Question on Using Flags to get a Horse to pick you up on the fence

Margaret sent me a question on using flags, specifically on the article Restarting Monte, Part 3, when I was getting Monte to pick me up on the fence. Her question was "Why did you decide on teaching the horse to come to the fence with a bit in his mouth as opposed to using a more gentle method such as a flag? After he is good at coming over to you, then you can do it with a bit in his mouth, but clanging the bit on his teeth when teaching him is detrimental to him."

Okay, not so much a full question but half lecture. I have no problem with that. And I assume she was meaning why didn't I start with a halter and lead as opposed to when the horse was in a snaffle bit outfit.

I did say in the text of the article prior to the video that ".....it was best to start with a lead rope. Sitting on the fence, with the horse usually perpendicular to you, and bump the lead rope until the horse searches for a release by moving his back end or even starting to just lean his hind end towards me. Its important to give the release with good timing and give the horse a good pause before bumping again....." While I have used a flag on a couple of horses to create some energy for them to move their hind over, I quit the flag just as soon as I can. For the one situation I use a flag, to get a horse to step over to the fence to pick me up, I just use the lead rope ten or more times. The flag in a great tool, as with any tool it has to be judiciously, but in my opinion, it can get in the way of a horse understanding the feel of the lead rope or a rein. They are moving due to the pressure of the flag as opposed to the feel of the lead or rein.

And I'll use the flag not right off, but bring it into the equation if the horse is having a hard time understanding the feel of the lead or reins, and again, this is important at least to me, I'll be looking immediately for where I don't have to use the flag it at all.

I did start Monte on picking me up off the fence using a halter and lead. He did well enough so I transitioned to asking him in the snaffle bit. Look again at the video, Monte steps over with a light feel or bump on the lead portion of the mecate. It's only when I ask him to make that last step closer when his head comes up, but even then, the "banging" on his mouth is minimal. If I was banging on his teeth with the bit you would have seen a much different reaction. This was around the fourth time, in 10 days or so, that I asked him to pick me up off the fence, counting the first time I asked using the lead rope.

I appreciate Margaret looking out for the welfare of the horse. In this case just a bit (no pun intended) quick to comment without a full understanding of where the horse and I were coming from. No worries. Like I tell people, I often need supervision and likely directions even to my grave, but hopefully that's well down the road.

Is the Anticipating Horse just an Anxious Horse?

The quick answer is 'sometimes'. Melanie wrote to ask about her horse anticipating. "Hello, I read your article about the horse anticipating turning at the fence. What I got out of it was to mix things up so the horse does not know when you will ask her to turn and that is keeping her acutely listening to you. My mare does something different where we try to open a gate and she wants to push through it. One time I fumbled the latch and she thought the gate was opening and pushed my leg into the gate. When I am riding her she is fine but going through the gate she is a mess anticipating. She sometimes anticipates other things like taking her halter off and tries to pull her head away thinking the halter is unbuckled. When I correct her she is good but I just don't know what to make out it and wondering what you think of this."

I think we're all tying to accomplish the same thing, getting our horse's responding to cues and not what they think is going to happen nor want to happen. The term 'anticipation' may not be the best term, but we can all understand it. Sometimes a horse may prepare to turn or actually turn before you ask as it gets anxious, such as riding toward a obstacle like a fence. But I am leaning towards the view that true anticipation may be rarer than a horse just being anxious.

I would lead the horse, in hand, through the gate until it walks calmly through. Then I would send the horse through the gate until it does so at a calm walk. I would hesitate after opening the gate, for varying periods of time - maybe 5 seconds to 15 seconds - before asking either. You could also walk up to the gate open it, wait on the horse to just be calm, feet not moving - maybe rub her - then close the gate and go someplace else.

Another note on sending horses through a gate - I like to have the horse go through the gate then disengage his back end away from me so he ends up facing me. It's easier to get him good at this without the gate, so that when he does go through a gate and feels the lead rope he'll his rear end away to face you. In the beginning you'll likely have to tip his head to you, so its easier for him to disengage his back end. But given the chance horse's will respond to a lighter feel on the lead rope and soon you can send him and bend him with a loose lead rope.

On horseback I would continue the same thing. When you open the gate tip her head the other way - away from the gate - slightly, and get her to stand content (see photo above). You could close the gate ride away and do it all over again. Then you could do it with her head tipped towards the open gate (see photo below), but she only moves through the gate when you cue her and then at a calm walk. She will likely move at a fast walk or otherwise show some nervousness, so be prepared to do this again several times. This is well worth the time as going through the gate can be dangerous - my left knee will attest to that.

One time I was in a ranching sorting competition and this young man had a horse who refused to go through the gate. A couple guys on the ground crew used a lariat across the butt of the horse to get him to move into the sorting pen. That didn't do the horse, nor rider any good.  The horse remained nervous and it didn't help that the cattle were sour Corrientes pushing on him. When the young man came out of the pen, I worked with him and his horse sending him in a circle while getting closer and closer to a panel fence, then I sent it back and forth between me and the fence, and fairly soon the horse was moving between me and the fence with just enough room to get by. On his next turn in the sorting pens, the rider was ale to ride his horse through the gate without much problem. On some occasions, if I am leading a horse to and through a gate and they turns sideways and balk, I'll do what I just described and its seems to make them better at being close to fences and going through gates.

As for putting the halter and and off. I have seen too many horses bolt as soon as that halter is loose. I have also seen a woman get pulled off her feet and drug a short ways after getting her hand stuck in the halter and the horse thought he was free. I ask my horses to get soft - get their nose vertical to the ground, so the halter nose band just falls off.  And it's not a bad idea to get the horse's nose tipped just a bit towards you. That is what I would do on a horse who doesn't yet have good manners. But asking the horse to get soft when un-haltering is not just an exercise in getting the horse to drop his head then pulling it back up. You would want the horse to stay soft and not put pressure on the halter as it falls off his nose. You arm and hand are likely still over the horse's neck as the halter nose band falls off - good time to give the horse a short rub, then walk away.

Pre-Challenge Clinic and Observations

Leading up to the annual Arena Challenge I put on every year, I do several horsemanship clinics for each group of competitors. My intent here is to give them things to work on so when they show up and ride in the Challenge they can perform better. If they perform better maybe they'll reach for more.

The last two clinics were for the Stockhorse Division and the Novice class. I try to make it challenging for the stockhorse competitors having them throw loops from odd angles on the roping dummies and at greater distances than the team ropers are used to. Maybe the hardest throw was throwing a loop to the off side then as you pull your slack, raising it above the horse's head as you move your horse's front end to face up on the dummy. This can't be performed very effectively unless you can move your horse's front end independently of the back end.  Pictured below is a rider preparing to make the off side throw.   

Perhaps the biggest challenge for the stockhorse competitors and their horses was tracking the Pro Cutter flag. As they move one direction and stop the flag, or stop as the flag stops, then position up for a turn in the opposite direction and track the flag the other direction. Again the ability to bring the front end over setting up for a departure and a trot or canter departure is what is going to allow the horse and rider to stay up with the flag. I'll run the Pro Cutter all the way in one direction then immediately return the other direction requiring the horse and rider to double - an 180 degree turn with forward momentum. Ever see a Gypsy Vanner work and double on a flag? If you haven't heard of Gypsy Vanner horses, look them up on Google. I think they were bred to pull carts for leprechauns or something like that.  The picture below is a Gypsy Vanner just beginning to double on the flag.  

The last clinic was for Novice Division riders. I had six some to the clinic and while we didn't get to some of the things I wanted to expose them to, we did some make some progress. All but one rider rode with a mechanical hackamore and couple of the rider had less slack than others in their curb chains. This made it that much harder to get softness out of their horses. I think many riders don't know just how sensitive the horse's jawline is, so when the mechanical hackamore is tightened just a little by pulling on the reins, the nose band and the curb chain become a nut cracker on the horse's nose and jaw. Doing a smooth transition from the walk to trot or trot to canter when the mechanical hackamore is putting pressure on the horse is challenging.

Walk to a Trot transition. We worked on a subtle transition, riding on loose rein and getting your horse soft. I spent a lot of time correcting hand position on the reins and what a slack rein feels like. Sometimes the riders would put just a little more pressure on the reins which causes the horse to loose momentum - they just get confused with the lack of a clear signal. Some of this is the rider's preparing for the horse to go faster than than they want. If I'm only working with one rider, sometimes I'll take them to the round pen where a horse going fast is more easily managed.

We worked on the stop. Because too many of the horses move with an elevated head position the stops were not precise and heavy on the front end. An elevated head is aggravated when the rider is puling on their head or mouth. So we spent some time accentuating sitting deep in the seat of the saddle and exaggerating the feet forward and heels down, before ever picking up the reins.

The backup was next. We worked on using the reins as a secondary backup cue. When I could get the riders to stop pulling on their horse's head, the horses were more comfortable and the riders could get a change from their horse stepping with the back end as opposed to pushing with their front end. A couple of riders progressed very well and got their horses to back up with very little rein, instead using their feet to create momentum. The look on the rider's faces when they saw an understanding in their horse is priceless.

Then we worked on turn arounds. Because most of the riders were riding in contact they had the habit of a taunt outside rein on a turnaround with is confusing to the horse and ends up slowing momentum. The Arena Challenge will an 8' turnaround box as well as a task requiring switchback turns around vertical poles, and in order to do those obstacles the riders are going to have to get their horses giving to horizontal flexion and soft in the barrel to get the bend and maintain forward momentum.  The Arena Challenge is just over a month away, so we'll see just how progress between now and then everyone makes.