The fix for the lazy horse can be done while doing any riding exercise. The first thing that makes a horse responsive or lighter is having a clear cue. A cue is something that you ask the horse and can get the horse to do. That means a cue to stop will be picking up the reins. That would be a cue to stop. A pre-cue is something you do before the cue. A pre-cue is "ho." If I go forward and I say "ho," and he doesn't stop, I'm going to say "ho" and pick up the reins to say "That meant stop." So pretty soon, when I go forward and I say "ho" the horse stops. So a pre-cue is something you do before a cue that makes a horse lighter and more responsive. It's the same thing with your legs. What do you do before you use your legs? You sit forward, pick up the reins, kiss to them. But what's the first that you do before you squeeze or kick your horse? You take your legs out. You take your legs out, then you bring them together. So practice that. Practice taking your legs off and if he doesn't move, then tell the horse "Hey, that meant move" with a kick. And when you bring them together, be prepared to kick them until something happens. So practice that and pretty soon, when you take your legs away from the horse's side (as if to kick), that'll mean "move forward." So I'm not using my legs to keep kicking my horse. Practice this and remember, when you bring them together, bring them together hard enough to get a change of leg speed. If you kick him and you just kick him to keep him going, then
That is what yesterday's lesson was all about. When we get the horse to "float" back and forth, right, then left, he's learning to listen as opposed to blowing through us like a train headed downhill with no brakes. All the work we did yesterday (and will do today) has the added bonus of improving his ground manners. A horse that won't get in the trailer is simply a horse whose ground manners need polishing (or maybe an overhaul). If he truly understood "go forward," he'd load. A horse that bowls you over with that left shoulder as you lead him will do the same and worse when you try to load him and he's scared.
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It's not a matter of "if" your horse spooks, it's "when." It's not a matter of how broke your horse is. Sooner or later it will see something that makes it spook. You can't control your environment so you can't blame your environment. If somebody comes up and throws something at your horse or drops something in front of your horse, and your horse spooks and you get bucked off, it's not their fault and it's not the horse's fault. The first thing you do may be to blame that person but it's not their fault that your horse bolted or spooked. It has nothing to do with them. It has to do with the fact that you lost control of your horse. It's your fault. Because if you put your safety in their hands, you're guaranteed to get hurt. It's your responsibility to train and ride your horse correctly. Too many things can happen.
Trail Riding Series - Training From The Heart, The
• Catching Your Horse
• Calm Down Cue
• Stand for Mounting
• Leading; Jigging
• see more
People who don't know anything about horses may come around your horse. Your horse has to be trained to keep them safe. Other riders will do things around your horse that doesn't bother their horses. Maybe they're not bothered by things coming up suddenly behind them or hitting their horse. They'll do things that they and their horses are used to without a thought to whether your horse is "used to" it or not. Their horses is broke to this kind of stuff and they'll assume yours is too. But when all of a sudden something happens to scare your horse you can't blame them after you went and placed your safety in their hands. It's your job, your responsibility to make sure that you have no matter what somebody else does around your horse. It's your safety, don't ever put it in somebody else's hands, because I promise you you'll get hurt.
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There are certain products that every long-time Lyons fan carries in his equine tool kit. They're the "gotta haves." Here are a few essentials - as recommended by this John Lyons Certified Trainer, Keith Hosman.
