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'Be
in good stead! Ride an American Saddlebred horse instead!' - Rosemary Mackay
Please find on this page:
1. Training your horses
and
2. a brief overview of the training program for our
American Saddlebred purebred and partbred horses.
1. Training Your
Horses.
We have good
horse facilities at the Gundaroo Horse Park and we can provide horse
handling services for your foals, colts and young horses from ‘leading’
to ‘under saddle’.
We work well together having
trained horses that we have bred ourselves. We work at gaining the
trust of the horse using kind, firm and gentle methods.
We will not rush the training
of a young horse so if you are looking for a quick breaking-in of a
horse we are not the people you are looking for. We prefer to work
closely with the owners of the horses as we encourage a relationship
between the horses and their owners rather than with ourselves - though
we will take on horses where owners prefer not to be hands on.
We must stress that we do not
give riding lessons. We assume that the owners of young stock will be
proficient riders or, if they aren’t, they will seek riding lessons from
a fully accredited riding instructor. Fully accredited ‘Equestrian
Federation of Australia’ riding instructors can use the facilities of
the Gundaroo Horse Park.
Please telephone us if you
would like to bring your young horse to the Gundaroo Horse Park for
training.
We can be contacted on
·
- (02) 6236 8498 (h);
-
- 0407 662 386
(Andrew mobile);
·
- 0431 524 037
(Rosemary mobile);
·
- Email:
rosemarymackay@bigpond.com
;
·
- Address:
o
Gundaroo Horse Park,
o
Ballalaba's American
Saddlebred Horse Stud,
o
The Elms,
o
190 Wurungul Lane,
o
GUNDAROO NSW 2620
AUSTRALIA
2. A brief overview of the
training program for our American Saddlebred purebred/partbred
horses:
We have built on our
knowledge of horses and horse handling from our childhood/young adult
experiences by attending training clinics, asking
and being advised by experienced horse people/trainers, reading books
and watching horse training VIDEOS/DVDs.
The Gundaroo Horse Park is an extremely horse-friendly purpose-built
facility near the village Gundaroo (just north of Canberra), New South
Wales, Australia. We have approximately 30 km of horse-friendly
fences all with electric stand-offs which we are currently expanding.
We have a marvellous laneway system that allows us to safely move
multiple numbers of horses from their fields to the training areas. We
make constant use of our padded horse crushes, padded yard, round yard
and dressage arena.
We have devised the following
'gentle' training program for our American Saddlebred (purebred/partbred) horses from
birth to under saddle and harness training:
. American Saddlebred foals are handled shortly after birth. We
purposely do not interfere with the bonding
relationship of foal and dam and do not handle them until they suckle
unless, of course, there are foaling issues. Andrew lifts the
foal each day until it becomes too heavy to lift (see 'Horses in the
Making' - Lady Wentworth). The halter is placed on the foal on day one
and left on until they leave their foaling paddocks to go out into the
bigger fields. They learn to lead by being attached to their dams.
They are walked around the property and are given plenty of new
experiences such as walking on and off a horse float and into the
crushes.
. We start off using Pat Parelli's '7 Friendly Games' which
continue throughout their development to more intense training.
American Saddlebred foals are regularly handled for worming and
vaccinating.
. American Saddlebred foals have their hoofs regularly
trimmed by Andrew and Rosemary who have both learned to barefoot trim.
. American Saddlebred foals are weaned at 6+ months (we do not feel
that the foal is physically or psychologically ready to leave its dam
prior to this time - when closely observing foals in large fields we
notice that until this time they mostly cling to their Dams and suckle
often - after this time they wander off quite a distance and become more
independent). If their Dams are not foaling the following season
we may leave them suckling longer. Weanlings are handled
intensely until they are turned out into large undulating fields when
they are brought in for regular worming and handling.
. American Saddlebred weanlings are taught to be tied up. This
is usually easy as they have already been taught to lead by their dams
and by us.
. American Saddlebred foals, weanlings and yearlings are handled
by the proven methods of wonderful horse people such as Kel Jefferys, Maurice
Wright, Monty Roberts, Pat Parelli, John O'Leary, Steve Brady, Henry
Blake, Lady Wentworth, Tom Roberts, to name a few (see our reading
list). We always ask questions of our more experienced horsey friends. We cherry pick
from these wonderful methods depending
on the particular horse we are working with.
. American Saddlebred weanlings and yearlings are turned out, with regular
worming, handling. Yearlings are taught to lead from the farm
vehicle. This assist in their becoming used to traffic.
. At the age of 3 they are brought in
for more intense, from the ground training, using the abovementioned
methods. At this point we use the Monti Roberts 'Join Up' method
and push the young American Saddlebred horse around the round yard until
he joins up with the trainer. This remarkable method works every
time and never ceases to amaze us. The method results in the horse
listening attentively to the commands of the trainer. During this period we teach them to accept
the bit, roller, crupper and saddle. They walk over tarps, inner
sprung mattresses and learn to
handle obstacles and are exposed to experiences such as balloons
bursting, plastic bags, umbrellas opening and closing, being led from
the farm vehicle etc.
They are taught to respond to voice - 'back', 'stand', 'park', 'walk', 'trot', 'canter', 'up' for feet
and 'steady' for calming.
. Mouthing - we use a rusty old snaffle
with side bars. The period of time with the bit in their mouth
increases daily. When they are familiar with the bit they are fed
whilst wearing the bit. We feel this
teaches them to keep their tongue in the correct position (see
Horse Control and the Bit, Tom Roberts THE BRITISH ARMY RECOMMENDATION:
'the snaffle should be put in for an hour a day and the horse should be
allowed to feed with it on. This will be found specially useful in
preventing the development of a tendency to get the tongue over the
bit.').
. We
never put any pressure on the bit until the horse is familiar with the bit in his mouth.
At this point we commence using John O'Leary's methods for mouthing the horse. John's uses
the one rein method of using binder twine from the bit to the roller to
quickly encourage the horse
to give to the rein. We are firm but kind at this stage and use
intermittent firm pressure to ensure the horse understands to give to
the bit.
. We then put the saddle/pack
saddle on the
horse and add weights until he is happy moving around with weight on his
back.
. At the age of 4 is the time we back
our horses (we feel American Saddlebreds mature slowly and cannot take
too much weight prior to this). Backing the horse is only
attempted after hours of ground work and much
leading of the horse all over the property both from horseback with
experienced horses, from the farm vehicle and with us walking. We
use the padded yard where we lean over the horse with our weight and
finally, when we are confident that they are accepting of the full
weight, the horse is mounted.
. Once comfortable under saddle the horse
is ridden all over the property and down to the
village of Gundaroo on a very loose rein. During this period the horse
is taught to stop on one rein and are taught transition work up and down hills using Steve Brady's methods. It is only after the horse feels really happy with
being ridden that work to bring them on the bit commences (usually after about
4 months).
. The bit is then exchanged for a French
Snaffle with a copper inlay and using a Hanovarian noseband.
. We are proud to say that we have been
complemented on the lightness and softness of our American Saddlebred
mouths and their responsiveness. (Ms Alexa McWilliams, Grand Champion,
winner of the Kentucky Fall Classic in 2007 on 'Callaway's Exception to
the Rule', and Alexa's sister, Channing McWilliams, and their mother
Cynthia (Connie) visited us in
April 2007, rode two of our trained purebred American Saddlebred
horses (one newly trained) and were impressed with their performance,
their mouths and the way we train
our horses (see our home page).)
For examples of our training please click on the 'Training Album'
button at left.
Our aim is always to prepare kind,
intelligent and
versatile American Saddlebred purebred/partbred horses that can go onto perform
in different disciplines. |