Trisha wren ~ Connect With Your Horse

I use long cotton ropes as part of my every day work with most horses, and especially with youngsters I'm starting or older horses that need remedial work. I use them for obvious things like leading, lunging, and ground driving, and also as an additional tool when teaching or asking the horse to yield part of it's body (eg when teaching to line up at a mounting block). It's therefore important that I make sure the horse is okay with ropes before we start. I need him to know how to respond to whatever cues might be directed to him via a rope, and not to panic when a rope or ropes touch his body, legs, or under his tail. It seems that this is an area many people overlook, as you can generally lunge a horse without actually desensitising him to ropes first. The added benefits of teaching your horse to be okay with ropes however are that his confidence and trust in you will increase, he'll be less likely to panic should he get his legs caught in something (eg a fence), and less likely to be head shy.

I start with the horse on a long cotton rope rather than loose, so that I can offer him support should he get worried about anything that happens. I will do some general groundwork such as leading first, to ensure that the horse's focus is with me and he is ready to pay attention. I'll then face away from the horse, and start playing with the rope, spinning it various ways and heights, maybe tossing it out onto the ground in front of me and reeling it back in. The majority of my focus is on the rope and what I am doing with it; the message to the horse is "I'm just playing with my rope, there's nothing for you to worry about." My aim is to leave some slack in the rope between the horse and myself, unless he needs some help from me. If the horse feels he needs to move his feet that's okay, but I keep doing whatever I was doing with the rope until he stops his feet, helping him to stop them if necessary. Be aware that your timing of the release (when you stop spinning the rope for instance) is important. You want the release / reward to be when the horse is behaving as you would like him to (eg standing still and quiet) rather than when he is backing away or behaving fearfully.

Gradually the rope activity will get closer to the horse, to where I can spin my rope on either side of him, in front, behind, and above him (get on a fence for that part if you need to!) Many horses are initially wary about things moving on the ground - it could be a snake - so I'll throw the rope out at various angles and reel it back in, then maybe drag a rope whilst at the same time leading the horse behind it. I want to arouse his curiosity in the thing on the ground rather than fear, and having him follow it also gives him some control; he feels that he can chase that scary thing away.

I progress on to actually touching the horse with the rope. I might start by just rubbing him all over with a coiled bunch of rope, then go from spinning the rope beside him to letting it land gently over his back, rump, neck. Make sure you do this from both sides, and with your left and right hands; (you'll find all this practice will be good for your rope skills too!) Try to throw the rope so that it gently wraps around him, round his butt, each leg, under his tummy etc.

To get him used to the feel of the rope under his tail, lift the tail and place the rope underneath, replacing the tail. Depending on the horse you might want to use the end of a lunge line length cotton rope, so that he can move his feet if he needs to. Don't put any pressure on the section under his tail, but offer him support on the line attached to his head. He should fairly quickly figure out that the way to relieve himself is to lift his tail, then the rope will fall out on its own.

Another useful exercise, especially if you plan to ground drive your horse, is to teach him how to give to pressure when the rope is wrapped around him. With a long lead rope or lunge line, attached to his halter, pass the loose end around his far side and around his butt, above the hocks. Apply light pressure, releasing as soon as he tries to follow the feel. His head should turn away from you, following the feel you are putting on the rope, while his quarters will step towards you, disengaging away from the pressure around them.

In all of these exercises our goal is for the horse to think about what he is being asked, and respond, rather than just reacting without thinking. We don't want to dull the horse to the ropes, or have him respond mechanically; so take your time and build up gradually, and don't drill him. To remove the chance of him simply zoning out and ignoring or tolerating what is going on around him, move him to a different spot regularly then repeat what you just did.