About six weeks ago, I got a new horse, Jazz. The day after I brought him home, I rode him. First I did some ground work and moved him out under saddle. He bucked like crazy. (see a video of Jazz bucking and read about his first five days with me here.) We worked with him, he calmed down, and we had a nice first ride. I was not bothered by his bucking…. It’s not uncommon for some horses to buck after a long break. Importantly, he wasn’t scared or out of control. (My mare Lady was much worse!) Most people who commented on the bucking video I shared agreed with me. But a few have given it far more importance than I would. Most of these have asked why I didn’t give Jazz “time to settle in.”
Jump to:
What does “time to settle in” even mean?
Why I ride a horse with prior training immediately
Why I throw the kitchen sink at a horse with no training, immediately
What happens next?
What does “time to settle in” even mean?
A few days? A few weeks? Months?
I’ve heard people say horses taken off the track should be turned out for months or years so they can “be a horse” and “recover” from racing. The result is almost inevitably skinny, depressed horses that cannot understand why they went from being groomed at least twice a day, ridden, handwalked, and kept well-fed in a luxuriously bedded stall to being abandoned in a field with no safe place to lie down to sleep, little food in most cases, and no attention. Then the owners blame the racetrack for the weight loss and depression.
Most people who have commented on Jazz’s reaction seem to think he should have been given time to get to know me and his new home. I doubt they meant months, or even weeks. And yet, it sometimes takes horses weeks to settle in at a new place. Not because of humans and what we do, but because of other horses. Horses are herd animals. You take them away from their buddies and put them in a new place with horses that may not want anything to do with them.
Above: Jazz needed time to settle in to his new surroundings, and there is no way to speed that up..
When I unloaded Jazz, Fantazia was at the vet. Jazz could see other horses from his paddock. My boyfriend’s two mares were across the fence from him until Fantazia got home, but they weren’t interested in him. He paced. After a few days, I brought Fantazia home, and put her right next to him. She didn’t want anything to do with Jazz. He kept pacing, but less.
More than anything, settling in means accepting a new home and new equine companions
It’s taking Jazz a while, partly because Fantazia has had to go to the vet off and on. (I am trying to breed her.) It’s also partly because my boyfriend’s daughter takes her horses on and off the place a lot. This means moving other horses around. This disturbs Fantazia, because she’s bonded with my boyfriend’s mares. She can see them but they aren’t across the fence anymore. She is also bothered when the other horses are moved around. (Why? I have no idea.) She totally ignores poor Jazz and runs around whenever activity happens.
Jazz and Fantazia are turned out at night (5pm to 7am) on around three acres, separated from all the other horses. At first, they ran around a lot (video). Well, Fantazia ran around and Jazz followed. He eventually decided eating was more important that running. She still walks or runs around every time there is movement across the way. Jazz sometimes trots calmly after her (below left), but mainly he just eats (below right).
During they day they are in their paddocks with associated open-sided stalls. They love being there, because they are closer to the other horses (though still not across the fence). They have their grain and hay and feel “safe.” But Jazz sometimes paces.
Settling in also means knowing what to expect and what is going to be expected
In other words, horses not only settle in to a new location and a new herd, they also settle into a new job. These are, to a degree, independent. Even a horse born and raised on the same place will need to “settle in” to a new routine when it is trained and put to work. In general, horses are happier when they know their job. This means they feel secure when their humans are consistent with their expectations.
So, when you bring a new horse home, it can either settle in one step at a time (location, herd, and job), making three adjustments, or all at once. Of course, you might not want to turn horses out together immediately. Most do better across the fence from each other at first. But you can tell them what their job will be right away. Or you can break it down in steps.
- let them get used to one routine (hanging out in the pasture, no job)
- At some undetermined point, decide they are “settled in” and start riding or whatever it is their job is going to be.
I do it it all at once.
Why I ride a horse with prior training (e.g., Jazz) immediately
In part, it’s because I believe it’s better to get all the settling in done ASAP. Mainly, it’s because I want to know where the horse is at, mentally. Yes, I want to know how “trained” he is, but it’s not about side passing and piaffes. It’s about knowing how he reacts in a new situation. The best time to do that is right away, before the horse gets comfortable. I want to know how a horse is predisposed to act when everything is new and scary.
Sooner or later, I’m going to be on that horse in a situation that is newer and scarier than a round pen. True, by that time I’ll know the horse and he’ll know me. But it’ll still be outside his comfort zone. The sooner I know how he’s going to take being pushed outside his comfort zone, the better. That tells me a lot about the horse’s temperament, information I will use in all further dealings with him.
E.g., Jazz
So I didn’t treat Jazz with kid gloves. Yes, I worked him from the ground long enough to see someone (Rachel Shackelford to be precise) had done an excellent job of desensitizing and getting him to “join up” as they call it. Long enough to see he was unafraid and a bit pushy. Then I tossed a saddle on. Yes, I tossed it. I wanted to see if he would take that. He did. I tighted the cinch up all the way. And I sent him off.
I didn’t hold him. No, I didn’t let him stand for a while or walk off. I sent him off at a trot. Yes, I knew that was the most likely way I’d get a buck or two, though I didn’t expect much bucking. I knew he’d had a few months of training, plus more riding. I got plenty. Nothing I couldn’t have ridden, had I got on. But I’m too old to risk an unnecessary fall.
Pretty sure he’s not going to buck again, not like that. But if he does, I’ll know what to expect. I’ll know how long it takes him, unaided (without a handler redirecting), to sort himself out. I’ll know that even after an adrenalin rush, he’ll come right up to me and want more.
That’s what I needed to see. I’m glad he bucked.
Above: Jazz’s first day on the trail with me. I wrote this blog after our first venture into the cattle ranch next door. Jazz did great. Yes, I gave him time to settle in before tackling technical terrain and steep hills. But because I hadn’t given him time to settle in before riding at home, I had a very good idea of how he would react in a worst-case-scenario.
Why I throw the kitchen sink at a horse with no training, immediately
I don’t allow a completely untrained horse time to settle in, either. There’s a very good reason for that. If training is just one more item in a ton of new things, the horse is much less likely to resist (e.g., buck). If you start with the morning feed being different in a different place, by the time you get to putting a foot in the stirrup, the horse barely registers is as sometime “new and scary.” In other words, horses get “used” to processing new information and find the novelty of having a human on their back relatively less scary. Whereas if the ONLY new thing in their day is that human on their back, it’s more startling and apt to provoke more resistance.
But this isn’t the only reason. All the reasons for riding an already trained horse immediately apply here too. Basically, I think it’s easier on the horse (and therefore on the human) if everything new and scary is introduced immediately. Done and over! “Time to settle in” too frequently translates to a prolonged series of “new and scary.”
Wait, what’s inside the sink?
Ground work (desensitizing, grooming, moving off, turning when asked, moving feet when asked, being touched all over), saddle, bridle, mount, dismount, mount again, move feet, dismount, untack, hose off.
What if the horse is too young to ride?
I’m not actually going to ride much. Depending on the horse, it could be just ten steps at a walk… or it could be a lot of turning to unstick quarters. If I think the horse is ready (or if it’s resisting and needs to move forward), I’ll trot. I will want the horse to bend in each direction. That’s about it.
Any horse at least 18 months old can do that. I can’t imagine buying/leasing any horse under 3-4 years old to ride, but if I did, I’d get on it right away. I might only sit in the saddle for a few minutes, but I want the horse to see me in the predator position. Then I’d stay off its back until it was at least three years old.
See my post on the topic: Equine bone maturity: When can I start training a horse?
What if the horse doesn’t lead?
I’d unload it directly into the round pen or arena. It will lead by the time I’m done working with it the next day.
What if the horse STILL doesn’t lead the next day, or something else doesn’t work out?
It stays in the round pen and we continue the next day. The more you can do on Day 1 (or Day 2, if you count arriving at the farm as a day), the better. But if you have to work, or it takes a long time to get through ground work, it’s not the end of the world. The important thing is to get it done properly. This means when I step into the saddle, I don’t want bucking. I’m too old for that.
In my experience, if you set out to do everything the first day, it’ll get done. It’s harder when you wait.
What if the horse’s job isn’t riding?
The kitchen sink won’t contain a saddle. It might contain a bitting rig though! Or a harness.
The way I learned to train horses was to start with long lining. I would start with long-lining, and only when the horse’s mouth was finished (steers, stops, allows itself to be rated, and wears the bridle properly) would I introduce the saddle and rider. Long-lining is far and away the easiest and fastest way to teach a horse to wear a bridle and be on the bit. This means it’s the easiest and fastest way to be ready for showing, whether under saddle or in harness. But it’s not necessary.
Above: Long-lining is an excellent way to start a horse. Photo courtesy of Akira Morgans.
I would rather long-line a horse before really riding. But I’ve trained a lot of horses when all I had to work with was a saddle and bridle. That works too. Just takes longer.
In any case, I want to ride my horses. But if you don’t and you still want to take the ktichen sink approach, just do whatever it is you’re going to want them to do. At the very least they should lead politely and respect your space. They don’t need time to settle in before you teach (or reinforce) basic ground manners.
What happens next?
The next day, I go back to the beginning. If it’s an untrained horse, I will teach them to long-line properly. If it’s a trained horse, I’ll go back to basics no matter what its level. With Jazz, I just walked. (Read about Jazz’s first five days.) With any horse, I will try to figure out where they are: Do they side pass? Perform a haunches-in? Pick up a lead on cue? Of course, I might already know from the previous day.
That’s the idea of not giving them time to settle in. Anything that is securely established in their training will not have come undone under pressure. Anything that came undone is something I need to work on. Importantly, I now know what the horse is likely to do when in a new and scary situation. If I’ve done my job well, the horse will be much more confident on Day 2… After all, he knows that Day 1 didn’t kill him!
And if you want to give your horse time to settle in….
That’s fine! Most horses are going to be fine no matter what you do, as long as you treat them fairly and consistently. They will eventually settle in to their surroundings, herd, and job. If I hadn’t had time to get on Jazz that first day, he’d have been fine. I might have taken longer to get to know him, but that’s ok. Do what works for you…
This blog is just about why this way works for me.
In the video below you can see how well Jazz is doing!
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