Simple Turning
- September 15, 2023
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- Tristen Baroni
Posted in: Ask A Pro, Featured, Horse Training
I’ve found a lot of success by making things more simple. With the way horses work through their nature, simple, with less force is more efficient. If we get to doing too much, too fast the horses will get guarded and be heavy and late. I personally am not a fan of putting my horse or self into that situation because it’s an awful lot of work. I’ve got a fair few horses to ride and upwards of 20 miles to cover most mornings. I like to try and not get too worn out before noon.
Now that you can see a little of where we are coming from mentally I can explain some aspects of the clip I’m sharing. All I’m looking for when working this set of exercises is willingness, accuracy, and balance. In the beginning I might only get one of those at a time and that’s okay, but pretty soon I’d like to be able to build them up so I can have all three working together.
From the first time I ride a horse I personally always start with my seat and feet as my primary aid. I’m referring to the seat as my body and hips and the energy I put into them to stimulate movement. If that doesn’t get things rocking I’ll start working further down my leg, the closer I get to my spur the more pressure. I’ll do what I need to get the horse moving forward and get the energy flowing. Once I’ve got that, generally I’ve got some place I’d like to go so I’ll start looking that way and shaping my body so the horse can find that. I’ll do all of those things and give the horse a few steps to sort it out before I ever pick up on the reins which would be my secondary aid. For me that’s probably the most important part of this whole deal, that we give our horses a chance to figure out what we are asking before we go to making them do things.
We all know you’re handy enough to go down your reins and pull your horse over to where you need to go, but that will turn into a crutch. If you’re always doing everything for your horse what are they supposed to do? What are you teaching them to do? Me personally I like a horse that likes to go to work. I like one that I’ve spent the time with and they are trying to help me get whatever chores I’ve got done and they are tickled and interested in doing it. Really I like most all things in my life to be that way and that’s what I try and set up and nurture. As for the specifics I think you can watch the video and get those. The perspective of where I’m coming from is what will help you understand the why, and then better set things up for your horse.
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Posted in: Ask A Pro, Featured, Horse Training
About Tristen Baroni
I enjoy working with horses and people. It affords me the opportunity to constantly learn and improve my horsemanship skills and also grow as an individual. Horses are truly remarkable in the way they are and what they are capable of. I’m trying to get these...