The ground manners part assumes your horse
will lead properly….that is, walk AND trot along beside you with his head
even with your shoulder, stopping when you stop, and backing up when you
do. Once you have done this, you are now ready to teach tailing.
Don’t TEACH tailing on hills.
Teach it on a level wide road, like a dirt road or FS road. Do it at a
time when there are no flies so he won’t need his tail! The objective is
to teach your horse that you want him to “go first”. Since
you have taught him to walk along with his head even with your shoulder,
stopping when you stop and backing up when you back up, he must now learn a
“variation” on this. You will need “tailing”
reins. There are basically two types. A long loop rein (I like the
6 foot yacht rope) or a shorter rein with a “tailing string” in the
middle that you can slide out to the end to lengthen the rein.
I teach a “go forward” cue,
which I also use to teach a horse to load on a trailer. Without going
into to great detail here, basically I teach him that if I face his left side
with the lead line in my left hand and raise my arm and point at his hip,
(initially this is a tap high on the hip with a dressage whip) he will
“go forward”….onto a trailer, a scale, over a log, etc.
For tailing, with the off rein disconnected and in my left hand, I ask him to
“go forward”, but instead of standing still, I move off with him
about even with the saddle as he goes by. If he stops, I
“kiss” rapidly and ask him to “go forward” again or tap
him lightly just behind the stirrup where your heel would normally be. He
will quickly understand that you want him to continue to walk. Practice
this until he will walk off as soon as you raise your arm and
“kiss”. Now gradually slide backward a little at a time paying out
the rein with your left hand and your right hand on the saddle or the horse
until you can walk along with your hand on his butt. If you do this too
quickly, the horse will tend to turn to the left and circle back to you. If he
does, walk forward, push his neck away from you and then drop back again until
he “gets it”. At this point, you will need to flip the rein
up over the saddle to support it and prevent any rein pressure on the left
side. Note that the action of flipping the rein up over the saddle is the
same motion as raising your arm for the “go forward” cue.
Soon he will “anticipate” and walk off as soon as you dismount and
flip the rein up over the saddle with your right hand. Continue to slide back
until you can walk along with his tail in your right hand….no pull at
this point. Scratch and play with his tail just like you did when you
taught him to have his tail handled. When he is comfortable with this,
slide back behind him with the rein over his butt, hold his tail and gently and
lean back. You are now TAILING! I like to grip the tail with both
hands with the rein still in my palm….just bundle it with the tail.
It’s easier to keep your balance with both hands on rocky trail.
Move on to some gentle hills and then
steeper ones. After a while, you and your horse will get “on the
same page”. When you come to a hill, he will “expect”
the tailing and continue to walk as you roll out of the saddle, disconnect the
rein, toss it over the saddle and grab his tail as he comes by. Late in a
ride, my guys will stop and ask me to get off on hills when they get tired!
<g>
As an advanced exercise, I teach tailing
at a trot. The cue is a light slap on the butt with my hand and a
“kiss”.
Try it….it takes a little work, but
its fun to do and fun to teach.
