(whimsical music)
- Today we're gonna be talking
about teaching turn on the forehand.
This is a wonderful basic movement that has many benefits.
It helps us to be able to increase
our horse's strength and flexibility,
and keeps us safe in the instance where a horse may spook
giving us control over the hind end,
and it lays a solid foundation
to later build into lateral work.
This is Bouncer and I'm gonna be working with him today.
He is new to this exercise
so I thought he would be a great horse to show you a horse
that is learning this process.
And he's also normally works in a pitless bridle,
so I thought it'd be great to show a horse that works in
some different equipment as well.
So let's take a look at our goal.
Here I have an example of me riding Legend.
I'm gonna be moving him off of my right leg here
going to the left and he's pivoting on his right front leg,
keeping nice forward energy in this movement.
So I like to teach turn on the forehand in two phases.
The first phase is on the rail,
and that just sets my horses up for success
and helps them to be able to understand this concept
of moving away from my leg pressure.
And then in the second phase,
we're gonna work on the fluidity of this movement,
getting it softer and more forward.
So I'm going to take Bouncer through this first phase
and we'll see how he does.
This is Bouncer on the first day
I was working on the exercise.
So I'm gonna take him off the rail here,
turn his nose back towards it,
and move him off of my left leg and left seat bone.
He's gonna step his hind end around,
and then I'm gonna ride him forward again.
So right here he gets a little tense and breaks to the trot
and I just bring him down to the walk.
Let's take a closer look at this movement.
So here I'm moving Bouncer off of my right seat bone,
closing my right leg,
picking up my right rein and keeping my left hand down.
Bouncer's gonna step that right hind
away from that right seat bone and leg,
and then I'm gonna walk him forward by closing both my legs.
This is the second day of doing this exercise
and I just wanna show you how each one of our horses
has a side that's going to be easier for them
and a side that can be more difficult.
So Bouncer has more difficult side is the right side,
and you can see I was a little bit sticky moving off
of my right leg here.
So I'm gonna walk him forward.
And if you look at him going to the left,
so here I'm gonna move him off my left leg,
you can see how much smoother his movement
is off the left leg.
So I just Worked with him on this until
we got to this place where he could step off
of my right leg more easily.
So I worked with Bouncer on the rail to get him
to this place where his movement was more smooth
and more fluid on the rail.
And then I took him off the rail and worked on this exercise
without the support of the wall.
And it's a little bit sticky and tight.
So he's responding to my leg.
He's moving away and doing the right thing
but he's a little bit stiff in the movement.
So how do we get this movement to the place where Legend is,
where it's more smooth and there's more forward energy.
I'm gonna be showing you in the second phase
how to improve this turn on the forehand
and get it more forward.
As I start this exercise I'm riding Bouncer to the right
and moving him off of my right leg.
The purpose of this exercise is to increase flexibility
of the inside hind leg.
So in this case that would be the right hind leg
as you can see here.
Every time Bouncer does the movement
he has to cross his right hind leg over his left,
and then bear weight down into it to push forward again.
This is helping to increase that flexibility
and fluidity of this movement.
So here's a diagram of the movement.
I'm riding a square going all one direction.
So I just went to the right
and now I'm gonna be taking Bouncer to the left.
So we wanna work our horses on each side so that they
develop a symmetry and even flexibility on both hind legs.
So here I'm riding him to the left
and just working on the same exercise.
Bouncer did a great job in working on this exercise
with me today.
Remember that when you're first teaching this to a new horse
to really be patient and take your time.
It might take them a couple of sessions
and it might take them more like five or six.
But whatever it takes them to learn it,
reward those little tiny tries and let them build slowly
into a place where they are more fluid.
That fluidity kind of comes with flexibility
and with practice so be patient with your horses
as you work on this.
As a rider you want to stay nice and straight
through this movement.
So you want to be careful not to lean too much
into the direction you're moving your horse away from.
And one thing that's helped me with this,
if you're not sure if you're leaning
you can have someone video you from the ground
and that can be a big help in improving your position.
So have a wonderful week,
enjoy your horses and I'll see you in the next video.
(whimsical music)