Part 1 of the Retired Race Horse Thoroughbred Training Project with Eric Dierks.

hi I'm Eric Dirk's I've been accepted into the trainer challenge with the retired racehorse training project and I'm very excited to show what these thoroughbreds can do with just good proper training I think the thoroughbreds can be just as competitive in the equine world and show jumping dressage eventing or even the hunter/jumper industry just as competitive as the warmbloods if not even more good proper training is the key to making these thoroughbreds competitive wide I hope to demonstrate today is the basics of training the thoroughbreds not just throw beds but horses in general we're going to take this off the track throw prett that just raced and give it a different career regardless of the career whether it be true saj hunter jumpers or eventing they all have to start off with the same basics balance here we are we have some windy conditions today so this would be a good test for her what I like to start off with is just a little in hand work on the on the line on the lunge line just a letter back warm up she of course with especially with a horse that's not used to my weight and just used to a jockeys wig so I'd like to do a little in hand work just to get a little bit of trust from the horse you could see I have some rail set up and a tarp here so it's a windy conditions so we have two pulls on each side tarp as I walk around a tarp I'll walk on the tarp and that helps gets the horse accustomed to it you could almost tell which horses are going to accept the tarp even the best just from the look of their eye horses with a really small eye with a lot of white in the eye they're very leery about the tarp but Brazil she's got a really kind eye and when I introduced this the first time she walked right over the top of it and that's what I'm going to do right now I just walked right alongside it the first time and now I'm going to walk right by it so that she walks over the top of it there we go very good and she accepts that tarp very well also note how I lead the horse I try not to have too much tension in the rope or the lead shank then when you're leading the horse you want the horse to take accountability for themselves otherwise you get pulled around to way too much the more you could do a sharp correction and then give the lead line the better so the softer you can be in the firm more firm you can be without pulling on your horse the more clear you're going to be with your horse after this now going to put her on the circle which is not very customary for the race horse the race horse is used to going in a straight line well now we're putting there on a small circle and the reason why I'm putting her on the small circle as I observe how the horse finds their own balance and then I want her to just kind of come to to settle down to my aides so to get her attention right now our attention is on the barn and everything around her I'm going to ask her to walk and I changed my body language just putting my hand on top of the lunch line encourage her to walk and you see how I laid it to her initiative to walk there was a loop in the lunch line when I just gave a squeeze in and I softened when I softened she went to the walk so there's always a beginning and an end to the aide now I'm going to ask her to trot by just raising the tip of my whip there she's just learned this just when three days of lunging now this is really good so I just raised the tip of my whip and she trotted forward her very first time out here she ran around frantic but I didn't feed into it I just get her customed to the circle and let her figure out her own balance now I'm going to ask her to walk again I just placed my left hand on top of the lunch line change my body language that my shoulders to her nose give her another little tug oh good and there she walks again nice and soft very good she's also starting to use her head and neck really nicely here she's starting to stretch her head and neck more when she first started her neck was dropped like here the base of the neck was dropped and her poll was way high and so the bottom of the neck was always pushing out now she's starting to stretch her head and neck and use her back I'm going to ask her to trot once more just raising the tip of my whip there we go very good she reacted and she's becoming very sensitive to the eight I always try to go forward with the horse I don't want to back up away from the horse because backing up away from the horse shows submission you want to make sure that you when you want the horse that go away from you on the circle that you're facing the horse and that you're not too far ahead of the horse now I'm going to go lunge around the tarp so I'm going to move myself closer to the tarp so she'll under lunges around it this is how I use the tarp to help her from falling in when she was falling in here to the left this is what I would do I would just lunge right around the tarp now we're going to try something a little bit more challenging it's lunching over the top of the chart slow it down again let's lunge right over the top of the tarp again so there she fell in a bit I'm going to make myself a little bit more clear with my body language to put myself between her and the tarp there we go and she's being a very good girl and she fell a little bit to the inside of it I'll slow it down oh use my whip as an aide there and then she trotted right over it now we're going to step away from the tarp so you could see how well she accepted the tarp now she's not shying away from it and she's respecting my eighths on the circle her gait is also very good on the circle here she is not aw she's not disengaged so far behind she's figuring out her feet underneath her body to figure out her own balance she is taking accountability of her own balance and right there we just saw her even strecher had a neck on her own a bit this is very good and now we're going to walk I'll change my body language with my hand down on the lunge line give her a little tug ho good it's very nice and now we could see that she is paying attention her here her eye her ears are lopped off to the side her eyes not casting too much around the arena she's paying attention and her body language shows she's ready to be ridden so this is a time that I'll go ahead and take her in give her a nice reward give her a big fat woofle the other thing is these horses are not used to standing still for long periods of time especially out in the open like this I wanted to start getting her comfortable with that usually the first couple times when we hop on our horse from the track we have some assistance to hold the horse and make sure that you always lead the horse up away from the mounting block they're not you used to standing still you'll see you'll see me do is I already have the stirrups down so I'm ready to hop on or the moment I get her between the mounting block and my obstacle that's there I like to lead them in between the obstacles that they have something on both sides of them and they get comfortable with that pressure that there's objects on both sides of their body I'll do that a couple times first before I hop on I'm going to use the mounting block a little bit closer to this obstacle here on her right side so that when I hop on that I take away the possibility of her haunches drifting way right on me which makes a lot harder to hop on her so I do this again I lead her in between the two objects let us stand here a little bit good and you could see her discomfort here here lower lip is at really acting up there we go and then I walk away I don't make too big of a scene of it I'll do this once more before I hop on it's very important that you feel comfortable hopping on your horse if you're nervous about the horse doing anything like bucking the horse could sense it you have to be a leader very good that's a lot better standing there very good you have to be a leader the moment you hop on and get on with it otherwise if you shaky in the knees the horse senses it and then they'll get cold backed as well what I tend to do when I hop on is I'll grab the name have the reins already short enough grab the mane keep my chin way high because that's my sense of balance that's my security and bounds there she's starting to stand more comfortably very good nope get it comfortable here and all depends on the day - sometimes you need to have somebody assist you occasionally here very good I'm going to let her stand off one more time yet there we go we're getting better though you see again the way I lead her there's hardly any tension in the rain I try to be as soft as I can there she's starting to lower her head she's showing me more comfort stand her once more sometimes I have to be quite firm to get her to stop there we go Oh oh now that's a girl I have my hands in the knee put my foot over chin stays up so I stay secure good I'm not going to teach her to just stand there right away especially when she hasn't fully accepted contact yet if I make her stand with contact that could be quite dangerous like you also noticed that I have not lunged with side reins she cuz she thought she has to establish going forward sheath but she is getting close to the point where we can introduce side reins so when I walk off now I try to be as soft as I can with my hands to encourage the horse to stay in a forward motion horses are going to find different ways to alter their balance or compensate with their balance so youthful saw how she goes around a circle she tends to fall in with her body I like to let him walk for at least you know a nice 10-minute walk even 10 15 minute walk let them slow down their break jumps falling down but she handled that very well wind blew down the jump and she handled it very well so she's a little spooky about the jump here and that's okay we work around it notice how I don't make a big deal out of it this is really showing what this horse is capable of with her temperament she's got a wonderful temper you see the second first almost first time around it and she's already almost up to it I walk gently around it I don't let the horses just stand there and sniff it I think sometimes that makes a bigger deal out of what the situation I tend to just keep them in motion keep them moving forward keep them walking forward and then I'll work on bending her away from it even and and see that she steps off my left leg come very good you're a nice reward - very good and then the horse also gets used to getting rewards - when they give me a little bit of improvement rewarding the horse is very important after she walks over this on her own they are very good and she kicked sand on top of it she didn't spook I was excellent very nicely done I'm going to walk over the top of this rail all kinds of stuff to keep it interesting for the horse otherwise especially a horse that just came off the track their brain is moving a hundred miles an hour they really are anticipating something else to happen I'd like to do a lot of the work on top of the horse rather than on the lunge line with side reins because especially for a horse off the track they're so used to going on a straight ahead direction that putting them on a circle puts them on a very uncomfortable situation and if I do use side reins are very long so there's nothing forced when I work the horse very good I'm going to walk the tarp the other way so this is a very nice start and then what I'm going to start doing is working on the contact now this is after now just about we're close to a week of work when I'm in a week of work she started on Wednesday because we had such bad rain but look at how she starting except contact very good what I do with the contact I don't ride away put her head down what I'm doing right now are lateral flexions I squeeze and soften with my right rein as I even give up the left rein contact I'll squeeze the right rein again and soft now this is not to get the horse's head down this is just to get the horse to follow the rein to get the horse submissively following right there very good see when I squeeze the right hand she bent to the right from the base of her neck that was nice very good I give her a pat now I do the same thing to the left this is such an improvement from when we first started when I first started she dropped the neck in the head was straight up in the air now she's starting to accept the contact and look at a nice big breath of confidence I'll bend her left again and soften the right rein and look at how she follows the rain I also apply the inside leg as well because it's really easy for the horse of fall left squeeze left and then I'm soft again very good now I feel the contact in both reins on the corners of the mouth and I'll encourage her to walk forward from my seat and leg and see how she figures that out there we go I'm pushing her to the contact so I'm not pulling the nose ever in I'm actually trying to get the base of her neck to stretch forward to push the pole forward so she starts using this top line right now you don't see much muscular development here because she hasn't used that part of her body yet well the more I start getting her to stretch her top line the looser her back gets so she gives me a better quality gait and she starts carrying the riders weight better they are very good the bits I'm using too is a KK D ring snaffle using a D ring because it looks nice on her for a hunter so we could sell which direction I'm heading with the source but the KK bit it's a it's us a very mild bit I don't like using leverage bits because it's again applies force I want to make it that the horse uses their body on their own that stretches using their muscles instead of applying any kind of leverage that puts them in a fall spring I don't like using draw reins for the same purpose good now the back is starting to open up as she's stretching here she's using her whole neck now I can encourage her even to step up a little bit more forward a little bit more active so I get bigger strides and you could see her overstep behind what I mean by the overstep is that her hind legs step past the front footprint where she left the front footprint from the ground there that her whole body is swinging there's no tension in her body so we've been walking for about probably about over five minutes now we already have a wait different walk this is half the training here if the horses relax them the walk more than likely he'll be relaxed in the rest of the three gates and encourage her to walk over the rails to keep it interesting very good very good nicely done so now that we have a relaxed horse now we're going to go ahead and do some trot work come good we'll go around our jump that fell down here they'll be easier to go around it and help me out with my left bend even - so I was just thinking there if I were to go to the inside of it we could feel that the horse would fall in now I do the same process that done the walk when I traversed trot I just have a light contact in front of me I'm not I'm not forcing her head anywhere and how I get the horse of stretch so easily is I'm always guiding the horse straight underneath me you could feel the horse fall in you can feel the horse fall out and my legs keep the horse underneath me so this is a nice start and good now I'm going to do some little neck flexions spine that I get her supple in the jaw again his neck flexions are not to get her head down but just to get her following a bit see there I didn't force her head down at all I squeezed upward with my left hand and soften the action of the bit you have to always work upward upward into the corners of the mouth if you work downward bit goes down on the bars in the mouth and then for supply that's why I don't like you see draw rain sets that's downward force on the bars of the mouth I squeeze upward and there she answers by going downward through the bridle and stretching this stretching is way different than the horse dropping their neck stretching is different than the horse just lowering its neck we want to get the neck to stretch from the base and already this is getting to be a very good example so I'm not worried about our pole being high or her head being high I'm more after getting her to stretch your neck forward now after I get a little bit of improvement here I'm going to give her a walk break there we go there she's giving me a nice bit here this looks excellent there we go always want to get a little bit more there we go good now I'm going to ask her to walk I have both reins and stretch up tall give a nice big pat and you're going to see her get better and better after every little walk break those walk breaks are important because then the horse starts getting an understanding when a rider keeps looking for more and more to get try to get something to perfection every time a horse starts struggling and fighting and then they get tired and then they're wondering what is this what is this that you're asking me to do is this even fun anymore all right try this off to the right a little bit so I got what I wanted to the left was a nice little improvement was it perfect no but was she trying yes and she was she was actually improving so now we're going to go to the right and do the same thing pick up the trot here when I pick up the trot and I use my leg I keep my knee open I try to keep my leg as long as I can down by the girth you pull up your leg your leg goes in the wrong position on the horse then the horses you're not it's not as effective I just open up my toe and keep my leg down try not to lift up your heels now her head is up she's a little less comfortable going going to the right but I still keep the same forward cadence in the truck rarely am I ever going oh ho ho on a horse even a real strong horse I keep on marching forward look how she figured this all out by herself see that see they want to stretch because it'd be easier for them in the long run to carry my weight because I'm allowing her the option now if I were to apply force to try to get her head down she would just be tense and then I would be accountable for her balance she would not be accountable for any of her balance now that she's starting to strut you see the gait starting to get more rhythmic there you see that little bounce in her truck now this is lovely look at that see now I softened reins even and she followed the contact there we go I'll do a little flexion right even there look at this it's lovely I'm asked a little brain pressure there again there very good see there I even apply both reins close my leg and she stretched right into it there look at that stretch this is gorgeous and she's tried so much more very beautiful beautiful beautiful I'm so very happy because every day I'm gonna walk good girl we're gonna walk and every day she improves every day it's like building blocks I'm always starting off where I left off and this is why I get such a steady improvement in the horse is because I simplified I'm not I'm only asking what the horse is capable of and reading my horse there this is not as good good never encouraged her to trot but I don't care whether or not her head us up or down going through that transition she's not ready yet as you could see from like the first video from the Expo Center when we cantered we almost can't er them falling into the canter to get the correct lead just like the trot transition there are not expecting the trot transition to be through yet for the trot to be a through trot transition the horse has the fully accept contact and at the stage of just getting the horse to loosen and stretch and be loose and take accountability for their own balance so it's an important note repeat that again before we ask the horse to be through through the transitions or whether in the gate the horse has to be loose so to request that a horse stays round through the transitions or to step through the transitions the horse first has to be loose otherwise they're going to compensate in another way that we don't want them to this is very good though you see how this left hand now is better than when we first started big improvement so I'm going to ask her to even step the trot a little bit bigger and encouraged I tried a little bit bigger you see my left hand occasionally opens up away from the neck just a vendor a little bit left very good and I'll encourage that trot even a little bigger and when I do this the horse is stepping into a different comfort zone the horses it's almost like going down the stairs in the dark you don't know whether or not there's going to be another step and when I'm doing is I'm pushing this horse bigger getting the horse to let go of their body they are good there you see the stride now is he lengthening instead of getting faster very good especially when I get her next stretching a bit more this is a fun game - we're going to do now so I'm going to decrease the size of the circle and trot over the tarp and let her be on her feet so the game becomes fun so I'm looking to my tarp right now there we go I'll slow down the truck just a bit cause it may come up it's a little surprised there you go very good girl yeah just fun stuff for her she's gonna when it comes to jumping becomes more of a game there we go good good girl always talking to my horse - nice and soft so a little segment about talking to your horse here's how I talk to my horse I'm always real soft with her using a soft voice but never going easy easy easy girl I just go yeah come on let's have some fun come on always rhythmical and going with her so it's always a rhythmical conversation everything's a rhythmical conversation there nice see now I'll use the tarp to my advantage to bend around the tarp look at she's give me a great effort for this been very good very good and now we could talk Thrun us he's starting to could he come through where you start to see potential power now I have some obstacles around my big circle here just to help out my her from falling in when I ask for the canter I'll ask for it approaching the wall to help me out keep her straight I'm just going to encourage your forward to the transition I'll keep the feel the outside rein also they gets back up that's okay she picked up the incorrectly and that's okay and try not big into overcorrecting right away because we're going to instill confidence because every transition is beneficial I'm gonna try that again as we're approaching the wall this time she fell in that's why she got the incorrectly she fell in a little bit so I'm going to give a little bit more right then and right Nick Tanner there we go he got us that time and let's try to arrange myself closer and closer to the saddle and I do the same thing we did and walk and trot first get the horse going forward this is a little behind my lake come come there we go do a little right bend and sob so you see how unbalanced the canter is right now she's cantering against me if I try not to hold her up I'm giving my contact away and she's not now dropping the base of her neck you're going to get there now she figured out her own balance see see well I softened Lorraine she realized she couldn't balance against me see right here she's falling in a little bit but then I softened again encourage her forward doing a little right band there so right now you get this is a good example what I'm talking about when the horse stretches the bottom of their neck against my hands you see how the base of her neck drop what I want to do is encourage her her neck the stretch instead of drop so I loosen her up a little laterally flexing her right give it just wants her hand held there we go good there there there there was a good moment of balance there flexor right again and soften the reins yeah see how she's dropping her neck just like the fat kid chasing the whole hole again down a hill there we go flex a little right again and soften now we're starting to get some character to the canter working with it but again all I want is improvement so I'm happy with that we're going to just slow down this trot so I'm going to work with that canter a little bit I lied because that was starting to show some nice improvement very good all right fun yeah give get the truck comfortable in a little bit improvement flexor right again yeah good see our strength now it's it a little tired there we go good right there there now she started giving up now I'm gonna walk because I don't want her to get tired on me I want her to always stay refreshed and have that happy look that she's giving me right now she's got a nice happy look and she is going okay what do we want to do now what is it that we're going to do now good very good oh this is Brazilian wedding and you could see why I chose the horse it's got big big ears kind eyes real dark beautiful eye sleek looking body she looks like a racecar and yet she has some a little bit of height to her tall wither her wither goes halfway down in the middle of her back shows me good balance sturdy legs big boned but still a light built that makes her very athletic the the hard part about getting the horse the balance now from her job earlier her job earlier was the race and when she raced they dropped their neck and go against the riders hand against the riders hand going on one pace now for the job that we want her to do if she needs to be able to adjust her top-line she needs to be able to shorten and lengthen her top-line basically getting her to lower her center of gravity just like people we lower our center of gravity from our head down to the ground the more we lower our center of gravity the more potential power we have the more we could stay on our feet and be in balance the more we can achieve a certain task like jump run or throw a ball where we want the horse to do is to be able to carry the riders weight and establish three balance gates walk trot and canter and eventually test that balance out even test the balance their shoulder in lateral work jumping up and down hills testing the balance for greater and greater strength but the horse is naturally built not to carry the ride carry a weight of a rider the rider sits in the back they got a long heavy head and neck which all encourages them to be on the forehand the way the horse lowers their center gravity is from their tail to their nose because they're built on all four legs but this has to be up to the horse it cannot be forced so we were to take this whip as the outline of the horse here all right we would eventually want go the outline to be nice and round if this were the horse and this was the pole and my left hand was the rear end of the horse we want to push the hind end going forward to the contact creating a rounder picture of the horse carrying the weight of the rider the weight of the rider creating more potential power we want her to stretch the stretch the neck from the base not to bring her nose in but getting the neck to stretch out of her shoulder and when she stretches the neck out of her shoulder the back can relax and then she uses her core muscles to carry the riders weight and then she's easily could swing from her haunches to propel her weight forward this shows a charismatic 4:3 moving horse you

Channel: RenovatioFarms

Views: 185,973

Rating: 4.8724575 out of 5

Keywords: Retired, Race, Horse, Thoroughbred, Training, Project, eric, dierks, ranovatio, farms, horse, training

Id: RnqCQSogJsk

Length: 34min 12sec (2052 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 29 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/ImaCheeseMonkey]

It's nice to see someone who seems to go with the horses mood, understanding and background. I don't own an OTTB, but feel like his dialogue and explanations work for training any horse. :)

[u/americantoad]

Eric is a wonderful trainer for all levels