Learning the ropes. Yes, ropes. Not knots. We can go over some of the important knots you might need to know at a later time. But first, I just want to talk about ropes, because first, you’ll need to use ropes: to lead, to keep your stock string in line, to lash on a pack, to picket, and to tie to the hitching rail and high line. Your horse or mule will need to learn all these skills, and in addition will (hopefully) learn to respect light pressure from the rope, and tolerate a rope under his tail, among other skills.Ropes are obviously an essential part of horse packing. Both you as the rider/packer/horseman and your horse as the pack/riding/leading stock need to know your ropes and respect them. Start by learning the ropes at home. Start with your groundwork.
Back in the day, my husband has shared stories of wrecks and crashes and chaos, all a regular part of packing and outfitters in this part of the woods. Seems like packers, be they outfitters or folks heading out on a trip just once a year or so, expected problems and anticipated a fight. Horses were put out to pasture all winter, then their first time handled in the summer was to get out and go. What about ground training, I asked? No such thing then. It usually worked; they got where they needed to go… but as I said, wrecks were not uncommon.
Who needs that? Not me. Not my guests. Not my horses. And tell you what, once Bob started seeing the difference in how our horses got along with us and how much easier a day on the trail could be, he was and easy convert.
Now we take the time for groundwork, and then additional packing/trail training before hitting the trail and hoping for the best. Now we learn to expect the best. The problems we encounter are our own fault, where as we used to blame the horses. Either we did not balance our load properly, tie on our load correctly, chose the wrong path, or didn’t take the time ahead of time to teach our horse well.
When you learn to take the blame, you learn to accept responsibility. When you learn to accept responsibility, you learn to take the time to do things well!
What does all this have to do with ropes? A lot. The rope halter and lead rope are the “uniform” of our horses. There are no other “tools” we need to train, prepare and then ultimately, head out into the back country.
Our training is based on a gentle touch. Yes, we will be as firm as necessary, but as soft as possible. I don’t want to work with horses trained to fight, to flinch, to expect the worse; though with time, you can re-train even those horses. I want to be out there with a group of horses that trust me, and that I feel confident they “know the ropes.”
Our horses are trained in a rope halter. All ground work, and even the first few rides are done in a rope halter. If the horse is light and understanding of the communication on the rope and halter on the ground and in the saddle, we can expect the same form of cooperation and communication in a pack string. If the horse doesn’t get it yet, we know we’ll have problems. But who’s to blame if the horse “doesn’t get it?” The horse or the handler?
I want our horses to learn to give to pressure, not to pull back. It is a trained response. If they feel pressure, they give. They know the pressure will not necessarily increase, but it will not go away until they soften. In that, they find the relief. And that is the foundation of their training.
On the other hand, if we train with a strong bit and a heavy hand, how can we expect lightness with the halter and lead?
Take the time to teach softness, and you’ll have a much more pleasant and safe horse adventure. Take the time to work things out and build the horse’s confidence and understanding back home, not out there on the trail with a guest’s gear on their back, strung out in the middle of a group of other nervous horses.
A well trained horse (and well trained rider/handler) makes all the difference between a magnificent day in the mountains, and a pretty cruddy day. Your horse’s understanding and respect of the lead rope is probably the single most important skill to teach our horses before packing.
This skill translates to: Learning to tie, lead and follow. Learn to follow the feel of the rope.
It’s easy. Our teaching and training is based on the now common natural horsemanship principles. I will guess most readers are familiar in one way or another of the theory and practice of natural horsemanship. Specifics of how these methods work for us and our pack string can be discussed another time.
The three main principles to work with your horse and the rope are:
1. Teach the horse to respect the rope, respect the halter.
2. Teach the horse to give to pressure; don’t fight it.
3. Teach the horse with well timed release/relief. The pressure’s off instantly when you get the answer right. Use relief as the reward.
Start with the ground work. Teaching understanding and respect of the rope and halter.
1. Teaching gentle leading, driving. Where the lead rope points, the horse should gently follow. It can be a great game, a dance, if you will. Work for lightness, smoothness, consistency, ease.
2. Learning to tie. Allow your horse the time to get comfortable being tied. Prevent wrecks when tied by always tying high and tight. Prevent a horse from learning relief from the horrid pull-back. Start by allowing the rope some give so your horse does not fear claustrophobia, then teaching the power of the lead by not allowing a release (a.k.a.: a break) during a pull-back.
3. Learning to follow the feel. From your work in #1, your goal is to have your horse comfortable following the feel of the rope. The light pull, not the heavy hand. The difference is up to you.
4. Sensitize as necessary. A flick of the lead rope can mean “step back.” A swing to the right can mean “step over to the right.” And any pressure on the line means to step into it, not pull away.
5. Desensitize as necessary. Some feelings the horse can learn to get over. (Usually) Allow your horse time to get used to feeling the rope under the tail, swinging on the rump, dangling at his feet, taught against his belly, etc.
Then follow up your ground work with work on the trail.
1. When your pack stock is leading and driving well and softly on the ground, try leading from another horse.
2. Only after that horse is comfortable and confident following your saddle horse can you put him behind another pack horse. Put the horse in training behind a good, gentle, well mannered, seasoned horse for a time a two.
3. With each trip, up the ante on the pack load. Start by allowing your horse to feel comfortable with the tack. Then try empty panniers. Then a light load. Then a heavier load. Allow the horse time to accept “things” being put on him. This can be as frightening as a person climbing on board. Maybe more so. Some of the stuff we pack in would scare me too if you strapped it on my back. Let him see what you’re doing. It’s a lot less scary to the horse if he’s given time to accept his load. Otherwise, part way through the trip, if that load shifts and starts to rattle, that horse is going to make his fear of the unknown very unpleasant for you and your entire pack string.
We still have some of the “old timers” in our string. If I sprain my thumb again this year, or if we have a horse pull back and snap the lead, I can pretty much guess it will be one of them to blame. Better yet, I suppose I can only blame myself for not taking the time to re-train the old guys.
So, sticking to the ropes: practice at home first. Learn the ropes. Show your horse the ropes. Don’t set yourself up for a wreck. And enjoy the ride.