THE JIGGING HORSE

Horses that want to ‘jig’ their way along, meaning pushing forward in an aggressive manner, either headed for home or during the ride, is a fairly common problem, and it sets up a struggle that certainly does take the fun out of a trail ride. The problem is compounded if it is an older horse that has been demonstrating this behavior for years, and worse, if the horse has successfully evoked fear and uncertainty in past riders.
The worst example of this behavior that I have ever seen was a 12-year-old gelding I brought into my outfit last summer. On his first trail ride/pack trip he almost drove his rider, a very experienced horseman, into fits with his persistence to jig and push his way back home. Hauling back on the reins only aggravates the problem as they fight the long pulls on the reins. Only through training and a season of daily work in the wilderness, with no home to go home too, did he settle down into a normal pattern of behavior. But let’s get back to solving the problem.
First, we need to assume that this is a sensible horse. If your horse is, by nature, nervous, startles easily, and difficult to handle, then the horse may simply not have the mind to be a trustworthy trail horse.
Now let’s look at what we know. We know that, regardless of the horse’s energy level or how badly he wants to get home, you are asking the horse to walk or stop, and it chooses to do otherwise; you are not the dominant or alpha being in the horse’s life. And you absolutely need to be.
Take the horse into the round pen or on a lunge line and make it really work. Do not just play the game. Its mind needs to be totally soft and join up genuine and complete. The work the horse repeatedly asks for starts, stops, changes of direction, changes of pace, and get the horse good and tired. When you reach that point ask these responses: Ask for the horse's face left, right, back, over, drop the poll, crisp stops and starts and flexing the head left and walking out and flexing the head right and walking out (I call it pushing buttons, see the Blue Creek Trail book). All of your cues need to be in pulses, never long pulls or pushes. Vary these requests so the horse never knows what is coming next – this is extremely important as the horse will wait, not knowing what the next cue will be, and therefore you own the horse’s mind.
If this sounds like training rather than curing a jigging problem, it’s both. You establish that you have the right to ask for responses and get responses and again, more important because you are asking for a variety of responses you have control of the horse’s mind. It does not know what you will ask for or when, and so it waits for your command. It is precisely that lack of waiting and lack of respect that is missing in the jigging horse.
Now, ride the horse in the pen providing the same cues and getting the same responses from the saddle as you did from the ground. Have lots of waiting time between requests, several seconds to a minute. Next, take your horse out of the pen for a fifty-meter ride. Stop, push some of those buttons, stop for a moment, and ride back to the pen. Continue further and further from the pen. If the horse begins to get out of hand as you take your short rides out from the pen then use about a fifteen-foot, short lunge line for a lead rope and lunge him on the spot. Once the horse is respectful, mount again, stand for a while, push some buttons, stand again, then walk back to the pen, and continue, further and further from home. Rather than going back to the pen, ride out in different directions then back to the pen.
With patience and hard work, you should be able to once again take control over your horse’s mind. Never, never get into a pulling match using your reins. Always ride with relaxed reins. The moment the jigging horse breaks his walk into a jig or a trot bump him back with your reins, hard if you need to, then relax the reins again. I will bump the horse as hard as it takes to get him to stop or go back into a walk. As the horse gets the message, soften the bumps, hopefully soon, to light pulses to ask him to stop. This is why pulse training is critical. It knows that when you pulse or bump the reins that it is a practiced request, and you expect the horse to obey. If it does not it will understand why you increased the harshness of the bump and understand when it responds properly and you soften your pulses, to the point where you literally have ‘touch’ control.
Well, I hope this helps. If the horse is just too much to handle, do not be afraid to fall out of love and get a horse that you can enjoy.

HAPPY TRAILS!

Horses that want to push through the horse in front of them, or push and jig with high energy to go faster, or go home, or for no apparent reason, is a common problem on the trail. Constantly hauling back on the reins, or using an aggressive bit, does not solve the problem and just sets up for a greater battle and creates a hard-mouthed horse. Going back to basic training really is the ticket. If the horse continues with this nervous, agitated, high energy behavior even after the training suggested above, it is possible that the horse simply has too much hot blood in its breeding and may not be suitable as a calm, steady, reliable horse for the trail. I have taken on horses for training and assessment and after training the horses to the point where the owners are impressed, I tell them they should sell the horse – just not trustworthy. A disappointment for sure, but a matter of safety and being able to relax and enjoy the ride.