MATT MILLS: HI, I'm Team SmartPak Rider Matt Mills,
and on this episode of Ask A Trainer,
I'll be answering a question from Kelly. She wants to know,
“How do you teach an older horse to neck rein?”
That is a question that could take a long
time to answer.
I'm just going to give you a couple of bullet
points to think about.
I'm using old Smokey here to demonstrate.
So in order to get a horse to neck rein,
number one you've got to have a gas pedal.
You've got to be able to move that horse forward.
So if I asked my horse to move off
he's got to be able to do that.
The second thing that I think you need to have before
you can even ask to neck rein is I think
you should have your horse to where their
soft from side to side.
So if I pull the right rein he gives to that pressure
and is able to keep that forward motion that I talked about.
Then also same way —
same thing I should be able to bend him over the other
direction just as well.
Once I have those two things where I can go forward
and bend the horse from side to side then it's just
a matter of repetition.
Then all I'm going to do is start to initiate
that turn of that horse moving his shoulders with the neck
rein and then if he does not move,
I'm gonna go back to getting that forward motion.
I'll maintain my pressure with the neck rein.
If the horse looks the opposite direction,
I'll just remind them by pulling his nose
to the inside secondary and then release pressure
when the horse moves his shoulder.
Do it in that order. So forward motion,
asks for the neck rein.
If he moves over like he did right there,
I'll release and keep moving forward.
Now in the beginning I might only get like a quarter inch
or maybe a foot of actual movement. That's OK.
Release when that horse does that.
Try to get something that you can repeat.
So going forward move the neck rein on his neck.
If he doesn't respond I'm going to use my
legs till he moves over.
If he looks the wrong way I'll remind with an inside rein.
The minute that he gives, I release.
Now once I have it down where I can do this in two
hands effortlessly,
then it's just refining the cue back down to one hand.
So now it's going to be the exact same thing.
My forward motion which is key, lay that rein on the neck.
The horse moves over I release. It's that easy. Now,
I know we made it look look you know I made it look pretty
darn simple on old Smokey here.
He's a seasoned reining horse but it really
is that easy.
I'll tell you what I see most with with horses
that don't neck rein well,
typically they don't move forward.
If I can't get my car to move it's really hard to steer.
Think about it that way.
A car that's moving a little easier to guide.
So think about those three things. Number one,
make sure that horse is going forward freely.
That means not having to beg them. Number two,
that that horse can bend from side to side laterally
left and right doesn't have to be perfect just a little bit.
And then that last thing is adding the two
together actually putting the neck rein on the horse.
They look the wrong way, bump that nose to the inside.
Soon as that horse makes a move over release.
Start tracking — "okay, he moved over about a foot."
Start trying to get that 10, 15 times in a row.
Then through practice,
you'll start to be able to get more and more
and more and then ultimately you can refine it down
to one hand. You do that for you know 60,
90 days you'll have a horse that guides
around really really well. One hand neck reins around.
All it takes is practice. I hope that helps you.