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Welcome to the February 2007 issue of "Lyons Training 101," written by Josh Lyons (John's son) and John Lyons Certified Trainer Keith Hosman.
Last month we covered a classic Lyons exercise "Three Step Stop." Among other things, that exercise helps install terrific brakes on your horse. The "brake theme" has since proven so popular that we've included a companion piece within this month's issue entitled "Hurry Up and Stop." You'll also find a simple (and effective) tip for getting a speedier, resistance-free back up.
This month's easy, step-by-step horse training articles:
• get your horse to "hurry up and stop"
• simple tips for a great back up
Both step-by-step horse training articles are sampled below. To read each in its entirety, simply follow the links provided. (And remember, our earlier issues can be found twenty-four/seven at Horsemanship101.com/Articles.)
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Have you ever trained your dog to sit? What did you say to your dog after you told it to sit? You probably told it to "stay." Why did you do that? If the dog sits, he has to stay. In the same respect, I don't have a "stop" on my horse. I only have a "go" and a "back."
Now, I may only want the horse to stop – but in his mind he should be thinking "back up." If I were to ride forward and then stop – and then apply more pressure to the rein to back up, then I'm teaching three cues there. One "go," two "stop," three "back up." So in effect what I'd be doing is telling the horse "Four pounds of pressure on the rein means stop, six pounds means back up."
So, if I really want to make my stops quicker, I only teach "go" and "back up." Now, for you reiners, I'm not talking about how to lengthen the slide here – I'm talking about getting a quicker, more responsive stop. I'm teaching the horse that when I say stop that means stop.
My goal is to take away any hesitation time, with no pause between moving forward then moving backward. I work on "go" then "back up," "go," then "back up." Tip: Only work on this for about 10 or 15 minutes at a time. If you work too much on this the horse gets tired and it gets to be too much.
keep reading "Hurry Up and Stop" |
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When you're teaching your horse to back up, remember that the farther you back up, the worse your back up gets. Think of it this way: If you want your horse to quiet down at a lope, you lope him, right? The longer you lope, the quieter the horse gets. And, yes, if you do this a lot, they'll get stronger and be able to go longer – but they will have learned to relax as long as you leave them alone as you ride and don't give them a reason to get more nervous....
read the rest of "Get Your Back Up" |
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Our Newsletter
Comes out monthly - & covers lessons taught in our clinics.
Here's a sample from
"Snaffle Bits vs Shank Bits"
"The snaffle bit allows me to work his head side to side and get him to begin to utilize his neck. The difference is that, with a snaffle bit, if I pick up the reins and I putt ten pounds of pressure on the rein, that's exactly what the horse feels, ten pounds of pressure. It's pound for pound. If I pull a pound here he feels a pound there. With a leverage bit, if I pull 1 pound he feels 10 pounds down there. That's a big difference. When I train my horses, I'm always using a snaffle bit. Do I ever ride in a shank bit? Yes, because I show my horses and when I show it's required.
"What a leverage bit does is give me the feeling of having more control than I actually have. But it doesn't. The leverage (or shanked) bit doesn't give me any more control than any other bit."
Our articles are online and available 24/7 |
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