In every issue of Horse & Rider you'll find articles on training by the country's leading experts, the latest on equine health care from top veterinarians, trail riding tips from savvy back country riders, and much more!
Not sure how to get your young horse started and teach him to be attentive and responsive to your cues? Try working him in a round pen. It’s important to teach your young horse to accept you as his leader—you are the boss, he’s not. I start all my yearlings in the round pen and have found this method very successful in getting them accustomed to humans, teaching them to move away from pressure, and then allowing them to come to relief. In simple terms, we’re going to make your youngster a “yes” horse who enjoys his job, not a “no” horse who doesn’t respect your leadership. Round pen training will also prevent your horse from avoiding you and will force him to focus—which will ultimately increase his attention span.…
Along with training horses, I’ve also spent many years teaching others how to train them. Students and apprentices are always eager to find out the secret to success. And here it is: You have to know when to quit. The biggest secret in horse training is to end each encounter on a good note, with the horse relaxed and receptive. To do that, you have to learn how far you can push, how much you can ask, and for how long, before it becomes too much. There’s a line between asking so little of a horse that he stops learning and tunes you out, and asking so much of him that he gets overwhelmed. “…you don’t have to be a pro with a barn full of horses to ride to…
LESSON OBJECTIVE If you compete: Use the counter canter to open your horse’s shoulders and hips, as well as increase the “hang time” and length of his stride. Furthermore, horsemanship patterns often call for counter leads to test your skill level. If you don’t: Gain greater body control, improve collection, and achieve more roundness in your horse’s body for a more enjoyable ride. You might think a counter canter is simply “loping on the wrong lead,” but that’s not correct. A horse on the incorrect lead isn’t necessarily collected, doesn’t engage his hindquarters, and pulls himself along his path of travel. A horse working on the counter lead keeps his hocks underneath himself, holds his shoulders up and square, and travels rhythmically, just as he would if he were loping…
