How To Break A horse- week 1

The process of breaking a horse is a touchy subject as it can be done in many different ways. The simple fact is, every horse is different so it’s extremely difficult to give a cookie cutter guide on how to break a horse. The main guidelines however are the same and the general process is consistent with each horse.

My family comes from a line of over 4 generations of horseman and horse breakers beginning in the thoroughbred racing industry many decades ago and now in the cow horse industry. The knowledge from my family origins in the thoroughbred industry influences heavily the way that we break our horses as they are much bigger, stronger and temperamental than a lot of the horse’s that we find ourselves breaking in today. Although for the most part we break in Quarter horses and stock horses now that are generally great natured and smart horses, we still continue to use an “as long as it takes” approach to horse breaking. The week by week basis in which I’m writing this guide is purely a guide to roughly show how long it takes me to break in a quiet horse that is smart minded and willing. I have broken in horses that iv been riding for over 30 rides or 8 weeks of the overall breaking process and still not been happy with where they were, it really is a horse to horse basis.

Ill try to explain in the best words I can the process that my family uses to break in a horse if you have any further questions or need clarification send me an email at [email protected] or find me at Cow Horse Collective on Facebook. For this example we will use a fictional horse named Bucky. Bucky is a Quiet, 14.3 hh, 2 year old pretty average quarterhorse x stockhorse gelding with a cool temperament and a bit of handling from his owner.

Bits of gear you’ll need for this process

I’m Partnering with Amazon for this series to allow you to get the right bits of gear you’ll need for the process in a cost effective way if you want to refer back to this list at any time feel free to do so. Note- some things I haven’t linked to because if you don’t own a saddle already for instance, breaking a horse might be a bit of a stretch.

Lunge Whip

Rope Halter with long lead

Roller

mounting block

long reins (you’ll need 2)

Saddle

bridle

Brush

Day 1

Bucky has rolled into my house for a client the day before and had the afternoon and night to settle in, he’s calmed down and ready to begin the process.

goals– desensitise, tie up, pick up feet

Desensitise- A chaff bag, a pool noodle and a saddle pad are my favourite weapons for this exercise. Ill start with the pool noodle and with the horse in a round pen or an arena ill just have the lead in one hand and using the pool noodle as an extension of my arm ill rub him all over and get him used to the feeling of being touched. Any areas that he is unsure about ill focus on, most of the time its, the flanks, in between the legs, between and behind the ears, and under the belly. Using the chaff bag and saddle pad ill do the same, depending on the horse I might spend 5-10 minutes or half an hour doing this until they are making progress.

Chestnut horse with halter looped around fence post

Tie up– some people like being tied up, I’m not one of them. Neither are most of the horses I’ve broken in, so we need to train them to be comfortable with it. The best way iv found to do this is find a solid post or a tree and wrap the lead a full loop around the post, this allows you to pull and tighten the rope while maintaining a strong position against the horse. The trick is a pressure and release action, the horse will find a solid point on the end of the rope and most likely pull back, at this point we must keep the rope firm until they stop and move towards the post to remove the pressure once this happens we can reward with a pat and a “good boy”. Sometimes they might just lean back on the rope and stand there at this point its a game of patience, they always come eventually and when they do loosen the rope and reward. I might do this 3 or 4 times until they get the idea and then leave it for the day.

Pick up feet- Bucky is 2 years old by this point and has more then likely had to wrestle with the farrier at some point to pick his feet up and get a trim, however this is by no means a finished product as I’m sure your farrier will tell you in a few short words. Ideally your horse has already been through this process from a young age but a lot of the time that isn’t the case. What I usually do is start with the non kicky end (front feet) and just use my hands to pick up the front feet, ill grab the horse by the fetlock and gently push them off balance with my hips to take the weight off the foot. For the first day all I’m looking for is the foot to come off the ground and bend at the knee for a couple seconds and then ill put it back down (note- emphasis on the “I put it down” not Bucky rips it out of my hand and puts it down himself) if this does happen just calmly pick it back up and wait for him to be calm with his leg then slowly place it back down. With the back feet ill do the same as the front feet however if your not comfortable with the horse it can pay to loop a lead around the leg and allow it to drop under the fetlock and ask them to pick their feet up that way, all I’m looking for in this situation is for them to lift their foot from the ground and stop trying to kick out, once they are calm you can put the foot down. Repeat on both sides and quit the horse for the day.

Day 2

Bucky’s had a full 8 hours, finished his morning meditation and he’s ready to go again.

Goals- Desensitise, tie up, lunge, pick up feet.

Desensitise- Same as day 1, focus more on the parts that he is worried about.

Tie up- same as day 1, if he’s a smart Bucky and isn’t pulling back you can go ahead and start him a bit further back and pull the rope to get him to take a step closer to the post. if he pulls back, hold pressure till he releases. Repeat 3-4 times.

Lunge- Lunging a horse is a great way to take a bit of sting out of them while also teaching voice commands and respect for you as the operator. There are many schools of thought when it comes to the proper way to lunge a horse, however I don’t buy into the noise. The main things for me are use your left hand on the horses left or near side shoulder to cast them off or vies versa and use a lunge whip to propel them forwards. Stay out of kicking distance at all times (this might be further then you think). Using voice commands at all times helps the horse to learn what we mean when we go to teach them to be ridden later on, it doesn’t matter what commands you use as long as they are consistent and different from any other command you plan to use later on. That being said the commands I use are “wow” for stop “steady” for slow down but not stop “cluck” for walk or move your feet “cluck” faster for trot and kissing sound for canter. the first time I do this I just want to see the horse walking around me both ways and stopping when I say wow ill then quit that for the day.

Pick up feet- Same as day 1, depending where the horse is at I might include the use of a brush to imitate the use of a rasp on their hoof to desensitise them in that way and also tap their foot with the back of the brush to imitate the hammer.

Day 3

Bucky’s finished his 3x 2 minute sets of the cold plunge and he’s ready to attack the day.

Goals- Desensitise, tie up, lunge, pick up feet

Desensitise- Same as days 1 and 2 (once the horse is used to this you can stop doing it)

Tie up- By this point I would expect that the horse is almost at the point you can tie them up to a bit of double loop hay band and they will stand without pulling back as long as you don’t give them a fright (depends on the horse). If that’s the case you should do so with a quick release Knot. If not repeat the earlier exercise’s.

Lunge- Same as day 2 except we will start to do a bit of a trot as well, making sure we are consistently asking for different commands and vocalising them and seeing that they are completed.

Pick up feet- Continue picking up the feet in the same manner as before and using the brush to imitate rasping and nailing on shoes. ill do this every day for the breaking in process as a matter of habit.

Day 4

Where’s Bucky? “mooo, got on the piss last night with the filly’s from paddock 5” says the nanny cow… come on Bucky.

Goals- Bridle on

Bridle on- When putting the bridle on for the first few times I’ll put the bridle on over the top of the halter. Untie the horse and just have the lead on the ground as they will usually try to move backwards. This is fine and ill just follow them and try to be as graceful with my movements as possible. Once the bridle is on ill unclip the lead or tie it around their neck if its not detachable and leave them to walk around in the round yard for maybe 5 minutes before returning and taking the bridle out of their mouth and quitting them for the day

Day 5

Bucky feels sorry for yesterdays efforts and put in a few extra calf raises in his workout this morning to try to make up for it. Good boy Bucky.

Goals- Bridle on, Roller on

Bridle on- Same as day 4, continue to leave the halter on.

Roller on- Put the roller and saddle blanket on. Take care to not tighten the girth up very quickly. I usually tighten it up only enough to take the slack out of the girth, walk the horse around a few steps then take a couple more holes repeat until its firm, not tight.

At this point ill lunge the horse a bit to make sure they aren’t going to flip or buck and then again leave the horse to walk around in the round pen as it pleases for 5-10 minutes.

Return and remove the roller and bridle.

Day 6

black horse with roller and mouthing gear attached

Bucky looks in the, mirror he’s sad to see he doesn’t have a 6-pack yet. Me too mate, me too.

Goals- Set up roller, lunge, attach roller string

Set up roller- Put the bridle on and the roller on.

Lunge- Bucky is becoming quite proficient at lunging by this point and can walk and trot both ways, sometimes stops when I say wow without having to get in front of him and we can start to get a little canter out of him. Note- cantering for a young horse in a round yard can be difficult so take your time and don’t be too aggressive with the whip or they will start to rush into a canter.

Attach roller string- Attach the roller string to the points low down on the girth at the middle of the horses barrel (near the girth points) I like to use a quick release knot and tie up the excess on at least one side if not both. Then go through the bit on the same side, past the neck on the same side, through the rear side of the roller, back down the opposite side past the neck to the bit on the same side and tie it off to the ring on the girth point of the opposite side you started on see photo above for an example. The rope should only be tight enough that if your horse sticks its nose out it will feel the rope.

stand outside the round yard and watch the horse doesn’t get tangled for 5 minutes then return and remove the gear and quit for the day.

Day 7

Bucky is livered- “Training on a Sunday? what the hell man?” me-“yes mate every day you don’t work a breaker they go backwards a day. Drop and give me 20”.

Goals- Lunge, set up roller

Lunge- Bucky is walking, trotting, cantering and stopping on command a lot of the time now, good work Bucky.

Set up roller- Same as day 6 except this time we will start to make the string setup slightly tighter, not so much tighter that it freaks the horse out but tight enough for them to notice the difference. Leave them for 5-10 minutes while watching from outside the yard. It might seem odd to leave them in this state but they will just stand next to you if you don’t leave them, just make sure you keep an eye on them. Finish up by removing the roller and bridle.

At this point I like to start doing a manoeuvre after every session to help the horse start to turn properly.

Start in the middle of the round yard, loop the long lead of the halter around the horses rump and slowly pull tight from the opposite shoulder. The idea is to get the horses neck flexed away from you and have them stand in a flexed position, once they are still you can take a step back and cluck at them to follow the lead around behind their rump and untangle themselves, see photos. Ill do this 3 times on either side.

week 1 debrief

Bucky is dragging his feet, he hasn’t been this exhausted since he tried to eat that whole round bale in one day. Poor Bucky.

Usually by this point the horse is starting to trust you as its mentor and trainer. The horse has learnt to tie up, pick up its feet, lunge and put on a bridle and mouthing gear.

Bucky is tracking along nicely.

Bucky’s report card

pick up feet