Level 2/3 Stage 4
On Line
Keep improving skills from Stage 2 and 3
Test yourself: Some Challenges and Tasks
Liberty
Keep improving
Circling Game at Liberty
FreeStyle Riding
The Impulsion Programs
Stage 4
On Line Skills
Practice to improve
Now that you are working on the 22′ line, you’ll need to keep practicing your 7 Games and the new tasks given to you:
- 22′ Line Games 4,5,6,7
- Changing Directions at the trot on the circle & being able to stay within 3 feet of your center mark when making the change and them returning to the same centre mark
- Leading by the front leg
Then, start using your imagination to expand the things you can do and to test your effectiveness and accuracy, its like giving them a purpose.
Try these challenges:
- Yo Yo Challenge:
- Put two cones (or buckets) on the ground 6 feet apart. Make a line with pole, rope or by speeding chalk on the ground approx. 18 feet from the buckets (put 12′ line and 6′ string end to end to measure this!). Without crossing the line with your feet, see if you can back your horse through the cones and bring him back to you. Progressively advance until you can get it down to 2 to 3 feet between the cones. Test your accuracy!
- Back your horse down or up small hills and bring him back to you…straight! To test the straightness lay some ropes or poles on the ground to make a lane to stay inside of.
- Back your horse in and out of stalls, wash rack, roping boxes, bucking chutes, race barriers… anything that looks like it could be useful for developing you and your horse’s skills!
- Back over a pole on the ground. Then progress to bigger logs, up and down a single step, etc. Then put buckets or comes out to test the straightness-accuracy quotient!
2. Circling Challenges:
- Set up a small jump, 1 to 2 feet in height by resting a pole on some barrels lying on their side. Place a chair 15 feet from the end of the jump with its back to the jump. See if you can send your horse in a circle to the right, have him jump the jump without you turning and looking (!) twice and then bring him back to you.
If you’re having trouble, put the jump pole on the ground and work it up from there as your horse’s confidence grows. If he stops, you need to go back to the Circling Game principle and ensure that the “Allow” involving responsibility numbers 2 and 3 (don’t change gaits, don’t change directions) is solid.
- Try more than one jump, different heights and styles.
- Try uneven ground and see if your horse can maintain the walk or the trot despite the ups and downs.
- Put some markers out that your horse needs to pass while on the circle. See if you can cause a walk or trot to happen between markers set apart at a distance of 12 feet. Then reduce and reduce the distance as you get better. Work on getting as accurate as possible.
3. Sideways Challenges:
- Place two markers on the ground 22 feet apart with 22′ line stretched between them and another rope parallel to it 18 feet away. Send your horse sideways down this “lane” without him crossing either of the lines. When you can do this well, make the lane 12 feet wide!
- Walk you horse sideways while straddling a pole with his front feet on one side and his hind feet on the other.
- Try walking with him playing the porcupine Game to do this
- Then progress to Driving Game…
- and finally to Sideways and keeping him 12 feet in front of you. (If you find your horse wanting to drift forward, remember the Backwards & Over principle!)
4. Squeeze Challenges
- See if you can send your horse into the trailer by keeping your foot on a mark that’s between 12 and 18 feet from your trailer!
- Try sitting on the fender and loading your horse!
Be able to do these from both sides
Other squeeze challenges could involve making lanes out of poles and logs and seeing if you can send your horse in and out of them, even backing out sometimes.
- Squeeze your horse over jumps of all shapes and sizes (not too big yet!) and on gentle up and downhill slopes.
- Squeeze your horse over barrels. Start with three and see it you can get it down to two and them just a single barrel!
Summary
Practice your new tasks on the ground.
22′ Line, Games 4,5,6,7; Changing directions at the trot; Leading by the foreleg.
Start using some imagination to think of things to do with your horse that challenge his respect and response and also give him a purpose.
Stage 4
Liberty
Keep improving your Liberty Savvy every chance you get. You might start doing some every time before you ride. Other days you might practice only Liberty skills and nothing else in your education session with your horse.
- Try to do more and more without touching your horse in the Diving Game. Go longer distances froward, backwards, turning, yielding hindquarters, forward. Start Stretching and testing the boundaries.
- Keep improving the Catching Game, As it gets better you can try it in increasingly bigger areas.
- Work on the Don’t Change Gaits, Don’t Change Directions principles more and more… and at the walk, trot and canter now. (Note: if your horse is having trouble at the canter, wait for a week and two and try it again. Usually it’s a confidence problem first and a respect problem second. Give your horse the benefit of the doubt. Help him to find his way there.
Don’t Change Gaits remember tips
- While your horse is doing what you want, be in the centre of the corral, totally at ease, leg cocked, leaning on your Carrot Stick. The moment your horse makes a mistake by breaking gait…do something about it!
If he slowed down come up your four phases in zone 5:
Phase 1 “roll out” your string softly well behind his tail, halfway around the corral, 180 degrees from the horse.
Phase 2 slap the ground a quarter of the corral away, 90 degrees from the horse.
Phase 3 start coming out of your circle and slap the ground harder a few feet behind the horse, just 45 degrees away.
Phase 4 make contact at the top of zone 5, the tail head.
The instant your horse responds, get back to your circle and assume the friendly, neutral position. Trust that he will respond but be ready to correct not more one than the other.
If he sped up, come up you for phases in zone 1:
Phase 1 hold your stick out in front of zone 1 half a corral away, at 180 degrees from where you horse is at.
Phase 2 start activating the stick while pivoting to keep the stick well in front of zone 1 at 90 degrees away.
Phase 3 roll the string out and start slapping the ground as you come out of your ‘circle’ so you gradually physically close the space down, about 45 degrees from the horse.
Phase 4 make contact with zone 1 or block the horse’s rather completely so he has to stop or turn. This will help him to start realising he has to start shutting down when he feels something starting to block his path in zone 1.
Getting to know that distance at which to start effecting your phases is what will get your horse more and more perceptive and pretty soon he’ll be cueing into your phase 1.
Note the range of Zone 1 and 5 in the round corral and a still shot of where your phases need to be in relation to the moving horse:
Note: Stay in the 50 foot round corral (or as close as possible) for quite a while, until your horse is really doing well at the Liberty skills. By going to a bigger corral too soon you can teach your horse to be less respectful because he can play the “you can’t touch me” distance game on you.
Summary
Keep improving your Liberty Savvy. Use it for warm up before riding, or some days make that your entire session.
Do more Driving Games without touching your horse.
Keep improving the Catching Game, Try bigger areas.
Do more on the Don’t Change Gaits/Directions principles, at walk, trot and canter.
Be sure to communicate “neutral” to your horse by being relaxed in the centre.
If your horse breaks gait, use 4 phases to correct him:
Phase 1 – 180 degrees away Phase 2 – 90 degrees away Phase 3 – 45 degrees away phase 4 – on zone 5
The instant your horse responds, retreat immediately to your “circle” in the centre and be friendly.
If the horse speeds into the next gait, use 4 phases to slow him down again:
Phase 1 – hold stick out, 180 degrees in front Phase 2 – activate stick at 90 degrees Phase 3 – roll string out, 45 degrees away Phase 4 – contact zone 1 or completely block its path.
Using the distances correctly in your phases will get horses cueing into phase 1.
Note the range of the zones. They extend to 180 degrees which means directly to the other side of the corral from where the horse is at. Each phase halves the distance. Phase 1 is at 180 degrees; Phase 2 at 90 degrees, Phase 3 at 45 degrees, and finally phase 4 makes contact.
Stay in a 50 foot corral. Going to a bigger one too soon can teach your horse to be less respectful.
Stage 4
The Impulsion Programs
As discussed in the chapter of impulsion, getting a horse emotionally under control is one of the main cornerstones of Level 2/3.
Don’t expect a complete change in one session! These programs that you must do seven sessions in a row and then every other time for another eight times, then every now and then as needed or just to brush up on it.
There are six programs in all. Read through them all and select one you would like to start with. Work through them one by one throughout stage 4 and you’ll be amazed at the difference in your horse. There’s nothing like riding a horse with impulsion! it’s not trying to run off all the time nor trying to slow and stop. The horse keeps its gait steady, weight balance in the right place and because it has impulsion is much easier to turn and guide. Remember: respect give you impulsion. Respect and impulsion give you flexion. That’s when your lateral flexion gets easier and in later stages, you and your horse will be ready to start exploring the beginnings of vertical flexion and a soft feel.
So get your horse’s impulsion right!
Impulsion programs for impulsive horses:
- Sideways and Backwards
- The Clover Leaf Pattern
- Find the Centre (Spiral)
- The Corners Game
- Canter – Trot Transitions
Impulsion programs for under-impulsive horses:
- Point to Point
- The Corners Game
- The Clover Leaf Pattern
Even if your horse is “perfect”, do the programs. Get to know them will in theory and in practice because if ever things get out of sorts it will help you to know exactly what to do to fix it.
1. Sideways and Backwards
Major keys for gaining respect…which gains you more impulsion
The better your horse goes backwards and side wards, the better he will do everything else. This means the worse he goes backwards and side wards, the worse he will do everything else!
Yes you’ve heard this before and you will hear it again and again because not enough attention is given to this concept. Try these tests:
- Can you back your horse between poles spaced four feet apart, over a distance of 30 feet (you could also use cones) within 30 seconds and not cause your horse to open his mouth with a bit… or if you used a hackamore can you back him with the reins between your thumb and index finger only.
- Can you ride your horse sideways straddling a pole that is 24 feet long, within 30 seconds without him trying to step over the pole (either backwards or forwards), with little more than four ounces of pressure from your leg (no spurs!) and again with the same bit and hackamore specifications as above.
In other words, your horse needs to be able to willingly go backwards and sideways, with no resistance over a bit of distance with a bit of speed for you to say “yep, its good”
Believe it or not, this will affect your horse’s impulsion. it does so because in order for a horse to be able to do this, his inclination to go impulsively forward will be dramatically reduced. Backwards and sideways will effectively “shorten” a long-mined horse.
Techniques & Success Tips
BACKWARDS
- Start incorporating some backwards and sideways every time you ride.
- Work on getting positive reflexes for just a step or two, then two ormolu. Rather than try long distances and more speed straight away, start small but look for better responses.Then build on those. Remember the concept of hands that close slowly and open quickly. The 9 step back up will become more and more important and meaningful to you, especially the more quickly you can reward your horse by release when he puts effort in.
- Match the resistance and add four aces: this means if you horse is leaning against your hands when you politely ask for the yield backwards, match the amount of pressure the horse is applying and add just a little more…and wait. The instant your horse tries to make a shift, release! Teach him that the response is up to him. If he learns how to find release, he will look for it more quickly. If he is really locked, use one rein at a time (without dropping the other) to disengage the locked hindquarter a step at a time.
- Start introducing a “soft feel” into your backup. In the 9 Step Back up, proceed gradually to step number 7. At this point, all fingers are closed but you are sitting upright and at attention, not riding backwards. Wait for your horse to give to you in the jaw and the poll, to give you a soft feeling against the reins. Then proceed with the next 2 steps and release as soon as your horse backs up. Then ask him to be able to back up a few more steps, and finally to be able to carry that softness all the way through so that not only is it responsive, but it feels good to both the horse and you. (For more information on the soft feel, refer to Stage # 9 on the Soft Feel).
- Any real problems should be sorted out on the ground with Games 2 (Porcupine) and 4 (Yo Yo), making sure your horse knows how to yield from pressure in zone 1 especially and can confidently go backwards.
SIDEWAYS
- Legs that close slowly and open quickly is the key. Bring you leg on gradually, in phases:
Phase 1 your calf
Phase 2 your ankle
Phase 3 your heel: turn your toe outward, point them slightly downwards and make a “fist” with your toes for a power position.
Phase 4 hold the heel pressure the same and now start lightly spanking with Carrot Stick or Horseman’s String. The spanking can itself take on another 4 phases of intensity.
The moment your horse tries to respond, instantly release the pressure and relax. Then begin again, always starting at phase 1.
- At first, you will go back to zero each time the horse responds, or puts some effort in, them just return to phase 1 so that you keep the motion going.
- Once again, ask only for a step or two, the two or more, then more and more for further and further. If you ask top much at once, your horse will loose incentive, feel like he can’t be right.
- Any problems will relate back to Games 2 (Porcupine) and 6 (Sideways) on the ground. This may be where you need the to be better before trying it on the horse’s back. Aim for posit reflexes here.
- Once you horse is going sideways well, speed it up. Ask for more gas over a distance of at least 30 feet. When you feel you horse’s hindquarters yielding and keeping truly sideways, stop and back up. By backing up you will counterbalance your horse’s tendency to go forward. If he is still thinking forward, especially when you ask for some speed, you’ll find the hindquarters trying to go straight instead of truly sideways.
Pitfalls
- asking for too much at first. Build on little successes. Help the horse to feel like a winner.
- using too much horse or physical pressure. Learn the effectiveness of bringing pressure on slowly and releasing very quickly. You need to develop the feel and timing so you know when your horse is putting an effort into responding.
- keeping it slow. Once you are getting a consistently good response, ask for more speed and longer distances. Build confidence and athletic skill.
Troubleshooting
Your horse just keeps leaning on the bit in the back up
The means that you have not effectively shown you horse phase 4 or quick enough please at the right time. You are putting up with the pressure at what might be a phase 3, and your horse is becoming more and more insensitive and more disrespectful of your lack of fee and timing. You need to really examine whether you are stating at phase 1 lightness and teaching your horse to value this by escalating smoothly through the phases to phase 4, then back to 1 or zero as soon as the horse responds. This is critical. it is never the horse’s fault if he feels dull.
The horse is not very responsive to the leg for going sideways, and you are tempted to use spurs
The same aspect of feel and timing applies to teaching a horse to be responsive to the leg. While some people thank they should use spurs to teach the horse to get off the leg, this can often cause problems such as tail swishing and head tossing or laying back of ears. The horse is telling you that you to teach him better, not use more force. The real answer lies in knowing how to teach a horse to responds to phase 1, by being prepared to go to phase 4 if the horse does not respond and quickly returning to phase 1 the instant the horse responds…or even tries.
In the Sideways Game you horse bends the “wrong way”
If you are going sideways as a “side pass” or a “leg yield” (these are dressage terms) your horse need to be bent in the direction of travel, or at least be straight, as in the leg yield. The side pass is an “offensive” position that originates from warfare. When sword fighting on horseback, advancing sideways on your opponent is an offensive position. The horse is looking in the direction of travel.
However! There is also the “counter arc” as applied to cow working which is a “defensive” position. It is used to give ground by going sideways away from the cattle. The horse is bent toward the cow although he is traveling away from it. The same might apply in sword fighting warfare as a defensive position.
Right now we are asking you to improve your sideways as an offensive position. If your horse is bent in the direction of travel this is a good indication that your leg is effective.
A work of warning: Don’t try to make your horse’s head position” correct” with the reins! Keep your reins short and even in length so you can tell whether or not your leg is effective. If the horse is “leaking” out the leading shoulder, this will tell you that your reins are too long and not keeping the front end straight.
Summary
The better you horse goes backwards and side wards, the better he will do everything else.
Here are some tasks to see how good your backwards and side wards really is.
No resistance, over a bit of distance, with a bit of speed! Impulsiveness is counterbalanced by getting good at backwards and side wards.
Impulsiveness is counter balanced by getting good at backwards and side wards.
BACKWARDS
Every time you ride, make sure you do a fair bit.
Get positive reflexes for a step or two, then two or more. Start small on distance and speed them build.
Match resistance and add four ounces.
Quick release is very important. If your horse gets locked, use one rein at a time to disengage the locked hindquarter.
Start introducing a soft feel into your back up.
Any real problems should be sorted out on the ground, especially Porcupine Game in zone 1.
SIDEWAYS
Legs that close slowly and open quickly is the key.
Use Phase: 1. your calf 2. your ankle 3. your heel – fist 4. start spanking.
Release on the try.
At first you will go back to zero each time the horse responds, but later just to phase 1 so you keep the motion going.
Problems should be sorted out on the ground: Games 2 and 6.
Once its going well, speed it up over a distance of at least 30 feet.
Stop and back up to counteract tendency to run forward.
Don’t ask for too much too soon. Build on little successes.
Don’t use too much force! Develop feel and timing to reward responsiveness.
If your horse is leaning on the bit in the back up, examine your lightness of phase 1 and effectiveness of phase 4.
Don’t reach for the spurs to make your horse respond to your leg! It will lead to emotional problems. Learn how to teach him better.
Which bend is the right way when going sideways?
Check the difference between sideways, side pass and counter arc!
At this stage, bending in the direction of travel will indicate the effectiveness of your leg.
Don’t try to make your horse’s head position “correct” with the reins.
2. The Clover Leaf Pattern
Devised by Pat Parelli’s mentor, master horseman Troy Henry, the Clover Leaf Pattern shortens long horses and lengthens short horses. It works on the psychological effect of both straight lines and circles, consistency, and incentive to stop.
This is an example of a Clover Leaf Pattern 150′ x 150′ square, to the right. Beginning at X, you make right hand turns at each centre mark opportunity (E for “Entrance”).
Every time you come to an E you turn in toward the centre, cross straight through the centre without turning to the E on other side and turn right again to find the next E. Keep turning right, don’t change directions.
Note: adjust the size of your Clover Leaf Pattern according to the “length” of your horse. Long patterns for short horses and short patterns for long horses. It does not matter whether the pattern is square or more oblong, but symmetry is important.
Techniques & Success Tips
- Start at the trot, especially if you are unsure of the pattern or your horse’s speed quotient!
- Do the Clover Leaf Pattern inside an arena, especially if you have a long, high spirited horse! A medium to short horse can be ridden on this pattern outside in a field, marking the corners of the pattern with barrels or cones and the points at E with more comes. You would then go around the cones before going into the centre. This will help keep your focus and the clover leaf shape accurate.
- Use a casual rein. This is very important! Hold your reins in the centre with one hand (the same hand as the pattern direction – right hand for right, left for left) and make your turns like this too. The more you steer your horse with two reins or try to hold him back, the less the pattern will work for him psychologically. You will interfere with the horse’s ability to think and make decisions and there fore his ability to use the left brain.
- Ride around the entire perimeter of the pattern just before you start and then turn in towards X to start your first pattern.
- Make you turns only at E and make then this way: eyes – bellybutton – leg – hand. In this way the reins will be the last to come into play.
- Decide before your start, which turns you’ll be making: all right or all left. Its usually better to start with rights because it is usually rustier for both horse and human! In the whole time you are working the Clover Leaf Pattern exercise, make sure you work both directions equally: two of each (one right pattern, stop for a while, one left pattern, stop for a while. Then one more right. Stop. One more left), four of each, five of each…whatever it take s to cause a behavioural change in your horse. Be prepared for your first pattern to take 30 minutes, doing it over and over and over until you can feel your horse becoming mentally in tune with it. (A shorter horse will take a lot less time). Take heart in the fact that within the next two times you will feel a significant change in the horse once he realises the repetition of the pattern, his desire to run will be reduced and his adrenalin will not flare up so much.
- When you can feel you horse anticipating the turns because it takes very little effort on your part to cause it, and your horse is no longer trying to run harder, the next time you come to the centre you can stop. Just lift your reins, relax your seat, come down to a nine step back up. The stay there! For a minimum of 5 minutes. Longer if your horse was faster. You might even sit there until your horse completely relaxes before you start out on your next pattern. The important thing thought is to stay in the centre, don’t walk around, don’t move off it. You want your horse to fall in love with X.
- Once you feel confident with the pattern and doing it at the trot, do it at the canter. it is actually be better at the canter, it helps horses to find impulsion quicker.
- At the canter, don’t worry about what lead you are on. The horse will sort it out pretty soon, finding he is more comfortable on the right lead for a right pattern and a left lead for a left pattern. Just offer it to him as you leave X and the rest is up to him, allow him to change it when he wants. In just a short time you’ll find your horse getting more reliable about his leads!
- What ever you do, keep a very strong focus! If your horse tries to do anything but a straight line, swings wide on the inward turns, whatever, keep you eyes firmly fixed on each focal point wether it is a corner, an entrance at E or X. If your horse finally realises he cannot shift your focus, he will start to follow the feel of it.
- Knowing how long to stop at X: this of the 80/20 rule. Stop for around 20% of the time it took for your horse to find impulsion on the pattern. If, for example, it took 30 minutes for your horse to find it, you would stay at X for at least 6 minutes.
- Work on getting your straight lines as straight as possible, and get into your corners deeper and deeper.
- Until this Clover Leaf system is imprinted in both you and your horse’s brains, always stop at X. In Level 3 we’ll show you how to stop on other sections of the Clover Leaf and for what purpose.
- Every time you stop at X, back up several steps. Back ups improve your stops, they teach the horse to stop on his hindquarters. (Pulling on the reins to stop a horse will cause him to lean into his stops and get heavy on the forehand.)
- Once your horse learns the pattern it will be easy to just lift your reins as you approach X and relax… and your horse will stop. Gracefully gather the reins and ask for a few steps backward, stop and relax.
How many patterns should you do in one session?
The minimum is four, in alternating directions (two right, two left). A particularly impulsive horse may need a lot more than this. Be prepared to double it if necessary. It’s important that you feel some kind of change before you stop.
Pitfalls
- short reins instead of a casual rein
- changing directions during a pattern, stay on the right, or stay on the left. Change only after you’ve stopped at the end of that pattern.
- not staying on the pattern long enough for your horse to want to stop
- not stopping long enough for your horse to relax
- stopping at points other than X
- not going to a smaller pattern if you have a very impulsive horse
- trying to keep a slowing down horse from breaking gait, wait until he does it.
Troubleshooting
Your horse is really high on adrenalin, he wants to gallop
If your horse has a real tendency to gallop, rather than holding him back, make your pattern dimensions much shorter, cut it in half. Once you have impulsion at this smaller size (your horse is not run-ing off, is looking eagerly to the centre), enlarge it the next day. The secret lies in not having any long straight lines for the long horse to gather speed on so the turns need to come pretty quick to him, sometimes within a couple of canter strides.
Your horse gets faster when you put your leg on to push the turn
This means that any pressure in zone 3 , or any use of your legs means “go” to your horse. You need to teach him that one leg pressing on him does not mean go! Use the “Find the Centre” (Bulls eye) pattern to solve this one.
Your horse is difficult to turn when he’s getting faster
This is because when the impulsion system goes out, so does the flexion system! Rather than try pulling harder and harder, go back to the trot. Help your horse to learn the pattern better before progressing to the canter. Also, it is more effective to use a series of bumps with a direct rein (escalating in phases) rather than a steady pull which your horse can pull back against. In this way you can maintain your body and rein position, and your focus. If you pull the rein harder and harder to try and turn a resistant horse, you’ll find yourself leaning into the turn and starting even to look down. With a horse that is really resistant, use an indirect rein to put the hindquarters into position for the turn. It is a more controlling rein position and may be necessary at first. Of course, always offer your horse the best deal first: your focus – eyes, bellybutton, leg, rein. Use this indirect rein as phase 4.
Your horse wants to stop
If this is the horse that a little while ago you had problems controlling, accept it gladly! Take him to X and stop there. If he is “asking ” then reward him by giving him the answer, the behavioural shift will come faster.
Let’s say this horse is not really that much of a forward-a-holic and after just a few rounds of the Clover Leaf he wants to stop. Take him to X and stop him, but not for long. Head out on the pattern again after about 2 minutes. Now the object is also for the horse to learn the pattern so you need to stay on it until your horse starts recognising the turns. Once this happens several times, head him back to X and stop there for at least 5 minutes.
Your horse keeps breaking gait, slowing down
Be careful that you don’t keep squeezing your horse to prevent him breaking gait…horses get a lot of points for this! If you are cantering, your body should have enough life in it for your horse to know that it is supposed to be cantering. Trust your horse but be ready to correct. If your horse actually breaks gait, go through the 4 phases to ask him to canter again. As soon as he canters, get in his rhythm and leave him alone. Remember, your horse will not learn unless he actually makes the mistake.
Preventing him form making the mistake will only cause you to work harder and your horse to become duller.
Your horses doesn’t know to stop at X
There are two things to be mindful of here:
- That you have been on the pattern long enough for your horse to want to stop. Its common that the rider wants to stop before the horse wants to, and this is often where the problem originates. Most people cannot conceive of cantering a horse longer than 2 minutes! You and your horse are going to learn a lot about each other on this pattern!
- That you stayed at X long enough for your horse to relax there. This can be especially problematic for very impulsive horses. Remember that horses on adrenalin are using their right brain, he is not thinking. When you do stop at X with this horse you have to learn to know when he has finally come off the adrenalin and relaxed, and them wait the 6 minutes or so that your timing determines.
How to know that the horse is going from right to left brain and is coming off the adrenalin:
- he starts to lower or shake his head
- he licks his lips
- he relaxes one leg
- he might blow through his nostrils, sigh, even yawn
Have enough patience to wait for these signs on a very impulsive horse.
Summary
The Clover Leaf works uniquely to shorten long horses and lengthen short horses.
Turn at every opportune entrance – E
Don’t turn at the centre.
If you are on a right hand pattern, make only right hand turns…and vice versa.
You can adjust the size of your Clover Leaf Pattern according to the “length” of your horse.
Start at the trot to get to know the pattern.
You can do this inside an arena or around markers in a field.
Use a casual rein. This is very important.
Ride the perimeter of the pattern before starting, then turn into X to begin.
Turn with your eyes – belly button – leg – hand/rein.
Decide on right or left turns before you begin.
The number of times you do the same pattern will depend on how long it takes for your horse to become mentally in tune with it.
When you can feel your horse anticipating the turns and he’s not trying to run harder…you can come to the centre and stop.
Get your horse to fall in love with X!
The canter is the best gait for the Clover Lear. They find impulsion quicker.
Have a very strong focus. Your horse will learn to follow it.
Stop at X for about 20% of the time it took for your horse to find it.
Get your straight lines straight and your corners deep.
When you stop at X, back up several steps. Backing improves your stops, teaches the horse to stop on his hindquarters.
Get to where it takes the slight lift of your reins for your horse to stop.
Minimum patterns for one session is 4. Be prepared to double it as necessary.
Stay on the pattern long enough for your horse to be wanting to stop.
Don’t stop anywhere other than X.
You can shrink the pattern for a very impulsive horse.
If he gets faster when you use your leg to turn. Find the Centre Game (Bullseye) Pattern will solve it.
An impulsive horse can be hard to turn. Go back to the trot.
When your horse wants to stop, reward that thought at the next opportunity to go to X.
If your horse breaks gait, don’t work harder to keep him from doing it! Use 4 phases to correct once he’s made the mistake.
Stay on the pattern long enough for your horse to want to stop. Riders usually want to stop before horses!
Stay at X until your horse is left brain.
Know the signs of a change from right to left brain and a reduction in adrenalin!
3. Find the Centre (Bullseye)
A great exercise for finding impulsion and teaching a horse not to fear or over react to pressure from your leg.
If you have an impulsive horse, you’ve probably been trained not to use your legs! Because every time your leg, even one of them touches your horse’s side he thinks it means go faster. while at first you might enjoy the fact that you don’t have to work hard at getting this kind of horse going, it soon turns into the misery of having to constantly hold him back.
What’s important is to understand that this is a problem that needs to be solved or it will get in the way of your horse finding true respect and impulsion.
In teaching your horse to find the centre, you will teach him:
- to find comfort at the centre of the circle
- to ride a true circle
- how to teach a horse to understand leg pressure to turn
- the power of circles to teach impulsion
The ideal size of the circle would be a diameter of about 90 feet. You can use your 45 ft rope to measure this out. It will give you a radius of 45 ft and therefore a diameter of 90 ft.
If you have a horse that is very impulsive, you can make the circle smaller until you find the size that works. The only commitment you need is to stay on that circle size until you can centre consistently and you horse is not so impulsive anymore. Only after that should you progress to a larger size circle.
Once you and your horse are confident with the Find the Centre exercise, you can start to use various sizes of circles for the same purpose, very small or very large!
Techniques & Success Tips
- Start at a trot if the canter is too much for you to handle on a very impulsive horse.
- Keep your focus strongly on the centre of the circle. If you have trouble with accuracy, you could mark you circle out with chalk, and place some kind of mark in the centre to help you keep focused on it.
- Have your belly button focus following the circle line, and your outside leg on your horse’s side to direct him. Keep your eyes on the centre.
- Use a casual rein, hold the reins just to the inside of their centre with your inside hand.
- Stay on the circle until you feel your horse starting to want to slow down.
- To go to the centre, turn your belly button, press more with your outside leg to push him towards the centre and lift your reins as you point to the centre with that hand. Spiral in smaller and smaller and come to a stop.
- Make your turns this way: eyes, belly button, leg, reins in that order.
- Drop your reins and relax. Use the 80/20 rule. For however long you had to stay on the circle to feel your horse starting to slow, spend 20% of that time relaxed and stationary in the centre.
- When you go out on the circle again, change direction.
- It won’t take many repetitions before your horse starts to want to go the centre and you’ll have to keep him from doing it: “not yet, not yet…OK, now!”.
- When you get really good at this, try it with two Carrot Sticks instead of your reins. this may not be on the first day!
Pitfalls
- not focusing on the center
- not using your leg enough (especially if your horse is impulsive!)
- not being consistent with: eyes, belly button, leg, reins to make your turns.
- not staying at the centre long enough for your horse to become left brained.
Troubleshooting
Your horse goes faster when you put your outside leg on him
Don’t worry, keep it there. Don’t push harder, don’t get softer, keep it steady and keep your focus. Keep that leg there until you get to the centre and only then take it off. Pretty soon you horse will learn that using on leg is building him, it is not pressing the go button. This exercise will desensitise your horse to pressure from one leg meaning “go”.
Your horse tries to run out of the circle
Many horses will. They will try to challenge your focus. Simply cause the wrong thing to be difficult, keep your focus and keep correcting your horse without looking at him. You just have to out-persist him at this stage. Once you have had a few circles that finish in the centre your horse will be more attracted to the inside than the outside. If you are really having a lot of trouble, do this inside a round corral.
Your stayed on the exercise for an hour and your horse did not make a change
Your circle may have been to big for that impulsive a horse. Go to a much smaller circle. This will weary the horse quicker because of the amount of engagement he needs to canter such a small circle. It also helps prevent the horse really running off with you if you have a serious impulsion problem.
Also, be prepared to stay in the canter for 30 minutes if that’s what it takes! Most horses out last their riders because they can’t imagine cantering for longer than 5 minutes.
Important!
As with any of the impulsion exercises, it is critical that you embark on a program, not just do this once or twice. Practice it every time you ride for 7 times in a row. Then every other time for another 8 times, then every now and then. This is how you build a program that teaches your horse to make a lasting change mentally and emotionally.
Summary
This game is a great way to teach horses not to fear or over react to pressure from one leg being put on him as well as to find impulsion.
An impulsive horse can train you not to use your legs! This has a lot of limits.
Finding the centre will teach the horse to be comfortable at the centre, to not be afraid of your leg and to not run out of the circle.
It teaches you to focus strongly on the centre of a circle, to ride a true circle, to teach a horse to understand your leg and the power of circles to teach impulsion.
Ideal diameter is 90 feet, you can measure it with your 45 ft. rope as the radius.
Use smaller circles according to how impulsive your horse is.
Start at the trot if the canter is too much at first.
Focus on the centre, make a mark there to help you, turn you belly button to so it follow the circle, and close your outside leg.
Use a casual rein, Hold the centre.
Stay on the circle until you feel you horse wanting to slow.
Go to the centre, spiral in and stop, by lifting your reins.
Remember eyes – belly button – leg – reins.
Relax in the centre, 20% of the time it took to find it.
Go out next on a different direction.
Repetition will teach the horse to want the centre.
Carrot Sticks is a great advancement.
Consistency is very important. So is staying at the centre until your horse is left brained.
If your horse gets faster when you put your outside leg on him, keep it there, steadily until you get to the centre and stop. Then take it off. One leg must not mean go”.
Don’t allow your horse to run out of the circle, out focus and out persist him!
If your horse did not make a significant change, you probably need a much smaller circle so he wants to get to the centre and rest.
Remember to make this a “program”. 7 times in a row, then every other time, then every now and then.
4. The Corners Game
Have you ever had the problem of a horse cutting corners in the arena? It is a common problem but there’s an easy solution. This Game will show you how to teach your horse to go deep into the corners as well as gain impulsion through emotional coordination and consistency.
The Corners Game works for both impulsive and under-impulsive horses.
Techniques & Success Tips
- You’ll need an arena that has a fence with clearly defined corners.
- Ride you horse around the arena at the trot and ask him to follow the rail. To this on a casual rein, one handed (using the inside hand) and use the other hand to put him back on the rail if he strays, using a direct rein. Once your horse is following the rail (never mind about the corners!) you are ready to begin.
- Ride your horse for one corner into the next and stop. Stand there until your horse relaxes and is left brained. Be sure to use a casual rein so you are giving the horse responsibility, not holding him back.
- Have a strong focus on the corner you are approaching and quit riding as you approach it to allow the horse to slow and stop. Rather than pull the reins to stop, allow the corner to stop your horse by just disallowing the turn.
- Pick up your rein, focus on the nest corner, bring you life up, trot to it and stop. Stay there until the horse is relaxed.
- Keep doing this until your horse can travel confidently from one corner to the next and stop. You’ll find that he starts to realise the task and gets mentally and emotionally coordinated to do it.
- Make a program of this Game. Do it seven times in a row, them every other time you ride for another 8 sessions, then here and there.
- The Corners Game motivates an under impulsive horse because he has incentive to get to the corner…he gets to stop. It calms an impulsive horse because of it consistency and the time taken to reach left brain mode.
- Once you can do this confidently at the trot, you can move on to the canter…but this might not be until the second or third session if you horse is impulsive.
Advanced Corners Game
Ride your horse with two Carrot Sticks instead of using you reins.
Pitfalls
- using two reins instead of a causal rein
- not waiting long enough in the corners for the horse to become left brain (see Equine Psychology 2 section for more information on identifying right brain, left brain modes).
- not staying on the pattern long enough for it to become familiar to the horse
- trying to force the horse into the corner instead of allowing him to gain confidence and go deeper into it because he no longer has claustrophobic fears.
- a weak focus
Troubleshooting
Your horse keeps rushing to the corner, doesn’t seem to slow down
Use a smaller arena. The longer the straight lines are between the corners, the longer it will take a rally impulsive horse to get emotionally settled. This is because the distance gives him the chance to get really wound up and it will take longer for him to settle once he is there.
Your Non- Responsive horse won’t canter between corners
Before doing this exercise, make sure your go button is working! If you are having to go to phase 4 every time you want your horse to increase gait, you are not ready to use the Corners Game at the canter yet. Use the Pint to Point program for a while until you horse is more willing to canter forward.
Summary
Cutting corners? How do you get your horse to love them? You give him comfort there!
This game works for both impulsive and under-impulsive horses. Through the combination of emotional coordination and consistency.
Use a fenced area with clearly defined corners.
Follow the rail (casual rein).
Go to the corner and stop. Stand there until your horse relaxes.
Don’t stop him in the corner, allow him to stop by quitting riding as you approach and keeping him headed into it.
Focus strongly on the next corner and repeat the exercise until he goes confidently from one corner to the next.
Make it a program!
This calms the impulsive horse through consistency and motivates the under-impulsive horse with incentive to rest.
When the trot is good, try the canter.
For advancement, use Carrot Sticks instead of reins!
Don’t use two reins, use a casual rein to teach the horse responsibility.
If the horse really rushes, use a smaller area.
If the under-impulsive horse won’t canter, check your “go” button. You may want to use the Point to Point program to help this first.
5. Canter – Trot Transitions, FreeStyle
Learning to disengage your horse’s hindquarters while maintaining motion is going to be the next step in finding impulsion while your horse is moving forward.
In Level 1/2 you learned how to control a horse with one rein, to bend him to a stop and hold him there until his emotions came down. The adage of “two reins for communication: one rein for control” needs to become imprinted on your brain so it becomes an automatic response to take one rein in an “oh no” situation.
As you progress into Level 2/3, you will find times that during cantering your horse wants to get faster and faster. By bringing him back to a stop all the time you will gain control but you won’t actually fix the tendency to get faster. This is where the transitions are going to become a valuable tool in teaching a horse to stay emotionally cool while moving. (Please note that your impulsion programs are also going to have a profound effect on you horse’s overall emotional control so this exercise is not at all meant to replace them).
The concept of disengagement to make a transition
In this exercise you are going to use one rein because the aim is disengagement to attain a downward transition, but it won’t be to get a full stop.
Techniques & Success Tips
- As your horse is trotting along, pump the rein three times, close your fingers on the rein and bring it slowly toward your belly button. As the neck bends, hold it until it influences the hindquarters and the horse breaks down to a walk. Immediately release. Walk along for a little bit, then go back up into the trot and repeat the exercise.
- Start slow. Practice first from trot to walk. Once you can do this without resistance from your horse and you feel confident. Proceed to canter – trot transition. (Don’t worry about what canter lead you are on. If you pump the rein as mentioned in the next point, your horse will balance himself in preparation for the bend).
- When you reach down to bend your horse, pump the rein three times. This is to cause your hands to close slowly and start developing more feel. It helps your horse to know that a bend is coming and to mentally prepare for it. If you are consistent with this at first your horse will get much softer, much quicker.
- Remember to relax, quit riding as you start pumping the rein so you are not giving conflicting aids that tell your horse to keep going. Sometimes if you are giving conflicting aids that tell your horse to keep going. Sometimes if you are experiencing some resistance from your horse you may be squeezing with your legs or tightening your seat without realising it and this is push the “go” button and makes it difficult for your horse to go slower when you start bending him.
- Don’t be critical of direction. Just choose yourself a nice big area (not too big if your horse has a tendency to be a bit fast!) and allow your horse to go wherever he pleases. You should follow with him like a good passenger and leave him alone until you are ready to bend and make the next transition. Direction is not important at this stage, transitions are.
- If you notice that your horse is resistant to the bend, hold the bend and sit quietly until the horse softens in his neck and then all through his body before you release him. This will teach him to become calmer because you only release him when he is softer and in his left brain. If he tends to come down to a stop, do enough to keep him walking until he has learned the concept. Same thing when you progress to canter-trot transition, maintain the trot while waiting for softness in the bend.
- Do a lot of them! You could do from 20 to 80 depending on the impulsive nature of your horse. The main thing is to do them until your horse is left brained. That’s then a good time to quit.
Pitfalls
- not pumping the rein, quick hands that grab the rein and bend
- going back to the trot or canter to quickly after the transition
- not switching off you seat when you want the horse to slow down and transcend: quit riding.
- being critical of where your horse goes. Teach him one thing at a time.
- not holding on long enough and releasing only when the horse loses his brace
- quitting before your horse and do these transitions in left brain mode
Troubleshooting
Your horse is persistent about bracing his neck when you try to bend
That’s okay. Hang in there for him. Even though in Level 1 you got through a lot of opposition reflex, you are now probing at a different level so you will find deeper layers of opposition.
It’s really important to have hands that close slowly and open quickly. If you can shut him dow like you are on valium(!), that is in slow motion, hold on calm until it feels good to you and then release the instant it feels good, the horse will start to respond very much more quickly. Remember that it’s taken him years to develop the habit to oppose. It was quick hands that put the brace into the horse in the first place, so you are going to have to convince him that he need not be defensive anymore by always using a great deal of feel! This is where pumping the rein will be of great value, it becomes phase 1.
He still is a bit quick and flighty int he canter – trot transition
You probably need to do a lot more transitions and not allow the horse to canter more than a stride or two before you start pumping the rein in preparation to bend again. The longer the horse can go for at the canter, the more his emotions come up and he can get impulsive. Simply don’t allow it to get out of hand before you bend him.
Summary
Disengaging your horse’s hindquarters while maintaining motion is a major step in finding impulsion.
This exercise will help the horse that wants to get faster and faster in the canter…helps him to get more emotionally cool while moving.
This is a one rein exercise.
Start at the trot, pump the rein 3 times, bend until you get the walk and then release. Walk a little way then repeat.
Once confident, progress to the canter (don’t worry about leads).
Pumping the rein 3 times trains your hands to close slowly and start developing more feel. It helps your horse mentally prepare for it too, so he gets softer, quicker.
Remember to relax when you start pumping the rein.
Don’t worry about direction just now.
If your horse resists the bend, hold it and sit quietly until the horse softens (even if it’s after the transition), then release.
Do a lot! Quit when your horse is left brained.
A horse that is impulsive will be difficult to bend when moving. Do it slower. Pumping the rein becomes very important.
The more transition you do, the better. Also, don’t allow a very impulsive horse to canter for very long before the bend.
6. Point to Point
A great game for teaching an under-impulsive or unmotivated horse to go forward willingly.
Horses can lose incentive for going forward if all they do is go around and around in circles and never get to go anywhere. Trail horses seldom have this problem because they know they are going somewhere, and when they arrive there is some kind of reward such as rest or food or both. The reason this works is the same reason lazy horses jig back to the barn after a trail ride. They want to be comfortable so they hurry up to get there!
Use this game to help horses go forward and to give incentive to horses who no longer want to do something like jump or barrel race (see the story that follows).
Techniques & Success Tips
- Chose two spots somewhere in the open or on trail and place a bucket of grain at each of the spots.
- Start with a short distance between the buckets, say 100 yards, and do it at a walk.
- Ask you horse to walk forward using the four phases for “go” refer to Level 1 Study Guide lesson #12) and keep him headed straight toward your spot with the grain.
- When you get there, stop and allow your horse to eat grain for at least a minute.
- Now ask you horse to walk to the next spot. Do the same thing. Allow the horse to eat the grain for at least a minute.
- Pick hum up and go back to the first spot. Same thing, allow him to eat the grain.
- Keep repeating the exercise between the two buckets unit you feel your horse getting eager to move toward the grain bucket.
- The next day, increase the distance between the buckets and repeat the exercise, this time at the trot.
- Then you can start having more places and more buckets.
- After 7 repetitions of this, start giving your horse more to do in between the buckets: you could ride your horse around a few corners or serpentines and then arrive at a bucket and stop for a while. Then put grain in every other bucket so you are starting to phase out the grain and replace it with a rest stop for 3 to 5 minutes.
- Pretty soon you can ask your horse to go for longer and longer distances before getting to his incentive spot. Your measure will be how willingly he goes forwards as to whether or not you need to do more of this or just put a Point to Point exercise in every now and then to maintain incentive for your horse.
Pitfalls
- You didn’t make a program of it, just tried it once or twice. Its important to do it enough times unit it causes a psychological change in the horse where he feels some incentive for going forward.
- Not replacing the grain with rest. You will have to wean the horse off the grain gradually and do this by operant conditioning where not every bucket contains the grain, but he still gets a rest.
- Not using phase 1 consistently and going up phases as necessary. Being particular with this will help your horse to get more sensitive to the “go” cue.
A story to learn from
One day Pat was presented with a 12 year old “school horse” that after his successful jumping career was now used to training students in the art of jumping. Six months ago he gave it up. Although he used to jump 5 foot on a regular basis he now wouldn’t even go over a cavaletti. No matter what they did, spurs, ship, he refused to do it.
Pat began with the 7 Games. He played them until he had no opposition reflex and then started squeezing him over poles and through narrow spaces. Then he got on and rode the horse FreeStyle around the place, never going near a jump.
He set up an incentive point by placing a bucket of grain several steps on the other side of a pole on the ground. He walk the horse across the pole and allowed him to find the grain and munch on it for minute or so. Then he rode off, came back across the pole and allowed him the grain. It only took a few trips for that horse to know what to expect on the other side of the pole and by the fourth time he eagerly crossed the pole. At that point, Pat switch to a cavaletti.
Same procedure… cross the cavaletti and eat the grain. Only two trips and the horse got it. Pat raised the jump. The horse jumped without hesitation and went to the grain bucket.
Then he had grain buckets placed at different points around the arena fence. Now he picked different jumps to go over before heading to a grain bucket. Then he asked for two jumps, then 6 jumps before giving him the grain. Within an hour he had that horse willingly jumping every jump in the arena and the next day jumped out of the arena and went around a cross country course before jumping back Into the arena and allowing the horse to delve into the bucket of grain.
This is the psychology of incentive.
How many horses do you think burn out because they have no incentive for what they are doing?
Summary
Give an unmotivated horse incentive to go somewhere.
Trail horses seldom have a problem about going forward because they know they are going somewhere. A lot of arena work, too much of the same – cutting, jumping, barrels, going around and around will take incentive away from a horse.
Use grain buckets placed approx. 100 yards apart. walk your horse to the bucket and allow him to eat for a minute or so.
Pick him up and go to the next spot. How many times do you think it will take before he gets and can’t wait to get there?!
After a while, or the next time, increase the distance between he buckets. Repeat the exercise at a trot.
Start having more places and more buckets.
After 7 days repetitions of this (the program) get creative in between the buckets, do a serpentine or go over a jump, etc.
Then start putting grain in some buckets and not others and using much longer distances.
After this, use only as necessary.
The program is very important. You have to cause a psychological change in the horse.
Pretty soon you can replace the grain with rest.
Remember how Pat re-inspired the old jumping horse?
The psychology of incentive is very powerful. You just need to know hat horses value.
Calendar
M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ||||||
2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
30 |