bit are bitless bridles, bosals, sidepulls, halters and tackless. These topics will be discussed in future posts.
A snaffle is a mechanically simple bit that allows you to communicate with your horse in simple terms. A snaffle bit transmits pressure in a direct line from your hands on the reins to the rings and mouthpiece of the bit to the horse’s mouth.
© 2010 Cherry Hill © Copyright Information
On a snaffle, there are no shanks. Shanks are the vertical sidepieces on a curb bit to which the reins attach. Shanks create leverage action. The snaffle bit operates via direct pressure only. The mouthpiece of a snaffle can be jointed or solid. The misconception that any bit with a jointed (or “broken”) mouthpiece is a snaffle has given rise to the misnomers: “long-shanked snaffle”, “tom-thumb snaffle”, and “cowboy snaffle”. All of these are really jointed (or broken mouth) curbs.
The most common snaffle, the jointed O-ring, has four parts: two rings and a mouthpiece comprised of two arms.
A snaffle is customarily used with a brow band headstall that has a throatlatch. Often a noseband is used with a snaffle.
Snaffle Action The snaffle is useful for teaching a horse to bend his neck and throatlatch laterally so that he can be turned in both directions. It is also useful for teaching a horse to flex vertically in the lower jaw, at the poll, and at the neck muscles just in front of the withers. Vertical flexion is necessary for gait and speed control as well as for stopping.
The bars are the flesh-covered portions of the lower jawbone between the incisors and the molars. This is where the bit lies. It is the action of the snaffle bit on the bars of the horse’s mouth that produces vertical flexion.
With a regularly configured snaffle, when one rein is pulled out to the side, let’s say the right, the bit will slide slightly through the mouth to the right and the primary pressure will be exerted by the ring on the left side of the horse’s face. This will cause him to bend laterally and turn right.
When the right line is pulled backward, pressure will be exerted on the right side of the horse’s tongue, the right lower lip, the right corner of the mouth, the right side of the bars and on the left side of the horse’s face. This will tend to cause the horse to bend laterally and begin to flex vertically so he shifts his weight rearward as he turns right.
When you pull backward on both lines, pressure will be applied to both corners of the mouth and across the entire tongue and the bit may contact the bars and the lower lips. This causes a horse to flex vertically, shift his weight rearward, slow down, or stop.
Your hands have the capacity to turn the mildest bit into an instrument of abuse or the most severe bit into a delicate tool of communication. Above all, good horsemanship is the key to a horse’s acceptance of the bridle.
The introduction of the bit and bridle occur during ground training such as longeing and ground driving.
Posted in Ground Driving, Ground Training, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Training, tagged balance, bending, equine, exercises, flexibility, ground training, horse, lessons, relaxation, side reins, suppleness, tie back, training on July 13, 2010| 4 Comments »
Dear Cherry,
I rode and owned a horse on my grandfather’s ranch in my teens and did some barrel racing and trail and am just getting back into riding 30 years later. I’m wondering if the training method below is cause for concern.
My trainer uses a heavy black rubber cylinder as a tie back when longeing my horse. Here’s how he uses it:
He saddles the horse and takes her to the longeing pen.
He hooks the rubber tube on the left bit ring and the front saddle cinch ring.
He has the horse walk and trot about 10 laps, then switches sides and does the same on the right.
Then he stops the horse, attaches the tube between the bit and the back ring of the saddle.
At this point, the horse is looking sideways, almost to the rear.
He has her walk and slow trot about 5-7 laps, switch sides same thing on right.
My trainer says her problem side is her right side, so she is tied around on the right side from bit to back ring to “stand” for 15 minutes.
I then ride her about 30-45 minutes.
This pattern is done daily, at minimum 5 days a week.
I’m concerned because sometimes she starts “spinning” in a circle and has to be stopped and started again. She has run into the wooden fence many times.
Jan
Hi Jan,
This is a huge topic. I can’t see the training session in person although you did a good job of outlining it. In an email reply, I’m sure I’m not going to hit all the bases. But here is some information that I hope will be helpful. Since it is your trainer doing the tie back, I am writing to trainers in general, not to you specifically.
Most horses are stiffer in one direction and many horses are just plain stiff overall when it comes to bending. So part of our training goal to make a horse rideable is teaching a horse to bend in various ways and to condition them so that they can bend. There are many ways to do this. In a nutshell, here are some of my cardinal rules related to bending:
All bending lessons should be mastered with a halter and lead rope before a bridle.
Bending exercises should be done in hand before longeing or riding.
Bending lessons are more effective when they are combined with forward movement.
And a general training rule – if something is not working (as in 5 x a week, every week and still same stiffness), the trainer needs to stop doing it, step back, take a time out and look at what you are doing, evaluate, change. Repeating something over and over and not getting results just doesn’t make sense. There are much more effective ways to teach a horse to bend.
If a horse resists bending, it is likely that some of the ground training has been skipped. Ground training exercises related to bending include this one but there are many more.
Send the horse out on a 10-15 foot line and turn the horse in toward you to change the horse’s direction of travel. Do this again. You’ll see right away that in one direction the horse hurries and is stiff when he turns while in the other direction he will likely make a real pretty symmetric rhythmic walk around turn. Do this back and forth (it becomes almost like a figure 8 or a bow tie) until the horse relaxes both ways. This is the equivalent of a change of rein when you are riding serpentines, small figure 8’s, that sort of thing, a sweeping curvy type of turn, very balanced, relaxed, rhythmic.
Do the same exercise near the arena rail and ask for the turn and change of direction just as the horse is leaving the rail. This makes him do more of a turn on the hindquarters as he changes direction.
I’ve seen dramatic positive results in practicing this exercise with green horses and even use it to warm up my saddle horses before I step on.
Now as far as using reins of some kind while longeing, side reins can be a useful tool to help balance, flex and bend a horse but they must be used with great discretion and experience. Less is more. The situation you describe is not really side reins, but related, so I wanted to mention that side reins, when properly used, can help a horse learn how to carry himself better. But they are usually used in pairs and never tightened to such an extreme as you describe.
Specifically to your horse’s training program – It seems to be a common training practice. As you describe it above, there are a few things that are OK but some not OK things going on too.
OK things:
Using flexible rubber for “side reins” – if you are going to use them flexible is good.
Using them (at least in part of the session) while the horse is moving forward.
Not OK things:
If a horse is so resistant (or fearful or uncomfortable) when bending yet it seems that this method is necessary to be used 5 days a week, I’d think that some training basics were skipped somewhere, such as in-hand work and work in a halter. I’d also suspect that the horse’s mouth might be sore from this every day regimen………and/or it is getting dulled to it all.
A horse should never be tied so short so that it is “looking sideways, almost to the rear” and being asked to go forward on a longe line. This just doesn’t make sense.
Tying a horse around to one side and making him stand is a dead-end as far as I’m concerned and certainly invites the spinning you mention.
When you train a horse to bend, you want him to bend moderately and in balance, not overbend. Overbending, like overflexing, can turn into a real avoidance problem later on. One of those “it will come back to bite you” situations.
Best of luck and thanks for writing,
Cherry Hill
Posted in Ground Driving, Ground Training, In-Hand Work, Long Lining, Longeing, Safety, Training, tagged equine, gloves, ground training, horse, rope burn, safety, training on June 3, 2010| 4 Comments »
© 2010 Cherry Hill © Copyright Information
The other day, after we worked our horses, we came inside to our respective computers and I found something interesting to show Richard, so I called him over………I thought it was odd that he came over to my desk…….wearing one greasy looking glove – on his right hand – the very same hand that I had last seen holding a web longe line – but at that time it had been UNgloved. Ah-ha !
So, I looked at him with that kind of peering ½ chastising ½ teasing look that I have and he fessed up……”I shoulda worn gloves…..”
Sherlock had gotten the longe line caught under his tail and bolted suddenly, zinging the web line through Richard’s bare hand. It was a short burst, quickly over, but the friction made enough heat to take some patches of hide from the junction where the fingers meet the palm and make white streaks across the tips of the other fingers. The picture was taken after a few days inside a Vaseline glove.
These things do happen when handling web lines and ropes, so that’s why I always recommend that you wear gloves when you are ground training or if you are handling ropes when riding.
And get that gol dang horse used to a rope under his blessed tail !!