Hi Jessica, I've only been riding him about 2-3 times a week (regular training level dressage type work, mixed in with some outdoor/trail riding). Lately he has been giving me refusals of the dead-halt-and-back-up-if-leg-pressure type, sometimes with little bitty bucks too. This has so far only occurred 1) when asked to enter the outdoor arena under rider and 2) when asked to pick up again after a break at free walk.

I don't carry a whip when I ride because I find the weight makes my hand bounce a little. Should I carry one anyway until he moves forward when I ask him to with legs alone? Or should I just stay persistent with leg pressure until he goes forward (he will eventually, but I'm not sure I'm winning this battle since he's still refusing)? Might it be that I'm working him too hard at a time for the relatively low frequency at which I ride? I'm a little worried about the backing part. I have to release all rein pressure while using leg pressure, or he backs instead of going forward (with no rein contact he stays halted). So far he'll stop when I stop using my legs (as opposed to continuing to back).

It has been a couple of months since I've had a lesson, and I'm so far from my instructor now it's difficult to get her out on a regular basis (so she hasn't seen this yet, but I hope to ask her real soon too).

TIA,

--Sandra

Hi Sandra!

I'm not sure that this is truly a big problem -- I'm sure that your instructor could help you through this in the course of ONE lesson. But since she isn't there, I'll try to talk you through it from here.

I'll talk about the whip at the end of this note -- but first, let's be sure that you are using your aids correctly. Sometimes horses will do things that we ASK them to do, even though we really WANT them to do something else -- so we need to be sure that we know exactly what we are asking.

When you ask for a halt, you should be riding your horse forward into a fixed hand. "Fixed" doesn't mean "pulling" -- it just means that when your elbows come back to your sides, they stay there, and your arms no longer move with the horse. Once your horse halts, your legs should relax too, and your fingers should relax from a tight fist to a soft one. Nothing else should change -- you should still be sitting up and looking over your horse's ears. If you ask for a halt and your horse stops, but you forget to relax your legs and hands, he will begin to back -- not because he is resistant, but because he is obedient, and that's exactly what you have asked him to do. It may help if you take a deep breath as you ask for the halt, then exhale completely as he halts. Breathing OUT can remind you to relax your legs, seat, and hands.

From what you've described, it sounds to me as though your horse is doing exactly what you've asked -- stop, and then back! The fact that he stands still when you release the pressure on his sides and mouth means that he IS listening to you.

When you signal your horse to walk forward from a halt, there are two things you should think about. The first is that your leg aids should be a quiet, brief squeeze, not a kick -- and not a long, drawn-out squeeze, or constant leg pressure. You have to ask, back off, and give him a chance to respond. If he doesn't respond, you have to ask again -- with the same squeeze-and-relax movement of the legs. If he doesn't respond the second time, follow it up INSTANTLY with a sharp smack with the whip behind your leg. Be ready in case you need to do this -- have your whip in your hand and your reins bridged in your other hand. If he leaps forward when you smack him, push your rein hand forward too, so that you don't catch him in the mouth with the bit. If you ask him to go forward, he shouldn't be punished for obeying, even if he leaps into a canter.

The second thing that you need to think about is that he won't want to go forward unless there is somewhere for him to go. When you want him to halt, you don't allow your arms to follow his motion. When you want him to back, you keep that steady contact, and squeeze your fingers once for each stride back that you want. When what you want is FORWARD motion, are you remembering to GIVE with your arms, so that your horse can reach forward? When you ask for that first step from halt into walk, you must relax your hands and arms forward, so that your horse can move off. To begin walking, he must reach down and forward with his head and neck -- and if you give with your arms while you ask with your legs, he will understand that you want him to move forward. If your legs say "go" while your hands say "no", he will do what he thinks you want him to do -- walk backward!

If you practice these things and find that he truly is NOT listening to your legs, and ignores the leg aids unless you back them up with the whip, then I think that you may need to carry a whip for a while, so that you can use it to reinforce your leg aids. I understand what you mean about your hand position deteriorating if you carry a whip -- it's a common problem. But if you can put your whip down in your boot, or down the back of your riding pants (I know, it sounds silly, but it really does keep it out of your way until you need it), it won't bother you as much to carry it. And once your horse understands the lesson, you may not have to carry it at all. The idea is that you use the whip to reinforce the leg aid, so that the horse learns to listen to the leg aid, at which point the whip is no longer necessary. So don't worry, using it as a training aid doesn't mean that you will have to use it forever, or even for very long. But if you squeeze and then squeeze harder and then kick, or squeeze and keep squeezing and never stop, you won't make yourself clear, and you WILL make your horse uncomfortable and resentful. And you'll make yourself frustrated and tired...

And since you're teaching your horse something, and learning something yourself, but it's all YOUR idea really, try to keep smiling and saying "please" and "thank you" to your horse. It really does help your riding -- it's hard to be angry and pull or kick if you're saying "please back" and "thank you, that was nice" instead of "BACK!" and "FINALLY! WHY DIDN'T YOU DO THAT BEFORE!"

Good luck!

Jessica

Back to top.

Jessica Jahiel's HORSE-SENSE is a free, subscriber-supported electronic Q&A email newsletter which deals with all aspects of horses, their management, riding, and training. For more information, please visit www.horse-sense.org

Please visit Jessica Jahiel: Holistic Horsemanship® [www.jessicajahiel.com] for more information on Jessica Jahiel's clinics, video lessons, phone consultations, books, articles, columns, and expert witness and litigation consultant services.