western showmanship Archives - Horse Illustrated Magazine

Nail Your Showmanship Pivot

Abigail Boatwright — Mon, 13 Jun 2022 12:43:27 +0000

The pivot is a tricky maneuver because your horse’s foot position can make or break your score. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

Showmanship at halter is a class that showcases the harmony between a horse and his exhibitor, and the showmanship pivot is a key point in your performance. It’s a maneuver that requires precision and cooperation as you guide the horse to plant his hind foot and rotate his body 360 degrees. Learn how to master this move with AQHA Professional Horseman, judge, and all-around trainer Bruce Walquist’s advice.

To excel in showmanship, especially the pivot, you and your horse need to be in perfect sync, with a dash of style. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

Goal for Showmanship

To win the class, Walquist says you need both horse and rider in sync and performing each maneuver correctly—with a dash of style.

“The goal is for a horse and exhibitor to be in concert with one another,” says Walquist. “Both horse and handler should be on the same page—thinking the same way, reading one another’s minds so that they can stay connected.”

Bruce Walquist recommends threading your chain through the halter as shown during practice and showing. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

A way to set yourself apart in showmanship is to achieve balance between you and your horse, and also in your horse’s body.

“A lot of people think it’s just about the exhibitor, but it’s about [your] ability to show the horse to his best ability,” says Walquist. “By being balanced with both horse and [handler] locked in with each other—one not too far ahead of the other or dragging behind—then you can perform all the maneuvers to a higher degree of difficulty.”

Stand near your horse’s eye, and cluck to begin the maneuver. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

Why the Showmanship Pivot is Tricky

It’s challenging to do the pivot correctly, says Walquist, and in AQHA competition, the pivot carries a high penalty when it’s done incorrectly.

“The pivot can make or break you in a lot of ways,” says Walquist. “If the horse’s right hind foot comes off the ground, it’s a 3-point penalty. If he picks his foot up and moves it to a new location, that becomes a 5-point penalty. If he does it more than once in a turn, it’s another 5.”

Showmanship is scored on a scale of 0 to 100, and the score starts at 70. Each of the seven to 10 maneuvers receives a score ranging from -3 to +3 in half-point increments.

Ask your horse to move away from you laterally. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

The Showmanship Pivot Done Right

In a correct pivot, your horse is balanced with his legs square, staying in a straight line from poll to tail throughout the turn. Avoid allowing your horse to overbend toward or away from you. The right hind should be planted, and the left hind should step forward and around as needed to stay square. The front left leg should cross over the right, not go behind.

“The more fluidly both horse and exhibitor move, and with speed, the higher the degree of difficulty,” says Walquist.

The front left leg must cross in front of the right, not behind. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

Practice Makes Perfect

Walquist suggests practicing in the middle of your arena on good footing. Outfit your horse in a well-fitting halter and a lead shank with a chain. He says when actually practicing, his clients loop the chain through the halter’s nearside lower ring, under the chin, through the right side ring and up to the upper ring to snap back on the chain. (When leading to the ring and not actively practicing, the snap is clipped to the middle ring under the chin.)

He recommends practicing showmanship at least two or three times a week to keep the two of you working in unison. But don’t drill endlessly.

“If we practice for 30 minutes, we must have really had a problem,” says Walquist. “It’s usually about 15 minutes.”

Square your shoulders toward your horse and walk in a circle, guiding your horse in front of you as he pivots. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

To practice the pivot, stand near the horse’s eye—or at his nose, depending on your horse—with your shoulders square and parallel to the horse’s body. You will be walking a circle and looking in the direction of the turn as your horse pivots to the right.

You’ll start the maneuver with a clucking voice command, and in response, you want your horse to start to move laterally with his shoulder. If he doesn’t, you can follow up with a couple of different responses to teach him to cross over the left front leg while his body stays straight as he pivots.

“You can use your hand held up high to encourage him to pick the left shoulder up and step over,” says Walquist. “You can use a crop to tickle the shoulder and encourage movement.”

The horse’s right hind foot must remain on the ground to avoid a scoring penalty. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

Throughout the turn—and your pattern—you want your horse to respond to the position of your right hand on the lead.

“We’ll teach them to follow our hand up or down with their head and neck,” says Walquist. “It’s important that the horse hooks up with your hand for every command.”

Start by working on a quarter turn at a time, and gradually work up to a 360-degree turn or more.

Troubleshooting the Showmanship Pivot

If your horse starts stepping too quickly, Walquist recommends stopping and standing the horse up straight. His shoulder position controls his feet. Practice slowing down and increasing speed as you turn to keep your horse in tune with your cues.

“Pay attention to the horse’s balance—don’t let his neck bow out,” says Walquist. “Keep him square.”

Your horse should remain straight from poll to tail, not bending toward or away from you. Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

Your shoulders and body dictate the circumference of the circle you’re on. If your left shoulder is too far back—with you facing the outside of the turn—it’ll be harder to stay on the correct circumference.

If you’re turning and looking at the pivot foot, your shoulder position will cause your horse to back up. Just glance at your horse’s feet while keeping your body square to your horse.

You may need to walk your horse out of the pivot to encourage him to move forward if he starts sucking back or crossing his front left leg behind the right. Stop, then ask for the turn again, and keep working at it until your horse is turning correctly. It’s very important that your horse steps forward, not back, during this lateral turn.

Special thanks to Bruce’s daughter, Whitney Vicars, for demonstrating these moves with Southwestern Gunman.

Meet the Trainer

Photo by Abigail Boatwright.

Bruce Walquist is an AQHA Professional Horseman and judge located in Cleburne, Texas. He specializes in training, sales and lessons for AQHA all-around horses. His clients have earned more than a dozen AQHA World and Reserve world championships in all-around events.

This article about how to nail showmanship pivots appeared in the June 2021 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Nail Your Showmanship Pivot appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

Tips on Improving Your Western Showmanship Skills

Heidi Melocco — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 12:57:50 +0000

Photo by Heidi Nyland Melocco

You’ve seen sleekly groomed western showmanship horses with expert skills move in sync with their handlers while outfitted in halters with shining silver. The horses stand at attention with their legs in perfect alignment. They walk, trot, pivot and stop with perfect cadence. Teaching your horse to move this way takes practice, but it can help you develop a partnership—one where you know your horse will cooperate no matter where you lead.

Top trainer Shaun Gloude, of Franktown, Colo., takes her clients to American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) World Championship Shows and is known for teaching with precision. Here, she describes what it takes to excel in showman- ship. You can teach your horse to move at your pace, stop, set up and pivot to prepare for every- day grooming or to work with a veterinarian or farrier. As you work consistently, your horse will understand your cues and offer his respect.

“Teaching a horse to respect his handler and perform certain maneuvers from the ground up is key,” says Gloude. “A confident, well-trained horse will exhibit good ground manners. He’ll allow the handler to control his every move. This control does not happen overnight. It could take months and some- times years. But once achieved, you will have earned a high level of respect from your horse.”

Make sure your horse will walk beside you in a straight line at the pace you decide. This also comes in handy when trotting for the vet or walking past other horses. Photo by Heidi Nyland Melocco

Walk This Way

SHOW-WORTHY MOVE: Your horse should walk next to you and move at the pace you decide. Make sure that your horse can walk in a straight line. Stand at your horse’s left side and extend your hand forward while applying pressure to the lead.

Your horse should move off freely when you ask and move straight forward in the direction you point. If your horse wants to bend away from the straight path, walk along a fence or alongside a ground pole to keep a straight line.

Next, increase your go-cue pressure, and as you start to jog, you should cue for the trot. If your horse resists this cue, don’t make eye contact.

Your horse may move to the side. Instead, keep your eyes forward and keep contact until your horse trots. Once he’s in the gait, keep moving, but make sure not to keep pulling. Releasing pressure serves as the reward for your horse picking up the trot.

AROUND THE BARN: You’ll want your horse to focus and move at your speed when you’re moving through a stall door or gate. It’s also important that your horse will walk straight past another horse when needed. Plus, if your horse can easily trot on command, your veterinarian will appreciate this skill during pre-purchase or lameness evaluations.

Stop and Pose

SHOW-WORTHY MOVE: When it’s time to stop, say “whoa” to alert the horse that he should stop in a straight line with his legs squarely beneath him. Once he’s stopped, turn to stand facing his left shoulder. Make sure you’re never directly in front of your horse to ensure that you can’t be run over.

Teach your horse to square his feet after halting. This requires intricate cues that can take years to master—don’t give up! Photo by Heidi Nyland Melocco

To square your horse’s legs, move your right hand gently toward your horse’s right hind leg. Holding the lead rope while pointing your hand at the hoof that you want to move cues your horse with halter pressure.

Once the right hind foot is positioned in line with the left rear, praise him. Your horse will gain confidence from the praise and will learn your intricate cues. Make sure your cues are consistent each time. Ideally, your horse will stop and set up easily with little to no movement from your hand. Work up to this with repetition.

The perfect set-up is not trainable overnight. It may take years to develop this as one of your western showmanship skills. Once the horse is trained with consistency, proficiency will follow.

AROUND THE BARN: You’ll need your horse to stop and be patient as you open a gate or do any small chore. Your horse will need to stop and set up nicely for farrier appointments and to stand balanced as you pick his hooves.

Round and Round

SHOW-WORTHY MOVE: In a show, your horse must keep his right hind foot still during the pivot turn. Your horse will need to turn 360 degrees in most show patterns.

Showmanship calls for a 360-degree pivot around the hind end, which comes in handy while maneuvering in tight spaces around the barn. Photo by Heidi Nyland Melocco

To cue for this, turn your body to face your horse’s jaw. Your horse will move his shoulders away from your body, pivoting to the right. As the horse starts to grasp the concept, ask for a sharper turn. Lift your right hand to shift the horse’s weight to his hind end.

AROUND THE BARN: Knowing that you can pivot your horse will help you make tight turns in a wash rack or anywhere you may need to turn sharply.

“A handler that fully develops each of these skills in their horse will have a horse that is rewarded by the judges as well as appreciated at home,” says Gloude.

Thanks to Lexi Radic and Incredibly Natural for assistance with these photos.

This article on western showmanship skills appeared in the February 2020 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Tips on Improving Your Western Showmanship Skills appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.