HorseTraining
Fundamentals
Learn the basics of groundwork, collection, shoulder control,
sidepass and many other training techniques to help any horse.
By AQHA Professional Horseman Ken McNabb
From the America’s Horse library
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From the
Up
Ground
W
Some simple exercises that
will build a firm foundation
with your horse.
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when i start working with any
horse on the ground, I want to make
sure that the horse develops a respect
for who I am and sees me as qualified
and trustworthy to lead in the
relationship. For that to happen, the
horse has to know that I can cause
his feet to move. That is the simplest
way to state why we’re going to
approach groundwork.
Why waste time on groundwork
when we wish we were riding
instead? The relationship we have
with our horses on the ground
automatically transfers to the
saddle. The horse does not change.
If he has bad habits on the
ground, then he’s going to have bad
habits in the saddle. The horse you
ride and the horse you lead are
always the same horse. If this horse
is dragging you off or stepping on
you and pushy on the ground,
then he’s going to be pushy in the
saddle. He’s going to run off with
you, he’s going to have problems,
he’s going to be jiggy. And the
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place to start fixing the problems is
where you’re safest, and that’s on
the ground.
My first interaction with any
horse – whether it’s an older horse
or an unstarted colt like WR
Turning Diamonds, or “Jericho,”
whom I handled and later
purchased from the 2010 Road to
the Horse colt-starting challenge
– is to cause his feet to move in a
way that I can control.
I start with a rope halter and
12-foot lead rope. I’ll stand directly
in front of the horse and hold my
left hand about a foot from the
bottom of the horse’s nose. I’m
going to point where I want him to
go, and as I point that direction, I
take my right hand and twirl the
last 3 ½ to 4 feet of the lead rope,
making a request for him to move
in a circular motion around me to
the left.
I realize that the hindquarters
causes the movement, but before I
can get to the “engine,” I have to
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HAILEY TRUE
approach the shoulder first and ask him to move that out of reward, letting him know he made the right decision.
We’ll practice that two or three times until he understands
the way. As he does, it opens the door to his hindquarters so
that the way to get a release is to move away from my body.
I can move him forward.
If I just start chasing his tail around in a circle, trying to I want to know that he will readily move his shoulder out
get to his hindquarters to move him forward, before long, of my space.
Once I have my horse moving forward, if he moves forward
my horse will plant his front feet and spin in a tight circle,
two or three steps, I’m
disengaging his hindquargoing to stop him, release
ters. He will be moving my
him, reward him and let
feet, and I will be longeing The first second that he moves away
him know that’s the correct
in a circle, and he’ll be
from me and out of my space, I’m
answer. I’ll build that
standing relatively still.
process until I can ask my
If when I twirl the end of
horse to trot comfortably
that rope, the horse does going to release him. The release
around me in a nice circle,
not respond, then I’m going
with me standing parallel
to take one step directly comes as a reward, letting him know
to his girth line.
toward his left shoulder. If
Once I can have my
that step into his space does he made the right decision.
horse trotting comfortably
not create movement, then
- AQHA Professional Horseman to the left, I repeat the
I’m going to follow through
entire process step by step
with the lead rope and
Ken McNabb going to the right.
begin adding pressure with
Once my horse is longeing
the rope to his shoulder.
I’m going to continue lightly bumping his shoulder with both directions nicely, then I want to ask the horse to
the lead rope rhythmically until his shoulder moves away soften his face and keep his eyes on me. He’s going to
from me. If he refuses to move out of my space, I will keep travel forward, looking back. My goal is to have the horse
the pressure on and increase the pressure about every two to travel softly with both eyes on me. Initially, if I get a little
bit of arc and his eye looking at me, I’m going to think that
three seconds.
The first second that he moves away from me and out of that’s excellent and reward him.
In order to create that bend, there are two exercises that
my space, I’m going to release him. The release comes as a
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Here, I’m asking “Jericho” to stop by stepping in front of his eye.
I also had to take up the slack on the rope to get him to stop his feet.
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Now, I’m asking him to move his shoulders, so that he changes direction, going from left to right.
H A I LEY T RUE
I’m going to do inside the longeing
exercise. The first is to stop and change
directions frequently.
In the “stop and change directions,” I
ask my horse to stop by stepping into
his space. If the horse is traveling in a
circle to my left, I take a big step to my
left, in effect stepping into his line of
travel. You want to land in front of his
eye – which is the way to stop any prey
animal, be it horse, cow or whatever.
If he misses the cue to stop and
continues forward, pick up on the lead
rope and cause him to stop by bringing
his front end to you. As you take that
big step to your left and ask the horse
to stop, that lead rope should have some
slack in it. If the horse misses the cue,
take up the slack and bring the horse’s
front end to you, causing that stop.
You’ve also now repositioned the
horse facing you and are ready to make
the change of direction from left to
right. I practice this “stop and change
directions” exercise a couple of times
until the horse starts to understand
how to stop.
Then I’m going to start hurrying
him through the stop by switching
my lead rope from my left hand to
my right and adding pressure to his
outside shoulder faster, which in
effect causes a rollback.
The effect that the rollback exercise
is going to have is that your horse is
going to begin looking to you in
anticipation of the next directional
change. He should soften in the poll
and neck area and learn to travel
with both eyes on you, in effect
going forward but thinking back,
toward the handler, at all times.
If I can cause my horse to go forward
and think back, then when I’m on my
horse, it won’t be a big step for him to
be thinking about who’s actually riding
him, as opposed to what’s happening in
the world out in front of him.
The common mistake with groundwork is to not change directions
frequently enough but to allow the
horse to endlessly travel at a trot in
the same direction, which does a
lot to condition the horse physically
but does very little to affect his
brain.
For me, the reason for groundwork is
to change the way this horse looks at me
and thinks about what we’re doing.
When we add more speed to the changes of direction (from right to left in this photo), that
keeps Jericho’s attention on me. He’s moving forward but thinking back to me, his handler.
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The
First
30
Days
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What to focus on during your
first month’s worth of rides.
Photos by Harley True
when i put my first 30 rides on a horse
– whether it’s a colt I’ve just started
under saddle or an older horse that’s new
to me – there are a number of things that
I’ll teach or reinforce to the horse.
It’d take a book to talk about everything
that needs to be accomplished, but I’ll
go over a few of the things that were
important to me as I began working with
“Jericho,” a 4-year-old gelding registered
as WR Turning Diamonds. I handled him
(and later purchased him) at the 2010
Road to the Horse colt-starting challenge.
So I had started him under saddle, but
when we got home, we had a lot more
work to do. Here’s where we started:
Softening to the Bit
once i’m in the saddle, the most
important thing to me is that my horse
responds softly to any cue that I give
him. If I add pressure to the horse by
delivering a cue, as soon as he responds,
I release him. That sets up a system. If I
consistently release and reward my horse
for giving the correct response, that will
develop his desire to respond quicker and
try harder for me.
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Softening to the snaffle – first off of one
rein and then off of two – is one of the
first things I want my horses to learn.
I use a snaffle bit for these first rides
because it allows me to contact each
corner of the horse’s mouth individually.
If I touch the right rein, the horse is
going to feel pressure in the right side
of his mouth. If I touch the left rein,
he’s going to feel pressure on the left
side of his mouth. And it provides an
honest feeling of how he’s responding to
me, because it’s a pound-for-pound
pressure bit. A curb bit with leverage
multiplies a rider’s strength and makes
it possible to force a horse to break at the
poll, and that’s not what I’m after. I
want my horse to respond willingly and
softly to a light touch.
The first cue I’m going to give from
the saddle will be to pick up a direct
rein and add a light pressure to one
corner of the horse’s mouth. As I add
pressure to that inside rein, I won’t pull
my horse’s head around, shortening my
rein and forcibly bringing his nose to
my knee. I’m going to wait for the horse
on the rein, but I will push his body
with my legs.
As the horse feels that added pressure
on his body, he’s going to seek a release
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Riding the “Circle S”
Disengaging the hindquarters
and try to get away from that pressure. I want him to bring
his nose off center two to three inches and flex in the poll,
dropping his nose slightly toward the point of his shoulder
and bringing his face to vertical.
As soon as I feel that response, I release the pressure from
both my legs and rein. I only release him on that head position
two to three times, then I’m going to add one more step into
it and require that before he gets the release, his feet need to
follow the direction of his nose.
One of the worst habits developed from softening exercises
is horses who are bent consistently from side to side but do
not connect it to their feet. These horses are very flexible in
their head and neck, but when pressure is added from an
outside influence and the emotions raise up, and the rider
picks up on that rein, a lot of times that horse will bring his
nose over to the rider’s knee but keep right on going in a
straight line through his shoulders.
To avoid that habit, or to fix that habit, I am not going to
release the rein unless my horse moves his shoulders in the
direction of his nose. Or, if I’m asking him to disengage his
hindquarters, I will release only when he moves his hindquarters
away from the direction of his nose.
This exercise should be practiced at both directions at the
walk. When I start getting consistently good results, I take
it to a jog, then an extended trot and eventually the lope.
When I start riding this exercise, a lot of times the horse
will just go in circles as he tries to figure out what I’m asking
for. But as he becomes more and more responsive, the exercise
begins to look more like a slalom course, as if I were riding
an “s,” so I call this exercise the “Circle S.”
As I ride the “s” shapes, I’ll look where I want to go, take
contact with the horse’s mouth, wait for him to bring his nose
off center, flex in the poll and then follow his nose with his
feet. I immediately release the rein and change directions.
If there is a pause between the release of the rein and the
change of directions, the horse is likely to stay sluggish and
lean on the bit much longer. If I release the right-hand rein
and immediately start the process on the left-hand rein, back
and forth, then the horse will start expecting to receive a cue
and will be waiting to respond. He’ll get much softer, much
lighter, much faster.
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Disengaging the
Hindquarters and Stopping
my second softening-for-control exercise is teaching the
horse to disengage his hindquarters.
I’m going to continue the “Circle S” exercise but will
shorten my inside rein and look over my shoulder at my
horse’s hindquarters until his front end stops moving and his
hind end steps over away from his nose. At that point, I
release him and ride forward.
You can use the hindquarters to control the horse’s forward
movement, and that’s a great way to develop a stop in a horse
that doesn’t know how to stop. However, after I’ve been riding a
horse more than two or three days, this isn’t the only exercise
I’ll use to stop him. I don’t want to dwell on this one-rein stop.
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Once I have my horse consistently disengaging
his hindquarters and bringing his body to a stop,
I start asking him to soften his nose on two reins.
I pick up on one rein, just as I did in the
“Circle S” exercise. I contact his mouth with my
right rein and maintain that pressure until the
horse recognizes the bit. I maintain the pressure
on my right rein and add an equal amount of
pressure on my left rein.
This encourages the horse to flex at the poll and
bring his face to vertical. When he does that, I
release him and tell him what a good job he’s doing.
It’s really important that my horse continues
walking or trotting forward through this exercise at a good pace. I want him striding out and
going someplace, because as my horse reaches
out and moves forward, his hind end will come
up underneath his belly and cause him to lift his
belly up and elevate his back. That’s the beginning of a collected frame.
If the horse lollygags and drags his feet instead
of reaching under himself, he’ll elevate his head,
bring his chin in and hollow out his back. That
causes both physical and training problems for
the horse as he braces against the bit with his
lower jaw.
Once my horse is really softening his nose with
good forward movement, I ask him to stop
straight on two reins.
It’s important to realize that, when pulled on
aggressively, the bit is going to stop the first
thing it comes to, and that’s the front end. The
last thing I want to do is teach my horse to stop
on his front end. I want him to stop smoothly off
his hind end so I’m not getting jolted out of the
saddle and I’m not causing damage to my horse’s
front end.
To create a soft stop on the hindquarters using
the reins, I ride my horse forward, get his nose
really soft in my hands, bring his face to vertical
and keep a soft contact on the reins. Once I have
the horse soft in my hands, I’m going to softly
say “Whoa.”
I’ll give the horse two seconds to respond
(counting “one thousand one, one thousand
two”). If he has not responded, I pick up on one
rein. Then maintaining pressure on the first rein,
I lift the second rein and apply pressure. This
keeps my horse’s neck straight forward, but it
puts a twist in your bit, which causes the horse
enough discomfort that he will immediately
stop. I’ll back him up to a point where I first said
“Whoa,” drop the reins and let him sit and think
for a minute.
I’ll practice this exercise at a walk until the
horse becomes proficient, then move into a trot,
an extended trot and eventually a lope. In no
time at all, my horse will be stopping off the
“Whoa.”
Softening on two reins
Stopping straight on two reins
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Obstacle
R
pportunity
O
G
Use that scary-looking
creek to build your
horse’s “try.”
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– or even
out on ranch work – it’s important to be
able to cross obstacles, whether it’s a
creek, a bridge or anything else that is
scary from the horse’s point of view.
But to start, I’ve got to look at things
from my horse’s perspective and understand that my horse’s fear is real. Horses
don’t fake. They don’t lie. They’re very
truthful, so that fear that I’m seeing over
that obstacle is very real. What I’ve got
to do is find a way to motivate the horse
to overcome his own fear.
What I don’t want to do is start a
life-and-death battle, because most of
the time, it’ll end up being my life or
death that we’re fighting for. If I am
approaching a creek that my horse is
afraid of, and I spur and whip him, he’ll
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become convinced that I’m trying to
kill him. And the more convinced he
becomes, the harder he’ll fight for his
survival.
Most of us have seen a rider who
forces his or her horse across creeks or
other obstacles with spurs or whips. The
rider leaves the scenario hoping his
horse learned a lesson, while the horse,
who lunged across the creek in panic,
just thinks that he almost died … and
hopes that he never has to see another
creek again.
My goal is to remove as much stress
as possible and encourage the horse to
try for me. When he gives me a “try,”
I’ll release pressure from him and reward
him, and he’ll learn to try harder. Once
I have the horse consistently trying for
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Sometimes even the natural terrain can become an obstacle, such as
with this knee-deep snow bank that Jericho willingly went through.
with my legs and, if necessary, using a rein to disengage his
hindquarters, as we talked about in the March-April article.
I’m going to find his comfort zone then. If we started out
standing 15 feet away from the obstacle, that’s where I want
to go back to. I won’t accept 15 feet, 4 inches. But I also won’t
push him to move up to 14 feet until he’s comfortable enough
to take the steps willingly. We’ll just continue looking at the
obstacle.
As we get closer to the obstacle, the horse will realize that
he’s running out of options, and he may try some evasions to
the right or left. Here’s where I have to be very singleminded. I’ll pick one spot – say, right over the middle of a
bridge – and that’s where my focus has to stay. Going to one
side or the other is not an option.
If my horse veers to the right, I’ll use my right leg and
right rein to move him back into place. If he evades to the
left, I’ll use my left-side aids to straighten him. If I don’t lose my patience and scare the horse, before long,
he’s going to get tired of just looking at the obstacle, and
me, pretty soon I won’t be able to find an obstacle that’s too
difficult for him. He’ll learn to win through trying.
In helping my horse through an obstacle, my focus and
timing are very important.
As we approach a scary-looking obstacle, I’m going to
squeeze with both legs, asking him to move forward. His
response will likely be to stop and drop his head to look
at the obstacle. When his focus goes on to the obstacle,
I’m going to release the pressure – all the physical and
emotional pressure to go forward. If he looks away from
the obstacle for even a second, I’ll begin squeezing with
both legs again.
In my mind, I’m telling the horse, “You do not have to
cross the obstacle. Ever. You just have to stare at it.”
Usually, the horse will stare at it for several seconds and
become bored and look away. I’ll squeeze with my legs again,
and as soon as he thinks toward the obstacle, I’ll release. So
the obstacle becomes the release.
If my horse tries to back up, I’ll stop his retreat by squeezing
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On one of their first rides, Ken
and Jericho navigate an obstacle
course at the 2010 Road to the
Horse colt-starting competition.
SARA B EWL EY / ROAD TO THE HO RS E
he’ll step toward it. That’s a crucial moment. As he moves
forward, I have to really release and reward him. That was
his “try,” and I’m going to accept it and pet him for it. If my
horse tries once, he’ll try the second time a lot easier, and
that’s the most that I can ask of him.
Nothing is more important in the success of this exercise
than instantly releasing and rewarding that horse.
In a relatively short period of time, my horse will begin
taking every obstacle I can put at him, without any issues.
This approach has worked for me in every colt-starting
competition I’ve been in, and the young horses willingly
tried every obstacle. It works on problem horses, too.
It’s important to keep in mind that the horse crossing the
obstacle is a side effect, a fringe benefit, of him learning to try and
to trust me. That’s really the greater exercise. Bridges come and
go, but the relationship I build with this horse is here to last.
Patience Is a Virtue
One of the things people say to me a lot is, “Ken, you must have the patience of Job.” I actually don’t. I’m a very impatient person.
But I’ve learned that if I want my way – which is to cross the obstacle or achieve whatever my day’s training goal is – then I have to be
willing to wait on the horse. If I start to become like a spoiled child, trying to push my way through things, I panic the horse every time.
Those of us who aren’t naturally patient people have to learn to control our own emotions. The best way to do that is to work on our
timing and cues and be confident in the knowledge that this approach is going to work. Have a plan, which is outlined in the main story, so
that you know what your reactions should be to each of the horse’s actions. And allot an absurd amount of time – way more than you think
you’ll need – to work through the obstacle with your horse.
Remember that your horse doesn’t understand time. He understands fear. He understands comfort and release.
And if you’re ever in a situation where you just don’t have time to work through everything, realize that you didn’t print a memo to your
horse, stating that today’s goal was to cross the bridge. It’s OK to end on a positive note – maybe when the horse is consistently looking
at the obstacle from a certain distance – and come back tomorrow. The goal can become a bigger goal tomorrow.
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Calling for
Collection
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Take your time when asking your horse to build collection.
Photos by Hailey True
when i talk about collection in my clinics, a lot of times,
that means I’m able to stop him on a dime – and that might
be what keeps us safe out on the trails.
Dressage riders who perform advanced manuevers need
collection, but so do I when I work cattle on the ranch. I need
trail riders will tell me, “Ken, that’s not relevant to me.”
Truthfully, it’s more important to trail riders than just
about anybody else. If I’m able to collect my horse instantly,
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A representation of a collected horse with a
rounded back and engaged hindquarters.
Here's what we don't want – a horse with a hollowed
back and a stiffened, elevated head and neck.
this exercise is the road that takes me closer to the mailbox.
When my horse takes one soft step, with his hindquarters
driven up underneath him, his backbone arced and elevated
and his front end soft in my hands, I’m going to release him,
realizing that he just took me one step closer to the mailbox.
When my horse throws his nose forward, jerks on my
shoulders, slows his feet down and hollows out his back, he’s
walking away from the mailbox. I’m not going to release. I’m
going to keep in my mind the picture of collection – the hind
end driven up underneath, the front end soft in my hands,
the horse’s backbone arced and elevated – and I’m going to
continue working until I get one step of that picture.
I’ll continue that exercise for about five minutes until I can
consistently pick up on the reins and get one step with the
horse’s hind end really underneath him and his front end as
soft as butter in my hands. I want to feel only the weight of
the reins in my fingers.
Once I can get the horse to make that step consistently, I’ll
ask for more; I won’t release after the first step. My horse’s
response is going to be to take his nose forward and bump
the bit, like he wants to remind me to release him.
When I feel him bump the bit, I’m going to push him
forward with both legs, keeping the cadence of that “going
someplace” walk. When he softens again, I’m going to release
him.
It’ll take several minutes for my horse to start showing
some improvement, maybe as much as 10 minutes. But
pretty soon, I’ll pick up on the reins and my horse will take
two steps in collection before he bumps the bit.
I’ll build this exercise one step at a time until I get around
10 or 15 steps of collection. By this point, my horse will
start waiting for the release, instead of bumping the bit.
He’s going to have learned that the most comfortable thing
in the world is to wait for that release and not add pressure
to that bit.
But in the course of this exercise, any time I feel my horse
push on the bit, I’ll drive his hindquarters forward. He needs
to learn that he can’t lean on the bit. But every time he comes
off it, he finds a release. Relatively quickly, he is going to seek
the release and will take more and more steps in collection,
building his physical condition.
Then I can change my goal from collection at the walk, to
the trot and then the lope.
to be able to get my horse rocked onto his hindquarters and
moving quickly right and left. I need him to be collected.
It’s something that’s important to every rider.
So now that we’ve talked about why it’s important, let’s
talk about the “what.” What, exactly, is collection?
A good visual is to imagine a short riding crop or dressage
whip. Block the tip of it and push on the handle so an arc is
created in the fiberglass body. That’s collection in the horse,
when his body is shortened and rounded like that whip. His
hind end comes up underneath him, rounding his back, and
his front end is slowed down and controllable by the rider.
His body is shaped much like a banana stood on edge, and
he’s in a soft, smooth, athletic frame.
The opposite of collection would be a horse whose head is
up in the stop, his mouth is open, his neck is stretched
straight forward and his rider is pulling on the bit. With
collection, that horse’s nose is soft, his hindquarters are
underneath him, and his neck is soft and fluid.
That’s the picture we all want, but to get there, we have to
take it slow.
To start achieving collection, we first have to remember
that collection begins in the hind end. So I’ll start moving
my horse forward at the walk, asking him to reach underneath
himself with his hindquarters and push forward with energy.
It’s a “going someplace” walk.
Now, I’m ready for the second half of collection, which all
too often becomes people’s focus. I’m going to pick up on
both of my reins and offset my horse’s jaw to one side or the
other just slightly. This makes it easier for the horse to
soften his jaw and bring his face to vertical.
As this all comes together, the horse should feel soft in my
hands. I shouldn’t feel like he’s dragging on my elbow. If my
arm muscles are starting to ache from holding the horse, he’s not
soft enough, and we need to go back to the “Circle S” exercises
that were discussed in the March-April America’s Horse.
As soon as I feel my horse bring his jawbone in nice and
softly, I’m going to instantly release him.
Now, dressage riders can go through an entire test with
their horse in a collected frame. But that takes a lot of
physical strength on the horse’s part. It takes muscle memory and physical conditioning. So when I start, I’m going to
ask for just one step of collection at a time.
I think of that perfectly collected horse as a mailbox, and
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Shoulder
Control
Leg yielding away
from the fence
Three exercises to help
improve your horse’s
maneuverability.
Photos by Hailey True
L
lateral control gives me the ability to put my horse’s
body where I want it when I need it there. It’s useful in developing
lead departures, creating rollbacks or spins and even simple
things like opening and closing gates from horseback.
Working cattle on the ranch, there have been times that the
ability to move my horse a couple of inches sideways saved
hours of work, so I make sure that lateral movements are a key
element of my training program.
Leg Yield
to begin developing lateral control over my horse’s
shoulders, I start by teaching a leg yield off of the fence.
Riding counterclockwise around the arena, with the fence
on my right-hand side, I’ll pick up on both reins and ask my
horse to collect his body, driving his hindquarters underneath
him and slowing his front end down. (See the June issue of
America’s Horse for more on collection.) Then I will tip his nose
slightly toward the arena fence, shift my weight onto my right
seatbone and allow my right leg to add gentle pressure in the
girth area. My left leg will open, or move slightly away from
the horse’s body, giving him space to step into. My left rein is
going to continue its role as the supporting rein, keeping my
horse’s body soft and collected on two reins.
Those cues should cause the horse to step out away from
the fence, moving laterally toward his left. His body should
remain parallel to the fence.
I’ll be careful not to over-bend my horse to the right. His
nose can be tipped to the right as much as two to three
inches, but no more.
If my horse doesn’t move away from the rail but either ignores
my cues or walks in circles to the right, I’ll just be patient, leaving
my cues in place and allowing the horse the time it takes to
find the correct answer. I’ll remember that my horse should be
moving off my seat and legs, more than off my hands.
If my horse continues to move forward after about 45 seconds,
I’ll give him another hint about what I’m looking for by using
my left hand to gently restrict the forward movement. My
right leg will still ask him to move, but now I’m helping
him direct the movement laterally rather than forward.
As soon as my horse takes even a half step laterally through
his shoulders, I’ll release all cues except my right rein. I’ll
maintain contact with it until my horse turns to the right in
a small circle.
That last step is critically important, because it prevents my
horse from developing the habit of running off through his
shoulders. If every time I picked up on my right rein, I was
asking my horse to move left through his shoulders, he would
soon make a habit of that and would forget the importance of
following his nose. So that’s how I like to end each lateral
exercise, with that reminder.
Once my horse consistently takes one good lateral step
through his shoulders, I’ll start asking for two steps and
build on that until I can get as many steps in a row as I want.
When I can get at least three to four lateral steps in a row,
I’ll switch sides and repeat the exercise working clockwise in
the arena, with the horse moving laterally to the right. It’s
important to give horses equal and balanced workouts.
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Following his nose after the leg yield
Reverse-Arc Circle
once i have my horse consistently leg yielding both
directions at a walk and a trot, I’m ready to move into the next
shoulder-control exercise, a reverse-arc circle.
I’ll start with my horse walking counterclockwise to the
left in a 30-foot circle, with his body arced in the direction
of travel. My horse’s nose, neck, shoulders, ribcage and hips
should all be on the same arced line, and he should be in a
collected frame.
Then I will change my seat position by taking my right hip
and pushing it toward his inside ear. I’ll ask him to change
directions with his head and neck but not his shoulders, so
that as we continue walking forward in a left-hand circle, he
begins to look to the right. As he travels forward, looking to
the right with his shoulders going to the left, his hip will take
the same arc as his nose. He’ll be leading with his left shoulder.
As soon as he takes one or two steps correctly in this reverse
arc, I’ll release him and let him follow his nose in a circle to
the right. It’s the same concept as with the leg yield: I want
him to remember to follow his nose.
I’d like him to be able to complete a full circle holding a reverse
arc, and then I’ll switch sides and work the other direction. Once
it’s completed at the walk, I’d want to practice this exercise until
he is comfortable at the trot and canter, as well.
This exercise is really helpful in developing lead departures,
turns on the hindquarters and rollbacks.
Turn on the Hindquarters
after these two exercises are working well for us, i’ll move
on to developing control with a direct rein. In other words, I
want to be able to pick up on the right rein and move my
horse’s right front foot directly to the right.
I’ll often see horses who turn too sharp and others who
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don’t turn sharp enough. The first two lateral exercises in this
article will help keep a horse from falling in and diving into a
circle and turning too sharp. Now, I’m going to teach my horse
to connect his inside foot to the inside rein, and that will help
him sharpen up his circles and turn at the exact point that I’m
asking him to turn.
I’ll ask my horse to begin traveling in a nice gentle arc on a
10-foot circle clockwise to the right. Using a cue very similar to
the reverse-arc circle, I will take my left hip and push it through
his right or inside ear, allowing my leg from the hip down to
apply light pressure in the girth area. I have light pressure on the
inside, or right, rein. As my horse walks the circle, I will use my
hip to ask him to make the circle smaller.
Within 45 seconds, his inside hind leg should stop moving,
his inside front leg should step to the inside, and his outside
front leg should reach across in the first step of a turn over the
hindquarters.
When that happens, I’ll immediately release all cues and
let my horse walk forward out of the arc.
In case my horse hasn’t responded within about 45 seconds,
I’ll gently check the forward movement with my outside, or
left, rein. I won’t try to stop my horse; it’s more like applying
a light half-halt. Too many riders begin hanging on the horse’s
face with the outside rein, and I don’t want to do that. I won’t
apply any more pressure than what it takes to make him pause
in moving forward and think about stepping to the right.
I want my horse to consistently stop his hind end and step
his front end across at least three or four steps consecutively
before I change sides and work on a turn to the left. I’ll keep
working until I can get a 360-degree turn on the hind end,
using the inside rein to keep the horse looking and traveling
the same direction.
On all of these exercises, if I know my horse is more difficult
or stiffer to one side, I’ll start working on the easy side before
moving to the more difficult side.
Once I’ve gained both lateral and directional control
over my horse’s shoulders, then I’m ready for the next step,
the sidepass.
Preparing for the reverse-arc circle:
Circling while arced in the direction of travel
Turn on the hindquarters
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The reverse-arc circle
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≤ les s o n s i x
This maneuver tests the
control I have over my
horse’s body – and prepares
him for so much more.
Photos by Hailey True
Sidepass
The
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W
I take my leg about halfway back on the ribcage to cue for the sidepass.
both exercises together, smoothly and softly, I’m ready to go
to the sidepass.
Before we start that, though, let’s review a few things. First
of all, a straight and true sidepass is just that. To ask my horse
to sidepass correctly, he should be almost straight, with a
slight bend to the inside. In a right-to-left sidepass, the bend
should be to the right. His face should be soft, going all the
way back to that early work when he learned how to get
supple on one rein and then two reins. The horse should have
his hindquarters up underneath himself.
When I ask my horse to sidepass, I don’t want to lose any
of that softness and collection. I won’t suddenly accept his
nose up in the air or his back hollowed out, even if he stumbles
sideways. That’s not acceptable. If that’s what he offers, I’ll
go back and work on that softening exercise from earlier in
the series, for a few minutes.
In asking for the sidepass, I will concentrate on what my
individual reins do. My inside rein controls direction. Going
from right to left, that’s my right-hand rein. The outside rein,
in this example the left-hand rein, controls leg speed. In other
words, if my horse is going too fast, I’m going to pick up on,
or add pressure to, that left rein and slow down his forward
movement. If my horse is standing still or backing up, there’s
a good chance that I’ve applied too much pressure. What I have
to do is find the happy medium where I can redirect my horse’s
movement without losing the momentum. If I pull too much
on that rein, I lose the forward momentum. If I don’t pull
enough on it, my horse just continues to walk forward.
I’ll use the outside rein sort of like a hand clutch on an old
tractor. If I use it too much, the tractor will come to a stop.
What I want to do is just kind of slip it, working really
softly with that rein and paying attention to my horse’s body.
I’ll focus on keeping him straight.
when i ride, i want to know that my horse is completely
under control. One way I can test this is with the sidepass. If
I can ask my horse to move right or left off my leg and keep
his body straight, then I know I have developed control over
all four corners of his body.
But teaching the sidepass is a gradual process. To start, I’ll
go back to the exercises I’ve been working on and that have
been explained in detail earlier in the series
I’ll start with the leg yield and move my horse’s shoulders
from right to left. As I move my horse’s shoulders from right
to left, I’m reminding him to move his body away from the
pressure of my leg and the rein. I’ll finish the leg yield by
letting my horse follow his nose and circle back to the right.
Next, I’ll pick up on the right rein and ask him to yield
his hindquarters off my leg and off my seat, moving his hind
end from right to left. I’ve moved his right shoulder to the
left and then his right hip to the left.
Then I want to start playing with those two exercises and
creating what becomes much like a dance. I’ll move my
horse’s shoulders from right to left and then stop his shoulders
and move his hindquarters to the left – all without stopping
forward movement.
I’m using right-to-left as the example, but remember that
all exercises need to be practiced equally on both sides, so I’ll
also do these same things from left to right.
As we continue the dance, I’ll ride my horse forward, pick
up on the right rein, ask him to move his shoulders from right
to left, stop the shoulders moving, disengage the hindquarters
from right to left, do a 180-degree turn on the forehand and
face the opposite direction. Then I’ll pick up on the shoulders
and ask them to move from right to left, then disengage the
hindquarters again. My horse is sort of crab-walking across
the arena or pasture. Once I have my horse really performing
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Through this whole process, it’s really important to me
that each time my horse shows a little improvement. He
doesn’t have to be perfect by any means, he just has to be
better than he was when we started. And then I know I’m
actually going somewhere with my horse.
Once I have the sidepass working nicely, I know I have
developed control over all four corners of my horse. With that
control, I’m ready to go tackle all kinds of other manuevers.
I’m ready to start developing a good spin. I’m ready to
start working on haunches in, which will eventually lead
to lead changes. All of a sudden, there’s a huge door that
has been opened. Visit www.kenmcnabb.com to learn more.
If I feel his shoulders moving more sideways and out of line
to his hindquarters, then I know that he needs to slow down
his shoulders and speed up his hindquarters. That’s where
that left outside rein will come into play.
Once I understand these principles, then I’m ready to go out
and start the sidepass. I start by walking my horse forward,
because teaching a horse to move sideways from a standstill is
a more difficult maneuver. If the momentum is already there,
it’s much easier to redirect it.
As soon as my horse is walking forward nicely, I’ll pick up
on both reins and get him nice and soft. Then I will move
his shoulders over, and as the shoulders begin to slide sideways, I will take my right leg about halfway back on his
ribcage, asking him to take his body more directly sideways.
At the same time, I will take the outside rein and half-halt
– or slip the clutch – to slow the forward movement, just
causing him to pause in his forward reach.
I want my horse to begin moving softly laterally, without
hesitation and without a fight. If I get something that
resembles a sidepass, I’ll release and reward my horse. But if
my horse stumbles sideways with his head in the air, I’m not
going to release him. On the other hand, if he’s nice and soft
and vertical in his face and his back is lifted and he’s elevated
through his withers and he’s collected, and he thinks or leans
sideways, I release for that, because that is an honest try.
Each time I work with my horse, I’m going to ask him to
do a little more and a little more. So if he leans sideways this
time, then next time, I might ask him to take half a step
before I release him. Then I might ask him to take a step,
and then I might ask him to take two steps.
It’s really important that I immediately release and allow
him to walk forward out of the sidepass. I do not allow him
to stop. That energy, that impulsion, is what’s eventually
going to give me a really pretty sidepass with that great
crossover movement in my horse’s legs. One of the mistakes I commonly see is that people allow
their horses to start backing into the sidepass, crossing the
legs behind each other. Because the horse is moving sideways,
people tend to accept that. But it’s easy to break that habit
by continuing the forward movement after the release of the
sidepass, without a halt. For the horse to stay fluid, he needs
to stay forward and keep his momentum up.
I’ll work to get my horse to where I can ride him forward
and sidepass over, say, as many as 10 or 12 steps before I
release him and walk forward again. Then, I’m ready to start
asking for the maneuver from a standstill.
I’ll lower my expectations again and, from a standstill, ask
for just a lean sideways. Because my horse has done this at the
walk and understands the directions, he’ll give it a try, and I
will go back through the same gradual process until my horse
is sidepassing nicely without having to walk forward into it.
I still haven’t put a marker up, and I’m still not using my
horse to open gates or anything like that. I want to keep it
simple and slow.
When I do put a marker up, I’ll lay a rail in the middle of
the arena. I might work 20 feet away from the rail – I won’t
step my horse across it and ask him to sidepass the length of it
yet. That would be asking too much. I’ll just start sidepassing
about 20 feet away from the rail. When we finish, if we’re 10
feet from the rail, then obviously my horse is going more
forward than sideways. Or, if I start 20 feet from the rail and
end up 30 feet away, I know he’s going backward. It’s a good
gauge to mark my horse’s progress.
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As we're sidepassing from left to right, note my horse's body
stays nearly straight, with just a slight bend to the left
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