February 09 midwest horse digest Page 19
feet to disengage.
Mary Hamilton answers
Disengagement means
the crossing of his hind
your training questions!
legs. This takes away
the power of his
hindquarters to propel
him forward.
Ask Mary: How
opposite rein as far as you can. Pull straight
Having reliable tools to use when
do you stop a
back with this hand as you keep your knuckles
the unexpected happens can be invaluable to
horse that spooks
of the other hand braced against the horse.
your safety.These three techniques can bring
and takes off with
Use a series of strong pulls to bring your horse
you safely back into control. Practice them in a
you?
back into control.
safe place until the technique becomes sec-
Have you ever had the frightening
One Rein-Stop is another useful
ond nature for both you and your horse.
out-of–control experience of riding a horse that
technique to gain control of your horse. It can
won’t stop? Maybe you have a horse that
be used to stop a horse from bucking or run-
Mary is a Mounted Police instruc-
tends to rush and you constantly try to slow
ning through a riders hands (not listening to
tor and a fully insured ARICP riding instruc-
him down. Or, your horse trots out on the trail
rein cues).It can be used to make a horse
ride when you want him to walk. Maybe your
stand and to stop a panicking horse. I visualize
tor. She devotes her creative energy to
horse spooks when he is frightened and takes
my horse bending to a stop with the one-rein
developing customized training programs to
off running.
technique. Use one rein, either left or right will
improve show ring perfomance, mount obe-
Before I ever get on a horse, I check
work. Take the slack out of the rein and pull it
dience and despooking trail horses utilizing
to sure, my brakes are working. I wouldn’t
back toward your hip. When the horse gives to
training methods used in training police
drive a car that didn’t have brakes. That would-
that pressure and bends his neck so his nose
horses. Visit her website at
n’t be safe. Neither is riding a horse that won’t
comes toward your boot, release the pull. This
www.riderselite.com or email your questions
stop for you. Here are some helpful techniques
bending of his neck and body causes his hind
to Mary at:mary@riderselite.com
to slow your horse down and get control of his
speed.
Ask most people how to whoa or
stop their horse and they will answer, “pull
back on both reins”. This type of hand brake
works on a horse with a good foundation (edu-
cation) in a calm environment. However, hors-
es that are frightened or difficult to slow or
stop, often will hang on the bit and actually
brace against the riders hand. The harder you
pull back on the reins, the more they lean and
brace against you. It becomes a tug of war.
The more you pull the more they resist. In
these situations, you need a different tool or
technique to stop or slow your horse.
Circling is a good technique to use
with a horse that rushes or goes faster than
you want him to. When your horse speeds up,
ride him in a small circle. You can do this out
on the trail or in the arena. Once he gets chug-
ging along too fast, ride a small circle until he
relaxes and is going at the rate of speed you
desire. The size of your circle depends on the
gait you are in. Slower gaits like walk and trot
you can use a 10 or 15-meter circle. Loping cir-
cles need to be larger. It’s harder for your
horse to rush in a smaller figure. He has to
work harder to stay balanced and keep his feet
underneath him. Reward him when he is going
the speed you want by allowing him to go
straight again. This technique is more effective
than constantly pulling on your reins to slow
your horse down.
Any time you can incorporate bend-
ing your horse, like riding a serpentine, (bend-
ing one way to go around a cone then chang-
ing the bend to go around the next cone) it
helps you gain control of your horse. Get them
bending and flexing rather than lifting their
head, stiffening and rushing.
Pulley Rein is an emergency stop-
ping technique. This is very helpful when a
horse gets strong in the canter and takes off
with its rider. Remember to sit up tall in order
to be strongest and most successful. Shorten
one rein as taut as you can. Press the knuckle
of this hand into the horse’s withers or top of
the neck. Slide your other hand down the
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