Been riding/training horses for 8 years, and also have been giving people lessons for nearly as long. And hey, if you ask me a question that has me stumped, I can always just ask my riding instructor who has 40+ years of experience xD I have no credentials for dog training, other than I'm good at it, and I have access to several resources you couldn't get without paying for them. Here to share my knowledge!
ooh yessss!!! i love horses! i'm curious, how would one train a horse? not that i'm ever going to use this knowledge anytime in the near future
Same! xDD
Well, it all depends on what you want them to do. If you're taking like a wild horse and training it to be ridden for example, that's a lot different than just teaching a horse a new skill or training it out of a bad habit. But over all, it's mainly just working with the horse as much as you can, figuring out what makes them tick, and being consistent. If I'm teaching a horse how to collect, for example, I just do it every time I ride them, and try and introduce it over the course of a couple week, first in a walk, then in a trot, then eventually though a canter/lope and through all the gait transitions ^^ I hope this helps! if you want more specifics, ask away!
yeah! that's really cool!
another question just popped up in my mind while thinking about a horse named Izzy. She's a huge horse, but then again, she is a draft horse after all. how big do draft horses get?
The largest horse breed is the Shire, which can get upwards 20 hands. (Hands are the measurement they use for horses, it's about 4 inches per hand). I think the world record horse was Sampson, a shire gelding, who stood at 21.2 hands. That's taller that six foot, at the horses shoulder :) But generally, anywhere between 17.2 hh and 18-19 hh is where the tall breeds of draft land.
Oh wow. That's really cool!
:D It is! ^^
this is so helpful!! I have a million questions about horses and not a lot of motivation to research stuff right now
How long would it take someone who had never ridden before to learn how to ride (not necessarily anything fancy - mainly just getting from place A to place B without falling off or getting lost)? What kind of techniques would they be learning?
How much does being able to ride have to do with riding one specific horse - or is it like "if you can ride one, you can ride 'em all" (assuming that the horses are generally ok with riders already)?
Are there common horse tropes in fiction that irritate you when you see them? If so, why?
Yay, I'm so glad! : D I got you covered, ask as many as you like! xDD
Riding horses at a basic level is pretty easy. Depending on what style you ride, it pretty much just comes down to personal coordination, and how agreeable your horse is. Most people who are old enough to have good coordination and are pretty fit and strong can pick it up in just a couple lessons. I'll describe it from an English standpoint, since the horses I ride are ore that than Western.
All you really have to know to ride a horse at a walk from one place to another is: steering, (pull right to go right, pull left to go left), telling a horse how to go forward, (squeeze with your legs or kick a little and tell them walk on), and stopping, (pull back with both reigns and say whoa or ho.) There's a lot more to riding than that, but if you are solid with all that, it'll get you from A to B :) This is what we teach our beginners, just a lot of steering and stopping and starting. If you're out on a trail, we might also teach a one-rein stop. If a horse panics and bolts, you are NOT going to be able to stop them by pulling both reins. But if you pull on just one, this forces them to circle, and that forces them to slow down :)
As for the other questions, you really have to ride a variety of horses before you can feel confident. Just because you can ride Mary-Beth doesn't mean you'll be able to ride Joe xD Joe might not be as forgiving as Mary-Beth, or maybe he's way faster, or slower. For me, after riding 8 years on all of our different horses, I've only recently gotten really comfortable just hopping on random horses and expecting them to behave for me. But that's because I'm ready for anything. I ride a lot of problem horses, and I've been trained to always be alert the first time, no matter what. Even if the horses are all okay being ridden generally, they all have their own minds and ticks ^^
And lastly, i think the tropes that annoy me the most are tireless horses, where they get treated like motorcycles, just ready to go at any time, and loyal horses that defend their owners to the death. Horses need a LOT of care, and they're really pretty delicate. If you don't warm them up properly, they could get hurt as you gallop away into the sunset, or if you don't cool them down after hard work, they can get really sick. And about the loyalty one, horses are herd animals, yes, but they only are that way because of the safety that offers – as in, if another horse is with me, they might be slower than me, and I'll survive. Unless they're specifically trained, a horse will run far away at the first sight of danger, unless their only option if to fight.
The last trope that really makes me mad is when people just drop their horses reins, or let them go off into the wilds with all their tack on. If a horse had a bit in its mouth and steps on its reins, it's going to hurt the horse, really bad. I see this most commonly in western movies, and I always feel sad, knowing that in real life, the horse could break its jaw or flip over backwards, potentially breaking its neck or spine. Take your tack off, people!! xDD
WOWIE THIS IS LONG!! xDD I hope I answered all your questions!! If you have more, just let me know : D I hope it all made sense and didn't bore you xDD
Thank you so much!! That definitely answered my questions (and it wasn't boring at all! It's so nice to be able to ask someone rather than hunting through 100 semi-relevant articles online and wondering how relieable they are)!
(but it also raised new ones xD)
How long would a horse be able to go (at an average pace, I guess) before tiring out - so before you'd have to cool them down and rest? How many hours of horse-riding would you recommend per day before it's unsafe for the horse (assuming there's breaks in between), and how much distance would you generally be able to cover in that time? Or, if all these answers depend on the horse, what kind of training and lifestyle would a horse need so it could travel longish distances relatively quickly and safely and what kind of horse would be ideal for something like that?
I'm not sure if this is in your area of expertise, but what you said about horses running away from danger makes me wonder about how horses would handle warfare? I know the cavalry and military horses used to be a thing but I never really considered, like, how that works. I'm assuming large crowds of people and other horses mixed with pointy weapons would probably freak them out (me too though).
Thanks again for bearing with me and my ignorance! I've literally not learnt anything since my little girl horse phase ten years ago xD
I mean, just from watching a bit of one of my instructors training her horse Oliver to be comfortable with her doing archery on him, I guess it's training? (Yeah I ride as well!)
Yep! That's training alright! I bet she's starting him off really slow, and then slowly building from that :) And that sounds so cool, I'd love to do archery from horseback someday! (And that's awesome! ^^ Riding's the best for sure ^^)
Yeah! That's correct! I know, same! Except for the fact that I'm not trained in the art of archery :P (Yeah!)
Yay! ^^ Sounds like she's doing a great job then ^^ Haha me neither xD It's on the bucket list though ^^ (^^)
Yeah, it was really cool! XD nice :) And I look forward to talking with you in the future!
:D Me too! ^^ Hope to see you around :D
Yeah!
@ninja_violinist omg, I'm so sorry this is so late! I didn't see your questions! But here I am now to answer them to the best of my ability!
How long would a horse be able to go (at an average pace, I guess) before tiring out - so before you'd have to cool them down and rest? Most horses that are decently fit can be ridden all day depending on the heat and stuff. As long as they have good access to water, and aren't being worked all that hard, they can just walk and walk. Horses are built to constantly travel
Now, if you get a working horse, that's super in shape, you can just go and go. I've ridden one mare who refused to tire out, even after several hours of hard work xD But you really have to use personal judgement in the moment. If your horse is sweating a lot and breathing heavily that's a great time to give them a break, and just let them walk to cool down. If they're REALLY tired and sweaty, you're going to want to walk them out before you let them drink, too.
How much distance would you generally be able to cover in that time? Horses, when walking, go at about the same speed as a human, but some walk faster than others. So in a day, they'd cover about the same distance. Now if you were trotting on a super fit horse, or cantering, you' be covering a TON more ground–provided your horse didn't get too tired. Cross country might be a fun sport for you to look up, horses have to cover a long distance and clear many jumps within a certain time-limit. That could give you a rough estimate about how tired they can get and how fast/far they can go. You can also look up endurance, it's about the same but over longer distances, with no jumps.
what kind of training and lifestyle would a horse need so it could travel longish distances relatively quickly and safely and what kind of horse would be ideal for something like that? You'd want a horse specifically bred to work. Sporting breeds, cattle horses, and arabians are all good candidates. Any breed you see being used for eventing or endurance are the type you'd want. Well-bred Quarter horses can just go and go too, if they're used for ranch work. As far as training, just like any athlete, it's just a matter of daily conditioning. However it varies from sport to sport. I'd research eduance mostly, it seems to be closest to what you're talking about ^^
I don't know a whole bunch about war horses, but I can assume that it's a lot of special training they undergo from an early age. You can definitely 'bomb-proof' horses, we have a little more that won't spook at anything. I'm sure it just comes down to practice, and conditioning them to those environments. The more horses get used to something, the less frightened they'll be. If it's just a daily occurance, they would see it as normal, and not be spooky about it ^^
I hope this helps, sorry again for being so late! I wish I'd seen this much sooner! Let me know if you need to know anything else, I'm happy to pay better attention to the posts in this thread! xD
what kind of training and lifestyle would a horse need so it could travel longish distances relatively quickly and safely and what kind of horse would be ideal for something like that? You'd want a horse specifically bred to work. Sporting breeds, cattle horses, and arabians are all good candidates. Any breed you see being used for eventing or endurance are the type you'd want. Well-bred Quarter horses can just go and go too, if they're used for ranch work. As far as training, just like any athlete, it's just a matter of daily conditioning. However it varies from sport to sport. I'd research eduance mostly, it seems to be closest to what you're talking about ^^
hey i have a question regarding this - wouldn't draft horses work too? since they're usually bred to pull things… idk that just popped up in my mind
Yes! Drafts are indeed great work horses! But they're more for as you said, pulling nd plowing and that kind of stuff. While they can also go all day, they aren't ideal for fast travel, as they tend to be slower, especially the big ones. Their strength comes from hard muscle work, not long travel times ^^ You could use them, as long as you don't mind maybe getting there a little later xD You'd want something light, like a desert horse for fast distance travel ^^
Ahh thank you so much!! this is super helpful!
I'm so glad!
Yes! Drafts are indeed great work horses! But they're more for as you said, pulling nd plowing and that kind of stuff. While they can also go all day, they aren't ideal for fast travel, as they tend to be slower, especially the big ones. Their strength comes from hard muscle work, not long travel times ^^ You could use them, as long as you don't mind maybe getting there a little later xD You'd want something light, like a desert horse for fast distance travel ^^
ooh that's interesting! that would explain why izzy has a slower trot then i expected
Yes indeed! ^^
honestly, from now on whenever i have a question about horses, i'll just pop into this chat and ask you because you know so much XD