How good is your feel?
Can you tell what foot your horse is moving? Better yet, can you ask your horse to move only one foot?
This exercise teaches how to accomplish that task.
Before you start, look down at your horse’s feet to get a feel for his foot position. Then, center yourself in the saddle and place your hands and feet accordingly, and ask your horse to slowly take one step with only the front or the hind end.
You might find that your horse will take more than one step and also moves the other end of his body—this is where feel comes in. You need to be aware of what your horse is preparing to do.
The secret to this exercise is preparing your horse properly and blocking him from going the wrong way.
If your horse moved forward, but took more than the one step you requested, you can block him from going too far forward by drawing him back slightly.
If your horse moved backward but, again, took more than one step, you need to push him forward a little more.
Remember to adjust your cues accordingly based on what the horse is preparing to do. You’ll soon find a balance between too much, or not enough, leg or rein.
“It might take both of my feet to keep the horse from backing, both hands or reins to block forward motion, an inside rein to direct the front end, and an outside leg to bring the hind end—and with every step, I might need to adjust each foot where I want it,” Martin explains.
Often, riders put to much energy into moving the horse then they have trouble shutting the momentum down. When they use the reins to stop the horse, they bounce around between the reins.
It’s important we only ask the horse to get ready to move the foot and, when it leaves the ground, the horse feels relief. Then, the horse can stop the momentum of the foot when it hits the ground.
This exercise is all about how you present a message to your horse and how he interprets the message.
“If he doesn’t deliver the response you want, you need to shut the door he’s trying to go through, and open the door you want him to go through in order to make it more enticing for him to find the right way.”
Forward are the Right Front
As a horse moves diagonally their legs may unload in diagonals. Here the left hind is moving forward and out to the left, while the right front is resetting without traveling far. This is what I refer to as "forward around the right front".
Back around the Left Hind
A quarter turn later the right hind is unloading and right front is just setting down. Now he's transitioning to "back around the left hind".
Positioning
The right hind is unloading to go back and the left front is getting in position to unload and go to the right.
Back and Forward
The right hind is going back and left front getting ready to go forward and to the right.
Forward around the Right Hind
This is the follow through and transitioning into a "forward around the right hind". The shoulders are going forward and to the right while the right hind is preparing to load.
Unload and Loading
The right front is preparing to unload as the right hind is loading.
Forward around the Right Hind
Right front is going forward to the right while the weight is shifting from the left hind to load the right hind and left hind will come "forward around the right hind".
It’s just that easy. And this is a very common turn on a cow, to move the hip over so the shoulders can come through and not crowd the cow and speed it up.
Forward around the right front, then back around the left hind, and finish up with forward around the right hind.
Want more exercises like this? Check out Martin’s Cow-Horse Confidence.
