Training your Mini to drive LESSON #3 - more long line work

In the previous lesson, you learned how to teach your horse to walk, turn, stop, and back a few steps on long lines. Today, we're going to build upon that lesson. Start with your horse in his open (blinkerless) bridle and surcingle. Practice what he has already learned by ground driving him around the pen several times each direction. Practice his whoa a few times and ask him to back again. Hopefully, today he'll back more willingly and perhaps a few more steps than before.

Now it's time to start teaching him his gaits. Use whatever verbal cue you prefer to ask him to trot. Myself, I use two or three clucks for "walk" and several fast clucks for trot. I also teach my horses the words "walk" and "trot," and it's never too early to start using those words. For now, use whatever command you prefer and encourage him to trot. It doesn't matter at this point how fast or slow he trots as long as he's not totally out of control. In other words, if he trots too fast, let him, just don't let him run away with you. If he just jogs, that's okay for the first time or two, but watch out for a tendency to stop or break to a walk. If you ask him to trot, even at this early stage in his training, he should trot at least a round or two of the pen. Try to slow him to a walk or stop him before he quits on you. If you sense that he's going to stop on his own in 5 seconds, tell him "whoa" in 3 seconds. It needs to be your idea, not his. If you can't keep him from breaking before you slow him down, then encourage him to trot again for at least several strides before you ask him to slow down or stop.

As he improves in his understanding of the lesson, start incorporating a few changes of speed. Ask him to walk for one or two rounds of the pen, then trot him for awhile, then bring him back to a walk. Use your verbal cues first, then use your reins, either to pull him to a slower speed or jiggling against his hip to ask him to speed up. You want him to really listen. Teach him that if he slows down when you ask him verbally, you won't pull on his mouth. And if he speeds up when you ask him to, he won't feel the line slapping his butt.

Work him only long enough to accomplish your goal for today, which is to get him to walk, trot, and stop reasonably well on command. He won't be perfect, of course, but don't stop until you feel he has a reasonable understanding of the lesson. Resist the urge to ground drive him for a hour. He'll only get frustrated if he thinks he's doing what you want and not getting the reward of getting to stop working.

NOTE: The shetland in the photo has been ground driving a few times and is already in the harness, not the surcingle. That's why the lines are so high. When your horse is just starting, run the lines through the lowest rings on your surcingle and let the outside line drape around behind him, between his hip and his hind leg.