Prepare to a Position for the Transition
- October 17, 2014
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- Jenn Zeller
Posted in: Horse Training
While helping get your horse broke, there are so many things to take into consideration. You have to gain control of not just his mind, but his feet, and his face. He’s got to learn to move his body, with us on him, in all the ways he’s been moving since before we interrupted his life and decided we’d utilize his skills.
One of the common mistakes I see people make is not preparing the horse to the position for the transition (to steal and paraphrase a saying from one of the masters, Ray Hunt). What I mean by that is that in order to get our horse to stop properly and with good form, we shouldn’t just yank on his face and expect him to stop, though that’s what I see, more often than not.
Ideally what should happen is the following: We prepare the horse for the stop by asking him to get soft in his face and collect, then we would prepare our body by slowing down, then sitting down, essentially asking first with our body, following up with the reins.
Walking Quietly
Walking Out
Preparing to stop by getting a soft feel.
Stopping soft and collected due to proper preparation.
Backing Softly with collection
In this, and every instance (be it a leg-yield, haunches in, a spin, a turn-around or even the back up), we aren’t just asking the horse to stop his feet. We’re asking him to get his entire body into a position where he can be successful doing what we ask.
If we ask a horse to stop, before he’s prepared, we may well end up teaching him to stop with his head in the air. That always leads to other less-than desirable behavior in the horse, because we’ve taught him to search for the release when he stops the feet, not when he’s soft and supple, and waiting on us. If we can teach the horse to wait on us, and be soft EVERY time we ask, we can avoid the use of tie-down, or a bigger bit. Consistency is key.
Next time you are on your horse, think about how you prepare him to stop, change directions, change gaits or back up. Think about preparing him to the position for the transition.
*Many thanks to our ranch intern, Tom, for allowing me to photograph him for this post.
Happy Trails and Happy Riding!
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Posted in: Horse Training
About Jenn Zeller
Jenn Zeller is the creative mind and boss lady behind The South Dakota Cowgirl. She is an aspiring horsewoman, photographer, brilliant social media strategist and lover of all things western. After a brief career in the investment world to support her horse habit (and satisfy her...