Teaching the "Straight Line"

Welcome to your next issue of "Horse Class," your how-to source for equine tips, tricks and solid foundational training brought to you by horsemanship101.com and John Lyons Certified Trainer Keith Hosman. If your horse has no clue what it means to walk a straight line, if you routinely veer off course like some drunken chicken, then this issue's featured article, "Training Your Horse To Go Straight," is for you! We'll learn that successful training is about one thing: Making sure both horse and rider are on the same page. If you think "A," your horse thinks "A." We'll also see that, what may seem obvious to us remains a puzzle to our horse - even after he's done something a dozen times! You'll find the article sampled below. To read it in its entirety, simply follow the link provided or visit Horsemanship101.com/Articles. - - - Jump to the full version of this issue's featured article: "Train Your Horse To Travel Straight" "Pre-requisite" articles recommended in this issue: - "Steer the Tail" - "Three Step Stop" - "Reins, 5 Tips to Improve Your Use" - "How to Pick Up the Reins Like a Pro" - "Hip Shoulder Shoulder"

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Training To Travel Straight

In the world of horse training, there are a few tricks we humans can quickly and easily teach our horses: How to bang on the stall door at feeding time; how to run away at the sight of an advancing halter; how to dance when they see a saddle, and so on. But then, there's the simple stuff like, y'know, just walking in a darned straight line that they never seem to "get." I mean, horse, are you trying to make me nuts? How simple can this be? And why can't you carry the same speed for even ten minutes? You go two miles per hour walking away from the barn, point two mph up the hill, nine down the hill and ninety-seven pointed toward the barn. And is it really so hard to figure out that when I pick up the left rein it means go left? How many of us have taken this a step further and trained our equine friends to think "out of the box"? Horses are hip to Einstein's description of acting crazy: Repeating the same thing that doesn't work, hoping for a different outcome. Most humans ignore this principle and blindly repeat their horse-training ways day after day, approaching things the same old way, wondering why they see no improvement. We do that while our horses are constantly adapting, constantly changing their routines, changing their reactions to our actions. If pinning ears doesn't get you to back off from saddling today, perhaps a grouchy look will do the trick tomorrow. Or dancing around or swishing a tail or screeching to a pal or kicking. Whether the horses have figured this out for themselves or whether we've actually taught the poor habits may be a matter of debate - but one fact is certainly true: The smartest horses in the world all live at riding schools, riding schools who specialize in beginners. If you need proof, try to saddle, pick the hooves of, or blanket a twenty-year veteran of novice riders. They'll out-maneuver you faster than Jackie Chan on a caffeine high. They know every trick in the book...." keep reading this article

"Steering the Tail"

Here's an excerpt from a past article called "Steer the Tail." It is specifically recommended in this month's featured article ("Going Straight," above) and so is included here for your convenience: "This training isn't about looking pretty: Just keep changing directions for twenty minutes. You can start this exercise riding at a walk and then at a trot when you feel comfortable. "The more excited or nervous the horse is, the more important it is for you to not let him go straight. If you take a snaffle bit, which is what you should be riding in, and you pull on two reins, what you do is you just make them smile. That's it. The horse is going to pick his head up and you're going to pull his cheeks back. That's all the training that's going to happen...." Read the entire article by following the link or by visiting Horsemanship101.com/Articles. My articles are online and available 24/7.