Training Tip Tuesday – Don’t Obsess
It’s a common thing to do in training your horse – obsess about the things that aren’t working. But I’m here to tell you, there’s no need to do that. Training horses isn’t linear, like many clinicians would lead you to believe. It’s really more like a circle. It’s not always an “if then” statement.
I’ll use this as an example: if I’m struggling to get a lead on a horse I won’t “drill” to get it done. Instead I might work on getting the hips to free up to the inside of that circle. I would work on haunches in (tipping the hips to the inside of the circle – with the horse bridled up and the nose tipped slightly left), or I’d kill a million cats, tipping the horse’s nose to the right, and pushing the hips to the left.
For a lead departure to the left there’s at least two things that need to happen.
- the horse has to strike off on the right hind.
- The hips need to be forward of the shoulders to make that happen – meaning the hips need to be slightly off-set.
See this video to help you visualize.
By further educating the horse in simple foundational principles, we are teaching body control. We aren’t specifically working on the lead – but we don’t need to. We can do one thing, and something else will get better.
I hope this little tip helps you in your horse training journey!
As always, questions are welcomed!
