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Horse Behavior and Training

Harness racer

By:

morgsta

Date:

2011-May-08 at 04:47PM

Hi everyone, our horse 'Obie' was a German harness racing horse. Through lots of internet searching we have found his original stable and have corresponded through emails with the last owner. With all this new information about him a lot of questions get answered like why does hoe go faster when pulling both reins and what happened to canter! We can overcome the canter with schooling and stopping is achieved by only pulling the left rein. This brings me to the problem. He has only raced clockwise around a track and pulling the left rein stops him, but does not steer him. How can we re-train him to turn on the left rein and not stop? How can we re-train him to stop on pulling both reins and not go faster?
We are currently teaching him to be off pressure as a natural start.
Thanks.

Kicki -- Sweden 2011-May-08 at 07:23PM

Hi morgsta!
Re-training a harness horse is a real challenge, but it can be done with lots of patience and time.
I think you need to start over from the very beginning and treat him like you are starting youngster.
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Think of it as teaching him a completely new language. :)
Start by teaching him the rein aids from the ground, standing by his head, just like you would do with a young horse who's never had a bridle on before.
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You can also start by teaching him the voice commands for start and stop, and when they are set, you start combining rein aids with voice commands.
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Harness horses are often very stiff in one side, so you may need to "rebuild" him physically as well with suppling exercises like walking different patterns over poles. They can be flat on the ground, raised in one end or any combination you can think of. Walking poles will also be a good opportunity to practice the voice and/or rein commands.

morgsta 2011-May-09 at 04:45PM

Hiya Kicki,
yes his left side is extremely stiff, turns his whole body rather than his neck! My daughter has done some cross country with him and show jumping, just need to correct some of his old habits. When we bought him, we knew nothing of his background, where we got him from was his last chance to be rescued! But what a fantastic horse, so laid back he's almost horizontal! Until you want him to gallop.wow..........
Yes we agree with you start with the basics and work up.
Thanks for the input, have a good week.