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Q: My horse is
really athletic and jumps well but he is very strong on the bit. My
trainer wants me to work out with weights to get strong and use a
gag bit. This horse wins reserve or grand champion. Is there
anything in your foundation training that can help me?
A: Your horse needs
to learn to yield to the bit rather than you getting stronger. You
want your horse to be light laterally and soft and supple. You do
this by teaching it to give to the bit. If you start using a more
severe bit and are stronger yourself, putting more pressure on the
horse’s mouth you will get control for a period of time. But what
happens is that if the horse is strong itself, the amount of
pressure that you put on the mouth and the severe bit will
eventually mean less and less to the horse. Eventually pressure and
the most severe bit made will mean very little and you have an out
of control horse. You also are not using the horse to it’s full
potential, there is too much resistance, the horse moves more on the
forehand and does not fully engage the hindquarters.
To start teaching
your horse to yield you need to learn to give/release when the horse
softens and gives. So many of use create a heavy pulling horse by
releasing when they pull the reins thorough our hands. We create
stiffness and bracing by releasing when there is pressure. Horses
learn by pressure and release. If we can teach them to soften and
give to pressure, they become lighter and much more responsive to
us.
They become soft
and willing to give, light on the forehand and able to use all the
power in their hindquarters. Think of power steering in a car versus
no power steering. If you can imagine the effort it takes to turn
the front wheels of your car without the power steering, compare
that to a horse that is heavy and pulling.
You start with
“gives” by using one rein. Take up about 4 to 6 inches of rein to
one side and hold until the horse responds by yielding and
immediately release. You may hold for a long time, two minutes to
twenty minutes if the horse is heavy and used to pressure for the
first gives. Once you have asked for a give, you have to be
committed to holding until the horse gives otherwise you have thrown
away the cue that you are trying to train the hose. To keep your
self consistent and maintain the pressure, anchor your hand to a
spot on the saddle. You do not have to hang on, just use that spot
to keep your hand steady. Once you have gotten the horse to respond
the pressure and you are getting a softening of the jaw and
noticeable slacking of the rein, go to the other side and repeat.
This is an exercise that can take hundreds if not thousands of
repetitions. When your horse is soft and responsive on both sides
independently you are ready to go to two reins. Essentially, you
will be doing gives with both hands independently and you have to
maintain the consistency you created by doing the one rein gives.
Now you are ready
to move on to teaching the same cues while controlling the emotional
level. Do the one rein gives first while adding distractions.
Practice at a faster pace or go over scary objects. When you have
mastered this, you will have your power steering! You will not need
a “bigger bit” or the muscles of a weight lifter to control your
horse.
Charles Wilhelm |
