W ILLIAM Micklem started off this webinar, which focused on handling and starting young horses in preparation for introducing a rider by saying: “I love working young horses and it can be extremely rewarding, but I would start off by saying people are more important than horses and it is vital that we do everything we can to stay safe.
“I look upon it as horses being like children and you must remember you are the parent, you are the boss. A yearling horse is like a four-year-old child, a two-year-old is like an eight-year-old child and a three-year-old horse is like a 15- or 16-year-old,” William says.
William goes on to talk about his own invention, the Micklem bridle.
William uses a genuine horses’ skull to demonstrate how much wider the top jaw is from the bottom jaw. Horses are designed this way for rotational mastication when chewing.
The top jaw of a horse protrudes out over the bottom jaw which can cause problems when tight nosebands and lunge cavessons are used.
When pressure is applied to the exit point for the infra-orbital nerve, it can cause numbness to the lower part of the face, where you have the bit.
“The Micklem bridle totally avoids the problem of applying pressure to the infra-orbital nerves,” William explains.
“What we need to remember when putting a bit in a horses’ mouth, and putting any pressure on the horses’ tongue, is that the tongue sits on the bars of the mouth. The tongue is wider than the bars of the mouth, and the bars themselves are like little blades. So any excessive pressure means that you’re putting the tongue against that sharp area and the horse will be uncomfortable.
“The Micklem bridle allows you to clip the bit up directly to the noseband, so if there is a lot of pull on the ring from the rein, or the horse suddenly throws his head up, there’s a direct connection from the bit through to the nose. Therefore the pressure does not go on the tongue and the bars of the mouth, but on the nose itself,” William says.
Bits
Simplicity is key when it comes to bitting, especially with young horses, “for the vast majority of horses, I use a simple eggbutt snaffle, that’s about half an inch wider left to right and right to left of the horses’ mouth and the bit has a slight curve to it.
“I find the eggbutt snaffle is superior to a loose ring snaffle because you don’t get any pinching at the sides of the mouth,” William says.
Another bit William likes to use is a D-ring snaffle with a lozenge in the middle, it is very similar to the eggbutt snaffle but slightly more comfortable for the horse.
William describes the bit clips as invaluable when starting a young horse in order to avoid future problems with the tongue.
Head problems
Most head issues are caused by a horse having a problem in the past at the top of its head or behind the ears. When the trigeminal nerve gets damaged, often because a horse has been in a head collar and pulled back, they then suffer pain there and the associate it with anyone touching that part of the head and they can then become head shy.
As regards the mouth, apart from horses that are spoiled, William says it is very rare to get mouth problems if you start off with a simple well-fitted bit and you make sure that you don’t put any undue pressure on the bit.
“I know people do things in different ways, but I do not lunge off the bit, and I am very careful in what I do early on with how much pressure is put on the bit,” William says.
The Micklem bridle has a clip at the front of the noseband which William lunges off.
Socialising
Horses are herd animals and turning them out in groups has endless benefits, “a good deal of the work is done for you if you put a young horse out in a group, because they will develop a pecking order, and when they develop this pecking order, they get used to the fact that a horse, or in the future a human can lead the way.
“I find that youngsters that have never had this socialisation with other horses can be much more difficult early on,” William says.
Head collars
Ideally horses should never be turned out with a head collar.
If you have to use a head collar, leather head collars are essential as nylon ones are extremely dangerous, as they will not break in the same way a leather head collar will if the horse gets caught in something.
If you put the work in as a foal and as a yearling, there will never be any issue with turning your horse out without a head collar.
With foals, William works with them in a smaller area. He wants them to learn to never pull back so he doesn’t use anything fixed to tie them up. He will also get them used to picking up their feet straight away. They should never learn to panic and hurt themselves by pulling back.
Picking up feet
When it comes to picking up a young horses feet, William has a handy trick.
Picking up a fore leg from the left, run your left hand down the horses’ shoulder and leg and stop at the knee. Lean in a little bit and then come to the bottom pastern with your right hand. Lift up with your right hand while applying a forward pressure with your left hand. This is much easier for the horse to understand what you want, rather than just simply pulling from the bottom of the leg. Use the same technique when picking up a hind leg, positioning your hand at the tendons.
If you are in any way inexperienced with young horses, William advises making sure you can lead the horse from both sides, rub them all over and lunge them before you tackle the feet.
The feet need to be attended to regularly from the very start by a good farrier.
Training time
William says that if you put the ground work in and build up the horses trust in you, it is very easy to have all the tack on a young horse in three or four days.
If you are having a problem, you may need to back off or if a horse is spoiled it may take longer.
“It is much better to do two quarter-hour sessions a day rather than one long session. Twenty minutes or half an hour at most each time is plenty with a young horse.
Environment
The worst thing you can do is to train a young horse in an environment that is completely quiet. William avoids setting a young horse up for failure while building them up progressively. Whether this is leading them past other horses in a field or taking them for a short journey in a trailer. While you would want a calm environment at the very beginning, make sure you start introducing different obstacles and noises as time goes on.
Introducing tack
William likes to introduce tack, like a roller in a large space, such as an arena. While he acknowledges this may be easier to do in a stable, if the horse reacts badly, the safest place for horse and human is in a large area. Although it is important to make sure all gates are closed.
William even introduces a rider to a horse in a large area. William uses a breast plate with a roller so that it doesn’t slip back and become a bucking strap. The objective is not to “get the buck out of the horse”, it should be to not create the buck in the first place.
When using the breast plate, the roller can be left quite loose without causing any danger to the horse. They can be lunged with the loose roller and this can be tightened up very gradually as the horse gets more used to it.
William believes when a rider is introduced and a horse bucks, it is not trying to get a rider off it is actually bucking against the girth. Introducing a roller and tightening it very gradually can combat this problem.
When introducing the saddle, William removes the stirrup irons and uses a surcingle to stop the flaps from spooking the horse. The irons can be introduced in time when the horse is ready.
The time between lunging a horse and being ridden by a rider will vary for every animal, it could take three days or three months before they are ready to be backed.
Body language
When a horse is calm the first thing they will do is drop the head, their breathing will be normal and their skin will be relaxed. Another thing to keep an eye on is the ears.
When a horse is tuned into you, their inside eye and ear will be on you. The outside eye and outside ear will be focusing on what is in front of them.
It is absolutely imperative that everything you do with a young horse is done evenly on both reins. Whether it is leading, lunging or loose jumping.
Consistency is key
At the end of the webinar, William emphasises the importance of spending time on young horses and only progressing to the next step when the horse is fully ready.
“What the customer wants is a horse that is confident, that comes through the back and is quiet in the mouth. They want a natural outline, they don’t want any major problems,” William says.
“Training young horses is deeply satisfying, it comes from a respect for them and love is not a strong enough word for it. If you are someone who is a bully girl or bully boy and wants to do it by dominating the horses, you’re in trouble.
“If you use good consistent methods, you can produce the results,” William says.
To watch the full webinar, which includes video tutorials, click here.
Safety first
Always remember to wear a hard hat and gloves when handling horses, especially young stock. Ideally always have someone with you when handling young horses. If you are inexperienced, seek professional advice or advice from an experienced horse person when starting a young horse.
1. Mouth discomfort and lack of acceptance of the bit
This is shown by constant chewing, lifting of the tongue over the bit, grinding, holding the head sideways.
This can be caused by sharp teeth, wolf teeth and/or retained molar or incisor caps, badly fitting bit, cheek lacerations and/or cuts inside the mouth from tight noseband or lunge cavesson, excessive pressure on the tongue when lunging, long reining, or riding, lunging off the bit or with side reins that are too short, walking too slow or with a contact that is too heavy when long reining, heavy or pulley reins when riding.
2. Lack of quality in way of going
This is shown by an unnatural outline and paces, lacking calmness, forwardness and straightness.
It is caused by all of the same above in mouth discomfort as well as a lack of unhurried progressive training and a lack of good lunging.