One of the best ways to familiarize your young horse to the feel of the saddle--before you swing into it--is with stirrup driving and flapping. In this lesson, you'll drive your saddled colt around you in a circle at a trot, using pressure from the stirrup to make his feet move forward. You'll also flap the stirrup fenders and slap the saddle's seat so he can learn to relax and get comfortable with all sorts of saddle movement and noise.

Watch Clinton demonstrate this lesson in the video below.

Like a needle on a gauge, your horse’s head position is an indicator of his emotional state. When his head rises, he’s tense and prepared for flight; when it lowers, he’s relaxed and at ease. By teaching a drop-head response, you can ask your horse to calm down on cue—especially useful if your horse is the nervous or spooky type.

I’ll explain how to teach the cue from the ground, then from the saddle. It’s straightforward, but does take patience on your part in the beginning.

From the ground. Put your horse in a rope halter with training lead. Place your thumb and index finger on the knot just below your horse’s chin and apply gentle, steady pressure downward. You’re not trying to pull the head down; you’re just applying pressure as a cue. Watch your horse carefully, and the instant he drops his head even a fraction, release the pressure and praise him. (It’s better to err on the side of releasing a bit too soon than a bit too late.) Then ask again.

The first few inches down will be a challenge. Be patient and keep at it. Once your horse gets the concept, he’ll soon be dropping his head all the way to the ground every time you ask. Eventually, encourage him to keep his head down at ground level for a few minutes, to allow time for him to feel the serenity that naturally comes from a lowered head.

From the saddle. Once your horse responds reliably to the cue from the ground, tack him up (a snaffle bit is best for this) and try it mounted. From a standstill, shorten one rein a bit, lift that hand slightly to apply light pressure to your horse’s mouth, then just wait. You’ll feel tempted to increase the pressure to get a response—but don’t. Apply just enough pressure that your horse begins to look for a way out of it.

Then, the instant he drops his head even slightly, release the rein entirely and praise him lavishly. Don’t worry if he moves about a little while you’re working on this; just focus on the head dropping and release whenever he complies. As before, the first few inches will be challenging, so be patient. Once your horse figures it out, he’ll begin to respond quickly and willingly.

Then practice the drop-head cue frequently on an ongoing basis, especially any time your horse becomes tense or fearful. Eventually, your horse may start dropping his head on his own whenever he begins to feel nervous or anxious, “self-medicating” himself in order to feel calmer. Now that is a result worth working for!

Julie Goodnight, known for her ability to teach horses and riders of all skill levels, hosts “Horse Master with Julie Goodnight” on RFD-TV. She also presents clinics nationwide from her home base near Salida, Colorado (juliegoodnight.com).

When you’re hunting for a new equine trail partner, look for an experienced horse with a mellow, kind, forgiving attitude. For trail riding, also look for a horse that’s been out and about, hauled around a lot, and will enjoy the ride with you.

When you visit a prospect, ask the following questions before you mount up—and before you buy.

(For Julie Goodnight’s 10 steps to horse-buying success, see Ask Julie Goodnight, The Trail Rider, May ’13.)

1. Why is the horse for sale? You’ll see the warning glances if there has been an issue or training problem with the horse. There are lots of legitimate reasons to be selling a good horse, but the answer to this question can possibly throw up some red flags. Trust your intuition.

2. Is the price firm? Assume that the price isn’t set in stone unless otherwise stated. If you’re shopping for a horse that’s in a $5,000 range, don’t hesitate to look in the $10,000 range. You don’t know how long the horse has been for sale and how urgently the seller needs to sell.

Many riders purchase a horse that seemed affordable at the time, then realize that sending a horse to a trainer is much more expensive than purchasing a trained horse.

Try to find the safest and best-trained horse your money can buy. You’ll love a horse that makes you feel safe. One trip to the emergency room can more than make up for the money you saved buying a “project” horse.

3. How long have you had this horse, and what have you done with him? Again, the answers to these questions can potentially throw up some red flags and/or give you greater insight into the horse.

Does the horse enter the trailer willingly? “You don’t want to buy a trailer-loading project,” notes Julie Goodnight.

Photo by Heidi Melocco

4. What do you know about the horse's history before you got him? Ask what kind of training the horse had and what was done with him (showing, group trail riding, ranch work, camping, etc.). The more you can learn about the horse, the better. Often, there are situations where the history isn’t known; this could end up creating more questions than it answers. It’s not a deal-breaker, but it makes further scrutinizing even more important.

5. Has the horse ever colicked? If the answer is yes, find out how often the horse has colicked and how severe the episodes were. Horses that colic frequently may be more likely to die of colic complications.

6. Does the horse load into a trailer easily? Ask how often the horse has been hauled. Does he enter the trailer willingly? Does he tie well? These are good things to know before you make a decision—especially if you want to load up and hit the trail most every weekend! You don’t want to buy a trailer-loading project.

If the answers to these questions are satisfactory, go back and ride the horse at least three times before purchasing, and make one unannounced visit. It’s important to see what the horse is like when the owners haven’t had a chance to prepare him before your arrival.

Julie Goodnight (www.juliegoodnight.com) lives in central Colorado, home to miles of scenic trails. She trains horses and coaches horse owners to be ready for any event, on the trail or in the performance arena. She shares her easy-to-understand lessons on her weekly RFD-TV show, Horse Master, and through appearances at clinics and horse expos held throughout the United States. She's also the international spokesperson for the Certified Horsemanship Association (www.cha-ahse.org).

Heidi Melocco (www.wholepicture.org) is a lifelong horsewoman, equine journalist, and photographer based in Longmont, Colorado.

Any horse might kick under the right circumstances, and the possibility of becoming the target of a well-aimed hoof is always with us. Most of us learn commonsense guidelines of defensive horsemanship early on, but it’s easy to get complacent among trusted horses. To stay safe, it’s wise to always keep these rules in mind:

• Stay alert. Focus your attention on the horse you’re working with as well as any who are close by. Pay attention to a swishing tail, pinned ears, flared nostrils and other signs that a horse is getting annoyed, and take steps to diffuse the situation before he “blows up.”

• Watch herd interactions. Steer clear of any who seem alarmed or threatened by your presence. Also sidestep any developing skirmishes.

• Avoid carrying feed or treats through a herd. Horses can become competitive and/or aggressive to get to the food, and you could inadvertently be on the receiving end of their blows.

• Don’t ride among loose horses. A horse at liberty may send yours a “don’t come closer” message that puts your leg in the line of fire.

• Tie horses far enough apart so that they can’t kick each other. You’ll also need a safe buffer zone so you can remain out of reach while walking between them.

• Stay close to a horse’s body when working around him on the ground. The most damaging kicks happen when a horse has enough room to fully extend his leg. Kicks at close range hurt but are less likely to cause serious injury.

• Put away your cell phone. Whether you’re on foot or in the saddle, stop talking, texting and indulging in other smartphone activities. Safety around horses requires your full attention.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

When a rider uses negative reinforcement, she stops an unpleasant stimulus when the horse responds correctly to a cue. Photo © EQUUS

Q: I am helping a friend train her horse, an 8-year-old Appaloosa gelding she has owned for more than a year. Her horse responds well to my leg cues, but since her stirrup length is at least a foot shorter than mine (I’m much taller than she is), her leg cues touch him at a totally different place. This horse side passes and leg yields for her perfectly, but lately he has been avoiding the canter departure. We’ve already checked for saddling and bit issues, and otherwise he seems very willing to work. How can we teach her horse to respond to her cue for the canter? Any ideas as to why after learning leg yielding so well he would lose his canter depart?

A: I don’t believe this is a problem with leg placement or stirrup length; I think this is a matter of cue confusion: Your friend has accidentally trained her horse to do the wrong thing. He will probably be easy to retrain--he hasn’t forgotten how to do a canter depart; he just thinks the correct answer to her cue is to leg yield.

The cues for a leg yield and canter are easy to confuse because they are quite similar. I’ve seen many horses make this mistake, and the fact that you have been schooling leg yields makes it even more likely. I’m betting that what happened was that your
friend inadvertently rewarded the horse when he gave the wrong response to her cue for the canter.

When training, we often use a technique known as negative reinforcement, which in this case means releasing pressure when the horse gives the correct response. For instance, when asking for a walk, you apply leg pressure to his sides. As soon as he moves forward, you take away the pressure, thus rewarding the horse for the correct response. But, if you were to apply leg pressure to move forward and the horse ignored the signal, even if you stopped the pressure only momentarily, you would have trained the horse to ignore that leg cue.

Always remember this: Whatever the horse is doing at the moment you release pressure (either from the leg or rein) is what you just trained him to do. The next time you apply that cue, he will do the same thing he did the last time to get the release. It’s amazing how often this is the root of a problem: A rider hesitates after the horse incorrectly responds to a cue, and in that brief moment of pause the pressure is released. As a result, the horse thinks he did the right thing.

The key to successful training lies in how your friend responds when her horse does not “read” her cue correctly: She needs to take immediate action to correct the response and immediately reapply the cue, then release pressure only when the horse does the right thing.

If I had asked a horse for a canter departure and he began leg yielding instead, I would stop his sideways motion with leg and rein cues. I would bounce my outside leg (if you are leg-yielding left, the horse is bent to the right, so your outside leg is the left leg) on his ribs to say, “No, you cannot move that way,” close the outside rein (move my hand toward his neck), and reach forward to immediately send him on. Then, I would check his gait and, if the canter wasn’t picked up, instantly give him another strong, even exaggerated, cue. Using my voice aid to help the horse (with the kissing sound), I would repeat this process until I got the canter departure on the first request, then let him rest as a reward.

Without question, anytime two or more riders share a single horse, it is more difficult for him to distinguish cues because, no matter how similar two people are, their riding cannot be exactly identical. Luckily, most horses quickly adapt to each rider and learn to distinguish the variations in their signals. But I must add it seems unusual that you and your friend would ride with a full foot of difference between your stirrup lengths. This makes me wonder if one or both of you need to reevaluate your positions. For example, a rider with short legs would want a longer-than-average stirrup length to get more leg on the horse and lower her center of gravity. Adjusting your stirrups might make riding in general much easier and more comfortable.

That said, horses learn very fast, so keep up the training! Sometimes, good communication means being clear when a horse does not give the correct response: If he gives the wrong answer, he must be told he is wrong and to try again.

Julie Goodnight
Natural horsemanship trainer and clinician
www.juliegoodnight.com
Poncha Springs, Colorado

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

Recently, a friend told me she was having trouble finding a trainer to start her 9-year-old horse under saddle. One refused to take on the horse without giving any reason, then another told her that horses were no longer trainable after they turned 9. This surprised us both: Neither of us considers a 9-year-old horse to be “old.”

I am well aware of the prejudice against training older horses who’ve never been ridden or those still considered “green.” However, as founder and president of Bluebonnet Equine Humane Society in Waco, Texas, I have had the opportunity to work with such horses, and I can assure you that there’s no particular age at which it’s too late to start a horse. They’re all individuals---some young horses can be quite a handful, while some older ones settle right into their new jobs.

In fact, I’ve found that most older horses are more than capable of learning new skills or unlearning bad habits. Plus, they offer some important advantages that younger horses do not:

• Unless they were abused or totally neglected, older horses---even the untrained ones---often have a “been there, done that” attitude that enables them to stay calm in new situations. They’ve seen more of the world than younger horses have, and this, in many cases, allows your training to progress much more quickly.

• The personality of an older horse is already defined, so you know what you have to work with. However, this does mean that you need to carefully evaluate the personality of an older horse before committing to him, because he’s not likely to change. For
instance, work and experience may help eliminate spookiness, but an older horse who is more reactive and hotter than others will probably stay that way.

• Older horses have reached their full height, and any conformation problems will have shown up already. You won’t be left guessing what they’ll look like when they’re done maturing.

• The mental maturity of an older horse gives him a longer attention span. He’ll retain more from longer, more in-depth training sessions than a younger horse would.

• In most parts of the country you can probably acquire an untrained older horse for free or nearly nothing. Once you’ve invested your time in training, you may end up with a much nicer horse than you could normally afford.

Also remember that, thanks to improved nutrition and veterinary care, a horse in his late teens or 20s these days can still be in great physical shape. Riders who don’t mind putting in a little effort can often get a nice horse that they can enjoy for many years, for very little money.

Considering all of this, I would encourage anyone with time and training experience to take a chance on a slightly older horse, even if that horse has no or very limited experience under saddle. There are, however, a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure that your horse will be physically capable of participating in your chosen discipline (see “Health Check,” page 64). Then, consider whether you have the time, patience and experience you’ll need for the type of older horse you’re considering: There’s a huge difference between an older horse who has never been handled, one who has been handled badly, and one who has been handled well. Although I believe that any horse can be trained, some will take longer than others.

To help illustrate the challenges and rewards of working with older green horses, here are a few examples of some I’ve met who have gotten fresh starts later in life.

Jericho: Overcoming poor handling
Jericho was about 15 and still a stallion when he was discovered wandering back county roads. We can’t say for sure that he was abused, but it was clear that whatever handling he’d had wasn’t consistent. He had learned to get his way by pinning his ears and snapping. After he was gelded, his foster caretakers had to act as if he’d never been trained at all to relay a foundation of respect, working hard to establish good manners on the ground and to teach him that biting isn’t acceptable. Because he was so set in his ways, it took many, often trying, weeks to work through his bad habits. But once he was behaving better in hand,a trainer was able to begin preparing him for work under saddle. Jericho is ridable, and because of that it will be easier to find him a stable home, but he’s probably always going to be a handful, so he’ll need to be placed with experienced handlers.

The difficulty you’ll have training an older horse depends in large part on the handling he has previously received. Three types of handling in particular may increase the training challenge.

• Harsh discipline--immediate, forceful punishment for any misbehavior---may not necessarily be abusive, but it can produce a timid horse who is scared of making mistakes. He may be constantly waiting for you to come down hard on him, and it can take months of consistent, kind handling before he begins to trust you. This type of horse often benefits from a lot of handling on the ground before he’s started under saddle. You still need to discipline misbehavior, but you also need to give the horse a chance to do well and reward him promptly when he does the right thing.

• Inconsistent handling often results in a spoiled horse who doesn’t know how to behave. Although these horses were sometimes disciplined for poor behavior, at other times they were allowed to have their own way without consequences. These horses will try your patience with repeated attempts to test their limits. They benefit from consistent handling during groundwork to teach them that misbehavior is always disciplined but that good behavior is also rewarded.

• Abused horses are the hardest to train. Fortunately, outright abuse, where the horse has been repeatedly beaten or even tortured, is very rare. Some horses fight to save themselves in the face of abuse, and it can be hard to stop fighting. They’re the ones who become dangerous to handle: Their immediate first reaction to anything they don’t like is to kick, strike or bite. If you find yourself with a horse like this on your hands, seek professional help. It takes a lot of consistent and careful handling to help these horses overcome their past, and they can be dangerous until they learn to trust humans again. Occasionally, a horse like this has been so traumatized that he can never recover.

Other horses react to abuse by shutting down emotionally and not responding to anything. They simply stand and take whatever their abuser dishes out. One effective approach is to simply spend time near these horses without handling them, and then to work with them consistently on the ground. The length and degree of the abuse these horses endured will affect how long it takes them to begin trusting you.

Windy: An adorable blank slate
Windy, a pinto pony---probably about 10 years old---was halter broke when she arrived at our rescue, but it was clear that that was about the extent of her training. She was spoiled and pushy, and she had most likely always gotten away with her bad behavior because she was so cute and little.

Our trainer spent several sessions just teaching her ground manners, but once Windy got those down, her training went quickly. Because she had seen more of the world, she was quieter and more settled than a younger horse would have been, and she adapted quickly to work under saddle. It didn’t take many months before Windy was ready to be placed with a family, and today she’s being ridden, doted upon and loved by small children.

Mature horses with little or no prior handling can be a challenge and take quite a while to train. The tougher cases are the mustangs or other feral horses who have never seen people before. They need to be accustomed to human handling before you can begin any real training, and the longer a horse has lived on his own, the harder it will be to gentle him. His sense of self-preservation grows each year, and he is going to be likely to flee anything he deems scary.

That said, feral horses can be gentled at an older age, but I find that they often remain highly reactive for the rest of their lives, even if they’re successfully trained to ride. In the beginning, these horses are more likely to try to jump or run through a fence to get away from you. You need to keep them in an enclosure with a stout fence that’s at least six feet high and made of horse-safe panels attached to wooden posts, woven wire hung on posts, or strong boards.

Horses who have been kept around people, just never handled, can still be a challenge, but they’re far easier to train than truly feral ones. You don’t have to worry about introducing them to the sight of people before you can start working with them. However, it’s still a good idea to keep them confined to a smaller pen with six-foot fencing because they can be prone to trying to flee when you begin to put pressure on them.

Halter breaking is the first step with a horse like this before you proceed to other groundwork, and this can take much longer than it does with a younger horse. But once they’ve accepted a halter, their under-saddle training tends to advance pretty quickly.

One advantage of working with an older green horse is that you don’t have to worry about overcoming someone else’s training mistakes. He’s a blank slate, as it were, for you to make your mark on.

Hermes: Building on a solid foundation
Hermes was a neglect case. When we picked him up, the 13- to 15-year-old stallion was emaciated and needed time to recover his health, but it was obvious he had been well handled at one point in his life. He led, stood tied and knew how to longe. He behaved himself around other horses and respected his handler’s personal space. Once Hermes gained weight and was gelded, I started working with him. Because he had such a good foundation, his retraining went quickly. I taught him to carry a saddle and bridle in no time. He went to a trainer for a few weeks, and everyone who met him was amazed at his progress. But the training he had years before was so good, it only needed to be uncovered for him to excel. Hermes was quickly adopted by a family as a show horse for their daughters.

Older horses who have had positive prior experiences are the easiest ones to train, even if they haven’t been ridden or worked with in years. Since they haven’t been mishandled, there are no bad habits or associations to overcome. They’re used to people and know what to expect from them and are generally trusting. Chances are, they’re already used to the routines of domestic life: farrier visits, veterinary exams, being caught and haltered, etc.

As long as this type of horse is physically capable, you can begin working with them right away. These horses often progress quickly through the groundwork stages: learning (or relearning) to longe, carry a saddle and carry a bridle fairly quickly.
Many older horses who were handled well previously also take to a rider without much fuss. They are a delight to work with.

There is a potential pitfall to these easygoing older guys, however. They can lull you into a sense of complacency. You’ll never want to forget that this is still a green and inexperienced horse. He may still become frightened, confused or spook. It’s only fair to give him the same level of understanding when he makes a mistake that you’d give a 4-year-old. Similarly, it can be easy to push these horses too fast. Remember that’s he’s still learning skills, even if he seems to be picking them up very fast. Don’t cut corners or skip steps in his training or you may end up with a resistant, cranky horse despite his great foundation.

Ask your friends if they’d be interested in a 10-year-old green-broke horse and you’re likely to be met with a few suspiciously raised eyebrows. It’s a natural reaction to assume something must be very wrong with a horse who makes it so far in life without more than just basic training. But the harsh reality is many older horses weren’t lucky enough to have a complete or quality education in their younger years.

This doesn’t mean they can never be useful mounts. In fact, many turn out to be terrific. If you think you have the resources and patience to take on an older green horse, I’d encourage you to, creating your own success story to share.

This article first appeared in EQUUS issue #427.

Approach these exercises at a calm, regular, balanced pace with quite a long or possibly even loose contact. I place a great deal of emphasis on awakening the horse’s initiative at an early stage of training and attempting to maintain that initiative throughout his career; thus, my emphasis on soft reins.

Do not ride your horse as if you must give him a good ride, but rather attempt to be an intelligent passenger. Once he gets to the obstacle, he must arrange his footwork and propel his body over the fence. At this point, it is your job to stay out of his way. If you run into difficulties, you should either lower the obstacle or, if you are jumping gymnastic obstacles in sequence, remove the last obstacle and lower the others until you get your horse going forward again. Once he is calm and balanced, you can resume the exercise.

Your goals are for your horse to maintain his rhythm, balance and regularity of stride over obstacles. I think that we should teach the horse to balance himself, not to expect us to balance him. An excellent exercise is to count in rhythm with his stride as he proceeds down the line of obstacles. For example, if you have obstacles set up to produce one stride in between them, as the horse lands over the first element you should be able to say out loud, “land.” Then, as he reaches the end of his stride before leaving the ground over the second obstacle, you should be able to say, “one,” in rhythm with the takeoff. If there are succeeding obstacles, you should be able to repeat this down the entire gymnastic line.

This sounds like a very simple exercise, but you will find it surprisingly difficult to perform correctly while your horse is jumping. You may find that the timing of your voice is not in rhythm with your horse’s landing. This is the most common mistake I see in my clinics. Riders who make this mistake usually have some weakness in their jumping positions that causes a loss of balance. This loss of balance is very distracting because the rider will think more about self-preservation than about maintaining balance and rhythm in the landing phase of the jump. If you land out of balance, it means there is something wrong with your position. If there is something wrong with your position, it is usually that your lower-leg position is faulty. Most of the time, if you improve your lower-leg position, you will improve your landing after jumps.

Your horse should maintain an absolutely steady, regular cadence down the line of obstacles. Your counting should also be steady, regular and cadenced. Riders who become agitated when jumping will find that their voices rise in volume and pitch. Many riders will quicken the cadence of their counting until their voices and their horses’ strides are no longer in synchrony. Many times, these are the same riders who will blame their horses for rushing.

Practice keeping your eye on the next object in your horse’s path. For example, if you are trotting toward a pole on the ground, look through his ears at the pole until it goes out of sight. With young ­horses and inexperienced riders, I do not ask the rider to alter the horse’s step in front of the pole because I want to ­awaken the horse’s initiative. Whether he takes a slightly long step or adds a step before the pole, I am equally satisfied. If he steps on the pole, the chances are good that he will learn from the experience and not do it again. If he continues to step on the poles on the ground, I ­suggest that the rider find another prospect, as this one is probably too dumb to improve over obstacles.

Look sequentially at each object in your horse’s path. If you are trotting over a series of ground poles followed by an obstacle, look at the first pole on the ground and then keep your eye on the obstacle until it goes out of sight ­between your horse’s ears. This will help you maintain a straight line through the gymnastic exercises and will also help you develop your timing. You can’t see your stride if you don’t see the jump.

These exercises rely on cavalletti to stabilize your horse’s length of step, speed and balance. If an obstacle follows the cavalletti, use the posting trot until your horse steps over the last pole, then softly lower your seat to the saddle. This ensures that you are in touch with your horse’s back when he leaves the ground.

Do not lean forward while negotiating the cavalletti. When your horse leaves the ground to jump the obstacle, you should have the sensation that he has brought his withers up toward your chest.
For all cavalletti and jumping work, your horse should wear protective boots or bandages on his legs as he may knock his legs while learning to ­coordinate them.

For this column, I am excerpting Gymnastics 2 and 3. To learn Gymnastic 1, which consists of four cavalletti exercises, click here.

The four exercises that comprise Gymnastic 1 will fit comfortably in a 75 x 150-foot (22.8 m x 45.7 m) arena.

After you have warmed your horse up at the walk, trot and canter, then trot into the exercise marked A in the diagram on page 19. Cavalletti set at this distance will produce a working trot for most horses. These exercises are all designed for horses with some jumping experience. If your horse is extremely green, he probably should not be attempting this exercise yet. However, if he is slightly inexperienced or is an experienced jumper but has not done much work over cavalletti, you can pull the first and third poles in towards the centerline of the arena. This will produce a 9-foot (2.7 m) distance between two poles. Horses find this exercise easier and will soon become stable and regular at the trot, which is always your goal. You can then put the four poles together as shown in the diagram and work in both directions over four of them on the ground. After you have established your horse’s balance and rhythm here, you can proceed to the curved poles in Exercise B.

At the posting trot, proceed on a circle in either direction though B. Keep your horse’s direction adjusted so that the length of his step on the curve feels the same as it did over A.

Once you and your horse have become adept at this, you can then start to enter, for example, closer to the 3-foot (90 cm) end of the poles where the distance is shorter, and then let your horse angle away from the center of the circle. This will cause him to go from a working trot to a medium trot or possibly, if your angle becomes too great, even take a couple of steps of extended trot. If your horse takes two steps between the poles or breaks into a canter, you have probably asked too much flexibility from him. Aim closer to the 3-foot (90 cm) end of the curve, and enter B again at the posting trot.

Alternatively, you can enter from the outside of B, where the rails are farther apart. This will cause your horse to take quite a large step at first. Guide your horse toward the 3-foot (90 cm) distance between the last two poles. This will bring your horse back to a working, or even a slightly collected, trot. Having worked in both directions over B, including being able to angle both ways, you can then proceed to Exercise C.

The poles positioned at C will produce the sensation of an extended trot and you may find that your horse cannot reach enough in his fourth step to get out over the last pole without “chipping in” an additional step. Simply remove the last pole and continue. You will find that, after a couple of days’ work over cavalletti, your horse gets the message and you can replace the fourth pole. You should work in both directions over the 5-foot (1.5 m) poles at C until your horse can maintain his regularity and length of step.

After a short break, proceed to Exercise D.

These four rails on the ground, set at 4 feet (1.2 m) apart, will produce a collected trot. Although this exercise can be ridden either posting or sitting, you should definitely use a rising trot until your horse becomes adjusted to them. Using rising, rather than sitting, trot encourages your horse to lift his back while he elevates his step. In addition, it will be less complicated and will allow you to work on his cadence, rather than worrying about your position. Again, work both ways through D until your horse is relaxed and steady in his balance and rhythm. He should be able to deal with the rails without any interruption in the flow of his movement, changing only the length of his step to adapt to the various distances that you have put in his path.

After another break, you can now link these four elements together in order to produce various transitions that will be of great benefit in teaching your horse to be flexible. For example, enter A on the right hand in a working trot, where the rails are 4-foot-six (1.35m) apart. As you leave A, turn right in such a fashion that you produce an arc through B that causes your horse to change the length of his step from working to collected trot. In other words, start exercise B from the outside in. This will put your horse into a slightly collected frame. Proceed directly then to C, which will produce an extended trot. After the extended trot at C, turn right and enter the shorter cavalletti at D.

If your horse has difficulty with this, you can do A, B and C as I have described and then, in a posting trot, circle (or repeat a circle until your horse has settled down to a working trot), turn and enter D, thus producing a collected trot. If you have successfully done this, walk, reward your horse and let him relax and consider his effort while you plan your next series of repetitions through these exercises. When you resume the posting trot, work in both directions and vary the relationship between the exercises to improve and confirm your horse’s flexibility.

Take a moment to remind yourself of your horse’s bad habits. If he tends to rush at the trot, he will not need too many applications of C. He should come from outside in rather from inside out at B, as this will cause him to continually rebalance and collect his step rather than rushing forward. If, on the other hand, your horse is choppy-strided or lazy, a bit more emphasis on and a few more repetitions at B, going from inside out, will teach him to lengthen his step. The total amount of exercise over these rails in any one period should not exceed 45 minutes, including the periods of rest between exercises.

Excerpted from Modern Gymnastics: Systematic Training for Jumping Horses by Jim Wofford. $24.95

Watch in the video below as I longe a horse that's been saddled for the first time.

You may think that you control your horse with the bridle and bit, but that assumption is actually only partially true. After all, your horse’s “engine” and turning apparatus are in his hindquarters. Control the hindquarters and you control your horse.

Bit-and-bridle pressure simply cues your horse to go forward, whoa, turn, back, etc. It’s a way of communicating to your horse what you’d like for him to do. However, your seat and legs, when fine-tuned, also provide excellent cues. When your horse understands your seat and leg cues, he doesn’t necessarily need a bridle to be under your control.

Here, world champion trainer Lynn Palm, along with her husband, horseman Cyril Pittion-Rossillon demonstrate how you can begin teaching your horse to respond to your seat and leg cues only, so you can ride bridleless.

You’ll need: An experienced helper (to longe your horse while you ride and to provide feedback); a halter and longe line; a longe whip; a riding helmet; and your usual tack (including your bridle).

Before you begin: Outfit your horse in a saddle and bridle. Then apply a halter over the bridle. Attach the longe line to the halter’s side ring. Lead your horse to an enclosed arena with good footing. Put on your riding helmet, mount up, and ask your helper to move you and your horse out onto a wide circle on the longe line. Warm up for about 20 minutes, then follow the video tutorial.

Ride Without Reins
To learn to ride bridleless, you’ll first learn how to ride without the reins. This will teach you to “ride from the waist down,” says Palm. It’ll also refine your balance in the saddle.

On the longe line, you’ll drop your reins, and learn to use your seat and legs to cue and control your horse. You’ll do this as you perform upper-body balancing exercises at the walk, trot, posting trot, and lope or canter.

You’ll change direction so you’ll develop both sides evenly. (Change of direction also helps your horse develop both sides evenly, which helps to prevent muscle and joint soreness.)

After you’re comfortable dropping your reins on the longe line, your helper will detach the line, and you’ll perform the same steps. You’ll ask your helper to stay in the arena with you to provide feedback

and in case you need assistance.

At this stage, you’ll pick up the reins when needed to cue your horse.

Neck-Rope Cues
Next, you’ll learn how to use a neck rope and leg aids, along with the bridle, to teach your horse to respond to neck-rope cues. (Your horse will need to know how to neck rein with a bridle.) You’ll teach him to turn in both directions, stop, and back.

You’ll work the rein and the neck rope at the same time. You’ll start at the walk, then stop and back. (The stop-and-back cue will help you put on the brakes as you move on to the faster gaits without a bridle.)

You’ll then ask your horse for a turn on the forehand, a turn on the haunches, and a leg yield (a lateral move with some forward motion) in both directions. Finally, you’ll progress to an extended trot and the canter.

When your horse does well executing these maneuvers with both the bridle and neck rope, you’ll remove the bridle and repeat the maneuvers with just the neck rope. You’ll ask a helper to stay in the arena with you in case you need assistance.

For more on riding bridleless, visit www.lynnpalm.com, and order the "Bridleless Training" DVD.

Lynn Palm is the founder of Palm Partnership Training. She’s shown more than 34 Quarter Horse world and reserve world champions, competing in both English and Western disciplines. She’s won a record four American Quarter Horse Association Superhorse titles and was the first rider to win the prestigious Superhorse title twice on the same horse, Rugged Lark.