Every horse regardless of their discipline, can benefit from lateral work. My answer when someone asks for “drills” is usually this: get them good laterally! Lateral work is the basis for everything we will ever need a horse to do. In other words, “Kindly, STEP AWAY FROM the barrels!’
All joking aside, teaching a horse to be soft and reach for us laterally is the best thing we can do for them.
They learn to use their bodies.
We become more consistent as a rider by doing the same thing over and over.
That my friends, is really how horse a horse is trained – it’s through our consistency.
The Why
When we start colts here at the ranch, as part of our training program, there’s an obsession with getting them good laterally – long before we ever put the first ride on them. If we have them soft from side to side, and can roll the hips, we can stay safe on the first ride. Further, we can also discourage behavior we don’t want, like running off, or bucking. A horse can’t buck if he can’t get his hips square and under him.
Lateral work is the foundation for roundness in your barrel racing turn.
Lateral softness eventually becomes Vertical flexion (bridling up).
Vertical flexion, eventually becomes collection.
All of the above are things an educated horse, of any discipline, needs to understand to be safe and solid under you. These are tools that will help them excel in their careers.Without collection you don’t have a solid, snappy turn around your barrels. Without vertical flexion you don’t have collection. Without lateral softness, your horse won’t understand vertical flexion.
The “Drill”
So, without further ado – watch as we walk you through what we lovingly refer to as the “killing cats” drill. We love cats, so we aren’t likely to kill them – the point behind the name of this drill is that it is boring, and often painful to watch. But if you don’t enjoy the minutia, the small things, the slow work, you need to change your mindset. Because the best horses are made Outside the Turn.
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