From: Jennifer Dr. Jahiel:
My question pertains to stall manners and training the young horse to 'move over' when entering the stall. Pushing or applying pressure on the rump results in the horse pushing back.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Regards, Jennifer
It's natural for horses to move INTO pressure, not away from it; they can and do learn to move away from pressure, but they will need help. Foals can learn this in a field, while they are still on their mothers, if they are being handled regularly by humans; still, it's not that difficult to teach later on, as in this case when the young horse is of an age to be backed.
I would suggest doing this outside the stall, preferably in a field or enclosure where you can lead the horse -- and if he doesn't lead well yet, you should work on that first. Practice with him until he is reliably staying at your shoulder, neither pushing past you nor lagging behind, turning to the left or to the right when you turn, without putting pressure on the lead, and halting and standing when you ask. Once he understands all that, and moves off and stops on command, you'll be able to teach him "move over" quite easily.
Halt him and ask him to stand, then put two fingers on his hip or hindquarters, and do three things at once: give a push with the fingers, bring his head TOWARD you, and say "Over" or "Move over". Be prepared, so that you can relax both hands instantly, no matter what he does -- and praise him if he even SHIFTS his hindquarters away. If you are small, and he is a long-backed horse, you may prefer to use the handle end of a jumping bat or dressage whip to poke the horse.
The push will be your first, fairly strong, crude, and obvious "move away" signal; coupled with your voice, it tells him that something is expected. The fact that it is a brief, strong push will help him understand that you want something specific; if you just lean against him with your hand, his natural response will be to lean back. ;-) Bringing his head toward you will make it easy and natural for him to move his hindquarters AWAY from you. Whether he takes one step or two or more, or whether he just shifts his weight toward the outside hind leg, relax and praise him, then wait a moment and ask again. It generally takes no more than a few minutes for the horse to become proficient in moving "over" from a voice cue and a (much lighter) finger prod. When he does it easily in one direction, change sides and teach it to him from the other direction. As with all else in training, you need to be very clear, direct, and slow in the beginning, making larger movements and pushing a little harder to make your point. ;-) As the horse gets the idea of what you want, you will make your movements smaller and less dramatic, until eventually you will be able to touch the horse and say "over", or even just look at the horse and say "over".
I find it useful to teach the horse to take ONE step at a time; some horses get very enthusiastic whenever they learn something new, and they want to show you how well they understand, and a horse like this may spin in place to demonstrate how responsive he is to the word "over" and to that finger touch. Try to avoid this by being very clear with your body language; praise the horse and relax your own body after each single step "over". Everything you are teaching the horse today will be useful under saddle later, and it will be very useful to teach your horse the concept of moving away from the leg one step at a time. One squeeze of the leg later on in his training, or one prod of the finger right now, means "Please take ONE step over".
When the horse has become very proficient at moving over, you'll be able to start moving that light "finger aid" toward his barrel. At first, the hindquarters were the logical spot to prod; now that he has the idea, start moving your hand nearer the place where your leg will rest when you ride him. In a week or less, he'll move "over" when you ask while touching him in the spot that will be occupied by your own calf muscle -- this will save you time and trouble when you're in the saddle, because your horse will recognize the "move over" signal from your leg.
Jessica
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