16/ MARCH/APRIL 2010 THE RIDER

Q. I have done most of the training on my 4 year old gelding myself. He will move off my leg, do a turn on the haunches and jog pretty slow. I can’t seem to slow his lope down. When I try, he just breaks into a trot. How do I keep it together?

First, let me remind you to keep your expectations realistic. For instance, not every horse is physically capable of loping slow enough to be a competitive western pleasure horse. Horses that are suited to western plea- sure are shorter in stride, WANT to lope

A. You’re on the right track when you used the word “together”. To simply pull on the reins will (as you have discovered) only cause your horse to fall out the back door into a trot. If you imagine your horse in a box, he will be able to find freedom when he remains inside the boundaries, in this case at a certain length of stride. It’s important to build the right foundation – you need to have the tools to ask him for this work.

will be an artificial, four beat canter. Any horse, however, can be asked to slow and compress their canter within a certain range. It’s great that your horse already knows how to yield to your leg laterally. That is one of the building blocks necessary to do this work. You should have control of your horse’s hips as well. A horse who“fish- tails” his hips to the outside of the track will be unable to compress his stride. Start with turn on the forehand work.

Make sure he reliably goes forward immediately when asked and that when you send him forward into the resistance of your hands, he collects his frame and gives to the bit. It sounds like he’s already comfortable with slowing the trot.

To slow the lope, you must resist every time your horse is lengthens or quickens his stride (while maintaining the canter rhythm

slow more often than not, and naturally don’t have much of a motor. It is frustrating to try to fit a square peg into a round hole as you ask your horse to travel at a pace he can’t deliver with quality. The result

with your leg and seat) and provide freedom every time he slows his stride. He will eventually see a pattern developing and will seek the freedom of remaining slow. This sounds simplistic, but it’s pretty common to see a rider hanging on her horse’s mouth, tug of war style, while he motors around, oblivious to her. It’s important that the resistance you use to slow your horse is enough to get his attention. Establish firm contact by moving your elbows back, with hands directed in a straight line toward your hips. Your hands will be closed into a fist, but avoid a cement- like response which would only create fear and escape If the fingers of one hand remain a bit spongey, your horse will give to it, not flee from it. Keep it up until your horse acknowledges you by yielding or flexing his jaw and compressing his stride – even a little. He may try many escape routes – head up, head down, break to a trot, etc but only relax your muscles when you feel him take a smaller canter stride. Immediately allow your arms to flow with the motion of his head and neck. Start the process again and he will start to understand where the freedom box is.

Q. Do horses sense when you’re afraid and take advantage of you? If so, how can I be effective when I really am afraid?

A. Horses have a social pecking order and communicate “who’s in charge here?” with body language. When you’re afraid, your body language is tentative and your movements are hard to read. As a rider, you need to be the top dog, and decision maker. So how does the leader assert his authority? If you watch a group of horses at feeding time, the lead- er will “move” the subordinate horses. She makes a threaten- ing gesture and the other horses move out of the way. It is rare that once they retreat the leader will continue to chase them – usually, things become peaceful. In the same way, I teach my students to not allow their horses to move them. For instance if a horse gets mouthy or steps toward you in the barn aisle and you step back, he assumes he’s in charge. When I start longeing a horse, the first step he takes is always away from me, out of my space.

Use little tests when you are handling your horse to establish your leadership.. When leading him in from the pad- dock, ask him to back up or lower his head to the ground sev- eral times. Try putting your hand on his side and asking him to sidepass away from you. Your groundwork becomes a dance in which the horse defers to you.

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Under saddle, each time a horse learns to influence his rider , rather than the opposite, that rider loses the Alpha sta- tus. Does your horse swing his hind end into your leg? Pull or root your arms out of position? Lose energy and forward motion despite your leg aids attempting to send him forward? Gradually a pattern develops - the horse’s respect for his rider diminishes to the point where the rider asserts himself in frus- tration and the horse, with his new status pushes back in a big way!

I take this “retreat your space, please” dance into every training session and into the show ring, asking multiple subtle questions . Leg yields, subtle transitions, and softening his jaw to my hands keep him connected to me.

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Finally, only do what you feel confident doing. Never ask a horse for something if you think you might not win. For example, ride in an enclosed pen rather than on the trail for now. Ride when the arena is quiet rather than crowded. Work with your horse after he has been turned out or worked by your trainer rather than when he’s fresh. Set yourself up for success – your progress might be slower, but your confidence will grow with each little victory. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72