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If this newsletter looks odd or the links don't work, go to this page: Horsemanship101.com/Newsletter and scroll down to Issue Number 12.
Welcome to the July 2007 issue of "Lyons Training 101," written by Josh Lyons (John's son) and John Lyons Certified Trainer Keith Hosman.
Got an explosive horse? Here's a switch: While most of our articles explain what you ought to do - our first article this month explains exactly what NOT to do when riding a bucking, bolting or rearing horse.
Article number two is a simple compilation of five tips. They'll take just a minute to read - but they'll change your riding for good.
You'll find both articles sampled below. To read each in its entirety, simply follow the link provided. If the links don't work or you're not getting our emails properly, scroll to the bottom of this page.
And remember, prior issues can be found 24/7 at Horsemanship101.com/Articles. Most can be printed out and saved for easy access later.
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Jump directly to the articles:
1) What Not To Do When Your Horse Bucks or Rears. (And what to do when it does.)
2) Horse Riding Tips: Nervous riders, pinned ears, motivating the jumpy horse, and horses that would rather rear than give
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Read the following to understand why your very health depends on the work you do before you ever hit the trail — and to find out what not to do when your horse blows up.
Have you heard people offer advice about “emergency dismounts,” that is, how to get off your horse when it begins to bolt or buck? Well, keep this in mind: It's not staying on the horse that gets you hurt. It's the getting off part, the sudden impact with the ground. Ask any rodeo bronc rider: When did you get hurt? When you were in the saddle — or when you hit the ground?
You want to stop a buck, bolt or rear before it ever happens. You stop it before it happens by gaining control. You gain control by practicing exercises that give you finer control of the hindquarters, better back ups, stops or turns to the left or to the right. Every day keep expecting more and keep after your horse to improve. Work to a point where you know that if he “messes up,” (he startles or jumps or bucks) that you will have built in enough control that it's now something you can handle.
Your job right now, today, is to start making sure that you have that control.
Begin seeing the exercises you do not as an end in themselves, but as tests. Can your horse stop exactly there at that rock or turn precisely at the second cone? It's not (you) knowing a lot of exercises that's important — it's having exact control over your horse's body parts throughout the exercises. If you're doing an exercise that calls for a halt at a certain point, and your horse misses by three steps, then it's telling you that you don't have the control you need of a certain body part. Practice until you can stop when and how you say. Passing that test is your proof that you have control — and that's what staying safe later (when things get hairy) is all about....
keep reading this article
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"The Horse Behavior Problem Solver" by Jessica Jahiel
Trailering, catching, leading, spooking, buddy sour, fear, tying, moving while the rider mounts, mares, foals, stallions and much more....
Shop online
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1) Question: My horse lays his ears back and acts like he's going to bite another horse. He does it while we're just standing and even while we're moving. What do I do?
Answer: Your horse has too much time to think about other horses. The solution is to pick up the rein and get moving. Speed them up, slow them down. Changing their speed a lot gets their mind back on you rather than getting into trouble.
2) Are you trying to ride an uppity horse through a two-handed exercise and you just can't seem to get the horse's head into position? Try applying pressure to just one rein (the inside rein) and offset the horse's head to the side. Then slowly add pressure to the second rein to bring the head down. The "inside rein" is simply the first rein you would naturally pick up to do the maneuver. It's the same for a horse you feel might rear: Pulling the rein off to the side causes the horse to feel a lot less pressure, encouraging him to bend his neck and give. Pulling straight back, against his entire "lined-up" skeletal structure, is just asking for trouble with a horse that isn't trained to give. Pulling straight back in such a situation only encourages him to thrust his head forward and to perhaps rear. You may need to begin by picking up that inside rein and releasing when you get any kind of softening, repeating this over and over till the horse has become more obliging.
3) Owning a horse is like being married. Your horse is loaded with emotions and, like both husband and wife, it has good days and bad days. Some days you look in the stall and you just know you shouldn't go in. Other days are just great. The point here is that once you get your horse trained, it's not over. It's a constant thing to keep a healthy relationship, to keep them trained and tuned up. You'll best achieve this by being consistent in all facets of your training.
keep reading this article
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Our Newsletter
Comes out monthly & covers lessons taught in our clinics.
Here's a sample of
"How Do I Get My Horse's Attention?"
"Horse trainer or not, I could walk by my horse all day and he doesn't have to even recognize that I'm here – and it would be a waste of my time to ask him to do anything. But if I took a stick and started poking him, then all of a sudden it becomes a whole lot more important to the horse that “I'm here.”
When you ask a horse to do something, a lot of other things are going to draw his attention and it's important that you become more important, no matter what it takes. As the trainer, the horse has to fully recognize that you're there. That's important, otherwise, you can't get to the next step: You can't get him to respond in a certain way.
You've all heard that you want to get your horse's attention first. That's nonsense. We don't care about the horse's attention; we really don't. When I ride, I don't expect the horse to think about me before he does something. Have you ever been on the trail with your horse when he did everything you wanted him to do? What were you doing? You were looking around, talking to people, enjoying the ride. Did you care for even one moment what your horse was thinking? No, you didn't, because he was doing exactly what you were asking him to do. You didn't care what he was thinking because there he was, walking down the trail, turning right when you asked him to turn right, stopping when you asked him to stop. You didn't care at all what he was thinking. You care when the horse either does – or does not – stop when you ask him to stop or turn when you ask him to turn. Getting his attention is a bi-product of training, of improving his performance. The better your horse stops or turns when you ride out on the trail, for instance, the more of his attention you get and the more control you have.
When you first go out to ride, you're not going to have your horse's attention. Your horse is going to be looking at all the other horses and looking around the arena or objects on the trail. You're not going to have any "attention" whatsoever. We don't need his attention; all we ask is his performance. We need him to turn right when we ask him to turn right and to turn left when we ask him to turn left. As you ride, concentrate on making those turns better because, again, as the turns get better you'll get more "attention."
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