Relieve Steering Anxiety: Open a Can of Worms
While many of us are hesitant to "open the can of worms" associated with asking our horse for better directional control, reining horse trainer Craig Johnson assures us that avoiding the problem is not the best solution.
"Some people don't want to move their hands, so they won't have to deal with their horses not responding," he states. "What you have to do is practice it over and over again so that your horse becomes accustomed to being steered.
"The best way to eliminate anxiety within people and horses is to do more of what they have a problem doing. Avoiding a problem isn't fixing it. We need to remember that horses are creatures of habit. And, if we work on changing those undesirable habits, riding will be much more fun in the long run."
As the horse begins to master his responses to the rider's hand cues, Craig will begin cuing him to change direction in more subtle ways. One subtle cue would be taking a leg off him to allow the horse to go a particular direction.
"In other words, if I want my horse to go right, I will move my right foot and leg away from his side slightly, 'opening that door' to go right," Craig explains.
"Another cue might be to slightly turn my head and shoulders in the direction I want him to go. I just keep adding cues I want him to respond to before moving my hand."
At that point, Craig's hand movement becomes the back-up system; he moves his hand only when the horse does not respond to his more subtle cues.
"As long as my horse continues riding toward the spot I've chosen, we just keep going," he adds. "But, if at any time the horse begins to lose that neutral position while I'm riding to that spot, if he starts to veer off that line, then I will steer him in the other direction. Whenever my horse makes a move on his own, I steer him in the opposite direction. If he wants to veer left, I go right. If he wants to veer right, I steer him to the left. If he's leaning toward the gate, I steer him away from the gate."
Practice, Practice, Practice
This successful trainer's daily program involves repeating these exercises on a regular basis to increase and maintain supple directional control. His slogan is: "Clear the mind, move the feet, do it again." By repeating the drills often, he is able to help his horse master the "neutral" state of mind he considers essential to achieving power steering.
"Once you master the wagon-wheel and stop-sign drills," he says, "you can use them anywhere, anytime to practice your steering control."
Craig illustrates his use of repetition during a typical day's training session.
"I move my hand at least one hundred times when I ride a horse, and I expect him to follow. If I were to get on a horse and go into an arena that had been freshly dragged, with no hoof prints in it at all, in about 20 to 30 minutes it would look like a herd of horses had been turned out there. That's what I call good riding-when you steer all over an arena.
"When I'm doing the follow-me exercise, I look around the arena for a spot that doesn't have a footprint yet and I steer toward it. That's being creative. You can do the same thing when you're riding down a trail. Move your horse around instead of letting him just stick to the path. Move him left and right, or do a little weave while you're riding out."
The good news, according to Craig, is that horses have an incredible sense of humor!
"You can do something wrong again and again; but once you do it right, you'll feel the result almost immediately because your horse will respond. A lot of people get hung up on needing to do everything perfect. This isn't a game of perfect. You need to remove the anxiety of whether you're doing something right or wrong," he stresses. "It's a game of fun."
