Level 2/3 Stage 2
On Line
Games 4,5,6 & 7 on 22′ line
Backwards & Over
Sideways without a fence on 12′ line
Leading your horse by the leg
Liberty Preparation
22′ line Circling Game On Line
Influencing Gait On Line
FreeStyle Riding
Getting Level 1/2 skills better:
Lateral flexion, hindquarter disengagement, go and whoa, one rein riding, follow the rail, 9 step back up, sideways.
When Stage 2 is complete, progress to stage 3.
Stage 2
On Line Skills
- Games 4,5,6 & 7 on 22′ Line
- Backwards & Over
- Sideways without a fence on 12′ line
- Leading your horse by the leg
Level 2/3 On Line explores the Games 4,5,6 & 7 on a 22’Line. This necessitates a new level of respect and the longer length tends to make the horse to think he’s out distanced you and it can also affect your timing at first, being unable to reinforce your direction or make corrections quickly enough at first.
1. 22′ Line Tasks
Game 4 – Yo Yo Game at 22′
Teach your horse to back all the way out to the end of the rope, stand there and then come all the way to you.
Make sure your horse is straight – be particular about this from the get go, correcting zone 1 or 4 as soon as it veers off. If you make straightness more important than backwards and forwards you’ll end up with a very nice Yo Yo.
As confidence grows over the weeks, see how much faster you can get your horse going back and coming in by going through your phases faster and asking for more effort before you release.
By using the technique where you rub the underside of the rope with your Carrot Stick as you draw the horse in you’ll increase confidence and willingness to come forward. Build it to being able to run backwards and have the horse come to you at a trot.
Game 5 – Circling on 22′ Line
By improving your Send, Allow and Bring Back (see Positive Reflexes section ) you can now aim for a Circling Game at a longer length and with more laps.
On a 22′ Line you can now ask for a minimum of 4 laps and a maximum of 8 without stopping. When the horse stops or change directions, cause the wrong thing to be difficult and uncomfortable and immediately give comfort when the horse resumes.
Don’t be critical at first of what speed your horse should go at, just be happy that he doesn’t change directions and stays on the circle until you bring him in. Make sure you keep your feet still and look happy and relaxed in the Center.
The next step is to start influencing gait by getting in the way of zone 1 to slow the horse down; and lifting zone 1 then stimulating zone 5 to speed up.
Influencing gait and transitions – On Line
Preparation
- Play the Circling Game On Line. See if you can speed your horse by leading zone 1 and pushing zone 5 by slapping the ground 180 degrees away from the horse. For example, if your horse is at 12 o’clock to you, you would slap the ground at 6 o’clock. Your arms would be spread in a T shape as you lead zone 1 and slap the ground in zone 5. Keep repeating the move until your horse understand and speeds up so you can go from walk to trot, and even from trot to canter (use 22′ line).
- To slow down, put some pressure in zone 1 by lifting the rope up and down, getting progressively stronger until it cause the horse to hesitate and even slow down. Relax, and if the horse speeds up again, repeat the shaking movement phase by phase until the horse understands not to run through the “pressure”.
- By using these two keys you should be able to get your horse going from walk to trot, back to walk and even halt… and later from trot to canter (22′ line in best as canter at 12′ line is difficult for some horses at this level) and them back down to a trot, walk and a halt at will. Once you can regulate the gaits On Line you can try in the round corral.
Get to where you can ask your horse to walk, trot, canter, make transitions up and down and come to a halt out on the circle.
Then start testing your horse not changing gait and add in a small jump behind your back! Grow eyes in the back of your head!
2. Backwards & Over Manoeuvre.
- You’ll need a Carrot stick, Halter and 12′ line
- Stand at your horse’s Shoulder, take a long focus in front of you and ask him to go backwards with you as you bounce the rope up and down to influence zone 1.
- Use your carrot Stick held out parallel to the horse to prevent him turning into you.
- As you back up, turn your shoulders square toward the horse and with the help of your Carrot Stick drive the front end a quarter turn away (called a counter turn) and then go backwards again and stop.
By keeping the backwards motion you will teach your horse two things:
- to keep his weight on his hind end
- to yield his shoulders without moving forward
Keep repeating this until it is easily understood by the horse and you can do it from both sides. Then you can try standing still, shoulders square to your horse and using the Carrot Stick, drive your horse sideways a few steps only and you’ll find he’ll do it without drifting forward.
Now progress to sideways with no fence on 12′ line
Once your horse is not think running away forwards when you ask for sideways you have a much better chance of being able to go sideways without a fence.
- Drive zones 1, 4 and 3 softly sideways for a step or two and then relax.
- If your horse tries to move forward, bounce the rope up and down to discourage it (he already learned what this meant in Game 5).
Troubleshooting
Your horse keeps putting zone 4 out to the Side and turning towards you as you try to go backwards and then over.
Do more counter turns to get the horse yielding away from you more positively before returning to the Backwards & Over move. If it is really bad, go to a fence and use it to help reinforce backing up in a straight line when you stand at the shoulder and ask with a lightly bouncing rope and Carrot Stick parallel to his neck. Do a lot of Yo Yos along the fence from zone 3.
He tries to escape backwards, gets scared
Help your horse to understand, play a lot of Friendly Game and try to just get a step at a time until he is more secure and not running off. Also check out your phases, did you start at phase 1 or come on too sudden and too hard?
3. Sideways without a fence
Here we begin learning to go sideways without a fence and at 22′ away.
Preparation:
- Straighten up zone 4
- Play the Sideways Game on a 12′ line and be more particular about zone 4 not lagging behind.
- Use your Carrot Stick and string to motivate zone 4 to catch up to the rest of the horse so he is truly traveling sideways. Be conscious of your phases and be sure not to quicken your feet. Keep moving at a steady pace so the horse can regulate his pace and pay attention to what zone 4 is doing. Be sure not to pull zone 1 towards you, keep your zone 1 arm outstretched and steady for the horse to rely on.
- If the hindquarters are lagging you’ll notice that its because the horse is trying to stay engaged and is in a sense running off. It is usually an impulsive horse that exhibits this problem.
Game 7 – Squeeze
Start challenging you horse over jumps, backing him through gates, into stalls, wash racks, etc. Set up a hanging tarp and teach you horse to find his way under it, forwards and backwards. These games are great bravery tasks.
4. Lead your horse by the front leg
This task teaches your horse to think down to his feet and teaches him to yield toward pressure experienced anywhere on his leg, it may be the softest barb wire fence he ever runs into!
- Use you 22′ line and have your horse on a halter and 12′ line
- First, just pass the rope around his front leg above the knee holding each end in each hand (don’t put it through the ring at first).
- Play the Friendly Game. Rub him with the rope up and down his leg. Do this for both legs.
- See if you can pick up his foot by using the rope while standing beside him.
- Now go back to the front and slowly increase the pressure phase by phase to bring the leg toward you. Set it up and wait to see what the horse will do about it. Hold until he shifts his weight and then release. Start again. When the horse lifts his leg in the air, pull it slowly toward you and see if he will follow it and come forward a step. As soon as he does, release, relax and start again.
- If your horse should panic, try to softly hold on to the rope and keep him facing you. If you need to its easy to let go and start again, but its best if you can hanging there for him and let him find his way to a stop and back to his left brain.
- In trying not to use the halter, if your horse turns away hold steady on the rope until his nose starts to come back toward you and then release the pressure. In this way you teach your horse to keep his nose pointing toward you no matter what.
- Once your horse can come forward without confusion, you can thread the rope through it ring and put this loop around your horse’s ankle. Teach him to come to you in a straight line without using the halter (but keep it on in case he turns his head away at first) and then you can progress to going around corners. Work both feet and legs equally.
Note: make sure your horse isn’t just following you and that he understands how to follow the feel and yield to it. You can do this by playing a Yo Yo Game with his foot, wiggling the rope to back him up and then drawing him forward with the rope.
Stage 2
FreeStyle Riding
Getting those Level 1/2 skills excellent before moving ahead.
Better Lateral Flexion
- Work on these to improve positive reflexes.
- Develop more feel. Put 7 Steps into your lateral flexion:
- lift the rein
- run one hand down with rein gripped between thumb and hand only
- close the index finger
- then the middle finger
- then the ring finger
- then the little finger so you now have a tight fist
- bring your fist smother to your thigh
Observe that each time you close a finger it shortens the rope or rein to your horse by small increments. These are like phases to warn the horse that a bend is coming. If you have a particularly defensive horse, you can even pump the rein three times before going through the 7 steps, this gives him even more time to mentally prepare.
- Hold the lateral flexion until the horse gives. Then release, when it feels good. This is how you install good habits in your horse.
- Make sure your lateral flexion is even both right and left side.
- Also pay attention to your seat, that it is totally inactive, totally relaxed because if it is not, your horse will be encouraged to move his feet.
- Vary the length of time you ask your horse to hold lateral flexion. This stops him being impulsive about getting his head back. You can also play the friendly Game with his head, ears and mouth while he is in this position.
Hindquarter Disengagement
Fluid disengagement is going to become increasingly important to you. Work on improving this a little every time you ride.
-
8 Steps to disengagement
- lift the rein
- run one hand down with rein gripped between thumb and hand only
- close the index finger
- then the middle finger
- then your ring finger
- then the little finger so you now have a tight fist
- bring your fist smoothly to your belly button
- bring your body to life as you turn and look at the tail and press with your leg and heel to move the hind end.
- You should be able to get your horse to move his hindquarter and then stop just by activating and deactivating your seat and leg position. When you come back to neutral your horse’s feet should stop moving although you still have his head laterally flexed.
- By now your horse should not be panicking when you ask for the hindquarters, if he is spend more time on the ground with the Porcupine Game. Another thing you can do is teach your horse to “smell his tail”
Smell the tail
The horse, not you! Positive reflexes in this will help lateral flexion.
- By using the porcupine Game and a great deal of feel, you can hold the tail in one hand and bring the norse around to meet it. Get to where you can hold it for at least 10 seconds.
- If your horse keeps moving his feet, teach him to stop by pulling against this tail when he moves and softening when he goes to stop. When he is secure in his feet, then you can start to bring the head around.
- Remember approach and retreat. if your horse has trouble with this, ask the head to come just a little bit, then release and start again… each time making a little more progress until he can make it all the way. Your halter and 12′ line make a convenient extension of your hands if you need it.
Go and Whoa
How good is you go button? Can shut your horse down by just relaxing and lifting the rope or are you still having to go to phase 4 and bend your horse?
Work on both these until you can start and stop your horses gracefully by using no more than phase 1 or 2.
Note: if your horse is very impulsive, the whoa will improve much more in stage 3 with the impulsion Programs.
Riding with one rein
Improve this to where you can turn and counter turn at ease. Be able to weave through markers and barrels, back up and travel straight lines. This won’t take you long you’ll just need to become more particular about your focus, his straightness and challenging yourself a little more than you might have at first.
Follow the Rail
You need to be able to trust your horse to stay near the rail without you having to hold him there. In Level 1 you learned this at the walk. Now its time to try it at the tort and/or canter, just don’t fret over leads at this stage, just keep you horse in tune with his job of not leaving the fence by correcting him with a direct rein if he leaves it and letting go again: don’t hold him there, let him learn it.
Remember to do this on a casual rein!
9 Step Back Up
This was the first exercise you did in Level 2 that involved communication with two reins. It taught you how to close your hands slowly and open quickly, to gather up your reins and use 9 steps to teach your horse to yield to gradually increasing pressure in zone 1 and back up.
To improve this:
- Be really conscious of phase 1, the pressure being light to begin with and increasing as you slide your elbows backwards in step 9.
- Your horse technically should not start backing up until you slouch your back. Up until step 7, keep you back straight and then in step 8 soften it and this will be the cue for your horse to start backing up.
- To get the back up more responsive, hold on until it starts feeling good to you – the horse puts more effort in or he gives a softer feel to you, then drop those reins like they are hot. For a while, reinforce that good feel no matter when it arrives. Then you can build to greater distances over which to back up.
Sideways
Again, improvement is what you are after.
- How much pressure is it taking:
- is Zone 4 lagging?
- Can you go very far?
- Have a focus on going for a longer and longer distance.
- Try going sideways without a fence. You’ll need to “close every door” available to the horse except the one in the direction you want to travel. For example, if you want to go sideways to the right:
- You’ll close the left side of your body
- disallow forward with your reins
- disallow backwards with slight pressure from your seat
- open your rein and leg to the right
Summary – Stage 2
Level 2/3 now explores respect through Games 4, 5, 6 & 7 on a 22 foot line.
Get you Yo Yo straight at 22′.
Watch zones 1 and 4 especially.
As accuracy and confidence grows, see how fast it can get!
Use your Carrot Stick to increase willingness to come forward.
Game #5 Improve your Send, Allow and Bring Back on 22″ line.
New minimum of 4 laps and maximum of 8.
Don’t be too particular about gait until he can maintain direction.
Influencing gait: zones 1 and 5 are most important.
Speed up by leading zone 1 and pushing zone 5.
To slow down, build pressure in zone 1 via wiggling the line. (purity of gait come first).
Practice transition into and back down from all gaits.
Try getting a halt out flat on the line.
Add in a jump to test “don’t change gaits” responsibility.
The Backwards and Over manoeuvre teaches your horse to go sideways without a fence.
You need to be in zone 3. Use your Carrot Stick to drive the front end across when you turn your shoulders square.
By keeping your horse traveling backwards, you teach him to rock his weight back and bring his front end across without running forward.
Your horse has to not feel like he has to run away.
Sometimes you need to get in the way of zone 1 if he tries to go forward.
A horse that turns his hind end (zone 4 ) out to the Side and faces you needs more counter turns. Also Yo Yo’s from zone 3 along the fence.
The scared horse needs a lot of Friendly Game in between and to be asked for just a step at a time.
Sideways without a fence is a great impulsion test.
Straighten up that lagging zone 4.
Don’t quicken your pace nor pull zone 1 back, stay steady and get zone 4 to run forwards.
Squeeze Game needs lots of challenges.
Leading by the front leg teaches your horse to yield, prepares him in case he gets his leg stuck and gets him to think down to his feet.
Be Friendly first.
Pick his foot up via the rope.
Help him learn to yield forward.
If he struggles, hold passively and release when he’s back in his left brain.
Be careful not to lead by the halter at the same time!
When he’s confident, thread the rope through the ring.
Try Yo Yo by the foot!
Improve Level 1 skills before going any further.
Positive reflexes in lateral flexion:
7 steps to lateral flexion.
Each time you close a finger it shorten the rein to your horse.
These phases help soften a horse.
Hold it until the horse gives. Release when it feels good.
Are left & right even?
Is your seat totally relaxed?
Vary length of hold to stop a horse jerking the rein back.
Improve the hindquarter disengagement every time you ride.
8 Steps to disengagement.
You should be able to influence movement by holding the rein and activating or deactivating your seat.
Teach him to “smell his tail” for 10 seconds.
This is a Porcupine Game that tests lateral flexion without moving the feet.
Remember approach and retreat when teaching.
How good is your “go button? what about shutting your horse down by just relaxing and lifting the rope?
Get to where you can get go and whoa without going to more than phase 1 or 2.
Ride with one rein until its great.
Do the “Follow the Rail” program for Level 2/3 at the canter now on a casual rein.
9 Step Back Up needs to get more light and active.
Make sure you always start with phase 1.
Your horse should not back up until step 8.
Hold until it feels good, until the horse puts in a little more effort…then release! Build distance too.
Sideways: How much pressure? Is zone 4 lagging? What about distance? Check your focus.
Go sideways without a fence.
Once riding basics are improved you can more on to Stage 3.
