In the Real World
Now that you know three things to ask of the horse, you can put those to work, whether you have a round pen or not. Practice asking him to step forward, even if you are just in his stall. If you've taught him the go forward cue, then ask him to go forward, using your body language and not a whip.
Remember that we just want a few steps, which will tell us that the horse understood the cue. Then, instead of pulling his lead rope to tell him to step forward, you can use body language. With practice, it will look like he's reading your mind.
For the turns, use a fence to help you, but realize you'll have less influence on your horse than if he was in a round pen. When your horse is loose in a pasture, for instance, get him to take one or two steps in the correct direction. Think about how you'd "head him off at the pass" if he had gotten loose and you didn't want him to go down your driveway. You'd look at his nose, and your body language would tell him, "Turn back to the barn." That will earn you an outside turn.
Of course, we don't recommend you turn your horse loose in the driveway. That's just an example to get you thinking. You could approximate that situation in some safe, controlled setting, such as a small corral.
The outside turn is really important for keeping us safe. Imagine yourself trying to bring a horse in from the field, but his buddies all have something to say. That can be a dangerous situation. But if you had developed control of each buddy so you could tell them to turn away-before they got into a crowd-you could keep yourself and the horse you were leading out of trouble.
Or perhaps you're walking in the pasture with a little child. Wouldn't it be great to be able to tell your horse to give you a little more space?
And what about that inside turn? What will that do for you? Plenty. When you're in the barn aisle, how cool would it be to kiss to your horse and have him turn his nose toward you as if to say, "You rang?" How cool would it be to go into the pasture and have the same thing happen, and then to teach him to come to you on cue?
Play with the three signals, remembering to talk specifically to the horse's tail or nose. With just a little consistency, you'll be amazed how much your horse will look to you for direction. It's really fun.
