Learning to Ride a Horse

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"Speed Up Your Slow Horse," Issue 5, part 3 of our FREE monthly newsletter

From our How to Break a Horse Series:

"The fix for the lazy horse can be done while doing any riding exercise. The first thing that makes a horse responsive or lighter is having a clear cue. A cue is something that you ask the horse and can get the horse to do. That means a cue to stop will be picking up the reins. That would be a cue to stop. A pre-cue is something you do before the cue. A pre-cue is "ho." If I go forward and I say "ho," and he doesn't stop, I'm going to say "ho" and pick up the reins to say "That meant stop." So pretty soon, when I go forward and I say "ho" the horse stops. So a pre-cue is something you do before a cue that makes a horse lighter and more responsive. It's the same thing with your legs. What do you do before you use your legs? You sit forward, pick up the reins, kiss to them. But what's the first that you do before you squeeze or kick your horse? You take your legs out. You take your legs out, then you bring them together. So practice that. Practice taking your legs off and if he doesn't move, then tell the horse "Hey, that meant move" with a kick. And when you bring them together, be prepared to kick them until something happens. So practice that and pretty soon, when you take your legs away from the horse's side (as if to kick), that'll mean "move forward." So I'm not using my legs to keep kicking my horse. Practice this and remember, when you bring them together, bring them together hard enough to get a change of leg speed. If you kick him and you just kick him to keep him going, then…"

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Lyons Training 101 Issue Number:  Five If Your Horse Ain't Broke - Fix It! written by Josh Lyons & Keith Hosman

Issue Five, Part 1 of 4

Your Horse Is Going To Spook -
Are You Ready?

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It's not a matter of "if" your horse spooks, it's "when." It's not a matter of how broke your horse is. Sooner or later it will see something that makes it spook. You can't control your environment so you can't blame your environment. If somebody comes up and throws something at your horse or drops something in front of your horse, and your horse spooks and you get bucked off, it's not their fault and it's not the horse's fault. The first thing you do may be to blame that person – but it's not their fault that your horse bolted or spooked. It has nothing to do with them. It has to do with the fact that you lost control of your horse. It's your fault. Because if you put your safety in their hands, you're guaranteed to get hurt. It's your responsibility to train and ride your horse correctly. Too many things can happen.

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People who don't know anything about horses may come around your horse. Your horse has to be trained to keep them safe. Other riders will do things around your horse that doesn't bother their horses. Maybe they're not bothered by things coming up suddenly behind them or hitting their horse. They'll do things that they and their horses are used to – without a thought to whether your horse is "used to" it or not. Their horses is broke to this kind of stuff and they'll assume yours is too. But when all of a sudden something happens to scare your horse you can't blame them after you went and placed your safety in their hands. It's your job, your responsibility to make sure that you have control of your horse no matter what somebody else does around your horse. It's your safety, don't ever put it in somebody else's hands, because I promise you you'll get hurt.

End of Issue Five, Part 1

Read previous article: Make Your Horse Stop

Read next article: Slowing Your Horse

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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.

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