Category: Horsemanship Page 2 of 4

Many of us were taught to use pressure and release when working with horses. You apply pressure to the horse, they move away from it and you then release/reward them. Half-halt rein aid, the horse slows its pace and the rider releases the rein.

Sometimes riders forget to fully release when the horse moves away from pressure. They ask the horse to halt, the horse stops and the rider gives a little with the rein. But then they continue to hold the rein, even while the horse is at a halt. I see this quite a bit. The rider thinks they’ve released when they give 10% of the rein. But the horse feels that other 90% as continued pressure.

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Many Texas horse people are feeling frustrated now due to all the rain we’ve been having. To help, here are some fun exercises to make progress with your riding and horsemanship goals. Even if you can’t visit your horse.

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I’m excited to announce the launch of the HorseWise® Horsemanship Buckle for 4-H Youth Groups!

The Horse Wise Horsemanship Buckle will reward junior equestrians for learning good ground work techniques, becoming more aware of their horses’ physical signals and understanding how to prepare their horse for performance work.

It also gives participants with green or less experienced horses an opportunity to win a buckle (while giving their horse more training during the show season).

Best of all, it’s FUN – and encourages camaraderie, sportsmanship and good horsemanship!

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So if you’ve read the last two posts, you now have a 90-day goal for your riding and horsemanship. You might be wondering what to do next, given this whole inconvenient pandemic at the moment.

First, write that 90-day goal down at the top of the page. Let’s say your goal is to do smooth canter departs on both leads with your young, excitable and very green horse.

You have 90 days – or 3 months – or 12 weeks to accomplish that goal. Write down the numbers 1, 2 and 3 on a vertical line on the page under your goal. Each number represents one month. Write down what you would need to accomplish by the end of each month in order to reach your goal at 90 days.

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So if you read the previous post, hopefully you’ve come up with a goal for your riding and horsemanship. One that you love and are super excited about. Maybe it’s the Olympics. Or maybe it’s being able to quietly w-t-c on trail rides with your sometimes nervous young horse. Or to compete in a team sorting competition. Whatever the goal — here’s the next step on reaching it.

Look at that goal and decided on a reasonable time frame for it. Is it the Olympics? Your deadline for that will probably be 2024 (unless you are 12, in which case you could pick a much later deadline lol). Quiet w-t-c on trails with skittish young horse? Maybe one year is a good deadline.
Ok — so now you have a deadline.

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A fun strategy for right now is to set a 90-day goal. Make sure it’s one that you find genuinely exciting — and that fits in your overall horse plans for the future. What are the things that you always wished you had time to study or learn or get better at? Because what’s good about now is that we ALL have lots more time on our hands. And we have the luxury of slowing down. So many big gains in performance come from slowing down to get things right first.

Not sure what to pick as a goal? Try this exercise. Sit down and write out ALL your goals related to horses and riding. Every single one. Even the one about riding in the Olympics or the Calgary Stampede. Put them all on paper. Then read them over and pick the three that excite you the most. Don’t worry about the current weird spring break — just pick those three.

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