Riding Skills for Working Moms Hookay... We got posting the trot a lot for muscle strengthening We got praising your horse We got using your leg for the turns. Remember, Ladies, if you don't incorporate all of these into your everyday, everyday riding and build new habits, the rest of these will come a lot harder. Because as you build these new habits, you will gain skill in HOW to use them. And when you gain the skill, they will start making more sense. And when they make more sense, the next ones will be easier to understand and learn. - 1. Develop Strength - 2. Develop Communication - 3. Correctly using your legs. - 4. Correctly using your reins - 5. Correctly using your back - 6. Lope for more strength This lesson, we'll go to using your rein signals better. This is for english and western. And we will assume that your horse is fairly broke. Not a greenie needing a lot of help. You have been taught to pull to the left to go left, and pull to the right to go right, to pull both reins to stop. We'll start with the left and right signal... If you direct rein DON'T PULL!!!! Pulse your rein pressure. Ideally, you would tug, tug, tug till your horse turns. But at present he probly doesn't know how to respond to that. So you will have to train your horse as you learn this new skill. So ride him down a bit, doing your posting trot for about 15 to 20 minutes. Let him breath on a long rein. Then start riding itty bitty circles. Voltes for you english folks, too wide around a barrel for the western ones, 10m diameter for anyone not knowing what I'm talking about. We're at a walk. Now ask your horse to get/stay on the circle. Tug the rein TILL, and only TILL he gives his head just a little more to the inside. Then release. Tug again, release when he responds. Keep going till your tugs get feather light. Repeat to the other side. He will get lighter if you are doing it right. The secret is in the release. Which is hard for the human mind to understand. But if you release completely (even if he goes straight for a couple of steps) every time he turns his head in a little, you will find that he will respond easier and easier as you go. Now... seeins we are training our horse a little here... Don't try to finish to one side and then go the other way. It is hard for Pony to walk in that little circle for a long time. Change directions every 5-7 minutes. I know all about english contact, etc... and you can still pulse your rein inside the english contact. If you neck rein Rein forward. The natural impulse for a human is to pull back as you give the request for a direction change, because you know your horse has to loose speed to do it well. But as you position the rein back towards your chest, the signal for the turn gets diluted. You horse will slow down, and not recognize the sideways signal. Consequently, you will attempt to give it stronger, which means you will pull harder. And your horse still doesn't really hear the sideways signal. So he will stop, and start tossing his head, basically asking you what it is that you want. You can see me pulling back and over here. Both reins are now tight, with the left rein just slightly crossing Paints withers. He is doing a fine job attempting to follow the signal, but you can see how the left rein also impacts his mouth. And he is trying to obey that signal too, turning his head to the left. But the signal is to turn to the right, so having him turn his head to the left is very undesirable. At this point he is basically incapable of performing a tight, balanced turn. In turn, I, being a human, will probly give the signal more... pull harder. Which will only confuse him more. The rein signal for stop will get stronger and the left rein signal for the left turn will get stronger. The only thing that won't get stronger is the signal that I want... the one for the right turn. So be clearer... Rein forward. Give your signal for direction change well forward at about the halfway point between ears and withers. Your horse is a living, breathing being. The fact that he has to slow down to turn isn't news to him. So let that be his problem and concentrate on your job of being crystal clear. Pulse this request too, just like the direct rein. Instead of turning a small circle, visualize turning several corners to get the same thing done. Ok, now the stop. DO pull for the stop. But only until the horse slows down. Then give a little, just enough to keep him slowing down. This is something you gotta figure out between you and your horse, how much he wants you to direct him during this, and how much direction you are willing to give him. My dressitch horses get quite a bit of direction from my reins (cause I get discounted in the ring if the don't), and my reiners don't get any. The secret to light hands is that they are as light as they have to be. If you are completely trying to be light, no matter how your horse responds, and he's screwing up, and not listening, you don't have light hands, you have INEEFECTIVE hands. One cry heard a lot in my lesson ring is "Rip his head off!!!". Because sometimes, hands have to be very very harsh to make the point. And seeins a horse is a living breathing being, and his agenda may not be the same as yours for the next 15 secs, sometimes you need to rearrange his priorities. So if you ask your horse for a stop, and he says, "But Mom, the gate is just 20 yds away, and... and... the other horses are behind that gate..." then you may, may need to rip his head off. You'll just have to find the balance. So pulse your direction requests, and pull your transition request, But always release when the request is responded to. Don't forget to use your legs on the turns either. And praise your horse. And trot so you can get strong and develop better balance. On to Lesson #5