Extra Benefits of Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder
Having a horse who will back up smoothly and easily is our primary goal here. But you'll also reap a number of benefits from working on "hip, shoulder, shoulder" (or even just the "hip" part of the maneuver). This training can help you:
• Get control of your horse when he shies
• Slow a horse who wants to travel too fast
• Preempt a possible bucking or bolting situation
• Change directions with a horse who's hard to steer
• Teach your horse to be softer to rein pressure
• Achieve a turn on the forehand, moving on the diagonal, and beginning a side pass
• Set up a horse to take the correct lead
When you practice the hips-over cue, resist the temptation to put too much of your body into it. Some riders work hard with their bodies, shifting their weight, involving their legs, leaning this way and that. Just sit tall in the saddle and let your horse make the movements.
When you're confident that you can move his hindquarters with either rein, you can proceed to the "shoulder, shoulder" part. With your horse moving forward, pick up your left rein and cue him to move his hips over to the right. As he does, he'll pivot on his left front foot. As before, release the rein when he swings his hindquarters over. But this time, wait one second, pick up the left rein again, and hold light tension on it.
As you hold the rein, your horse may lean back, or he might take a step back. Release the rein to let him know he's on the right track, even if he doesn't take an actual step backward.
It may not work perfectly at the beginning. Initially, your horse might turn his head to the left. If so, raise the rein so that it's about a third of the way down his neck (try not to release the rein when you do this) to keep his nose pointed forward. If you feel like you're getting confused, forget the exercise for a few minutes and ride the horse at a brisk walk. Then you can resume working.
Keep practicing this exercise and rewarding your horse for leaning. At some point, he'll find it easy to step back. When this happens, release the rein and let it stay released for about 10 seconds. This will give the horse a little extra time to think about what happened. Resume your practice for another five minutes or so, and then switch to the other side.
Leaving Out the Hips Part
Once your horse realizes that he's going to get a release when he moves backward during the "shoulder, shoulder" phase, he may decide to streamline the process. Instead of moving his hips over when you take the slack out of the rein, he may just pause and begin to move backward. When that happens, reward him. Let him work through the process again and remember to concentrate on what you want now-those backward steps!
As you practice, the horse will learn the pattern: hips over, pause; back, back. There's a rhythm to it. He'll also discover that when you're thinking about having him back, you inadvertently sit slightly differently than you do when you just want his hips to move over. Don't make any conscious changes in your position or body language. The horse will figure it out.
Practice using each rein separately, being very specific about each part of the movement. Try to use increasingly light pressure on the rein to get the same response. When you've taught each rein separately and your horse steps back without moving his hips first, you can ask him to back using both reins. By having taught each rein separately, you can be precise about how you want him to back up-a helpful skill on a narrow trail.
