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Issue Three, Part 2 of 3
Teaching Your Horse To Stand Still
If you simply want your horse to stand still, and you keep picking up the reins to try and stop him – then the only thing that happens is that the horse gets aggravated. There's no possible way to make your horse stand still if he does not want to stand still. What if you tie him up? Can he still move? Of course he can. How about if you put him in a small two-horse trailer? There's no way the horse can move then, right? Wrong, guaranteed he can still move. What about cross-ties? Can he move around when he's cross-tied? Yes, he can. There is no way for you or I to physically to make this horse stand still. On the plus side, training is a lot easier with a horse that wants to move.
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Training is all about control. Learning how to get control or gain control of your horse. So, let's say I want the horse to stand still but he starts moving. I've lost control, haven't I? How can I regain control if we know I can't make him stand still? Answer: Ask him to do something, even if it's just change directions or even to speed up.
If the horse is going at two miles an hour and I speed him up to four, then the movement has suddenly become my idea, hasn't it? He wants to think about everything else, and the longer I let him think about other things, the more he's going to do just that. So what I'm going to do is work my horse. I'm going to practice changing directions or changing leg speed. I'll say "Hey, give me your nose and change directions." The more adamant he gets about going his direction, the more adamant I'm going to get about going my direction. I'll drive him forward, work his neck and start to move faster.
Remember, we couldn't get the horse to stand still, but in about ten minutes you can have a horse that wants to stand still. In your training, work on being still by telling him to go. Say to your horse: "If you want to work on go, then let's go. Let's work on forward. Let's work on softening your neck, changing directions and following your nose.
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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.
