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She says that traditionally trained horses are use
to being supported on the left hand side when people lead them so the end
up with a short left side and constantly look for support and usually lack
a solid right diagonal. She worked on getting him to plant his front foot
and just move his hind end to get the front end divorced from the back
end. (Something I am struggling with my horse, JR).. She says to stop you
only have to stop one foot so she started with trying to get the horse
to pivot on one foot (just like what is supposed to happen with a one rein
stop). I had trouble seeing when the horse planted his foot which she gave
the release for. She worked on getting him to lead, then stopping and then
backing up using the lead to position the nose in front of the leg that
needed to go forward or back. She says just like the swing you get with
the reins when you walk your horse on a loose rein. She was doing some
diagnostic work looking to see what his problems were.
She talked about a horse in Long Island that had
been beat on so much in cross ties that it was almost impossible for her
to get him to move his feet. She said it was a very pathetic case although
the horse had a reputation for being a great school horse but she said
if the horse ever did lose it, whoever was riding it would probably be
dead. She had the owner work with her horse trying to get her to send her
life down the lead rope and develop a softer feel. She had the horse run
into her hand a few times when he swung his head towards her (emphasizing
the safety aspect where the horse needed to respect her space). She admitted
one time that her timing was off and therefore incorrect.
Of course, later on, she talked about not approaching
a horse with a "sucked back image." This is an image where you think you
are just walking up to your horse but your body is pulled back away, your
head is down and you are approaching your horse with a "don't hurt me"
look. One of the main problems that the riders wanted to work on was a
fear of the horse taking over leading to the rider taking over so much
the horse became dull to a feel. Leslie said it was different degrees of
the same problem, the horse ignoring a feel by either taking over or getting
braced.
One rider let out that she felt like an "accident
waiting to happen" to which Leslie strongly recommended that she get out
of that frame of mind. "Thoughts are powerful." She talked about how a
person works with the horse on the ground being the same in the saddle.
She talked about driving / drawing to keep the horse's attention which
she demonstrated many, many times during the day. Talked about staying
away from "muscling up", trying to force the situation. Remember to breathe
and KEEP YOUR HEAD UP in the saddle. With transitions, don't look down
or hold your breathe, walk with your seat to get the horse to come down
to a walk before touching the reins. She talked about riding a circle as
riding 4 straight lines with 4 corners to keep the horse from falling in.
She asked everyone to take one step with the horse. Everybody but one,
gathered their reins first which was asking the horse to stand still before
they even started (of course this was exaggerated since everyone was concentrating
on allowing only one step). She showed how picking up the reins was supposed
to give the effect of lightening the front end but many horses had learned
to root on the reins to get release.
The scenario goes that they did not get a release
so they pulled lower and lower until the rider had to adjust the reins
and there was their release. She said that hand feeding a horse allowed
them to become heavy on the front end and push you around since they are
being rewarded with being in your space.
She did not like the idea of dominating a horse
and always being "like a lead horse." She said if a horse is dominated
you can not count on them to fill in for you during times of need, like
on rough ground. Her example was she got hit with a branch which knocked
her off and her foot got hung up in the stirrup. She was glad she had a
partnership with the horse where he did not have to panic because she was
no longer the leader. She said you had to have respect and commitment but
not domination.
She talked about getting the horse to move off with
life by first releasing them (taking your legs off by and ounce or two)
and then asking by bringing life to your legs (the life coming from the
center of your body). Don't hang on the horses mouth when they are stopped
because it causes them to be dull to mouth pressure. This is how they learn
to creep into pressure. She talked about our culture not rewarding people
that show signs of life, independence and fortitude so it makes it hard
for people to project this to the horse.
She took a saying from Joe Wolters that "straight
is the absence of left or right." If you can't make your horse turn left
or right with a feel than you can never get true straightness. For turning,
you need to watch where you are going, turn your head, shoulder and your
hips just as if you were turning while on the ground. She emphasized letting
the horse take time to think about your request if it is new to them and
their attention is still on you. Also, learn to leave it at the moment
and not drill it into the horse. Using your life on the horse is not punishment
although it can appear sharp. You need to reassure the horse and love on
them so that they know that they can relax close to you. Sometimes you
just have to let the horse figure out how to get their feet out of their
way. This was demonstrated on horses with no right diagonal where they
had trouble going towards the right, reaching across with the left front
foot. Sometimes the left foot ran into the right foot but they usually
found out how to get it out of the way with a few tries. Putting lots of
wraps on boots on a horse can slow things down since they don't feel it
when they step on themselves. Of course, this is done at slow speed so
the chance of injuries is much less.
On the ground she demonstrated sending your life
down the rope towards the horse to get a horse to stop with a slack. She
worked a lot with the horses getting them to turn, watching for the tipping
the head then send the energy toward the other side and send them slack
when they come around.
She did an exercise that I did not participate in
(I should have but did not). She had three people in a team. The person
in the middle was the rider and the people on either side were half a horse.
The idea was to use the hands like reins and guide the people to go forward,
back, left or right. First the "horses" had their eyes open but then they
tried it with their eyes closed. The hands had to stay down or the people
held their breath. The rider (and "horses") had to remember to keep their
heads up not look at their feet. NO talking was aloud. The "horses" and
rider got to change places so everyone had a turn at riding. She said think
about the difference in the feel and ask yourself how would you like to
be a schooling horse with all those different feels.
The second exercise was like the old game of telephone.
Everyone got in a circle and she sent a feel around and then expected the
same feel back. Many times it broke down where one person did not think
it was a feel or someone amplified the feel. She is very quick to point
out her errors and told us that sometimes you can use them to an advantage.
She missed a try at a turn but the horse kept its attention on her and
faced up..
Many people when circling would get forward of the
shoulder causing the horse to slow down without realizing it. She described
how pushy horses get that way from people that ask for a back and then
immediately come in and rub & praise the horse like they were apologizing
for what they just did. She said leave them some room, let them soak on
it.
Another expression was allow them (horses) to be,
don't make them be. Make the initial ask be polite. She would ask, then
ask again and then mean it. Her version of "mean it" was mostly, the rope
slapped on the saddle if they were not responding to your pressure at the
girth (when you are working from the ground), a pop on the jawbone with
the heel of her hand if the horse would not get his head out of the way,
a sharp pull on the lead rope at about 45 degrees from the head if the
horse did not respond to a feel. Note on the last one: it is very important
that this was a constant pressure and pull WITHOUT a release before the
pull. In other words, don't snap the rope. Otherwise the horse gets punished
for the reward of the release.
It is also very important to look at the feet position.
If the near hind foot is behind the far hind, they will not be able to
cross over when you pull, learn to be fair with what you ask for. She also
mentions that with all this information, you might try to think too much
and freeze up. It's OK to make mistakes and she would readily admit when
she missed something.
There was one horse that had respect for the person
but not the rope. A horse with no respect for the rope can not be tied
and there are going to be situations where a horse needs to be tied. (Basically
they need to be halter broke). She says most likely this lack of rope respect
came because they never get good releases, they are always under pressure
from the rope when the person is working with them so they tune it out.
A question came up about a horse that paws while
on cross ties or in the trailer. Leslie's guess (since the horse was not
there) that the horse was not confident with what is behind them and was
upset when their head was tied because they could not turn to look. It
then came up that this horse was by itself and therefore never got a chance
to relax and let another horse be on guard. Her feelings on a horse that
pawed every time they were tied was that they were never allowed to just
be or allowed to soak on what just happened. (Again this may be a mirror
of the owner, someone that is always fidgeting and pushing on the horse).
She had each of the riders demonstrate their groundwork,
mainly concentrating on turns, getting the horses to rock back on their
hindquarters and flow through with their shoulders. Then she had the riders
get up on the horses and use their legs, weight to do the turns with her
helping on the ground. This allowed them to get a feel of a good turn.
She really emphasized turning to look in the direction that you are going
with the head up. Also, remember to turn your whole body, head, neck, shoulders,
waist and hips. Ask for the hindquarters to step over by bumping with the
heel in time with the back leg, then allow the shoulder to flow by opening
your toe (this is a small movement from the knee, not the hip).
I've already tried some of this on my horses. It is very interesting that the groundwork does reflect what I get in the saddle. Sarah has a soft feel while being led but is green in terms of leg pressure therefore she did not respond as well to my trying to move her forward by sending life to where the girth is. JR is just the opposite, light to a leg but dull to a rein (caused by my lack of release over many years). I cringe to think about how tight I am/was when I get nervous. Something I'm trying very hard to change. JR does not respond to a feel and by Leslie's definition, is not truly halter broke. I have to be careful when sending life towards his girth area. One time he actually grunted and sucked away and I did not make physical contact. Both of them back and stop by sending a feel down the rope towards each diagonal. (That was an amazing feeling when I first did it). It was one heck of a great clinic for me.
Page created by: pamp@ime.net
Changes last made on: Tuesday August 5, 1997
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