Training Tip: Give a Lazy Horse Somewhere to Go

The quickest way to shut a horse down is to make him feel like he isn’t going anywhere. That’s why, when starting colts, I encourage people to spend only the first two and part of the third rides in the roundpen. If you keep trying to canter a horse in a small enclosure, it’ll discourage him, especially a lazy horse. The smaller the area, the more it shuts a horse down mentally and physically.

During the filming of the Outback Adventure Series in which I worked with the brumby named Bundy, that is exactly what was happened with him. I knew after the first ride in the roundpen that I needed to get him in a larger area to get his feet moving. So instead of doing the second ride in the roundpen with an assistant, I rode him in an arena. By the third ride, I had him out of the arena and riding on the long dirt roads that crisscrossed through the station where we were.

When I had my training barn in Australia, I trained my horses on dirt roads. There’s no better way to put steady miles under a horse’s feet. I especially liked to get my 2-year-olds out on those roads because when you let a horse canter out like that on a big, loose rein, it teaches him to relax and loosen up.

One of the most important lessons Gordon McKinlay taught me when I apprenticed with him was that in order to get a well-broke horse, you need to give him three things in equal doses: long rides, wet saddle pads and concentrated training.

You’ll find that once you get your horse out of a small, enclosed space, he’ll move out and develop rhythm at each gait. Lazy horses are notorious for constantly ducking and diving and having choppy gaits. With room to move, your horse will follow your focus and straighten out and have cadence in his feet.

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