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John Lyons Training
Issue One: Get Control of Your Horse
featured exercise: "Steer the Tail"
written by Josh Lyons and Keith Hosman |
Issue Number One (cont'd):
• Part 3: An Exercise For When You Can't Ride: Teach Yourself What A Give Really Feels Like
- part 3 - An Exercise For When You Can't Ride:
Teach Yourself What a "Give" Feels Like
To train your horse correctly you first need to know what a "give" feels like. To do this you have to raise your expectations. A horse can only ever be as good as we expect it to be.
Take your halter attached to your lead rope and throw the halter portion away from you onto the ground. Throughout this exercise imagine yourself on your horse's back: You're going to pretend like you are riding. Take your left hand and hold the lead rope as if it's the left rein. Pull the halter slowly toward yourself.
Concentrate. Feel how much pressure it takes to bring that rope toward you. You should feel on your pinky how many ounces it takes. Throw it back out and do it again. This time close your eyes and really concentrate. If you get this lesson, horse training gets a whole lot easier. Really focus on what it feels like. How many ounces is it taking to bring that halter back to you? Think of a specific number. How many pounds? How many ounces? One or two? 5 pounds or 5 ounces?
How would you like your horse to be that soft? A pound or two doesn't seem so bad, does it? Actually, it's terrible. Having to put a pound or two of pressure on the rein to get it to "come back to you" is just terrible. Take the halter off the lead rope now and throw the rope back out, snap end first.
Do the same thing, drag the snap back to you. How does that feel? It feels pretty light, right? You feel a big difference. But that's still terrible. Now take the lead rope and throw the opposite end out, the end without the snap. That feels really light. It feels like nothing. It's still terrible.
The reason it's terrible is because when the horse really gives to you, there is no pull, zero. And it's not just neutral that you feel, but energy and movement coming back to you.
Now take the snap end of the lead rope and throw it back out. When it hits the ground, add as much pressure as you can to the rope – without moving the snap. Now a "give" is when you feel energy come up that rope. You don't pull back, you wait until energy comes up that rope. You feel energy come up that rope, and you let go. That's what you're waiting to feel when you're riding. You'll put pressure on your horse and when you feel energy come back to you, when you see a loop in that rein, that's when you let it go.
To make my point, think of it this way: When you reach to shake somebody's hand, what's the first thing the other person does after you put your hand out? They put their hand out. What if you asked somebody to raise your arm, to raise it up and down, away from your side – but you resisted? Is the exercise tough? The exercise itself isn't tough. The "toughness" is caused by the resistance. The exercise is easy. Keep that in mind when you begin an exercise: your horse is going to be stiff.
- end of part 3 -
Issue Number One (cont'd):
• Part 3: An Exercise For When You Can't Ride: Teach Yourself What A Give Really Feels Like
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*** Disclaimer: Equine training can be a hazardous activity which may subject the participants to possible serious injury. Keith Hosman, Josh Lyons, Patrick Benson and their associates will not assume any liability for your activities. Our newsletter, books and videos provide general information, instruction and techniques that may not be suitable for everyone. No warranty is given regarding the suitability of this information, the instructions, and techniques to you or other individuals acting under your instructions.
This newsletter was written by Josh Lyons and Keith Hosman.
All Rights Reserved (TM) 2006, Keith Hosman and Josh Lyons
No part of this website or our newsletter(s) may be reproduced without our express written permission.
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Attend a clinic with Certified John Lyons Trainer Keith Hosman and make big changes in your horse. Click here for one near you.
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Lyons Fact #475:
Training is just four things: motivator, spot, direction, reward.
Lyons Fact #110:
Our job is to create a motivator that tells the horse to quit his job and come work for us.
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Lyons Fact #59:
We don't need a horse's attention; we need his performance.
Lyons Fact #967:
What makes training hard is when you let everything else interfere: other people, other horses, noises, moving objects, etcetera. |
