By: Lyle Jackson
One of the most difficult parts of training reining horses and cow horses is learning when to pull the reins and when to push with the leg. This is timing, and riders fail at training horses usually because they get it wrong.
The knowledge of when to pull, when to push, and when to let go is the difference between creating a trained performance horse that gets better with time and lasts for years, or a sour, resistant beast that is best to get rid of.
Most everybody that rides in our industry has read and heard about countless training methods. Direct rein, indirect rein, bump with the leg, build a frame etc. etc. And all these things work for the professionals, in a lot of different ways. There is no one, magic system; they all work for some people.
However, a lot of people can’t get any of them to work. That’s because their timing is wrong. They push and pull in the correct place … but at the wrong time.
Timing does not mean to act when the horse’s body is in the correct position at a given time. It means to act, to push, pull, or release when the horse’s mind is in the right place.
Achieving this means riding with a plan and, above all, riding with the thought that you are going to teach your horse something, not force him to do something. Horses are bigger than we are, we can’t force them to do much they don’t decide to go along with. So every time you pull or push, think: “If I do this, what is he going to learn from it.”
Know Your Goal
Establish simple, yet very clear, goals in your mind before you try to teach the horse. Seems simple, but I constantly see, for example, people trying to make a horse spin, that have no clue how a horse should and/or physically can spin.
Study the dynamics of the maneuver before you try to impose it on the horse. Using the spin example; the horse needs to lead with his inside front leg, his shoulders need to be level, and the movement must be cadenced.
The horse needs to stay in the same geographical location, move with no apparent resistance, and turn around an inside pivot foot.
These are the goals, in order of importance as defined by the NRHA. We train these performance horse maneuvers because we go to horse shows, and it is the show associations that tell the judges and the competitors what these maneuvers are, so if we want to win, this is where we have to start. We start with knowing what the associations and the judges want.
Start Simple
Next we try to teach the horse that position. The dynamics of the spin are complex. They cannot be taught all at once. It’s too much. So start with what is important and work forward step by step.
If we try to teach everything at once, it is not simple enough for us to get the timing right or simple enough for the horse to understand.
Start with leading with the inside front leg, keeping him level etc. The common mistake is that people become fixed on the final product, in this case perhaps the inside pivot foot.
However it is last in importance, and if that is worked on first or to the exclusion of the other points, the spin will not work.
We need to start by trotting small circles, focusing on that inside front leg, developing cadence, and keeping the shoulders levels.
This means using both legs to drive the horse forward, not just the outside leg. Riders too concerned with the inside pivot foot use too much outside leg. This elevates the outside shoulder and they lose the flat, cadenced movement.
Correct Way = Easy Way
Drive the horse forward into smaller and smaller circles, teaching him that if he continues correctly, the pressure is removed. Pull him into the circle, drive that inside front foot forward with your legs, then remove the pressure. Give him the choice of staying in the position, or stepping out.
Dare him to trot out towards the gate, or stop, or to assume another position. Hope that he makes the mistake, because it gives you the opportunity to take a hold again, reapply the pressure, and pull him back into the position.
As soon as he is in position again, release. Let him choose the path with minimal guidance.
If your timing is right, he will quickly learn to stay in position. He will not want to step out because he knows you will reapply the pressure and he wants to avoid that. He wants to choose the easy way. Timing is about making the correct way also the easy way.
Use Pressure Correctly
We have to pressure the horse into assuming the correct position. He doesn’t know how to do it naturally. These are not natural maneuvers. Horses loose in the pasture do not spin and slide.
Keep in mind the way pressure works. A horse does not learn when pressure is applied; he learns when it is removed.
If we set up the situation correctly, he will associate a movement or a position with the removal of pressure. He will then try to duplicate the situation himself in order to get the pressure release. The reason we apply pressure is so that we can remove it. Removing it at the right time is the art.
As our spin program advances, the horse chooses to make the trot circles smaller and smaller. We guide him to initiate the spin with a little more outside leg, now that we have the inside front leg in the habit of leading the maneuver.
When he takes the correct position, with the correct movement we remove the pressure from the outside leg.
Repetition, Repetition
If our timing is correct and consistent, with repetition the horse associates the correct position with the removal of pressure. If the pressure from the outside leg is never removed during the spin, the horse will never learn how to get away from the pressure.
He will not turn faster, and if too much pressure is used, he will get sour. He will slow down, use his tail, ears and mouth and the world will see how unhappy he is. Obvious resistance equals poor spin, low score.
On the other hand, the rider that initiates the spin and then takes the outside leg off teaches the horse that the better he spins the less pressure he gets. The rider has to take the leg away, let the horse make the mistake of slowing or stopping and then reapply the leg.
The key is to remove the pressure and let him make the mistake and then put the pressure back on. Do not keep the pressure on to prevent the mistake.
In order for a horse to learn, he has to make the mistakes on his own, and then be corrected. The result is that he maintains the spin himself, because he has learned that if he stops or slows down the pressure will increase, whereas if he continues with cadence the pressure is gone.
Pretty simple stuff. It has to be simple or a horse couldn’t understand it.
Lyle Jackson has spent 30 years in the Quarter Horse industry as a trainer, 15 years as a judge, and holds judge’s cards for the AQHA, NRHA (FEI), NRCHA, and APHA. He has judged competitions in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Australia, United States, France, and Canada. Lyle has also shown in almost every Western discipline, specializing now in reining and working cow horse. He has won international championships, national championshings, multiple NRHA bronze trophies, and has had reining futurity, derby, and maturity winners. Lyle currently sits on the Professional Horseman’s committee for the American Quarter Horse Association and the board of Reining Canada. He lives between Calgary and Cochrane. Lyle can be reached by phone at (403) 542-6913, email: lj@lylejackson.com or visit www.lylejackson.com.
