Teaching correct turns and self carriage to your horse

What do all these riders have in common?  The horse is on a loose rein and carrying themselves properly, without leaning or falling on the forehand.

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Teaching Self-Carriage to Your Horse

What exactly is self-carriage?  It is when the horse is able to move in the proper frame without being "held up" by the rider.   Notice how the horse looks light in the front end despite a loose rein (or no reins!). Here are some good examples:

  

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Using the Stop to Teach Self-Carriage

A proper stop helps your horse learn balance, engagement, and self-carriage.

1. The Importance of a Good Stop:

   • A correct stop keeps the horse’s back rounded, their legs underneath them, and their head in a comfortable position.
   • Avoid a hollow-backed stop, where the horse throws their head up and pulls the reins from your hands.

2. How to Teach a Proper Stop (Using a Fence):

   • Walk your horse toward a fence and let the fence stop them, not your hands.
   • As you approach the fence:
     • Change your seat: Bring your shoulders back, sink into the saddle, and move your legs slightly forward.
     • Lift your hands to take the slack out of the reins without pulling.
   • The fence naturally stops the horse, while you maintain calm, forward-driving energy with your seat and legs.

This teaches the horse to stop with their back rounded, haunches engaged, and head in a balanced frame. Over time, the horse learns to respond to your body signals rather than relying on your hands for stopping.

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Teaching the Back-Up from a Stop

Once your horse stops properly, you can teach them to back up with self-carriage. Backing up requires them to lighten their forehand, so it's a good exercise to engage the hindquarter muscles.

1. Set Up the Back-Up:

   • At the fence, take the slack out of the reins and maintain light contact.
   • Keep your body in the “stop position”: shoulders back, seat deep, and legs slightly forward.

2. Cue the Back-Up:

   • Use your seat and gently squeeze with your legs. Since the horse is at the fence and can’t move forward, they’ll step back.
   • If the horse doesn’t respond, lightly bump your legs just in front of the girth (near the shoulders). This frees up their shoulders and encourages them to step back.

3. Reinforce the Difference Between Forward and Backward Cues:

   • Use leg pressure slightly behind the girth to ask for forward movement.
   • Use leg pressure in front of the girth to cue for backing up. This teaches the horse to recognize the difference in cues.

4. Practice Backing:

   • After the stop, ask for a few steps back while keeping the same “stop frame.”
   • Then change your position to a “forward frame” (shoulders forward, hands forward, legs behind the girth) and move the horse forward again.
   • Repeat: stop, back up, move forward.

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Tips for Success:

• Don’t overdo it—end the session on a positive note. Gradually increase the number of back-up steps in future sessions. This can be very tiring for a horse that isn't fit, or isn't used to using their hindquarters a lot.
• This exercise helps the horse carry themselves during backing and improves their ability to carry themselves when moving forward.

By teaching these methods, your horse learns to balance, respond to your body signals, and move with confidence and proper form.

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Training a Horse to Handle Scary Objects: Using a Bag of Noisy Soda Cans

 

  Be the brave leader your horse needs!

Can your horse trust you to protect him from danger?  That is what is the most important thought on your horse's mind... will my rider be a good leader, or do I have to take charge?

   In this method, you will show your horse that you are a strong leader who can protect them. To do that, you will use a bag of noisy soda cans to help your horse overcome fear.

 Here's how it works:

1. Position the Horse Safely
   Start with your horse behind you at a safe distance, holding a 12-foot lead rope. If your horse is easily scared, consider using a longer lead. Always make sure you're positioned between the horse and the scary object (the bag of cans). 

2. Approach the Bag Calmly
   Walk toward the bag without looking at your horse. Instead, feel the horse's movements through the lead rope. Keep your arm, hand, and shoulder relaxed. This helps signal to the horse that everything is safe. If you look back at your horse, he may think you are unsure of proceeding forward.
3. Interact with the Bag

• Gently nudge or tap the bag to make noise. This might startle the horse a bit, but stay calm and avoid looking back at them. (You, the leader, are investigating. You aren’t worried about your horse’s opinion).
• If the horse pulls on the lead, resist gently without reacting.
• Kick the bag away from you, then walk toward it and stomp on it or tap it energetically. Continue to kick or toss the bag away, always keeping your movements calm and controlled. (You, strong leader, are defeating the scary bag!)

 

4. Avoid Directing Energy Toward the Horse
   Make sure your body and the lead rope stay neutral—don’t send any signals that could scare the horse further (or cause the horse to believe you may be unsure).
5. Repetition Builds Confidence
   Repeat the process several times. Over time, the horse will feel braver because their leader (you) is calmly handling the "scary" object. Eventually, the horse may even approach the bag on its own out of curiosity. 

6. Limit Interaction with the Bag
   Don’t let the horse play with the bag too much. By keeping the bag just out of reach, you increase their curiosity and willingness to engage with it calmly. Besides, the last thing you need is for the horse to paw the bag, get it stuck on a horseshoe, then run terrified as the scary bag pursues him!
7. Building Trust and Acceptance
   By staying calm and consistent, your horse learns to trust you and becomes more confident around unfamiliar or scary objects.

 

Spooky and bolting horses are frightened horses. How to deal with it.

Understanding Fear in Horses

A good rule of thumb: The faster and farther a horse is allowed to flee an object, the more deeply ingrain the fear is to that object. 

Stop the spook before it becomes a bolt!

Fear and the Horse

Fear is quickly learned by horses and is strongly connected to how their legs move. Identifying and reducing fear responses in horses is crucial for effective and safe training.

What is Fear?
Fear triggers a horse’s natural flight response—the instinct to run from danger. This response is controlled by the brain and adrenal glands, particularly a part of the brain called the amygdala. Once a horse learns fear, it doesn’t forget it. While new behaviors can be layered on top, the fear remains and requires consistent training to manage.

When a horse is afraid, its heart rate increases, and it ignores everything except the source of fear. This explains why a panicked horse may run into fences or obstacles. Fear also disrupts the horse's movement, making its legs jerky and its actions less smooth.

Signs of Fear in Horses

Horses show fear in many ways, such as:

• Bolting (running uncontrollably)
• Bucking
• Rearing (standing up on hind legs)
• Shying / spooking (suddenly swerving)
• Tension, tight muscles, grinding teeth, or swishing tails

These behaviors often disrupt rhythm and smooth movement. For example, bolting is the most extreme flight response, while bucking helps remove predators.

Do All Horses React the Same Way?

Not all horses respond to fear by running. Some breeds, like Thoroughbreds and Arabians, are more likely to run due to their ancestry. Other horses, descended from cold climates and used to fighting predators like wolves, may defend themselves by striking with their hooves instead of fleeing.

Fear Is Learned Quickly

Unlike other behaviors that take repeated training, fear responses can be learned in just one or two experiences. This is because fear helps horses remember how to escape predators. In training, it’s important to avoid situations that trigger fear and to correct fear responses immediately.

What Reinforces Fear?

Fear is reinforced whenever a horse escapes the source of its fear, even by a small distance. For example, if a horse steps away from a farrier or flinches from a whip, it learns that avoidance works. Training should focus on preventing this reinforcement by using calm and consistent methods to reduce fear.

Recognizing Fear in Training

Many trainers misinterpret fear responses. For instance, a horse speeding toward a jump is often labeled “keen,” but this is usually fear-based acceleration. Proper training involves teaching the horse to maintain a steady rhythm without speeding up or panicking.

Preventing Fear Responses

To manage fear, avoid fast or random leg movements by the horse during training. For example:

• Ride slower near objects that scare the horse and correct shying immediately.
• Address bucking or bolting by slowing the horse’s legs, rather than letting it continue the behavior.
• For example, if the horse bucks when asked to transition into the canter, come back down to the walk or trot, then ask for the transition again.  You don't want to reward the horse by deciding not to canter at all, and you don't want to allow the horse to act like a bronco either. Note that some horses buck when going into the canter because they are weak, and it's difficult for them to pick up the gait without the extra momentum of a buck.  Fitness should improve this.

Horses trained to move calmly and predictably are less likely to develop fear-based behaviors.

The Role of Flight Response in Performance

A certain amount of the flight response is necessary for speed in activities like racing. However, too much can make a horse unsafe and unmanageable, such as in bolting. Well-trained horses can maintain speed without losing control, while panicked horses cannot.

Spontaneous Recovery of Fear

Fearful behaviors can reappear unexpectedly, especially during stressful situations. Training methods like chasing a horse in a round pen can worsen fear by reinforcing flight responses. Instead, groundwork and lunging should be done in a calm, controlled manner. The goal is for the horse to learn how to manage stress and fear, and then calm back down, rather than grow more panicked. This is also known as the horse learning to manage it's emotions. 

Controlling the Horse’s Legs

Controlling a horse’s leg movements is key to managing fear. Groundwork that teaches a horse to move only when signaled, and to stop and stay still when asked, builds trust and prevents fear-based behaviors.

Getting your horse to take the bit

 

When I started my first horse from a youngster, I made the mistake of shoving the bit against his teeth to get him to open his mouth.  This was, of course, not the correct way, and only resulted in him having issues with bridling for many years.  So, here is the correct way to go about this task!

Position yourself on the left side, next to the horse's head, facing the same way the horse is. With your right hand holding the bridle, slide the bridle over his face so that you can put your hand over the poll and sort of between his ears. DON'T PUT THE BIT IN YET. Wait until your horse is calm and not tossing his head. You can put pressure on the poll with your right hand (or arm), asking him to lower his head if he raises it too high. Use your left hand to put slight pressure over his nose, about halfway between the eyes and the nostrils (where the bone and cartilage meet). The bit should be below his jaw at this point, and out of the way. Now, just wait.

Once your horse begins to relax and lower his head, position your left hand on the bit, to guide it into his mouth. You do not want the bit to clank or smack against his teeth, so go slow and take your time. You can reach into the horse's mouth and "tickle" his tongue, bars, or the roof of his mouth, until he opens his mouth for you. There are no teeth in this part of the horse's mouth, so you won't be risking any fingers. I often switch my right hand to under the horse's neck and holding the bridle by the cheek straps above his nose while I guide the bit. If your horse is not tossing his head, this position is more comfortable.

Once the bit is in, check to make sure the tongue is under the bit, and that the bit is adjusted and positioned correctly. Most horse's that toss their head have learned to avoid the pain they associate with the bit in any way they can, so check everything you can think of. The general rule of thumb is that an english bit should be adjusted to have 2-3 wrinkles, and a western bit should be adjusted to have one wrinkle in the corner's of the horse's mouth. Also, the cheek straps should not rub too close to the horse's eyes. If so, your browband may be too small. You might also want someone to help you check your horse's teeth to see if there might be any other reason the bit is bothering him.

Spend some time every time you tack up doing this ... repeatedly. Bring your horse in, put the bridle on and off a few times, then give him a treat and put him away. You can also try coating the bit with molasses and/or sugar, once you are able to get him to keep his head low for you. Often, this will help a horse associate pleasant things with the bit in his mouth, instead of pain.

Take extra care when removing the bit NOT to hit his teeth. Let the horse spit it out. He'll appreciate it, and you won't have to deal with a horse that's difficult to bridle.

Once you can get the bit in once, practice slipping it part way out of his mouth then back in repeatedly.  While doing this, the horse should keep his head down in an accessible position.

HANDY TIP:

I started wrapping the bit with one of 3 types of soft candy... either Bit O' Honey, Airheads, or Fruit Rollup / Fruit by the Foot type wraps.  It makes it much more enjoyable for the horse, and now they typical try to almost snatch the bit out of my hand! Just warm the candy in your hand then squish it around the bit.

Latent Learning and giving the horse time to process

 

Have you ever had a situation similar to the following happen to you?

You decide you are going to teach your young horse to ground drive.  He has never done this before, but he is accustomed to ropes around his feet and legs, so he doesn't mind that touch.  He does seem a bit confused at you walking behind him and turning him with the long lines, but after a short session, he seems to roughly get the hang of it, and there was no resistance, so you decide that's a good start and leave it.

You get busy with other horses and other things, and don't get to another ground driving lesson for a week.  When you attach the long lines for the second lesson, suddenly the horse seems like a pro!  He turns smoothly, can do serpentines, and even halts squarely and quietly at a light touch.  You are dumbfounded.... was someone secretly working with your horse that you weren't aware of?! Did he just regain memories of a past life as a cart horse?

I had this exact situation happen to me.  Similar ones as well when teaching a horse a new concept.  I finally decided that horses take a much longer time to "digest" new information, and their timeline is completely different from ours when it comes to learning and assimilating new knowledge.

Then I heard of the concept of "latent learning" in a podcast on clicker training horses. So when teaching a horse something completely new, such as a brand new trick, or a flying lead change, or the turn on the forehand, you will achieve much more if you give your horse breaks of a few days between lessons,  instead of practicing daily. 

Most horses trained once or twice a week for a short period learn more between sessions than those taught every day in long lessons. 

The horse's brain needs time to process and absorb what it was shown. Then it needs to put that information into the long-term storage section of the brain, where it is archived and can be quickly retrieved by the horse when needed.

On the other hand, humans usually learn in one hour classroom blocks, so we expect to move at a much faster pace than the horse.  

On her page, professional horst trainer Stacy Westfall says:

"I love to work with horses that I call ‘next day learners’ or horses that the next day come out and have really absorbed the lesson that was taught the day before. They may not be experts but they seem to have thought about what went on and they are applying the concepts at least."

Slow down!  

Think of a horse's timeline of stretching out much longer than your own.  I have had a lot of success teaching a horse to pick up a leg on cue (a light tap with the whip) by asking once at the start of our grooming session, then a second time when I am all tacked up and ready to head to the mounting block.  Upon finishing our ride, the horse would frequently offer to pick up a leg while untacking and brushing out. It's almost as if the horse had been ruminating on the task over the course of our ride, and decided to show me he's figured it out!

So try not to repeatedly drill new tasks with your horse.... give him time to "digest" the lesson and his learning pace will actually increase. 

Jump Panel and Décor Ideas

 So I am always looking for novel ideas to make new horse jumps, or to dress up plain old logs in the woods.  Here are a few that I have made, as well as ideas I have for others.

Ideas for jump panels:

These PVC or vinyl panels are available at places such as Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowes.  They came up in a search for "decor screen", so hard to say how sturdy they are, but they look like they would be super easy to attach to a long board plank to act as a wider plank or a filler:

They also come in a couple different colors, although generally that is limited to shades of brown, black, and white.

Along those lines, another search for "decorative panel" came up with these that look a bit sturdier (or at least I am more confident they would stand up to outdoor use:

*Other ideas:  Woven willow / branch filler

Faux ivy / hedge fence panels

How to train for a steady, confident horse on the trail.

This is all advice by Cheri Wolfe, given on her website, WolfeRanch.com.  I have edited the original a bit, but this is pretty close to her post.

These tips not only make a horse more confident, but they should also make the rider more confident as well.

1. The main thing you are looking for from your horse is OBEDIENCE. Quick and full response to your aids and requests without a fuss.  If you say walk on, the horse does so promptly and without argument. Same with stop, turn here, etc.

2. Your horse doesn't get to look at every new or different thing and decide if it's okay.  YOU decide if it's okay, and if so, the horse needs to trust you, and not his natural instincts to bolt and run from any potential threat. As the leader, what you say goes.  A foal will follow it's mother across a raging river because he trusts her. If you tell your horse that flapping tarp is OK, then he must trust you and have no more questions about it.

3. If you get in the habit of "showing" a horse everything he is fearful of, they get into the habit of stopping to check out anything new or strange.  Not acceptable if you are galloping a cross country course, or trying to get to a stuck cow. The habit you DO want to reinforce is to go past, over, or through anything that you  ask him to.

4.  The horse either has to become the leader and figure out everything for himself, or he has to let you be the leader. I believe I am smarter when it comes to identifying actual dancer, know where I am going and what I want to do, and he doesn't get to have an opinion about it. Nervous, spooky, 'refusing' horses are most of all 'worried'. As a prey animal, they are supposed to be worried about them and the horses behind them when they are the leader. When YOU are the leader, they are not worried about anything, and are much happier and calmer.

Tips for how to accomplish this while riding:

1. Look out past or beyond the scary obstacle. Ride with the resolve of a person on a mission who needs to get somewhere quickly. This subconsciously makes you more assertive, and the horse reads this as confidence. Don't look down at your horse, look at the place you are going! If you look for spooky stuff, you will certainly find it!

2. Don't ride straight toward a scary thing you can go around or past. (e.g., recently on a trail ride, there was a bright shiny Mylar balloon on the trail. I managed to get around it by deviating into the woods a bit to add a little more distance).  As you pass the scary thing, bend the horse's head away from it and shoulder towards it.  Once past, reverse direction TOWARD the object (don't turn tail to something scary, that is retreat), and pass it again in a shoulder-in same as before (head away, shoulder towards thing). Repeat until there is no tension.

3. If the horse isn't trained enough to know how to leg yield, another option is to ride "hard and fast"... at least, go faster (trot rather than walk), cover more ground, go over rough ground, distract the horse with more pressure. Use tools to get the horse's attention back on his job and on you.  Focus on where you are going, not the object. Ideally, if time allows, you should then repeatedly pass the object until the horse thinks nothing of it. (Hence why you should never be in a hurry when riding... training issues need to be dealt with and not put off).

4. Before hitting the trail, make sure you have control of your horse's feet and good forward impulsion. When you ask a horse to walk on, it should be a bold, working walk.  If not, make him halt and ask him again to walk on, using crop of a strong thump of your legs if need be to get a good forward walk. Ask him to yield his head to both sides, and practice the one rein stop.

5. Never accept less than full obedience.  Finish what you start. If your horse decides it is not going to cross the stream and stalls out, threatens to rear, starts backing up, keeps whirling, etc., you have to MAKE him do it. If you can't ride him across at first, lead or ground drive him, then ride him.  Use crop or spurs if necessary, but he cannot be allowed to win the battle.  If he does, he will try that much harder the next time he doesn't want to do something, and you quickly have a dangerous horse on your hands.

You become a confident rider when you have full control. Control comes from being an "In Charge" leader.