Hello Everyone,
I am still talking about how if we know how our horse moves, we can better get them to do what we want. Last month we talked about the Disengagement. Now this month I am going to talk about ‘Turning on the Haunches’.
What is a ‘Turn on the Haunches’? It is where one of the hind feet stays in one spot and pivots, the other three feet move around it in a circle. It is kind of like a slow version of a reining horse spin.
Now, the Turn on the Haunches (TOH) is a pretty hard move to get right. About 80% of riders out there do not have control of their horse’s shoulders. To get a good TOH you need to have control of your horse’s hip to tell him to stop it and not move that hind pivot foot and you have to have good control of the horse’s shoulders to get the shoulders to move around in a circle. Also a horse puts 60% of his weight on their front feet in a standstill and only 40% of their weight on the back feet. To do a good TOH they need to put more than 60% of their weight on their hind feet and get the weight off their front end to move it around. So the best way to get our horses to understand this in the beginning is to do a backup before asking for the TOH. By doing a backup we put our horse’s weight back on their hindquarters and lighten up their front end so that it can move around the hindquarters.
So here is how I teach this to people and horses:
Let’s start with the backup:
To do a backup, I pick up even pressure with both reins. Then just slowly and lightly bring your elbows back and round your lower back and sit deep in your saddle. (Try to avoid sitting forward in the back up. This is a bad habit. If we sit forward in the back up, we put all of our weight on our horse’s shoulders, and in the back up our horses have to lift their shoulders and put their weight on the hindquarter. So for them to be able to do that right we need to put our weight on our horse’s hindquarters.) Have even pressure on both reins, once your horse takes a step back, soften your fingers a bit, but keep a soft even pressure on the reins, and then tighten your fingers again to bring the next foot back, so with every step you will soften your fingers and then tighten them up again to bring each foot backwards. Try getting 3 steps back by counting one of the front feet. Once you are getting 3 nice and soft steps, ask for 5 and then 8 and then 10 and so on.
Something that I also want to mention is that I do not use any leg pressure to ask my horses to back up. I think that if you use leg pressure when asking for the backup you only end up confusing the horse later on when you are asking for more and more collection, etc. So, I keep my legs off my horse in the back up and the signal to back comes from my seat and reins.
Now let’s talk about moving the shoulders:
If you want to go to the right, I want you to think of pointing both of your pinkies to the right at the same time. Try it now; point your pinkies to the right. See how your right hand has to have the finger nails down, but the left has to have the finger nails facing up in order to point both pinkies to the right. Now try pointing to the left with both pinkies. See how the left hand has the finger nails pointing down and the right has the finger nails up. What this does when you are on the horse holding the rein in both hands is, if you want to go to the right, it leads the right rein out and then it puts the left rein in contact to the neck, and vice versa.
Ok now that you know how to get the back up and you know how to hold your reins when you are going to ask for the TOH, we can start putting it all together, here is how:
If you want to start moving the shoulders to the Left, you will start asking for the backup and count 3 steps counting the Right front foot back 3 times. Then on the 3rd step you are going to ask the horse to now move his shoulders to the Left 2 steps, to do this, get the back up 3 steps counting the right front foot, on the 3rd step point your pinkies left and then put your right leg on your horse’s side about where the cinch is on your horse, and you will get a step or two left. If your horse keeps backing up, you have to much rein pressure back, but if your horse goes forward, you do not have enough rein pressure back. Do not do too much with your reins, once you point your fingers just let your horse think, it needs to come more from your steady leg pressure than your reins. Then you can do the same thing on the other side. If you want to move the shoulders Right, count the Left front foot back 3 steps then ask him to move his shoulders to the Right 2 steps by pointing your pinkies to the right and putting your left leg on. Do this over and over until you and your horse are getting it and understanding it. Then you can start asking for more and more steps in the TOH.
The reason that we ask for 3 steps back is because it puts weight on our horse’s hindquarter and it also frees up the correct foot to turn the shoulders. What I mean by that is, when it is the 3rd step with the right front the left front is forward. When the left front is forward it is ready to lift up and move left. If the left is back when you ask to move left in the back up your horse will have to fix his feet before he can move his shoulders. That is why the number 3 is important and why asking right when you say 3 is important also.
If your timing and feel is right your horse will do this naturally and it will feel soft and unforced.
Thanks for reading this month’s issue. Next we will keep on this subject and soon we are going to start on the gaited horses foot falls due to popular demand.
If you have any questions email: chelsie@chelsienaturalhorsemanship.com
Thank you,
Chelsie Kallestad
www.chelsienaturalhorsemanship.com
928-713-3468
