Need Help at Saddling Time?

{!firstname_fix}, welcome to the January 2008 issue of "Lyons Training 101," written by John Lyons Certified Trainer Keith Hosman.

Does your horse give you the evil eye when you try to tack up? Does the sight of the saddle bring about a fifteen minute dance routine, punctuated by pinned ears and obscenities?

This month's article "Cinchy Horses" fixes all that.

You'll find the article sampled below. To read it in its entirety, simply follow the link provided. If the links don't work or you're not getting the emails properly, scroll to the bottom of this page.

And, don't forget: Two of my downloadable books are available for the grand price of $0
Get a free copy of not one, but two study courses, "Stop Bucking" and "Rein In Your Horse's Speed." Fact is, you can still pay: It's $4.99 for one - but two are free! (There's a small catch.) Find Out How

As always, 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 article: "Cinchy Horses"

Gotcha, Cinchy Horses!

Have you ever seen a film that took place in a prison in which the prisoners didn't have some sort of secret world? Every prison film details the "secret life" the population carries on, the guards (seemingly) oblivious. They've got a whole "underground railroad" thing happening – with goods and services flowing back and forth, even their own currency. (Isn't it always cigarettes?) The underlying current making this all possible, of course, is their secret pipeline of communication, secret signals, informants and couriers, their own unique language. One tap of a tin can means the guard is coming, that sort of thing. The warden locks up for the night, hands the keys to his next-in-charge and goes home to the wife and kids. Meanwhile, prisoners 001 and 3924 are hatching some evil scheme to heist egg noodles from the kitchen.

And if your horse is stabled with one or more equine friend, he's doing the same. (Keeping him in "solitary" has it's own issues. "Cribbing" and "weaving" come to mind.) The very moment your car pulls out of the drive they get down to concocting their mischief. Maybe it's a feed room break in, maybe they're gonna kick a door in, maybe somebody's getting roughed up. One thing is absolutely certain, the older, more experienced horses are spending their evening counseling the others on ways to drive us nuts. "Move right before they put their foot in the stirrup." (Big horse laughs here) "That's a good one." I've got five horses and I know without a doubt that they get together and pass along what works, what doesn't, and how to make me crazy.

It certainly doesn't take them long to learn that a saddle on their backs means they're getting put to work pretty quick – so it's no wonder that so many bad habits develop along this point. They weren't born yesterday: You approaching with a smile on your face, a saddle in one hand and "Riding for Dummies" in the other can only mean one thing: Work. It's no wonder....

keep reading this article

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If some of our emails reach you and some don't, here are some suggestions.

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Here's a sample from Day Two:
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"The snaffle bit is the tool you'll use to do this training most effectively. The reason is simple: The very nature of a shanked or leverage bit causes the horse to stiffen his body from nose to tail. Think of a baseball bat. Rigid and unyielding, right? Shank bits cause our horse to stiffen their bodies in the same way — making training as we've described very difficult because it causes the horse to line up all the bones in his body, one behind the other. He then uses his entire "skeletal structure" to brace against our requests. Why not make this training business a thousand times simpler by using a bit that encourages our horse to stay soft? Snaffle bits enable us to soften one part of the horse at a time; they get your horse to "unlock" and move more fluidly...."

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