What Linda has learned lately

Linda is doing a great job on Whiz and getting him more broke daily- he is looking pretty finished although she is still ironing out the small details- I asked her to write down what she has learned lately because the horse is looking so good- I thought I would share it, you know, for posterity.

What I learned on Whiz this week:

1) I have to be right on it when it comes to asking him to stop even if we are just loping during warm ups or while working on other things. No matter what, when I ask him to stop he has to be soft in the face. If he pulls in me even a little or sticks his chin out, I have to have good timing and take hold of his face if he is pulling on me at all. I don't have to jerk or be hard, just firm pulling (or bumping) til he give me his face. That is enough reminder for him to stay soft. Usually the next time I stop him, he stays on his hind end and doesn't slam into the ground on all 4's like he tends to do sometimes. OR, I can fence him a time or two, not necessarily fast, and just soften him at the ends. That works too. The big key here is the timing. If I can catch him right when he starts to pull on the bit, it works better then if I try to do it after the fact.

2) always be ready to correct his guiding. He needs tuned up every day on this.

3) When I counter canter, really ask for that hip. If I use inside leg on him, his hip needs to really swing to the outside, not just a little, a lot, like I saw Craig do on that video.

4) When practicing rollbacks, do a 360 or at least more then a 180. (like Shawn did on the video)

5) Make him move his hip pronto. If he doesn't move his feet try a little pop on his butt with the reins. Not enough to scare him, just a little will do the trick.

6) biggest change Whiz made this week was in his fast loping. I asked for a faster lope which usually means he can get stiff in the legs and even stiff in the face a little. I did the drill where I asked for a faster lope and held onto the horn and the back of the saddle to give me some leverage and then just pushed into him with my spurs. At first, he raised his head and sped up, I just kept my spurs in him till he remembered to put his head down. After he started thinking about putting his head down when I pressed with my spurs I let him stop. We rested awhile and then I tried it again. this time, when I pressed with my spurs, he dropped his head immediately and kept it there even when going pretty fast for him. There was a big change in his loping after that.

7) As far as lead change practice goes, ask for the change, if he raises up or drops the shoulder (which he does especially from right to left) stop him and correct him by moving the shoulder way over to the right. If he gets stiff in the face when I am asking him, stop and soften, don't keep going. Practice setting him up for the change and don't change. just practice the set up til he gets really comfortable with that.

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP WITH WHIZ!!

October 19th a productive day

A nice mare was sent to me recently. For almost a couple of months I have been messing with her now. She has been through a couple trainers and one of those guys had some lead change issues with her. She is good leaded- but if you counter canter her, or, at first, tried to move her hip she would panic. This bled through to all of her training- so, if she got in a pickle, she would rear. Not over backwards. She would just stop and hop, hop, hop. Or rear and lunge forward and try to run off. So if you prepared to ask for a lead change - or any kind of change she would stick her head in the air trot a few steps and swap to the other lead. Nice. I have pushed, pulled, bent, kicked, and done all my usual softening efforts, including bitting her up, driving her, putting the string ie. shambone style. She was the kind that if you stop and try to roll back, she could just not do it and if you tried to make it happen that front end was so bracey she would default into rearing mode which didnt mean she would necessarily rear but she was thinking about it. Appearantly to get out of anything she didnt want to do she would rear and she was good at it.

Sadly, what finally got through to her was doing the things I was doing but I had to get harsh with my hands. When I bumped her face down, I BUMPED it down hard- its the only thing she understands.

So when your training a horse- here is what not to do. If your horse is having lead change issues- do not spur it and jerk on its face while you are galloping forward- stop the horse, soften the resistance- move the hip, shoulder, soften the face, sidepass and then start all over again. Dont fight with them going forward at a gallop- its easy to get baited into - I did that Tuesday with Wades 4 year old who is pretty broke but he pulls on my hands changing leads to the right. It just makes him scared and apprehensive to do very much going forward. His changes got worse, when they had been improving.

So on Wednesday, that productive day, after bitting him up straight on for a while I cooled it on the forward galloping when he anticipated or got stiff or chargy or buzzed, and stopped, softened his face- or pulled him off to the side, moved his shoulder, moved his hip, softened his chin and started over- any time he pulled on me, before, after, during a lead change I would stop and remind him and back him off and soften that chin at a standstill or evern walk driving him forward and softening that chin- made a huge difference in his lead changes and attitude.

Another sidenote is get your horse broke to death before trying to do a lot of formal lead changes on him- if he's not to natural leaded- flying change wize, teach him to guide, do good lead departures, sidepass, two track, turn on the forhand, roll back, back in circles, be collected and MOVE HIS FEET! with no resistance. Then you might start messing with the flying lead change.

Another thing that worked on both of these horses when they wanted to stiffen their chin in the turn around was to used direct rein and OUTSIDE leg pressure until they yielded their chin to the bit and became soft. As opposed to using the outside rein so much. So your teaching them to give the inside chin with the outside leg- takes some effort but gets them even more broke.

Move thy FEET!

Its pretty easy for trainers to get so caught up in driving the horse up into the bridle to keep it round and soft and the shoulders up that we forget the most important thing and that is to keep the feet moving and get them unstuck. Horses have to MOVE and go where they are directed right NOW- when you keep them broke over in the poll its easy for their feet to get stuck (like being stuck in mud)- horses that are constantly spurred and spinned with their face captured or rather over captured- being held onto, driven up, see sawed and otherwise handled in the turn around loose their desire to turn - having said that, a horse that CAN turn in the bridle turns correct and harder than a horse strung out for sure, but moving the feet and spinning is the important part and doing so with the face captured comes with time and in increments.

Same with the stop- a horse stops much better when his feet are ready to go somewhere as he is stopping and after he stops.

Also in the circles and around the ends he needs to be able to follow his nose and run- not just stay curled up in a ball and get sticky when he is told to move off a rein or leg.

dropping the shoulder

Susie emailed me about her reining mare wanting to drop her shoulder in the circles- here is a copy of the emails we exchanged with different ideas on what to do with a horse that wants to cut corners.

Hi Tim,
Just wanted to let you know that I got the magic bit today... Great service from the Tom Balding Bit Co.
Anyway quick question, Chilli is dropping her shoulder when I lope a right hand circle. I have been picking up the inside rein and moving her over, then dropping the rein and going back to center. It is helping a bit. She is mostly doing in coming into the center of the arena.
Anything else that I could do to help that problem? She is really coming around with moving her hip over on the canter departs and keeping her nose in on her turn arounds. We are headed off to a big arena on Friday for some speed control work. Would love to be able to work on this shoulder thing. Hope I am doing the right thing.
Let me know when you get the chance
Thanks
Suzie

Hi Susie- was wondering how you were doing as we count down to the Derby- first off try not to make a huge issue out of the shoulder problem- and dont work on a big fast circle to that side until you can keep that shoulder up at a slower speed- what I might try first is not worrying about the shoulder and just steer her out wider and make the part of the circle where she drops in bigger- you wont be fighting to keep that shoulder up- you will just steer her body out with the neck rein- she may feel like she is two tracking but just keep her steered out- let her gallop around (not fast) like that a few times around and keep things relaxed- sometimes when they know they have to stay way out around in the circle and are not allowed to cut across and you dont try to force them to keep that shoulder up they will self adjust and get a little better. Also- try loping squares- if she wants to drop in just steer up the arena and forget the circle- keep things relaxed go around the ends and try again - point her right back up to the end of the arena when she tries to drop her shoulder again- the idea is to try to get her to quit anticipating the circle - so you could even do some serpentines- so....when she drops in to the right you just point her to the left until she is straight - headed up the arena- then, point her a little to the left (she may try to change leads- no biggy.) then point her strait, then right, then strait, then left- very gradually- Think of it like this Susie, you are going to run poles only instead of a regular pole pattern there are only three poles- and they are evenly spaced in a huge arena- so its a very long slow spread out pattern- very gradual shallow serpentine up the side of the arena- we are just trying to deprogram her mind from thinking circles to thinking "listen to Susie"- this is all with minimal guiding to keep her from getting defensive. Mess around with that at a relaxed pace and see if you can get her a little better and see what she feels like..... Other things to try....Stop her (softly) right where she begins to drop the shoulder- fix the shoulder at the walk, then the jog- you can do this by knocking her head down into that bridle, bumping it down and lift up the shouders by softening that chin- instead of just using the inside rein use both.- After youve corrected her - start the circle over and repeat this correction over and over until you feel a little improvement then move on to other things. If you make a big deal out of it it could backfire and make her more defensive and therefore worse! Also you might try to stop her queitly where she wants to drop in and roll back to the outside then break back to a walk.- repeat the process over and over- all this is to be done smoothly and quietly- not in a rush. You could also stop her and quietley spin her a few times to the outside- or you could stop her, pick up the inside rein to pick up the shoulder and walk her in a circle to the left counterbent to the right. Get her fixed at the walk and jog and solid- then youl have more control when you need to fix her at the lope- do not scare her in any way going into the middle - or really any where in the circle- if you need to tune on her and make a believer out of her do it at a walk Or Jog be extremely judicious with the spurs!!! or dont use them unless absolutely necessary.- You could also use draw reins and bridle her up real good for a few strides in each quarter of the circle and release when she picks up her shoulders and drops off the bit- get so much control of her that you can soften that chin and re-aligne her shoulders in the trouble spot where she wants to drop- as she gets better- over the next couple weeks increase her spead and try to ultimatley build some speed in that circle keeping her soft and bridled up- remember when you get her bridled up good and rattle / bump her down and get that chin soft- her shoulders ARE up . So it may be a matter of stopping her- bumping that chin down HARD (like I know you can) and repetaing that again and again until she respects that bit Lastly- dont be afraid to put her in the draw reins in that new bit with a loose curb strap and letting her know you own her. Remember to release when she gives- and dont try to get to much- but get all you can for a stride or two so you can totally control that shoulder. If you find anything that works better for you than any of the above be sure to use it- its about whatever works- remember, it has to work in the show pen. Try to use this letter as a guideline for ideas and assurance and dont forget to think your way through the process- and follow your gut. Tim

2 things about Hope

Hope- 2 yrs old- does not pull into the ground well but checks into the ground well- as in check release.

Turns around best after multiple sets with multiple reps each way just playing with her face and letting her get soft on her own- over and over and over....

Over reacting

I can easily over-react with my kids and horses. So now if they touch me with their fuzzy noses or lean on me a little here or there when loping circles I dont have a cow. I watched Todd Bergan and Trent Pederson schooling their horses at the show yesterday and if their horses made a mistake they stopped the horse or slowed down, corrected the mistake, and started over. If Todds horse started the turn around all out of whack, he would stop everything, soften the face, start over, and the horse would spin perfect. Same with the circles- if the horse leaned in to the circle he would break down to a walk, or trot, move the shoulder back out- leaving the circle- sometimes counter cantering out for a short time. Then he would start over in the circle- every time, just about, he would break to a walk in the middle, but he wouldnt lope through the part of the circle where the horse wanted to fall in- he repeated the correction time after time at a very slow pace- methodically, without OVERREACTING. I noticed with one horse in particular, he deliberately kept his spurs off of him- the horse looked off right in a left circle and he just pulled the head around with pressure on the neck rein also and kind of just wrestled the horse a little until it softened, the he would repeat the process, taking care to not upset the horse unduly, he repeated this time,and time again.

Trent never let his horse take a step or speed up without authorization. But he never panicked- just stopped and started over. Of course, this is a reining, standard- authorization- but sometimes accompanied by overreaction- and its confusing to the horse and can easily upset a wound up type- and cause him to lose confidence.

This was especially helpful for me to see this and I thank God for allowing me to see these things at just the right time in my journey.

Also these guys helped out other trainers- its amazing how many high profile trainers help their horses too much in the turn around and cant seem to get over it. I guess we all do at times.

Tempo, cadence, drive, rythm

Tempo, cadence, drive, rhythm- the key to rundowns, turnarounds, circles, and lead changes. You have to build it in the rundowns, you cant loose it or change it in the lead changes, its the foundation of the turn around, and it keeps the shoulders up in the circles. You're lower body has to be ALIVE and riding the entire time to guard it!

Freeing up the front end

I was riding with Sarah on Thursday and we were kicking around some ideas when she remembered that she woke up the other night thinking about Humbles stopping problem- which is he isnt very mobil up front. She had remembered a technique Wes Chappell used for freeing up the front end when stopping a jammy horse. Basically you turn them a half or three quarters or full turn then send them off and pull them in the ground and do the same thing the other way. You send them some where.

Craig Johnsons version of this was basically to spin them off the direct rein after the stop to free up the front end. Once I ran a filly down and pulled her into a stop and she stopped - soft in the face but both front feet hit the ground at the same time and she didnt slid too far. Craig hopped on her, ran her down, stopped, popped her with the direct rein and spun her about three times. Then he sent her down the track faster and said whoa and she drug her butt and ran with her front end. He said he just turned her the opposite way from the direction wanted to lean - I hadnt even noticed that she leaned.

Also in Al Dunnings first reining book he shares the technique of doubling his horses if they jam the front end in the ground- This is a very solid way getting your horse to go somewhere after the stop if they jam- you pull the head around and make the body follow- I like to double them in the fence when I'm getting them broke to teach them to follow their nose. Anyway if they jam in the front if you double them ie pull them around and then send them somewhere and double them again this helps to free up the front end.

Anyway I mentioned to Sarah that I had done a bit of this- mostly it was Craigs version, on the horse that wasnt to mobile but it hadnt been too successful.

The horse was getting better at staying more mobile up front but still was kind of sluggish with it. Sarah watched him and said he was lazy with it. A good description. He wasnt just jamming it anymore necessarily and he stopped hard but just did a couple lope steps when he stopped.

So today when running and stopping him I realized that going to the fence he even reverted to jamming his front feet. Thats when I remembered Sarah's comment about Wes's trick and I decided to use it. It was more like Craigs version again. So basically I bumped the direct rein and put him in a spin every time both front feet hit the ground at the same time. He wants to stop with his right hind sliding furthest and then he ends up to the left of his slide tracks. So I bumped the right rein to spin him back over his tracks - then I started doing it both ways - I'd stop him at a trot and then bump that direct rein and get the front end going- if it didnt go with dispatch I'd roll my spur up the outside rib. Pretty soon he was really spinning nice off the inside rein, both ways- he started spinning as good or better than he ever has.

He ended up stopping as hard and deep as ever but he was running up front with his shoulders up and his knees high and trotting. I had Linda watch and she said he was as deep and committed as could be- more so than Whiz, my biggest stopper last week.

So it really helps to have someone watch your horse- they just have to have an idea of what looks good and correct- they dont have to be an NRHA judge.

From now on I'm gonna start really concentrating on that direct rein and outside leg to t the horse following his nose, ie really getting them broke to that inside rein so they go immediately with a little bump or pull- it really helps to free up the front in the stop and clean up the turn around.

Friday at Cinder Lakes- guiding and rate

We took the three Derby horses to Cinder lakes to fence and run and stop.

After some running and stopping its a good thing to run a straight line to the end of the arena and go around the corner to check your steering and rate. You can really find out if your horse is broke or not. If they quit guiding or speed up pulling them in the ground fixes it pretty quick on the corners after which you can just lope off again or walk a circle bridled up, bumping the chin in ala John Irish to remind them to keep the shoulders up. Also you can try just bumping straight up under the chin to pick the shoulders up while your loping around the corner. You can do any combination of the above to keep the shoulder up, keep your guide and keep your rate.

looking to the outside on circles

Chillie responded pretty good to direct rein- pulling the nose in- way in to the inside- letting the shoulder hang out and then guiding to the inside- in other words if the horse wants to look to the outside of the circle pull the nose in and push the shoulder out or let it stay out for a second - then pulling everything behind the nose again- so the nose goes first, by quite a ways to the inside - over do it- so the horse learns to make the corner with its shoulder to the outside. But yet I'm still guiding toward the center of the circle= so he learns to go the direction of the circle without the shoulder to the inside. I'm basically pulling on the nose and letting everything else lag behind until I feel the nose is to the inside enough before bringing the shoulder-

Circles and Guiding

For me circles and guiding take the most work of all the reining maneuvers. When you add the fact that you have to have speed thrown in the mix it makes it all the more difficult.

Today on Whiz 4, who is a huge stopper, cute turner, and very stylish to boot I worked on circles at a slow speed for a long time before adding speed. He is a crappy mover for as nice as he is otherwise so I have to work extra diligently on keeping him soft, because besides being a average mover he can get really stiff. What worked best was to be very thorough and clear and repetitive. He stays more relaxed that way and therefore soft and trainable. I like to count repetitions so I will remember not to be to aggressive to early and get carried away. So when we are turning the corner by the barn where I would loose his attention yesterday and lean out and forget about me and speed up and get worried I took a firm hold of him, turned him toward the middle with his shoulders up and his face soft, using the neck rein but helping with the direct to keep his shoulders up. I'd turn him in toward the middle - we'd be at 2:00 and I'd go back through the middle and head for 7:00. Of course once we got turned and headed for 7:00 I'd release and leave him alone. So instead of round circles we made D's and I planned on doing 50 repetitions but by the time I'd done a dozen he was relaxed and not defensive and he started guiding much better through that part- But... once we made the turn he wanted to drop his shoulder in and not stay straight, so I had to soften his face and body, we repeated this over and over and over until I was satisfied with the improvement.

Going to the right I had the same problem but he wanted to be a little faster. I decided I needed to be really specific and clear- I did not do near the repetitions, I thought he was pretty good to the right but adding a little speed revealed that he wanted to quit guiding on the side of the track near the horse pasture. He wanted to lean out. So I took hold, steered him in. But I also decided that if I was trying to turn him and he wasnt paying attention I would stop him and back him up a looooong ways or remind him how to walk a circle, or bump his nose in and walk his hind end around, or turn around to the inside, then try again and see how he was guiding when we went by his bad spot. This also works good, when you get them pretty broke. Every mistake he makes gets confronted, firmly but keeping him soft and giving, not leaving anything to chance, directing and supporting and showing him exactly how I want it done. Over and over and over, being very specific.

Another thing I realized is it might be time to inject his hocks. Chillie- a mare Ive been riding for a few months was just injected and now, after 10 days off Ive ridden her three times and she is moving very nice, deep, springy, - Whiz is just not moving as deep as he can so its time to think about injections.- I made progress on her circle to the right- she wants to look to the left- I kept her pretty straight and bumped the reins up until she really turned loose and gave that chin, I kept her pretty straight but the head tipped, like, two degrees, just so she wasnt looking out- and the light started to go on for her- took a while but that may be her recipe for success, at least today. I turned her out after her ride and she rolled and bucked and kicked and ran around and snorted like she was still pretty fresh-

The other thing that helps me in the circles is to do some roll back training- that way if they want to drop in you can stop nicely- not punishment- even just saying whoa is fine, ask for a rollback to the outside- if they get out of shape, maybe turn them around a time or two or three nicely and lope off the other way and keep repeating. You just dont wanna make a big deal out of it- where your getting mad, pulling them in the ground, backing, kicking etc. I just make a game out of it so they quit worrying about the circle and the guiding- I roll them back both ways- picking a spot where they might be leaning and rolling back the other way.

Anyway, I'm leaving less to chance- less for them to fill in on their own. Some horses will fill in quite a bit for you but not the ones I'm riding presently, so I show them very clearly, direct and support them enough to give them confidence- and sloooowwwlly bleed off the contact until they stay put. IF they make a mistake I show them firmly, softly,- keeping them soft, stopping them if I must and redirecting them leaving no stone un-turned, and it takes a long time, but it has to be done.

Circles and uiding

Side passing and the lead change

It has really helped my lead change program to become a religious side passer. I Side pass around the entire arena both ways and then back and forth. Nancy Cahill told me if you sidepass one way and then can boot them right back the other way with no resistance - both ways -then they are ready to ask to change.

When I side pass- after they have somewhat of a foundation of sidepassing I dont dilly dally. I ask them to move and if they dont I go to rolling my spur up their side, (not a sharp spur) where my foot hangs or a little bit back. - If they dont hustle I roll my spur but if they try I lay off- the more you do it, day in and day out the better they become and the faster they go and the more responsive to the leg they become. You have to do it until it becomes second nature to them. Every day both ways, around the entire arena. It doesnt have to be exactly perfect but I like them to be fairly straight and perpendicular to the wall but I let them find their way and if the hip lags behind I bring it back- the more often you bring the hip back in line with the shoulders which usually tend to want to lead the handier they get with their hip - but you have to have some hip control on them to begin with.

Then when you have some fresh side-pass action on them its amazing how much better they change leads. But they have to get real handy at it, day in and day out. They will get to where they really hustle and do it at a trot, just from the daily repetition. Its the best way I've found to work on the lead change without changing leads. I learned it from Bob Avila at a clinic I went to years and years ago. Never really implemented it until recently, whish I would have done this earlier, would have saved me lots of work and trouble in the lead change department.

Fencing

I cant say enough about the attributes of fencing, building speed, teaching them to run straight and fun fast. Of course it has to be controlled, and you have to stop if they anticipate running too fast and try to take over. But if you throw in a stop or two they start to pay attention and tune in to you and arent quite so anxious to go fast.

After sending them down the arena fast its a good idea to fence the horse slow now and then to keep them honest. Also, if they want to stop too abruptly and jam the front end I like to start to pull them into the ground but then trot them forward before they can fully stop. Sometimes right on up to the fence especially if jamming is a chronic problem.

Also you dont necessarily have to jam them right up into the fence, sometimes I like to let them break down and trot to the fence. But they should also be able to run uphill (accelerating) to the stop and slide to the fence. The more you do it and the faster you go the more effective it becomes- that is, if you have a good foundation on them and you dont go too fast before they are ready. After I let them stand quietly for a few seconds with their head down sometimes I like to turn them around a little bit to get their mind on something else before fencing them again. It is amazing how much harder and cleaner they spin after they have been fenced hard. When they are ready I like to run them really fast and boot them in the belly if need be or smack them on the butt with the reins if they are lagging back. I only do this if I know it wont blow their mind. So you have to be careful. Also, I want them to have to have a solid foundation of listening to me, and waiting on me and being so backed off that I have to constantly urge them to go forward. Then its ok to swat them or boot them with your calves to shoot them forward, but after they shoot forward I'd like them to want to slow back down after the acceleration.

It seems like they really start wanting to stop when you get to fencing like this. They really start cleaning up their turn arounds, It really cleans up the way they run. So I like to do my fencing before circling, because they rate better, they run cleaner, they want to go slow - as long as you've pulled them into the ground when they went faster than you've asked. Basically they are better collected in everything they do. You dont have to spend all of your time softening the face and pulling and picking on them to "collect" them. You absolutely have to work hard at keeping them soft, but the running hard and fencing will take care of so much of this for you and save you all kinds of work and its fun. It really makes them pay attention, respect your reins and legs, become way more attentive and try harder.

Most likely you've got way more horse under you than you realize. The best way to find out how much horse you've got is to start fencing.

bits

I like my homemade chain mouthpiece semi gag bit. Its a Frankenbit I made by chopping up two perfectly good shank bits ( actually one of them might have been broken come to think of it) and adding a chunk of small soft chain for the mouthpeice. When used as a shank bit the gag kicks in and since the upper cheek peice is so long it has quite a bit of leverage - the chain mouthpeace is difficult for the horse to pull on because its fairly big and lumpy though fairly smooth- the opposite of a tiny twisted snaffle which can make them fractious sometimes. The big difference is that the chain doesnt scare the horse as easily as other bits can.

Also if the leverage is too much for the horse to deal with you can attach the reins higher, near the mouthpeice, eliminating the leverage altogether. This works good on greener horses. They cant pull on it easily, and they respect it, without it scaring or hurting them.

Today on the four year old Humble- I had it in shank mode and the leverage was fine until it came time to change leads. It took too much of a hold on the horse and he panicked in the change- afraid of his face- he'd change, but throw in a trot step- for whatever reason -and raise up, stiffening his jaw. I havent done simple changes with him to speak of- weird. So I unsnapped the reins (snaps are good for that but bad because they break and release at the worse times) and eliminated all leverage, so it became, basically a snaffle with a chain mouth peice. After that When I asked for the change he didnt stiffen his face, or do a trot step. But he did do a nice flying lead change.

Pulling them into the ground

Pulling them into the ground works really good sometimes when your tired of mamby pambying them around and you need to get something done- You cant always beat around the bush. Sometimes making the right thing easy and the wrong thing difficult is too vague. So when they speed up, stop them, over and over again, you dont need to kill them, that is rip them into the ground and jerk their face off- just stop and start over. If they pull on you, soften the face, you may need to wrestle them down, shake them down, see-saw them down forcefully, then forgive them totally and lope off again, which is what I did with Whiz today, who was being a total stiff, dope and wanting to raise up and stiffen up when being guided in his circles, so I stuffed him into the ground and softened him and drove him into the bit, then loped off back into the circle and after enough of this he slowed down and got soft and WANTED to slow down in the middle.

This also worked on Humble when he was learning to stay put in the counter canter- when I put my leg on him he would anticipate, run, get upset and carry on like a dork. So I pulled him in the ground, softened him, pretty aggressivly- its like I had to be very firm so he knew EXACTLY what I wanted from him. Then he was like, "Oh, you want me to go slow? and relax? and not charge? and not lean? why didnt you just say so?)

So instead of beating around the bush and skirting the issue, I keep him in the counter canter, keep shoving him around with my legs, if he gets upset, stop him and start the whole process over again. I have better luck doing this than I do by strictly letting them go at a lope and training on them until they settle down- I still do it, but sometimes it helps to pull them into the ground until they quit all their nonsense. It really helps to fully forgive them after you pull them into the ground and soften them - no big deal, just keep doing it until they improve - then let them stand and breath.

Lead Changes, take 2,372

Humble, 4 year old Derby wannabe - beautiful lead change today. The deal is on lead changes you have to be able to side pass like a wild man. You should be able to go around the arena each way, side passing the whole time with some dispatch. They need to be able to sidepass from left to right to left to right with no hesitation. You have to be able to send them sideways with no resistance immediately when you touch your leg to them.

Then when you ask for the change, you dont nessesarily have to ask for the change. You keep riding forward and apply your leg for the new lead but just get him to move over a little - to move that hip into the direction of the new lead. Don worry if he doesnt change, just dont upset him. If he moves off of your leg but cant quite make the change, but doesnt get scared, be happy and be patient- at least he is trying. If he speeds up pull him in the ground and start over.

Get him to counter canter, move his ribs to the outside of the circle in the counter canter, (with nose pointed in a tad so he can see where he is going) Then Move his hip to the outside and nose to the outside- and counter canter squares shoving the hip out with the nose shaped the same way. Do all of this until he can do it without being scared and without anticipating the lead change- he just needs to stay put- in what you've asked him to do- when you ask him to change, if he gets fast, stop him, if he doesn't change you can let him go as long as he doesnt get scared, quit asking for a few strides then ask again, you can ask for as long as he tries to move over. You may have to stop and get him even better at side passing, moving his hip in, turn on the forehand, kicking the hind end out of gear, walking around in circles with the hip leading shaped like the letter c- anything to make him automatic at moving off of your let including sidepassing at a trot around the entire outside of the pen- roll your spur up his side if he doesnt hustle- make him over learn it- that is the trick to getting the lead change, that and not scaring him.