If your horse has two speeds, stop and bolt, this episode's for you.
To begin your speed control exercise, what I want you to do is to create a yardstick
of sorts in your head.
I want you to move the horse forward and then I want you to bump evenly with both legs asking
the horse to move up into the fastest trot you can get before it will break into a canter
or the lope.
I do not want you to pull back to slow the horse down at any point
in this particular exercise.
Instead, if you need to slow the horse down, I want you to ask with one rein for the horse
to move his hips to the left or to the right.
It's sort of like throwing an anchor out if you're in a boat.
You just want to find a way to slow the horse down.
Pulling back with both reins, at this point, will simply cause the horse to push forward
and ignore your request.
If you want the horse to slow down then, I want you to ask the hips to move to the left
or to the right - or, if you're a more advanced rider, I want you to ask the shoulders to
move to the left or to the right.
You'll trot forward and egg that horse faster - at the trot - until you think he's
just about to break into the canter or the lope.
When you get your horse moving as fast as you believe it will go at the trot before
breaking into the canter, I want you to ask yourself "Just how fast is this horse going?"
Assign a number per hour to it.
If you think the horse is going 14 miles an hour, fine.
Remember that number.
Now, next I want you to ask the horse to trot forward, but I want you to ask the horse to
go as slow as you possibly can.
When you want to slow the horse down in this case, again, ask the hips to move to the left
or the right, or ask the shoulder to move to the left or the right.
Don't pull back evenly with both reins.
Get your horse moving as slowly in that trot as possible and ask yourself "How many miles
an hour is my horse traveling?"
If he's traveling four miles an hour, remember that number.
Once you have an idea of how fast your horse will trot before breaking into the canter,
and how slow your horse can trot before dropping into the walk, then what you need to do is
trot forward twenty feet, and pick one of the numbers between those two extremes, let's
say "six."
Travel forward twenty feet at six miles an hour, turn, and then pick another number within
that range the horse has given you.
Let's say "five miles per hour."
When you need to slow, ask the horse to move his hips or ask the horse to move his shoulders.
Again, don't pull back with both reins.
To speed up, you just kick or bump.
Practice this for twenty minutes.
Travel twenty feet at a particular speed, turn, ask for a different speed within the range.
As you practice this exercise, each time you ask your horse to speed up or slow down, you
are looking for a "noticeable change of leg speed."
What you're going to find, very quickly, is that the horse that had a speed range of,
let's say "four to twelve," will start broadening that range.
You'll start to have millions of colors to paint with, so to speak.
Instead of traveling four to twelve, you'll get three to thirteen.
All you do is travel twenty feet at a speed you pulled from between those two extremes
the horse has given you.
Then you turn, travel another twenty feet at a different speed.
Continue practicing just this for twenty minutes.
Concentrate.
When the twenty minutes are over, then you can stop, get off your horse, take a break
- for twenty minutes - then get back on and practice for another twenty minutes.
If your horse starts to change his gait on his own, or he starts to speed up or slow down
on his own, then what you need to do is take notice of that - and realize that if
the horse is going to change speed in, say, eighteen feet, you need to start changing
your direction and then your speed in sixteen feet.
You need to stay proactive.
When you've practiced this enough, what you will find is that the speed at which the
horse will travel within a particular gait will broaden.
Not only that, but you will find that you have far more control when it comes to naming
the speed you'd like to travel at.
By turning every twenty feet - and by the way, there's nothing magic about twenty feet.
You could pick fifteen feet, you could pick twenty-five feet - whatever's good for you...
But by turning frequently and changing the speed at which you ask the horse to travel,
you're telling the horse "Hey, fourteen miles an hour, ten miles an hour, or four miles
an hour... you don't have to go at that speed forever."
When we tell the horse that you don't have to travel at that speed forever, the horse
doesn't panic.
He realizes that it's a short-term thing and he's far more willing to work with you.
If you practice this exercise, what you will find is that the horse will travel in a greater
range of speeds in any particular gait.
Not only that, but you will also find that you have far greater control over choosing
the speed.
If you want to travel at six miles an hour, you'll travel at six miles an hour.
So, I've given you two exercises today that will build in your horse much more speed control.
First, we learned how to "Steer with the tail."
Trot forward, pick up the left rein, ask the hips to swing way to the right.
Travel forward twenty feet, change direction again, repeat for twenty minutes.
Learning to steer the tail gives you control over the hip; it allows you to change direction;
it allows you to slow the horse; it prepares you for other exercises.
One of which is, the speed control exercise we went over today.
First, get an idea of how fast your horse will travel at a trot, then how slow your
horse will travel at a trot.
Then pick one of the speeds your horse will travel at within the trot - if it goes two
to twenty miles an hour, pick six, pick eight, it doesn't matter, but travel twenty feet
at that speed.
Change direction, pick another speed, ask your horse to travel at that other speed,
and then change direction, change your speed yet again.
So, get out there.
Practice this material.
If you had a horse yesterday that went too slow or too fast, then tomorrow, maybe next
week, you'll be able to choose the rate at which your hors travels and your horse will
stay at that speed for as long as you choose.
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