Hi it’s Josie and today I'd like to talk to you about one of the first exercises I
teach my horses under
saddle and that is a turn on the forehand why do we teach them that we teach them that
for two
reasons one it’s actually a suppling exercise and two it teaches the horse to be obedient
to your
sideways driving aid I teach this when they're fairly green because I need it to be able
to do a leg
yield I need to be able to get bend on a circle the horse needs to learn to give to the sideways
driving aid like any of these exercises when you're starting to do smaller finesse exercises
there is
a chance your horse could misunderstand what you doing or become confused if that happens
to
you I would like you to just throw the reins at the horse literally well I don't mean like
that but if
you're trying to do this and your horse threatens to rear because that's one of the things they
tend
to do when they feel really jammed let go give him a way out so all you need to remember
to do is
if you feel like the horse's thinking about he's a bit confused and is gonna go up you
know that
feeling well if you don't I hope you don’t ever feel it but if you do get the feeling
and I still do to this
day I will make sure I give my horse at least one rein if not both by just putting my hands
forward I
don't literally throw the reins at them I put my hands forward because the horse usually
won't do
that if you doesn't feel trapped ok that’s said how do we do a turn on the forehead turn
on the
forehand the horses are flexed towards the leg you’re moving away from is the easiest
way to
remember it if I’m moving away from my left leg my horse is flexed to the left if the
moving away
from the right leg my horse is flex to the right I want you to try and learn this if
you don't know it
already because it is important for you in your training that inside and outside of horse
has got
absolutely nothing to do with the arena it's to do with which side the horse is flexed
so if he's flex to
the right he should make a slight curve to the right the right becomes the inside it
on this side here
if he is flex to the left the left is the inside so inside and outside always pertains
to a horse has
nothing to do with the arena alright I remember when I used to go arrrrh I don’t get that
you don't
need to get it you just have to make it a rule ok just learn it the aids for the turn
on the forehand the
inside rein gets the flexion on the horse the outside rein makes sure that you don't
get too much
bend in the neck you don't need really any bending the neck you can have a tiny bit to
help the
horse if you need to but that's what the job of the outside rein is I also use my outside
rein in
squeeze release fashion if the horse goes to walk forward my inside leg goes slightly
back so that'll
be the leg we moving away from remember my inside leg go slightly back goes onto the
horse
asks him to move his inside hind leg or the hind leg that’s attached to the same side
as the leg
were moving away from I want him to pick that up and move inside the other hind leg so I’m
going
to pick my reins up here and when I'm on a really green horse he’s not on the bit or
even in a
frame or a shape he can have his nose out there but I don't want them pulling on the
bit I should be
able to touch it just quietly like I am here I'm just touching that bit there and I can
still ask him see
he whoops he gave he bent his neck then so I close my outside finger to ask his neck
to stay
straight so I can flex him and when you want to flex your horse to the inside I'm just
gonna turn this
way a little bit out so I look at my left hand here so it's like this and if I want
Spider to do flexion see
if I'll see what I did I just turned like umm like a key in a lock or I made my new
little finger start to
face my other hand over here so to get flexion if I do that that I've got some flexion straighten
up
I've got some flexion I've got some flexion that's all it takes okay here we go flexion,
left leg slightly
back, right leg is not flapping in the breeze but it’s actually barely touching him so
that it doesn't
give him another aid especially when you beginning to teach your horse if he is green I do actually
take my leg right off a really green horse so that there is no conflicting aid for him
so I’ve got some
flexion left leg and ask him to go over good boy now that was half a step and that wasn't
even in
front of that right hind leg but in the beginning who cares as long as your horse makes a sideways
step even if he shuffles over and the front-end goes in the beginning you've got to start
somewhere
and you've got to be able to reward your horse because that's what teaches him that he’s
doing the
right thing so flexion is still here leg on off on spider can do better than that off
sorry on he’s
thinking this is great he can be a beginner so one step at a time and then reward your
horse flexion
on off on off on off I'm just gonna walk him forward here guys and I'll do it this way
as well so now
we gonna be flexed to the right and the right side becomes the inside so I do it along a
fence here
because it helps take a couple of options away from my horse when I'm teaching them
if you've got
a high fence or a wall you're gonna need to do on the second track so horses the can get
around
without his head being bumped so flexion to the right, leg is back, on off good boy on
off good boy,
flexion, on off good boy on off and when I take my leg off I will often give my outside
rein a take
give to try and stop the horse from walking forward at the same time there is a lot of
timing involved
in these aids and my suggestion to you is go out and play with it don't make it stressful
don’t get
cross with the horse if he can't do it don't get cross with yourself I think this particular
exercise
taught me more about the finesse of my aids than any other exercise I've done so I really
hope you
enjoy it I hope you play with it I'd love you to let me know in the comments how you
went with it
and just remember that it's one of the building blocks of a foundation for the horse to understand
what he needs to do and actually you as a rider to understand how you're aids play with
each other
it’s a very good finesse exercise thanks for watching hope you enjoyed it