How to get my horses into creeper gear

This kind of work might be the perfect place for oxen, just to a little evangelical. It sure seems that alot of farm work, maybe with the exception of haying, is best suit to walking, the normal pace of cattle. Not that you need another draft animal to train and care for but it sure seems like it is hard for horses to go slow.

Hi all, This a small suggestion as I think you are doing all the right things, and teaching them to go slow can be difficult. Over the years I have slowly come to the conclusion that the less said the better. Easier to hide your stray emotins that way. Horses don’t understand our language anyway. I am seeking to improve my hands ability to convey the message. I would start by demanding the pace that I need. Then seek every opportunity to lighten up, (pulsing to slow), encouraging the behavior I want with the lines. Permit them to relaxe. Good luck with that. I know David Fisher at Natural roots is useing a water wheel transplanter. I think he has just one team that can do that job. Fun to watch him cultivate tiny emerging plants at a slow walk.

That kind of slow is really hard.

First I would suggest working on driving them at the desired speed somewhere else. Instead of taking the weekend off, get them out pulling a similar load down the lane, or along the edge of a field or something else. This will serve a few purposes. By getting away from the IMPORTANT task, you can relax a little more. With the anxiety of the important work sometimes it can be very hard to recognize the slightest tries.

Any expectation that pushes the horses so far out of their comfort zone must be accomplished by degrees. Trying to accomplish the perfect speed all at once is probably next to impossible, especially while doing the chore. The animals will make attempts to respond positively, but you are more likely to catch them in a partial response, and to make progress beyond that point you will need to reward that try…… probably several times.

I use mine for logging, with high expectations for pulling hard on heavy loads, then when cultivating I have to get them to use a completely different energy level. Like Donn says it rests a lot on how the message is conveyed through the lines.

I am a firm believer in driving instead of leading. I think you have much more subtle control over their forward motion with lines. The other factor is that the body language you use when leading is really wasted training if you ever intend to drive them, as you won’t be in front of them then, and they will likely correlate the slow walk on a lead with following that body language.

I remember one of my mentors (who was in his late 70’s) relating to me something his father told him when he was a kid….. “If you want to drive them, then drive them, don’t lead them.”

I used to limit myself to a straight bar bit, but I started using a Liverpool a few years ago, and I have found that especially when limiting forward motion, they work great, and if you practice, you can convey much more subtle directions, and they don’t have to be pain-makers.

I think that the pressure that will work the best will be increased bit pressure. Making the pull harder would make them work too hard, and an increasing load would encourage good horses to pull harder, not back off.

I think it is very high expectations to want the horses to just walk that slow without constant alert driving control. It needn’t be hard pressure just accurate pressure (and release) (like Donn suggested).

Good luck, Carl

Just a quick qualifier…… One thing I wanted to say was that while you may be able to get your horses accustomed to walking this slow, it will not be a gait that they will naturally adhere to, so you will have to train them to respond to your driving guidance. It takes quite a bit of effective communication to condition horses to have such a wide range of gait while being worked.

Post a video when you get them to do it…… it would be nice to see.

Carl

@Riverbound 35113 wrote:

…… Its tough to get the balance between “hold back”, “woa” and “step up” in terms of the lines……

I adhere to a simple fundamental for using line pressure for communication. Contact for work, release for standing. When the horses are standing there is no pressure on the lines. When I prepare to move forward I pick up the lines applying contact pressure which alerts the horses to the coming command to move forward. I kiss, or suck my teeth, and advance the horses on a taught line.

Then when working them I control the forward motion be varying degrees of pressure. More pressure to slow them down, but whenever they attain my desired gait I release pressure, not completely, but enough so they get the reward for the act of walking comfortably. My objective is to show through increased pressure the desired gait, then using the release/reward to try to get them to maintain that gait.

Of course they can surge forward again, which is why I never completely release, but keep a certain level of what I consider acceptable pressure ( I actually try to teach them what I consider to be perfect pressure, and work to attain that in every working setting). The problem is not to fall into constant heavy pressure to hold them at a certain gait, that will result in the surging horse who thinks release is a way to get freedom. The release should be as quick and as often as the attempt. Light as a feather and strong as steel, at the same time.

This is complimented by the fact that I never stop them with pressure. When I want them to stop, I completely release pressure. This helps them to understand that released pressure is a reward, because they love to stand, and is not something to take advantage of by surging. They are apt to be more prepared to stop when they feel pressure release, than they are to surge forward with it. When conditioned, I can drop my lines without speaking to them, and they will stop and stand. (Of course I always say whoa as I want them to stop and stand on command as well.)

This is also how I show them that when there is no pressure on the lines, they are standing. Whoa is not stop, it is stand, and it is a reward, so they learn to take advantage of getting the opportunity to stand……. when they creep ahead, they get worked….

Carl

i wonder if some horses just “have the granny low”of two of our hackneys-both drive-one green 3yo mare and a 14yo gelding.we trained the mare as her mother was my sons first pony.now the gelding wants nothing to do with going slow-he loves to trot.he came to us broke to rie/drive and has taught our daughter everything.but he does not have a low gear.the filly however does.we were on a atv trail yesturday and it got quite tough. with some encouagement she put it in low gear and creaped for me .it was nice.now as an interesting note ther filly’s mother once beat everyone including the cheating adults in a snail race at a gymkhana.they had to walk across the line ,around a barrel, and back across the line the slowest without breaking foward motion.that good ole girl walked so slow it was like slow motion.it is still today one of his proudest moments(beating the adults with the slowest time overall).so i wonder if some horses just “have it”.
Rob