Voices

• B M
• Candice M

Do you do this?

Alright well I was reading an article(nothing new haha)Im sure most of you do this:your horse is being a little lazy so you squeeze your legs and they move forward only a little so you decide to put on spurs and it becomes a vicious cycle.Basically what im trying to say is ditch the spurs and get your horse sensitive to your leg…now im a fan of George Morris but I do not agree with his widely accepted method of giving your horse a smack with the crop if they are dead to the leg, this is just you punishing the horse for your lack of knowledge.so how to get your horse sensitive to the leg…you need to apply a LITTLE leg and then if your horse moves forward even a LITTLE praise him and ask for a bit more then praise him again this takes time so be prepared to dedicate a lesson or to to this until it is accomplished and then back off…getting your horse sensistive to the leg teaches them that going forward can be pleasnt and not just a hard squeeze which is unpleasent for a horse and over time they will associate going forward with a bad(unpleasent)experience which will make them reluctant to go forward to having them sensitive to the leg is WAY more pleasent and as we all know the more pleasent we make something for a horse the more willing they will be and the more they will enjoy their job which makes for a happier,healthier horse who preforms better.

Horses learn from the release of pressure, so you don’t necessarily have to praise the horse when he goes forward, but at least take your leg off. The horse shouldn’t need to be praised for going forward unless it’s a horse just started under saddle that has no confidence and needs to know what to do. A horse that’s just dead to your leg knows what to do though, and is choosing not to do it. The pleasant part of going forward comes from the face that your legs are no longer squeezing the horse.
I agree, a horse needs to be sensitive to leg pressure so that all it takes is a little squeeze. Personally, I would squeeze, and if I got no response, bump, if I got no response, kick, no response then I’d move to spurs or crop. Eventually you can ditch those, but they are helpful aids for a lazy horse, and if you use them properly, they are not mean, but they are useful tools and eventually you can lose them, but they may be necessary to use in a means of getting to that point. But if you start at the lowest pressure, which is a squeeze, and increase it steadily, the horse will gradually need less and less pressure to move forward, until he realizes that when you squeeze, he’d better move.

Thanks for the imput but i personally dont believe in spurs or crops as a substitute for laziness…my method takes more time but in the end it has better results…=]] i also dont agree that a horse knows wat to do and is just choosing to not do it…horses arent like humans and they dont just do things “because” there will always be a reason and a horse tht is dead to ur leg is doing it because they are simply reacting to ur unsteady leg…thats just my opinion though =]]