Basic Horse Training

Basic Horse Training
Once the horse has been broken in their basic training can begin, which includes being able to halt, walk on, trot on and canter on when asked along with simple turns and transitions within those paces.

Lunging
The horse will already be familiar with the voice commands for lunging, so start off by lunging the horse without a rider on then with the rider on. At first the rider should stay very still and let the trainer give the voice commands as normal, this allows the horse to get used to having the extra weight on their backs.

Then the rider can use the leg and rein aids when the trainer uses their voice commands thus building up the horses understanding of the riders aids.

Off The Lunge
The horse will already be familiar with steering from long reining and so when the horse is moving off the riders leg and rein aids on the lunge it is time to remove the lunge line and let the rider add in some turns and transitions on their own.

Early Schooling
Start off by riding some walk to halt transitions ensuring that the horse moves forward when asked. Make turns simple to begin with by riding movements like changes of rein, then progressing to circles and serpentines.

The pace that you ride from can be increased slowly over the training sessions, and work in trot and canter can be included, keep exercises simple to begin with and gradually build on them when your horse is ready.

Going Out
When your horse is working well in the school in walk, trot and canter and is responsive to both the rein and leg aids then you can take your horse out of the enclosed training area into a more open space.

The young horse will have been long reined out and so should already be familiar with the "outside world" but take another horse as a companion. The companion horse should be safe, reliable and totally unflappable. By having a companion, will reassure the young horse if any new experiences turn up that it may not come across before. Start off at first by just walking out then if all goes well progress to trot and later canter.

Pick a quiet day or time to take your horse out to help build their confidence, the less going on the better to begin with.