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Related Training Articles
From our Young Horse Training Series:
"Steering Your Horse," Issue 1, part 5 of our FREE monthly newsletter
If you get too much of a slingshot action with the horse's head, where you pull it back and they give but immediately throw it forward, then you need to move your hands a little slower. Hold on longer, move slower to give back. Make them hold a little longer, until they really soften up, then slowly give it back and change direction.
Why Am I Doing This Again? Practical Uses
Your horse "powers himself" from the hindquarters. Being able to "disengage" your horse's hips will allow you to unplug that power or use it to your advantage. You can move the hips to discourage your horse from bucking or rearing. Want to teach your horse to direct rein? This exercise gives you a terrific way to initially teach direct reining or to reinforce your direct rein when your horse misses a turn: Pick up the rein and say "Uh, no, we're going THAT way."
Keeping The Following In Mind Will Help You
A horse always has one good side and one bad side. The problem with that is that it keeps changing. The left side might be the good side now, and the right side is the bad side. You'll work on that for fifteen minutes – and all of a sudden the right side is the good side and the left side is the bad side. It'll keep going back and forth. Smile, it's just part of training.
Common Mistake:
Doing a U-Turn instead of insisting that the tail pivot around the shoulders like the hands of a clock. Watch that inside shoulder until it stops – that's when you're moving the hips correctly. Remember to time your release in order to let the horse know that that's what you've been looking for.
Don’t:
Ride in a straight line: You shouldn't spend more than one or two steps max going straight, then you should be turning. You don't want to be going straight. Getting your horse to travel straight is a perfection of going left and right. If I can't get my horse to travel straight, it's because he's either going left or right. If he's going left when I'm asking him to go straight, that means he's not responding to my right cue. (That is "turn right.") So what you want to work on is going left and right. The more you work on left and right, the easier "straight" is.
Do:
Make sure you sit up. Don't get too hunched over. If your nose gets beyond that saddle horn your body will get out of position. If he stops hard or does something, your body will have a tendency to fall forward. If you're kicking and that horse isn't moving, you keep bumping and pick up that rein. If you bump and he's not moving……
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More articles & training tips:
• Horse Riding Tips
• Speed Up Your Slow Horse
• Make Your Horse Stop
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