Stopping and Backing

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. Note that articles (as credited) in certain premier issues were co-written by Josh Lyons (John's son) - and much credit is due to Josh's amazing insights. Last time we covered a classic Lyons exercise "Three Step Stop." Among other things, that exercise helps install terrific brakes on your horse. The "brake theme" has since proven so popular that we've included a companion piece within this issue entitled "Hurry Up and Stop." You'll also find a simple (and effective) tip for getting a speedier, resistance-free back up. This issue's easy, step-by-step horse training articles: - get your horse to "hurry up and stop" - simple tips for a great back up Both step-by-step horse training articles are sampled below. To read each in its entirety, simply follow the links provided or visit Horsemanship101.com/Articles. (And remember, our earlier issues can be found twenty-four/seven at Horsemanship101.com/Articles.)

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"Hurry Up and Stop"

Have you ever trained your dog to sit? What did you say to your dog after you told it to sit? You probably told it to "stay." Why did you do that? If the dog sits, he has to stay. In the same respect, I don't have a "stop" on my horse. I only have a "go" and a "back." Now, I may only want the horse to stop – but in his mind he should be thinking "back up." If I were to ride forward and then stop – and then apply more pressure to the rein to back up, then I'm teaching three cues there. One "go," two "stop," three "back up." So in effect what I'd be doing is telling the horse "Four pounds of pressure on the rein means stop, six pounds means back up." So, if I really want to make my stops quicker, I only teach "go" and "back up." Now, for you reiners, I'm not talking about how to lengthen the slide here – I'm talking about getting a quicker, more responsive stop. I'm teaching the horse that when I say stop that means stop. My goal is to take away any hesitation time, with no pause between moving forward then moving backward. I work on "go" then "back up," "go," then "back up." Tip: Only work on this for about 10 or 15 minutes at a time. If you work too much on this the horse gets tired and it gets to be too much. keep reading "Hurry Up and Stop"

Tip: "Get Your Back Up"

When you're teaching your horse to back up, remember that the farther you back up, the worse your back up gets. Think of it this way: If you want your horse to quiet down at a lope, you lope him, right? The longer you lope, the quieter the horse gets. And, yes, if you do this a lot, they'll get stronger and be able to go longer – but they will have learned to relax as long as you leave them alone as you ride and don't give them a reason to get more nervous.... read the rest of "Get Your Back Up"