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.