I treat the horse the same way. If I ask him to standstill, that's cleaning his room. I say "Clean your room." He says "No." I say "Fine." Now, what can I do that requires movement? It doesn't matter if I'm in the arena or the trail. In either place I can work on change of directions. I can work on his headset. I can get the horse working better off my legs or seat. And I can always work on speed control. I could do all kinds of different things. I can work on all those things when my horse wants to move. If my horse wants to move, I say, great, let's do it. Let's work on breaking at the poll, softening up your neck or following your nose; let's work on your leg speed; let's work on you moving off my legs. Let's do all these different things, and then, when I'm done, I'm going to ask the horse: "Do you want to clean your room, the garage and the patio? Or, do you want to just stand still?" These are all things I would have wanted to work on anyway…
Welcome to Day Three of “Stop Bucking!” This segment is called “One Inch at a Time.”
By now you should have read “Seeing Red... Ribbons” and “Your Horse Is Going to Spook - Are You Ready? That first article, “Seeing Red,” primarily deals with horses that kick on the trail - but at the heart of both pieces is the fact that your safety is your responsibility. It might be natural, warranted and easy to get mad at the goof that charges past you on the trail - but that’s not going to keep you safe or get your horse fixed. From now on, make it a point to not place yourself or your horse in situations where you’re “asking for trouble.” Things can take a bad turn anywhere, sure - but investing the time today to build more control into your horse while in the arena (rather than next to the freeway) will pay dividends later. Light a candle, don’t curse the darness. There will be two simple concepts to remember today, that’s the first: When it comes to your safety, it doesn’t matter who’s wrong or right or what “should be.”
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Have you ever seen a red ribbon tied to a horse's tail? What does that ribbon mean? It means "Stay away from me. My horse will kick your horse."
Does that make you mad? Maybe it should. You've gone to a lot of time and trouble to train your horse, to teach it that it is never okay to act up or kick somebody else's horse – but the guy next to you with the ribbon skipped the whole process. The days you worked on gaining control over your horse, he spent going to the movies. You put in the hard work it takes to build a safe horse; they skipped the process entirely.
I Bought This Horse But I'm Not Sure Why
• Don't Drag Me Off
• Head Tossing
• Cinchy Behavior
• Kicking on the Trail
• see more
How about I take a rope and throw it at that red ribbon? Their horse might kick and it might buck. And it might make the rider turn around and say "What the devil did you do that for?" And I might just answer "I'm telling your horse's butt to stay away from the end of my ."
But here's the bottom line: While the guy with the ribbon should have trained his horse better before , you should to deal with other, poorly trained horses. If their horse can run backwards kicking at your horse, then you need the control it takes to duck out of the way. Teach your horse to focus on you, to stay out of fights and to behave itself by being steadfast in your training.
It is our responsibility to train our horses and make them safe under all circumstances. If your horse jumps at the sight of a tractor, don't get mad at the farmer. Spend more time training your horse.
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There are certain products that every long-time Lyons fan carries in his equine tool kit. They're the "gotta haves." Here are a few essentials - as recommended by this John Lyons Certified Trainer, Keith Hosman.
