Random Thoughts

This month I would like to cover some random topics that continue to crop up as we discuss training reining horses.  They are a collection of things that I find are continually raised as I help people with their horses and and spend my days training.

 

Focus on what you want (the positive), not what you don’t want (the negative).

Whether you are working on turning around, circling, stopping or whatever, your horse will often do something that is not what you are wanting.  As we have discussed in previous articles we make our horses uncomfortable when they are not doing what we want and make them comfortable when they do.  This leads the horse to search for what he has to do for you to leave him alone by releasing the pressure.  In doing so they will often go where we don’t want in trying to find that place or just because they don’t want to go there or object to the pressure.  It is important to keep your eye on the goal.  If I am working on getting my horse to side pass fluidly whilst bridling up and he raises his head I will continue to work on side passing him.  I will address the higher head by taking a hold of him and applying rein pressure but will continue to focus on the side pass and keeping his feet moving.  If I change my focus from the sidepass to the head then the horses focus also changes.

Circling – Part 2

 

Last month we talked about the principle of circling and what we are looking for.  We are going to discuss here a little more in depth as to how to achieve the circles we are looking for.

 

Correcting your circles

If he falls in on the circle I will pick him up and drive him forward through his face, picking up the shoulders as described earlier and move him back out on the circle.  It is harder for a horse to fall in on a circle if he is driving through the center of his body with the alignment as described earlier.  Lateral movement can be seen to be a lack of forward impulsion. If he resists, I may take him into a counter canter circle, picking up the lead shoulder until he is soft then let him be back on the circle again.  Sometimes if they persist I will pick them up a lot and drive them into several smaller circles into the lead until they pick their shoulder up, then leaving them alone back out on the circle.  This makes inside the circle hard work.  As with all training it may take several different approaches to find one that works for that horse or maybe that day.