ILoveHorses
Chillin' with the herd
I have a curly gelding, that i want to train for gaming, how could i go that? 
Gaming on 4 yr. old
- Thread starter ILoveHorses
- Start date
Depending on how long you plan to keep him, 4yrs is kind of young for the stress of games. I spend the young years getting his basics on him, getting horse SOLID with those basics in any situation.
He also needs time to grow up, get his body conditioned for work as an adult horse. He is not done growing, not mature, until age 6yrs. If he is a large animal, it takes even longer to reach maturity, spinal area is the last to finish. Easy to hurt young animals with work, pushing them to hard. There is no "early maturing breed" despite opinions given, bones all take the same time to finish growing, with larger animals like massive Drafts sometimes not done until 7-8 yrs.
Does your horse know how to do his Pleasure work well? Goes calmly, steady paces, easy to work in a group or alone? Halts easily, stands for as long as you like, backs readily, sidepasses, easily walks away from other horses to work for you? Light in the bridle, skilled at turning, obedient to the reins? I am old-fashioned, and believe how you train the horse FIRST, is a big influence on how well he manages later training. Horse needs to know his cues for gaits, be readily controlled at all speeds, before you can move him to games.
If a horse is trained to run before he knows how to be controlled at walk, trot, canter, then you won't have the power steering, speed control you need for him to be a safe ride.
And training a Games horse is even MORE BORING than training a Pleasure horse for shows!! You walk and WALK the patterns until horse is totally reliable and hits the same places in pattern EVERY SINGLE time he goes. Not even allowed to trot or canter to finish. 100 walking patterns is a nice START to teaching the horse. My daughter said teaching horse his games skills was the most difficult part of her riding work. making him consistant in his patterns took a LONGG time. He learned Cloverleaf, Poles, Flag Race and Relay Race. Horse is almost automatic when finished, just needs a bit of tweaking from rider on his runs. Jumping, riding patterns, Trail, were much easier she thought.
We see MANY horses come out and run at shows. They don't place because of poor riders, poor training, inconsistant patterns. Horse doesn't know his job, rider is just whacking away, jerking with the other hand. Horse knows that entering a ring is SCARY, going to HURT, never learns to run well.
Daughter's horse is large, not as fast as most QHs that come to compete, but he wins consistantly in all the games named above. He runs perfect patterns after all his practices, is totally under control all the time, so he wastes no motion, not under stress. Never needs whacking, kicking, he is HAVING A GOOD TIME!! He wears a special mechanical hackamore bridle just for speed, KNOWS he will get to run with it. She doesn't jerk him around, he knows how to stop by himself when asked.
If you are not willing to build the WHOLE horse over time, teaching him to run for games is going to come back to bite you. You may not have good steering, a decent stop. You need a horse who listens to you, leg control to adjust him in action, be able to stop him without ripping his head off or needing a huge jaw-breaking bit to keep control. You need those good skills on him before getting into games and total speed or his brain will fall out and hurt you.
He also needs time to grow up, get his body conditioned for work as an adult horse. He is not done growing, not mature, until age 6yrs. If he is a large animal, it takes even longer to reach maturity, spinal area is the last to finish. Easy to hurt young animals with work, pushing them to hard. There is no "early maturing breed" despite opinions given, bones all take the same time to finish growing, with larger animals like massive Drafts sometimes not done until 7-8 yrs.
Does your horse know how to do his Pleasure work well? Goes calmly, steady paces, easy to work in a group or alone? Halts easily, stands for as long as you like, backs readily, sidepasses, easily walks away from other horses to work for you? Light in the bridle, skilled at turning, obedient to the reins? I am old-fashioned, and believe how you train the horse FIRST, is a big influence on how well he manages later training. Horse needs to know his cues for gaits, be readily controlled at all speeds, before you can move him to games.
If a horse is trained to run before he knows how to be controlled at walk, trot, canter, then you won't have the power steering, speed control you need for him to be a safe ride.
And training a Games horse is even MORE BORING than training a Pleasure horse for shows!! You walk and WALK the patterns until horse is totally reliable and hits the same places in pattern EVERY SINGLE time he goes. Not even allowed to trot or canter to finish. 100 walking patterns is a nice START to teaching the horse. My daughter said teaching horse his games skills was the most difficult part of her riding work. making him consistant in his patterns took a LONGG time. He learned Cloverleaf, Poles, Flag Race and Relay Race. Horse is almost automatic when finished, just needs a bit of tweaking from rider on his runs. Jumping, riding patterns, Trail, were much easier she thought.
We see MANY horses come out and run at shows. They don't place because of poor riders, poor training, inconsistant patterns. Horse doesn't know his job, rider is just whacking away, jerking with the other hand. Horse knows that entering a ring is SCARY, going to HURT, never learns to run well.
Daughter's horse is large, not as fast as most QHs that come to compete, but he wins consistantly in all the games named above. He runs perfect patterns after all his practices, is totally under control all the time, so he wastes no motion, not under stress. Never needs whacking, kicking, he is HAVING A GOOD TIME!! He wears a special mechanical hackamore bridle just for speed, KNOWS he will get to run with it. She doesn't jerk him around, he knows how to stop by himself when asked.
If you are not willing to build the WHOLE horse over time, teaching him to run for games is going to come back to bite you. You may not have good steering, a decent stop. You need a horse who listens to you, leg control to adjust him in action, be able to stop him without ripping his head off or needing a huge jaw-breaking bit to keep control. You need those good skills on him before getting into games and total speed or his brain will fall out and hurt you.
Bunnylady
Herd Master
Around here, there is a frequently expressed belief that "all games horses are crazy." I've seen horses that take two handlers as well as the rider just to get them into the ring, that nearly run through the fence when catapulting themselves through the pattern. I watched one that wouldn't run at all, but reared every time the rider tried to point it in the direction of the barrels. Finally excused from the ring, it later flipped over onto the hood of a truck that was parked near the ring.
These horses have had go, go, go drilled into them, until they dread the sight of the ring. No steering, no brakes, just a gas pedal jammed to the floor!
What goodhors said, x2.
These horses have had go, go, go drilled into them, until they dread the sight of the ring. No steering, no brakes, just a gas pedal jammed to the floor!
What goodhors said, x2.
- Thread starter
- #4
ILoveHorses
Chillin' with the herd
Yes, we show english pleasure, and gets 1st. and 2nd.goodhors said:
michickenwrangler
Loving the herd life
x3Bunnylady said:
You've probably already read my tirade on BYC so I won't repeat it here. A lot of people around here do speed because it it "easy" and "quick" to train for. No it isn't. There are no "easy" horse sports. All require lots of hours in the saddle.
()relics
Overrun with beasties
Gaming horse trainers look at western pleasure trainers like they are the crazy people. Why would you want to train your horse to walk/canter/lope in a circle with its body held in such a contorted position? Horses were born to run with a flat neck, back and straight out tail. Over train them and they look crippled. Gaming horses are crazy? Maybe or is the rider just stressed because they don't want to fall off and then pass that nervousness to the horse through their actions.Why are they nervous? lack of saddle time? Speed? Both....One piece of advice, take it or leave it...If you train your gaming horse following pleasure horse rules, you will never have to worry about being in the top of any class...even d4, but you will look pretty in last place....BTW we ride our barrel horses with a D ring...What can we tell them that they don't already know?...unless someone changes the pattern...
Heavenly Springs Farm
Ridin' The Range
I have been showing western and contesting since I could sit. My cousins would lead me in leadline classes. I have rode several winning horses. My best horse was an all-round horse. You don't see many of them these days. People always want to say a horse can only be a pleasure horse or a gaming horse this is not true. My all-round horse was a winning pleasure horse for 9 years until her owners made her a contesting horse. She wasn't the fastest horse, but she could keep tight to the poles and wouldn't knock them down. During the fair, I would show her is English and contesting classes the same day and the next day show her it pleasure and contesting. She was also a high school rodeo horse before I got her. I won a lot of ribbons and trophies with this mare. I also won a all-round fair chair with her because she could do it all. She was a one is a million horse. We had to put her down at the age of 35 a few years ago.
My other really good contesting mare was as fast as they come. She is only 14.2 hands little quarter horse. When I got her, she was 14. She was used as a team penning horse and trail horse. I worked with her and showed her in pleasure classes and contesting. She was better in the contesting but could hold her own in the pleasure classes. She was one of these horses as soon as I got out of a contesting class I could put my little sister on her to walk her out.
With all of this said. My mother was a pleasure trainer before us kids came along. I was raised to train a horse correctly first before you do any showing. Horses must learn to give to cures. All of my horses to be ridden with my legs only. I didn't even need to really use the reins. THis is very important in both pleasure and contesting. You need to be able to move any of your horses body parts the way you want. I never ran my contesting horses at home. People always wondered why I just walked and trotted throught the patterns at home and work on pleasure. I wanted a horse to walk in the ring, stop, and wait for me to say when. I have seen tons of horses that you couldn't get in the ring. They could not be controled. We never ran our horses until they were atleast 5. There are several reasons why. First a horse takes years of training to get them the way we wanted them to be. We did ground work until they were 2 1/2. Then we would just sit on their back and gently work them. When they became three we pushed with a little more by four they were ready for pleasure classes. And depending on the horse we would start contesting them their five year, but some we wait on until they were older.
All horses can't be top pleasure or contesting horses. But with the right training you can go in the classes and have a good time. Around here there are two different type of shows. We have the family shows were you go to have fun. There are horses there that were given to some of the families for free or you have the horses that costed $10,000. At these shows it is more for fun and experience. Then you have the shows that it is all about winning. Personal, I love the family shows because they are about family and fun.
Have fun with your horse. Teach him as much as you can and let him teach you also. Having horses is wonderful. Sadly, I sold my last horse a few weeks ago. This is the first time in my life that I don't have a horse besides our mini. Once my children are older, I will go get another horse or take one of my mother's eight.
Good Luck!
I have rode several winning horses. My best horse was an all-round horse. You don't see many of them these days. People always want to say a horse can only be a pleasure horse or a gaming horse this is not true. My all-round horse was a winning pleasure horse for 9 years until her owners made her a contesting horse. She wasn't the fastest horse, but she could keep tight to the poles and wouldn't knock them down. During the fair, I would show her is English and contesting classes the same day and the next day show her it pleasure and contesting. She was also a high school rodeo horse before I got her. I won a lot of ribbons and trophies with this mare. I also won a all-round fair chair with her because she could do it all. She was a one is a million horse. We had to put her down at the age of 35 a few years ago.My other really good contesting mare was as fast as they come. She is only 14.2 hands little quarter horse. When I got her, she was 14. She was used as a team penning horse and trail horse. I worked with her and showed her in pleasure classes and contesting. She was better in the contesting but could hold her own in the pleasure classes. She was one of these horses as soon as I got out of a contesting class I could put my little sister on her to walk her out.
With all of this said. My mother was a pleasure trainer before us kids came along. I was raised to train a horse correctly first before you do any showing. Horses must learn to give to cures. All of my horses to be ridden with my legs only. I didn't even need to really use the reins. THis is very important in both pleasure and contesting. You need to be able to move any of your horses body parts the way you want. I never ran my contesting horses at home. People always wondered why I just walked and trotted throught the patterns at home and work on pleasure. I wanted a horse to walk in the ring, stop, and wait for me to say when. I have seen tons of horses that you couldn't get in the ring. They could not be controled. We never ran our horses until they were atleast 5. There are several reasons why. First a horse takes years of training to get them the way we wanted them to be. We did ground work until they were 2 1/2. Then we would just sit on their back and gently work them. When they became three we pushed with a little more by four they were ready for pleasure classes. And depending on the horse we would start contesting them their five year, but some we wait on until they were older.
All horses can't be top pleasure or contesting horses. But with the right training you can go in the classes and have a good time. Around here there are two different type of shows. We have the family shows were you go to have fun. There are horses there that were given to some of the families for free or you have the horses that costed $10,000. At these shows it is more for fun and experience. Then you have the shows that it is all about winning. Personal, I love the family shows because they are about family and fun.
Have fun with your horse. Teach him as much as you can and let him teach you also. Having horses is wonderful. Sadly, I sold my last horse a few weeks ago. This is the first time in my life that I don't have a horse besides our mini. Once my children are older, I will go get another horse or take one of my mother's eight.
Good Luck!
Guess I should have been more clear on Pleasure training being the old-fashioned type, a comfortable ride alone or in groups. Horse can be gathered up or let to be a bit relaxed, lazy moving, still under control. Educated to be able to work with their riders. Mine can do the fake gaits for a class or two, pull a ribbon but not winning at Western Pleasure in the ring. They do better in English than Western style classes, where some forward is accepted.
I don't want my horses moving like artifical toy horses. I want to get where I am going when we ride, TODAY!!
I want a horse who is capable of doing many things, though they may not be first place winners in all of them. And he must be useable outside the ring for other horse outings. More education means he is more usable, more fun to ride, a better partner. Speed is a request from rider, you quit running when asked. Fast or slow, not a big deal to get nuts over.
I don't want my horses moving like artifical toy horses. I want to get where I am going when we ride, TODAY!!
I want a horse who is capable of doing many things, though they may not be first place winners in all of them. And he must be useable outside the ring for other horse outings. More education means he is more usable, more fun to ride, a better partner. Speed is a request from rider, you quit running when asked. Fast or slow, not a big deal to get nuts over.
patandchickens
Overrun with beasties
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IMO the best thing you can do for a horse used for fast events is to install an "off" switch. This requires a certain amount of tact and judgement because you have to gauge how hotted-up you can get the horse and still expect him to be *able* to stand or walk quietly on a loose rein... but, provided you have sufficient tact/judgement for the task, it is very valuable for the whole rest of the horse's life.
Basically you find something that he is physically capable of doing well and safely that gets him a big excited -- a certain amount of fast canter work in a big ring or big field with GOOD FOOTING is usually the most obvious way -- then before he gets TOO wound-up you bring him back to a halt and stand there relaxing. If you have misjudged him, you can walk in a small circle with one rein loose and the other used only as needed to keep him on the small circle, til you can stop and stand successfully. Once he is truly relaxed, give him a great big pat and maybe a sugar cube, and do something he enjoys.
The idea is to teach him that the sooner he simmers down, the sooner good things proceed to happen. And that if he persists in being all jittery or tense or go-go-go, life remains boring or very-mildly-unpleasant. Carry this out through all your training. I realize that in competition you will sometimes want to rev him up and then have him stay revved to go into the ring, but really, that is never a problem -- what CAN be a problem is horses who waste all their energy having their brains fall out, or horses who get so out of control crazy that they cannot do the barrels (or whatever) in a balanced and effective manner. Just careening wildly around the ring with eyeballs bugging out does not win you anything 
You do have to be real careful though that you stay within what his age and fitness permit, and do not do anything that will get him hurt. In particular, sudden fast launches or any kind of work on poor footing are just a big kick-me sign for producing a permanently lame horse.
It's also useful to work on lots of transitions (slower-faster-slower-faster), both within and between gaits.... this builds control *and* muscle.
Good luck, have fun, err on the side of conservative work at this age,
Pat
Basically you find something that he is physically capable of doing well and safely that gets him a big excited -- a certain amount of fast canter work in a big ring or big field with GOOD FOOTING is usually the most obvious way -- then before he gets TOO wound-up you bring him back to a halt and stand there relaxing. If you have misjudged him, you can walk in a small circle with one rein loose and the other used only as needed to keep him on the small circle, til you can stop and stand successfully. Once he is truly relaxed, give him a great big pat and maybe a sugar cube, and do something he enjoys.
The idea is to teach him that the sooner he simmers down, the sooner good things proceed to happen. And that if he persists in being all jittery or tense or go-go-go, life remains boring or very-mildly-unpleasant. Carry this out through all your training. I realize that in competition you will sometimes want to rev him up and then have him stay revved to go into the ring, but really, that is never a problem
-- what CAN be a problem is horses who waste all their energy having their brains fall out, or horses who get so out of control crazy that they cannot do the barrels (or whatever) in a balanced and effective manner. Just careening wildly around the ring with eyeballs bugging out does not win you anything You do have to be real careful though that you stay within what his age and fitness permit, and do not do anything that will get him hurt. In particular, sudden fast launches or any kind of work on poor footing are just a big kick-me sign for producing a permanently lame horse.
It's also useful to work on lots of transitions (slower-faster-slower-faster), both within and between gaits.... this builds control *and* muscle.
Good luck, have fun, err on the side of conservative work at this age,
Pat
