TRAINING TIPS AND HINTS
This page is dedicated to Tom (Robbie) and Pat Roberts who taught me
99% of everything I know today about training horses!
This page is dedicated to Tom (Robbie) and Pat Roberts who taught me
99% of everything I know today about training horses!
| TEACHING A COLT TO TIE UP. I am sure most of us have had to deal with a horse or pony that will not tie up. They pull back and break halters and leadropes. At home it can be a real nuisance......on a trail ride or at a show it can be a disaster. We use sand bags to teach our colts to tie. The photos below are of our AQHA colt Zantana learning to tie. I must stress that you should NEVER leave any colt or horse unattended if you use this method to teach them, and be sure the area is free of possible hazards in case they fall. Rest your curser on the photos for the explanation text and to hear what we imagined Zantana might be saying if we could read his mind! |
| Above Zantana looks calm but he has not given up yet. He is still learning though....that while he stands quietly the rope does not "fight" him. He doesn't realize he is causing himself grief.....he believes the rope is responsible! Horseman Tom (Robbie) Roberts in his Horse Control book series told us that horses learn by "this will profit you" and "this will profit you not." Her e Zantana is leaning that fighting the rope will "profit you not." |
| An important thing to remember when working with horse and with young horses in particular is that they see the world very differently than most of us humans! To a young horse everything new is a potential predator....he is certain it wants to eat him! Once he realizes that people don't want to hurt him.....he then begins to figure out where they stand in his next most important aspect of life....the "Herd". It is very important that colts quickly learn that you are dominant over them in the herd "pecking order". In other words they must learn to respect you and be submissive to you. Which is where it becomes our responsibility as their owners to be sure we treat them with kindness and understanding while still maintaining our position as "Herd Leader" over them. A colt or a horse that believes he is "dominant" over people becomes a deadly and dangerous animal very quickly. |
| Zantana tries everything he can think of to break free. At one point he got a foot caught in the rope so we had to untangle it for him. NEVER LEAVE ANY HORSE OR COLT ALONE if you try this. But these photos were taken within twenty minutes of each other. In the end he couldn't have cared less. Now when he is tied...even if startled, he will feel the rope get tight and give up immediately Here to the right....he is beginning to get tired of fighting and it "profits him not." But standing still there is no pull on the halter and in his mind "this will profit you." |
| The next time Zantana was caught three months later and tied up he pulled to the end of his tied rope ONCE and immediately quit and stood quietly. See photo at right taken January 11th 2005. |
| The same very wise horseman Tom (Robbie) Roberts once told me "A lesson is anything you teach a horse....good or bad." A horse that pulls back and breaks free learns that if they just pull hard enough......they can get free. Teaching them to tie this way teaches them that they cannot get free.....or so they think! I was very lucky to have known Robbie and Pat Roberts of Adelaide South Australia personally. I once told a friend that listening to Robbie talking of his experiences with horses and people was like opening a treasure chest full of treasure. He taught me everything I know about raising and training young horses. He liked to tell people what I did with the first young horse I ever "broke In" . I told him I went to the round yard with "the book (Horse Control the Young Horse) in one hand and the horse in the other". Tom was awarded the MEDAL OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA from the Governor of South Australia for "SERVICE TO EQUESTRIAN SPORT" in 1982. He served in both World Wars and quickly gained a reputation as an expert horseman who specialized in working with "difficult horses." He wrote four books in the Horse Control Series "Horse Control and the Bit"...."Horse Control and the Young Horse", "Horse Control and the Rider" and "Reminiscences". During the war he kept a diary which he was working on publishing at the time of his death. His wife Pat Roberts completed the transcript and published "Tom Roberts War Diaries...Will we be disappointed After?" Pat is also the author of her own book "Emily's Journal"....a beautiful and fascinating look at one family's journey to the new land of Australia back in the 1850's...through letters, photographs and personal jurnals and diaries. THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO MY DEAR FRIENDS ROBBIE AND PAT ROBERTS IN MEMORY OF THE "SUNSHINE YEARS AFTER" |
| To order any of Tom's books contact Pat Roberts 241 Richmond Road, Richmond 5033 South Australia Telephone # 011 61 8 843 7578 |