Warming Up

Set up for this exercise by placing eight poles in a square shape, with two poles creating each side of the square. If you don’t have poles to create the shape, get creative with any (safe!) items you do have on hand. Each side of the square will be about 20 feet long.

As you warm your horse up prior to beginning this exercise, leg-yields and circles are beneficial. In the circles, focus on riding your horse from back to front with him pushing from behind and working up into the hand.

During the leg-yields, be sure to note how your horse is moving off of each of your legs. If your horse has a notably weaker side, you will probably want to start on his stronger side so that the two of you can more easily sort out the exercise in the beginning.

At the Walk

Begin the exercise by bringing your horse alongside one of the box’s sides in a forward, working walk. As you approach the last quarter of the side of the square that you’re on, begin to collect the horse’s step slightly, half-halt, and then apply outside leg just as your horse’s front legs have passed the corner of the box. This will result in your horse performing a quarter-turn on the haunches, with his body still parallel to the next side of the square.

The most common mistake is for the horse’s shoulders to fall to the outside, bulging out around the turn. Instead, you want him to rock back and lift during the half-halt, sending his energy into his outside hind leg to aid him in executing a pivot-like motion that turns his body and then propels him forward with power in the new direction.

This can be maintained with strong outside rein contact blocking the horse’s shoulder from popping out. His energy will then continue to flow forward through the cycle of being captured by the collection, rocked back into his hindquarters by the half-halt, and then funneled around the turn by the outside leg.

If the horse is slow to respond to your outside leg pressure, use a bumping leg or a whip/crop to improve his response to your leg the first few times.

At the Trot

Once you have fine-tuned your timing and understand the feeling you are searching for from your horse, you can move up to the trot. I generally find this easiest in the sitting trot, as your seat is very useful for reminding the horse to rock back and balance.

By this time, your horse should be moving willingly off your leg. As he carries more momentum in the trot, don’t allow him to swing loosely around the corner and end up further from the pole guides in the trot than he was in the walk. He should maintain his power and collection and use it to keep the turns sharp.

During this exercise, it’s crucial to allow your horse to take breaks and go to another section of the arena to stretch. It’s also not an exercise that should be drilled endlessly if your horse is finding it difficult. Revisit it over the course of a few days or weeks so as to not make your horse sore or frustrated in one session.

More Advanced Work

If you have been successful with this exercise and have a horse working at a more advanced level, use two sides of the box as a guide for trying a square turn in the canter. This is especially difficult, so I wouldn’t suggest asking your horse to do this for more than one or two turns at a time.

Another way to expand this exercise is by using it as part of an extension and collection exercise. The extension section could be anything you choose. For example, ride the full box in trot, then working canter across the diagonal, do a flying change of lead, canter back toward the box, collected trot, then ride the box again in the other direction.

There are plenty of times during your horse’s career that he may need an exercise to sharpen him up to the leg, create strength and muscle memory in the hindquarters, or that you need to remind yourself to make better use of your outside aids to support turning. This easily set-up exercise can do all of those for you, and more!

More Training Advice from This Author

◆ Achieve the Correct Timing of Riding Aids
◆ How to Improve a Lazy Horse’s Responsiveness
◆ Solutions for a Horse Stopping at Jumps
◆ Making a Spooky Horse More Confident
◆ How to Train a Horse That’s Rushing Jumps

This article about an exercise for your horse’s hindquarter engagement appeared in the September 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post An Exercise for Your Horse’s Hindquarter Engagement appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

The Origins of Fear

The first thing to consider is where the fear is coming from. Has there been a pattern of negative behavior over time from your horse, such as spooking, bucking, rearing, or refusing jumps that caused the fear to build slowly? Or was there a specific event, such as a fall, that can be marked as the clear start of the problem?

No matter the answer, it’s important that you identify the root cause of your fear beyond just saying “I’m nervous” or “I’m afraid.” The best way to overcome fear is through logic and understanding so that you’re able to take control of your emotions and redirect your thoughts.

Physical Effects of Fear

Another aspect of your fear to consider is how it manifests itself in your body. Some people can continue riding but with a very tense body—gripping thighs, lifted shoulders, or hands pulling on the reins—all without realizing it.

Others experience a brain fog where they are unable to focus, or in more intense cases, have a panic attack and find themselves with shortness of breath and unable to make their body move, frozen on top of their horse, when they perceive a threat to their safety.

Riders will often attempt to ignore their fear, hoping it will go away. I have never seen this work in the long term. Whether there is mental or physical tension, there is a notable effect on your horse. He is looking for guidance and leadership from you, his other herd member.

Due to his natural instincts, he will translate your tension and hypervigilance into thinking a predator or other threat is nearby. By not confronting your riding fear head on, you allow your horse to continue to be affected, which is sure to take a toll on your rides overall.

Calming Your Nervous System

Usually fear causes either a repetitive thought or a fractured thought process. Examples might be “he’s going to spin”; “she’s going to stop”; or just a general inability to take deep breaths and have a complete and focused thought structure.

The solution is to replace the hamster wheel of panicked thought with one or two positive, actionable mantras such as “close your leg”; “push your hands forward”; or “melt in.” This, paired with controlled deep breaths, allows you to begin to calm your nervous system and improve your riding in a way that directly targets the changes needing to be made.

Soothing your nervous system before you mount is extremely important as well. This may begin as early as during the car ride on the way to the barn. Listening to music or podcasts you enjoy is a good idea, separating you from the stress of whatever may be going on in your life outside the barn.

Try to allow ample time to tack your horse before a lesson so that you aren’t rushed. Leave time for stretching for both you and your horse, a light longe if your horse needs it, and five to 10 minutes of walking before the main part of your ride begins.

Grounding Exercise

If at any time you find your mind wandering and worrying about the upcoming ride (or something else entirely), begin to practice the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique to keep you in the present moment.

To complete this exercise, you notice and acknowledge five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste, all from where you are currently located.

This works great both on and off the horse, and it may be useful to share it with your instructor if they aren’t familiar so they can guide you through it if fear or anxiety show up during a lesson.

Key Takeaway

As you begin your journey back to confidence and overcoming riding fear, be kind to yourself. At no point should you judge yourself or be embarrassed for being afraid while riding. Everyone, at all levels of equestrian sport, has had a similar experience. Remember, bravery isn’t about being fearless, it’s about being afraid and doing it anyway.

Further Reading:
◆ 8 Fear-Fighting Strategies for Riding
◆ Overcoming Fear After a Riding Accident
◆ Afraid to Ride?
◆ Help Your Horse Overcome Fear

This article about overcoming riding fear appeared in the June 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Overcoming Riding Fear appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Humans have built an entire language with horses upon the concept that the answer to pressure is to give, so we must tune in and notice when they are giving—or at least trying to. This smooths the communication between horse and rider by providing the horse’s reward—the release of pressure—in sync with his efforts to respond to our cues.

If the timing of the release continues to be precise and in unison (or at least in quick succession) with the effort, then the horse’s responses will happen more and more readily.

The Ultimate Goal of Riding Aids

The most obvious examples of this are while riding. You use leg pressure to ask your horse to move forward, then release it when he walks off. You use rein pressure to ask your horse to slow down or stop, then release it when he reaches the desired speed.

Riders at the top of every discipline make their sport look effortless due to seamless communication, which is all properly timed pressure and release at the micro level. Their timing of riding aids has been so accurate for so long that their horse has become a finely tuned instrument, ready to listen to the smallest suggestion, therefore any adjustments are nearly invisible.

Improving Response

When it comes to speaking the language of pressure and release, there are plenty of opportunities to improve your communication and timing while handling your horse on the ground as you work with him in daily interactions.

Practice noticing how much pressure from the halter and lead rope it takes to get a reaction from your horse, walking forward and then halting. See if you can observe that first moment he rocks forward to give to the pressure, and soften as quickly as you can.

Notice how as your timing improves, so does your horse’s response. The same can be done in the wash rack when asking your horse to step to the side to give you more space. Begin with light pressure, and find the exact moment that your horse leans away from it.

Be Aware of the Pressure Level

Although most riders need to bring more awareness to noting exactly when their horse begins to move forward off the leg or slow down in response to the rein, they are at least aware of the pressure they are applying.

However, there are many other daily scenarios where you may be unaware of the pressure you are applying, therefore asking a question that has no answer and that your horse must learn to ignore. This leads to your horse also ignoring aids that you did intend to give.

For example, many riders sit heavily in the saddle without enough weight in their legs and stirrups, which creates pressure from the seat, especially when that becomes a driving and pumping seat in an unorganized effort to ask the horse to move forward. With all that seat pressure as a distraction, it’s no surprise that the horse becomes dull to leg pressure.

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It’s also important to note that use of the voice counts as pressure, too. Just like other aids, vocal cues begin to lose meaning to horses when used without the direct reward of release of pressure. If a cluck is supposed to mean trot, then you should stop clucking when the horse steps into a trot.

Releasing Tension

If pressure and release is the language of horses, then tension (in the horse or rider) is the main obstruction to the use of that language.

Many riders begin applying pressure when all the horse truly needs is some time to think and process.

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A horse may start out with his ears pricked, heart rate up, snorting, or flight behavior, but as he comes around to the idea that he’s most likely not in danger, he will start to show some signs that he’s releasing his tension and ready for you to apply some pressure and ask questions again. These signs include licking, chewing, blinking, ear flicking, stretching, and giving a neck or body shake.

This is when you can ask your horse to move closer to whatever was causing his concern. When signs of tension return, take all the pressure off so he can focus on regulating himself again.

Key Takeaway

Of course, there are moments when you will miss the timing of when to give a release, but luckily horses are forgiving creatures. If you improve your timing of riding aids and work to communicate more clearly, your horse will improve as well. Everybody wins!

This article about riding aids appeared in the April 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Achieve the Correct Timing of Riding Aids appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Part of what makes these horses so safe for beginners is that they “tune out” some of the aids that lower level riders give by accident, meaning that they won’t go cantering off if a rider’s leg accidentally slides back too far. Most of the riders mounted on these horses also do not have the education to be able to influence the horse to carry themselves correctly through their hind end, core, and topline. However, once a rider becomes more advanced, they will need their horse to be more responsive to aids given the first time, and properly use his body to perform more athletic movements.

In some cases, the horse may have lapsed in his training after being ridden by beginners or riders using unclear aids for an extended period of time. In any case, the remedy is to use exercises that engage the horse’s mind and body while giving clear and consistent aids.

How to Fix a Horse’s Responsiveness

The most important thing is always to have the horse traveling forward and straight. If a horse is crooked in his gaits and movements, this means that there is energy wasted traveling laterally that could be available to be funneled straight ahead if the crookedness were corrected.

Once the horse is straight, you can start asking for transitions from halt to walk. You will want to carry a short crop, and you may choose to carry a longer dressage whip or wear spurs (particularly during these initial stages of retraining), depending on the horse.

In the halt, make sure to begin with your legs hanging loose by the horse’s sides. While trying to get horses to go forward, we often tighten the muscles in our bottom, hips, and legs without realizing it. Draw up through your core so that your abdominal muscles support the upper half of your body, rather than sitting heavily in the saddle.

When your pelvis is following the horse’s motion in the walk (and later the canter), it should feel as though you are gliding across the saddle, rather than grinding into it.

Push your heels down and close your calves in a squeeze against the horse’s sides. If a sustained squeeze with moderate to strong pressure does not entice the horse to walk forward, add a kick. During the kick, your hips and bottom should remain loose, and your legs shouldn’t come more than 6 to 8 inches off of your horse’s sides.

If this still doesn’t elicit a response, tap the horse with a crop just behind your leg until he walks forward. As soon as there is any forward movement, the horse must be rewarded by taking the pressure off (stopping the tapping).

The halt-to-walk transition should be repeated until your horse is moving off from just the squeeze.

Correct Canter

Once your horse is recalibrated to the meaning of the leg squeeze, repeat the same exercise between the walk and trot and then halt and trot. Straightness should still be emphasized, using your seat bones to feel if the horse is pushing evenly with both hind legs.

All horses have their own natural rhythm that’s comfortable for them, then a rhythm that’s a little more forward and a little more work for the rider, but helps them to build fitness. That second rhythm is where you want to be working your horse.

After your horse is working through halt/walk/trot transitions in good rhythm and balance, the canter can be added. In the walk and trot, horses can get away with moving into the gait by dragging themselves forward from the shoulder, even though this is incorrect.

However, in the canter, it’s absolutely required that the horse engage his hind end and push off of his hocks, otherwise he will end up in a rushed trot rather than a canter. If any part of your work up to this point has been ineffective, it will show in the canter. Transitions should now include all three gaits plus the halt.

Additional Tips For Improving the Responsiveness of a Seemingly Lazy Horse

If a horse has been experiencing unclear or conflicting aids for a while, it may take some time to re-educate him fully.

In future training sessions, it will be valuable to add collection and extension of the gaits, turn on the haunches, 10- and 20-meter circles, and pole work. All of these exercises encourage and improve proper engagement of the hind end, building fitness and adding power to all three gaits.

Key Takeaway

It’s important to teach even beginner riders how to use their aids effectively and to expect a prompt reaction from their horse so that those nice, quiet schoolmasters don’t slip into bad habits. The same exercises that build strength in the horse will build the education of the next generation of riders. Correcting a “lazy” horse is as much the rider’s responsibility as it is the horse.

This article about improving a lazy horse’s responsiveness appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post How to Improve a Lazy Horse’s Responsiveness appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Because so much time, energy, and money is invested into these creatures we love, frustration may creep in when the reality of other life responsibilities interferes. It’s important not to internalize these restraints and allow them to make you feel discouraged. Instead, you must recognize and include them as part of your goal setting in order to make your goals more attainable from the start.

Get Started with Goal Setting by Gaining Perspective

A helpful exercise that I use for horse owners and riders is to ask them to write down all the important sections of their life. Examples might be work, family, relationship, other pets, hobbies/sports outside of riding, et cetera. Oftentimes when you see how many things are on the page, you realize that there are quite a few people, animals, and other commitments vying for your attention.

This is a great way to put it all in perspective. When you’re at the barn, nailing those flying changes may feel like all that matters, but no matter how much you love riding, it’s just one piece of your much larger existence.

Most things in life end up needing to be a compromise. You may want to participate in all of the shows on the local circuit, purchase a competitive horse for the division or class you want to show in, master the sitting trot, or ride the perfect pattern, but all of those things require an investment of some kind. You must be honest with yourself about what resources you have available.

This situation also becomes difficult for the professionals guiding your equestrian journey. We never want to tell anyone they can’t do something; good trainers will build you up and encourage you every step of the way. But it’s also our job to manage expectations when a client mentions goals that we know to be outside of their scope of resources.

Setting Goals for Ownership and Showing

Goals can be set in any sector of equestrian sport. A common one is horse ownership. Other than buying a horse, there are many options available, including leasing, half-leasing, care leases, or riding school horses.

Just as horse ownership causes you to compromise by allocating resources (i.e. time and money), choosing one of the other options may take less resources, but requires compromise on how many times you ride per week, how high you jump, what movements you school, et cetera. However, all of the above options will help you continue to grow as a rider.

Other common goals center around showing. Rated horse shows can be extremely costly, plus paying your trainer and your own travel expenses.

I find the best way to get the most out of show season isn’t to only commit to one show at a time, but rather to present your trainer with a show budget for the year that is reasonable to you.

From there, the two of you can brainstorm and put together a calendar of shows that fit your schedule, finances, and goals. This way you can also plan to use those shows to build to some sort of “peak.”

For example, if you can afford six shows for the year, your trainer may decide it would be better to do a cluster of three in the spring and three in the fall so that you get into a rhythm rather than just showing once every other month.

It’s also important to mention that not every rider enjoys showing, and that is totally fine. No one should ever make you feel “less than” for that.

Setting Smaller Goals as an Equestrian

The secret to equestrian goal setting is to use the time you have in the saddle to work on the basics that need brushing up. Rather than having a grandiose goal such as “I want to show in X class,” break down what would be needed to be successful in that class: A better sense of canter rhythm, tighter turns, cleaner lead changes—whatever it is, all of these things are achievable with basic exercises that can be done both inside and outside of a lesson.

Dedicating even 15 minutes of each ride to improving the basics you have targeted will result in reaching the next level. As your foundation builds and your basics and communication with your horse improve, more and more doors will open.

From a sports psychology standpoint, achieving lots of smaller goals on the way to the larger goal will make the journey much more rewarding!

Potential and Comparison

Another common occurrence when setting goals is feeling “I’m not using my horse to his full potential.”  The horse has no idea if he was born with fantastic bloodlines, perfect conformation, or great aptitude for a certain discipline. The only thing he knows is whether he has food, water and shelter, and whether his handlers treat him kindly or roughly.

Your horse doesn’t understand the significance of Finals or the World Show, the difficulty level of the exercise at home or class at the show, the color of a ribbon, nor the concept of what could be. Equines are very lucky to live in the now, and we humans could learn a thing or two!

Where do we as humans get these ideas of what we should be doing? Usually by looking around and comparing ourselves to friends, barn mates, and social media influencers. What they say about social media is true, though: people tend to only post the good.

This is also the case for what people tend to allow others to see in real life. Generally, only a person’s immediate family and closest friends will know about all of their fears, struggles, and hard work. The rest of the world tends to only see the very biggest failures and triumphs, and even those fade from the collective memory of society very quickly.

Social media just happens to be a place where all the happy and colorful win photos are curated and posted, whether you as a viewer have had the best day or the worst day. However, what you don’t know is what the other person gave up to be at the show, to buy the horse, or to finally be able to execute that upper-level movement.

The person posting could have sold their car, missed important family events, cried driving home from the barn for six months after tough lessons, or endured injuries and layups for their horse. Just because those parts of the journey are kept quiet doesn’t mean we don’t all go through them.

Key Takeaway

Overall, as an equestrian, it’s crucial to set goals that fit into the big picture of your life. Riding is supposed to be fun, and our relationship with horses should bring joy. If the time we have at the barn is spent stressing or rushing, then something needs to be adjusted. Throughout all of it, take comfort from your horsey friends and your trainer to help guide you through this balancing act that is the equestrian experience.

This article about equestrian goal setting appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Equestrian Goal Setting appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Although horses are naturally athletic and many can boldly jump over obstacles of astounding heights and widths, there are also those who aren’t quite so sure why they should put themselves in such a compromising position.

A horse may stop at a jump for all kinds of reasons. He may be afraid of the jump itself, or his fear may be more related to what he has experienced from the rider when jumping; sometimes a rider’s lack of confidence relays to the horse, or the horse has been the victim of numerous bad distances.

Jumping from a distance that is too long or too short puts the horse in a physically difficult spot, and he may not want to keep jumping. It’s also common for riders to cause further discomfort to the horse in the air after a bad distance, sometimes accidentally pulling the reins, falling back into the saddle too early, or falling forward onto the horse’s neck.

Allow Your Horse a Thorough Investigation

No matter the cause of the horse’s anxiety, the answer to getting him comfortable jumping again is to go one step at a time, creating enough new positive experiences to outnumber the negative experiences he has had.

Start by allowing your horse to investigate and sniff the jumps. Done at a walk either mounted or unmounted, this is easy to do at home but also a valuable aspect of schooling shows. The horses that benefit from this most are those that hesitate before leaving the ground or that jump with a peek when they do go over.

Once the jumps have been thoroughly inspected and sniffed at the walk, flat your horse very close to the jumps and their fillers. Trot and canter just alongside each jump, never pointing him at the jump, but making sure he feels relaxed having the jump close to him. If not, he may need to stop and sniff the jump again.

Next, place flower boxes or other fillers perpendicular to the plane of the jump in between the standards and off to the sides, creating a chute toward the center of the jump. Trot your horse back and forth through the fillers until he is moving confidently past them.

From there, make a small cross-rail with the rails and filler. At a schooling show, this may be where you need to start if taking out the fillers to trot through is impractical. This is also a good place to start for those horses that are more concerned with the distance than the jump itself.

Walk or slowly trot your horse over the jump so that he can have time to process the idea of jumping over filler and so that you can easily follow the motion of him going over the jump. Be sure to praise him when he goes over.

Once your horse is happily taking you to the jump (this is important—he should be moving confidently toward and over the fence), try cantering it. I would caution against making it any larger than a small vertical, as you risk another setback to his confidence. Remember, you must make a large library of positive experiences.

Stick to Small Stuff

For horses that have stopping issues at jumps rooted in too many missed distances, it’s important to honestly evaluate your riding. Your horse may need a tune-up with a trainer or more advanced rider for a few rides, or you may need to accept dropping down to jumping ground poles and small cross-rails until your eye becomes more consistent.

Adjustability of the canter is also crucial for these horses so that you become more familiar with your horse’s proper jumping canter and so that the horse is well-versed at moving forward off of your leg and coming back to your hand.

Some horses may have trouble with combinations or lines specifically, and the same concepts apply. Small jumps and a patient rider will do the trick over time, and it’s important to keep encouraging the horse to go forward, even when the striding is not quite right, so that he eventually gets the confidence to open up his step.

When the jumps are small, it’s completely fine for a horse to add a step, whether it’s two strides in what should have been a one stride, or six in a five, especially when the horse has a history of refusals.

Eventually, with repetition, he will begin to get the correct striding, but this is another process that should not be rushed if you want the lesson and the confidence to stick. Take the time to meet your horse where he’s at and build his confidence back up piece by piece.

This article about training a horse that’s stopping at the jumps appeared in the August 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Spooking isn’t fun for either horse or human. We’ve all experienced this scenario: You’re enjoying a nice, relaxing ride when your horse suddenly startles due to a perceived threat.

Whether your horse is green or experienced, mostly brave or consistently timid, read on to find out how to cut through the tension and get back to enjoying your partnership with your horse.

Becoming a Trustworthy Leader

The first thing to understand is why your horse is spooking. This is a natural reaction because horses are first and foremost prey animals, accustomed to protecting themselves by taking flight. A horse that ignores a snapping twig or other signs of danger nearby could easily end up a predator’s meal.

The best way to improve your horse’s reaction to scary objects, experiences, or sounds is to become a leader that your horse can have faith in. A good herd leader is consistent in their reactions and demeanor and does not endanger the herd.

As a human, being consistent can be hard. We often come to the barn with many worries that our horses know nothing about, such as difficult relationships, work problems, bills to pay, bad traffic, et cetera. We must put all of this aside and be like our horses: present in the moment.

When your horse is anxious, excitable, or anything undesirable, you need to approach him patiently and objectively. This can be more difficult than it sounds!

For your horse to trust you, you must never act out of frustration or try to rush him through his analysis process. It’s also important that you never put your horse in a situation that you know may overwhelm him. For example, riding on a big group trail ride when he hasn’t even been out with just one buddy, entering a full division at a horse show when he’s never schooled off property, or asking him to take a long trailer ride to a new place when he hasn’t regularly loaded and taken short trips.

Encourage Curiosity

The only way for your horse to become braver is for him to understand the world around him a little better. Encourage your horse’s natural curiosity by directing him toward the object or situation that caused him to spook.

Your horse will then show you his flight distance—how close he is willing to get to an object before he feels that he must turn and run. Your job is to stop your horse calmly just as he arrives at his flight distance, which is easily identified by the amount of tension in his body. This acknowledges that you’re aware there is something scary nearby, but also asks him to think and analyze rather than giving in to his instinct to run.

Once the tension leaves his body, ask him to move toward the object until he tenses up again. In this way, the flight distance shortens, until you are right in front of the source of fear.

From there, encourage him to reach out and touch the object, if possible. Touching shows the horse that the object has no intention of harming him and gives him a more complete picture of the object, as delicately touching with the nose often turns to investigating with more smelling, nose rubbing, and eventually biting.

If the scary thing is more situational (such as people in bleachers), ask your horse to stay close until he drops his head, licks and chews, and/or peacefully turns his attention elsewhere.

If your horse remains on high alert in a situation or is reluctant to investigate an object, it may help him greatly if you dismount and engage in the process with him. This shows that you, as the herd leader, have examined the threat and deemed it safe. This also allows him to gain some of the information he needs to feel safe as he watches you touch, slowly move, sit on, or be next to the object.

In any scenario, acceptance and calm interaction with the source of the original fear should be rewarded with praise.

This approach will work no matter what is causing your horse to spook. By being consistently allowed to explore and build confidence, your horse will begin to learn that the correct response to something unfamiliar is to investigate.

Once he builds a catalogue of positive experiences and situations in which you were his herd leader, your credibility grows as does his trust in you. There’s no better feeling!

Trail Walking

I often hear about owners who want to take their horse trail riding but are worried about riding their horse into a large, unknown area that is different from what he encounters on a day-to-day basis.

I encourage these owners to find a horse-friendly park and go trail walking/hiking with their horse. I suggest an extra-long lead rope or longeline to allow for your horse’s flight distance if he is surprised by something during the walk.

While you’re safely on the ground, you and your horse can experience all types of sights and sounds, including road traffic, bicycles, wooded areas and the creatures that come with it. This will give you the opportunity to gauge how your horse responds to a new environment, and a whole lot of chances for your horse to practice his new investigative techniques!

This article about helping a spooky horse gain confidence appeared in the August 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Making a Spooky Horse More Confident appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Picture this: You are cantering around the corner, peacefully counting the rhythm of the canter, when suddenly a few strides out from the jump, your horse takes over. Out of seemingly nowhere, he is scooting toward the jump, the distance has disappeared, and he’s launching himself as if he wants the jump to be over with as quickly as possible. If this sounds familiar, you are not alone!

As with any training issue, it’s important to rule out any medical explanations. These horses should be looked over by a veterinarian and perhaps other specialists, like a dentist or chiropractor.

With pain/discomfort off the table, rushing is almost always rooted in anxiety. Your horse may find jumping stressful for any number of reasons. He may feel overfaced by the size of the jump, by the speed at which he’s approaching the jump, or by the complexity of the course. He may also have experienced a lot of missed distances or a rider who was unbalanced and accidentally punishing his jumping effort.

Keep it Positive

In order to reverse the effects of these negative emotions and experiences, from this moment on, your horse must have a consistent positive association with jumping. This will most certainly take time, and you as the rider should expect to be patient and allow the process to take as long as it takes.

While usually I prefer that horses only jump twice a week, many horses that rush do better jumping five to seven jumps or so every day so that it feels less like a special event to them and more like a standard routine.

The jumps should be low. Even if your horse has plenty of scope, he should be presented with only small jumps until his anxiety subsides. (I consider small jumps to be cross-rails through 2’3″). It’s OK if your horse just needs to go back to ground poles or even trotting and cantering through empty standards.

There should not be any right or wrong in these exercises. That extends to leads/lead changes, breaking of gait, or any of the details that normally would be important when jumping. Your horse is feeling enough pressure from the jump alone, so it’s better not to add any pressure through other expectations. (Many young or green horses are most concerned about the lead change that they know is coming after the jump.)

Gradual Introductions to Start

Begin by walking over ground poles or tiny cross-rails. The slow speed gives your horse plenty of time to assess and negotiate the obstacle. Tiny is preferred so that he has less chance of hitting it and scaring himself.

After he has walked over regular rails, add towels, flowerboxes, or other small fillers to continue to build confidence. Once all is going well, you can move up to a slow trot. If trotting leads to rushing, go back to the walk.

After your horse has mastered relaxed trot jumps from a slow trot, you can test the waters by adding speed with a regular trot or the canter. However, when adding speed, it’s important to also capture the horse’s attention with something other than the jump itself. Give him a job unrelated to the jump that happens to occur near the approach or landing side of the jump. Some examples include circles, figure-8s, and transitions.

The key is to not make this feel like a punishment. Whatever you are asking your horse to do, you should ask about five strides before or after the jump so that there’s space for him to breathe and relax as he approaches the jump, jumps, and lands.

Exercises to Try for a Horse That’s Rushing Jumps

Two of my favorites are a downward transition five to six strides in front of the jump and a figure-8 after the jump, either in trot or in canter, with a simple change.

From here, you can string a course together with lots of circles or transitions interspersed between the jumps. The more turns the better, since long, straight lines are not the best idea yet. It’s hard to influence your horse to rebalance on a straightaway without using a lot of hand, which is counterproductive to relaxation.

Once you have made it to the point where your horse is ready to canter some jumps, a good option is to canter a jump on a circle and allow your horse to fall into a rhythm. By creating the same track to the jump and facilitating the same striding over and over, you allow your horse to relax into a predictable pace and not worry about his takeoff distance.

After your horse has built a confident foundation in these exercises, you can begin to ride regular courses again. Just keep the concept of relaxation at the forefront so you can continue to help your equine partner let go of his anxiety surrounding jumping.

This article about training a horse that’s rushing jumps appeared in the July 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post How to Train a Horse That’s Rushing Jumps appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

One of the biggest challenges you can face as a rider is trying to effectively incorporate your practice sessions while in the ring at a horse show. All disciplines are affected by the heightened energy at a show, where the nerves of horses, riders, and spectators combine with an unfamiliar atmosphere to make a very high-pressure situation.

Every show (and often different classes at the same show) can have different rules regarding whether riders may practice ahead of time in the arena where they will compete. Even if riders are allowed in the ring ahead of time, there are many variables that may affect that practice session, including other riders, a fresh horse, arena maintenance, et cetera.

However, the one thing that you have complete control over is your mental preparation.

Visualization of Success

One of the most tried-and-true methods in mentally preparing for competition is visualization. Visualization is crucial when riding because it allows you to experience the competition ahead of time in a way that is otherwise impossible.

Something that will greatly enhance your ability to visualize is to spend time around the outside of the arena and soak in the view from all angles. Time spent walking inside the arena is also valuable, but not always possible. This helps your brain build a 3-D picture by taking note of the colors of banners, jumps or other obstacles in the ring, objects just outside the arena fence like seating, landscaping, or judge’s booths, and also getting an idea of the distances and angles between the different obstacles or jumps.

Visualization is extremely effective because when done correctly, it activates and strengthens the same neural pathways as actual physical practice. Visualizing should take about the same amount of time as the actual ride; for example, a dressage test visualization should take about four minutes if that is the projected time for riding the test.

How many times you choose to visualize the ride is up to you. You may choose to visualize a certain number of times, visualize periodically up until your ride, or continue until it flows very smoothly in your mind.

In the event that you visualize something incorrectly, whether it be an incorrect sequence or an actual mistake, you may choose to “rewind” the visualization and start again just before the mistake, or you can restart completely.

It’s important to recognize, however, that thinking ahead about the small corrections your horse may need, such as extra right leg to prevent a right drift, is a crucial part of the plan rather than a mistake in your visualization.

Feel the Ride

Probably the most misunderstood thing about visualization is that people think of watching themselves ride their class, course, test, or pattern as if they were a spectator outside the arena. This does not serve the same purpose nor provide the same benefits as closing your eyes and truly feeling yourself ride the class, course, test, or pattern as you intend to ride it.

Visualization should be an immersive experience during which you imagine activating the muscles you’ll need to execute your plan. This means dialing into your focus ahead of time and building sensory memory.

It’s important to be as detailed as possible during each run-through so that your mind begins to relate to the class, course, test, or pattern as a familiar experience. Tune in to the feeling of your legs on your horse’s sides, stretching up tall through your upper body, looking ahead to where you are going next, or whatever else you know will need your mental attention during your ride.

Be sure to include all aspects of the arena while you are visualizing so that then the crowd, the flapping banner, or the two jumps that are confusingly placed next to each other are all familiar by the time you actually enter the ring on horseback.

Environment and Routine

It’s important that you maintain a focus-friendly environment while you are visualizing. It’s not a good time for friends and family to be bombarding you with questions or playing loud music or videos right next to you.

You may be able to establish a boundary ahead of time by giving a brief explanation of what you will be doing, or it may take a few shows for your supporters to begin to understand this new part of your routine.

Visualization may not come naturally to you at first, but I encourage you to take control of your mind in order to create a competition environment that has fewer variables and more opportunities for practice and preparation than are available solely in the physical body.

This article about visualization skills for riding appeared in the March 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Visualization Skills for Riders appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

The average ride in non-extreme heat and humidity should last about 30 to 45 minutes. No matter how much time you have to ride, I firmly believe that the warmup should take the most amount of time. A walk on a long rein followed by some basic trot and canter work on a medium-length rein is a great way to begin.

After that is complete, you can begin the targeted warmup. A targeted warmup is one that you create using critical thinking skills in order to improve on your horse’s specific weaknesses. Some examples of these weaknesses could be crookedness, reluctance to go forward, tension/stiffness, lack of engagement, et cetera.

By targeting the warmup to improve these qualities, you set the tone for whatever you’re hoping to practice during the “work” section of the training session, whether that is a complicated jumping track or more advanced dressage movements. This way, your horse is already engaging the correct muscles and having the correct reactions to your aids before being presented with something more complicated.

Having between three to five exercises to choose from is helpful so that the warmup changes somewhat during each session and avoids becoming a drill.

Useful Targeted Warmup Exercises for Specific Horses

Horse that drifts or pops out a shoulder:
◆ Square turns or turn on the haunches
◆ Shoulder-fore or shoulder-in
◆ Circles or figure-8s with focus on riding the shoulders

Lazier type:
◆ Lengthening or collecting of stride
◆ Frequent transitions
◆ Apply leg, use spur or stick if no reaction

Hotter type:
◆ Downward transitions
◆ Circles or figure-8s on a medium-long rein with a mild inside bend
◆ Ground poles (if he rushes the jumps)
◆ Collecting of stride and transitions from regular to collected gaits

Stiff horse:
◆ Circles and figure-8s
◆ Mounted carrot stretches after initial stretch warmup when muscles are warm
◆ Shoulder-fore or shoulder-in
◆ Leg-yields

Horse needing more hind-end engagement:
◆ Transitions on straight lines (with emphasis on even feel in the contact)
◆ Backing
◆ Sets of multiple ground poles or raised cavalletti
◆ Circles, figure-8s, and three-track movements (such as shoulder-in and shoulder-fore) with emphasis on encouraging drive through the hind end through half-halts and maintaining impulsion.

Three Skills

There are several important skills at play when designing and executing a targeted warmup.

First, you must understand your horse’s weaknesses (or your weaknesses as a pair) and how to improve them. This could be a great conversation to have with your trainer. Being able to narrow down what may seem like a huge problem to a few tweaks to the basics is a crucial step in becoming a more well-rounded rider.

Having placed the extra attention on these weaker basics during the warmup, you will be a step ahead when you arrive at the “work” portion of your ride. Using relevant exercises, your horse will become physically and mentally engaged in a way that will benefit his work. Rather than getting frustrated when your horse is rushing the jumps or lacking spring in his hocks, now you will notice those problems arising less and less each ride.

Instead of feeling stuck and asking your horse to perform the more difficult work over and over in a futile attempt to fix it in the moment, the proper preparation has been done to ensure success. This also allows you to avoid unneeded wear and tear on your horse, both physically and mentally.

The final component of a targeted warmup that adds value to your overall training regimen is that even if you and your horse are having a difficult time on a particular day, if you stop your ride after your targeted warmup, you will still have progressed a little further towards your goals.

Your Horse Show Warmup

In this masterclass video from Ridely, Olympic medalist Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum talks you through how she warms up her horses when she competes. Meredith explains that the most important thing about warming up is that you stay as calm as possible. Competing can be daunting and the warmup ring is often busy with other competitors, so it is important to control the nerves and stay calm. She emphasizes the importance of giving yourself enough time in the warmup and to get on the horse early.

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There are plenty of times when things don’t go as planned with horses, but by having identified the skills you need to improve on to get to the next level, no session can ever be considered stagnant.

This article about training your horse with a targeted warmup appeared in the January/February 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Target Your Horse’s Warmup appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.