Lesson 13 – Passenger Lessons
How to become a good rider for your horse
From the beginning, most of us are taught to take instant control of the horse. Take a rein in each hand so you can stop and steer the horse. To develop a natural relationship, this is the worst thing you could do! It teaches the horse that you don’t trust him and it lends to make your riding style stiff and restrictive. Passenger lessons teach you to become part of the horse. Once you can flow with the horse’s movement and you start to get what is know as an independent seat, then you will earn the right to pick up those reins.
The independent seat
the best way to define this is when you don’t depend on your reins, nor squeeze below your knees for your balance.
So many people don’t realise how much they use their reins for their balance, this means hanging onto the horse’s tender mouth. They also don’t realise how much they feel the need to control the horse’s every moment. Both of these things are great obstacles to the development of a true independent t seat. Get ready to cast these chains to the wind!
Turning loose
- Begin in a small enclosure or round corral.
- Have your horse properly prepared, this means working with the 7 Games until he is paying attention to you, is calm and thinking.
- You’ll need your horse to be saddled and wearing the horseman’s halter & 12 ft. lead.
- Mount your horse using the skill drill you learned in the previous lessons.
- Laterally flex him, then disengage the hindquarters both side. You are checking the brakes so you know you can bend him if you need to.
- Tie your rope on to the saddle horn (a clove hitch is best). or if you are using a saddle without a horn, push a loop up under your belt and pull the loop so it hangs over the top of your belt by about 18 inches. In this way it will stay there but will pull out easily. The rein to your horse should hang with a slight droop so it doesn’t affect the snap.
- Start at the walk. Using your phases, ask the horse to move off at the walk. Hold onto the saddle horn or pommel but do not touch your reins.
- As your horse moves around at the walk, keep enough life in your body for the walk but not to cause a trot. Follow your horses movement wherever he goes. Focus where your horse is focusing, don’t look down a your horse. See how well you can stay in harmony so you are absolutely with the horse as he turn or fluctuates his movement. (As in the previous lesson, if he breaks stride to a halt, ask him to walk again. If he breaks into a trot, slowly lift the rein up and hold or bend until you get the walk and immediately release).
- Once you feel confident at the walk, try the trot. Again remember that the only rule you are setting your horse is to keep trotting. Allow him to zig and zag and turn or travel wherever he wants in that space. Your job is to learn how to be in complete harmony with him. Take note of how you swing and sway or get left behind or tipped forward by his changes of direction and rhythm. Note also your weight in the stirrups, how it changes from one to the other when the horse turns. All this is going to change! Over time your seat will get so good that you will feel yourself becoming part of the horse, and your horse will start to feel you as part of him, rather than a foreign object.
- Continue this for a least 10 minutes before you ask the horse to stop. To stop, melt your energy down by looking at your belly button (quit riding) and letting all the air out of yourself to communicate “whoa”. Stay like this until the horse realises you mean not to go anymore and he slow and stops. If he really gets lost, start slowly lifting the rein until it gets in his way, and bend if necessary. Do not use force.
- When the horse is stopped, stay there for a least 3 minutes (it will seem like an eternity!). Allow the horse to know that he’s right, that this is comfortable spot. Then you can begin again.
You can’t do enough of this! Over the weeks, get to where you and your horse are confident enough to move into bigger enclosures, and even to do this at the canter (but start in the small one first!)
How many times should you do this?
Every time you ride, for the next 20 rides, take a passenger lesson as a habit for between 10 to 30 minutes. You need to take passenger lessons from your horse until riding without touching the rope feels comfortable to you and you feel confident turning loose at the walk and trot (for Level 1. At Level 2 you’ll do more at the canter). Your seat will improve dramatically and the feeling of harmony with your horse becomes obvious.
Also do this until your horse is really tuned into the energy of your body to go and to whoa.
What about going trail riding?
Not yet! What you are woking on here is a clear communication with your horse. If you cannot easily bend your horse, if you have little or no communication in go and whoa with using just your life up and life down techniques, you have no business taking your horse out on the trails and in the company of other horses. You won’t be safe.
So many people complain of how their horse jigs and gets strong on the trail, how they lose control when their horse gets excited when they take them away from home.
PNH has an incredible safety record. The reason for this is prior and proper preparation. We don’t take our horses out or ask anything of them until they are mentally, emotionally and physically in tune. If you are disciplined enough to take the same care, your experience wiht horses will be much safer.
Success Tips
- start in a small area and stay in a small area until you and the horse are confident in this exercise
- pre-flight check check out! this means you’ve prepared with the 7 Games.
- check out your brakes: lateral flexion and hindquarter disengagement must be good.
- going with the flow. Try to get rid of any feelings of resistance and bracing in your body. Relax and follow the motion.
- start slow, progress as your confidence grows
- don’t touch your rope unless you have to. The more you can just cruise with your horse and not get tight, the better.
Pitfalls
- trying to steer your horse with your body or your will! This is about turning loose to your horse so don’t try to steer at all.
- correcting your horse before he makes the mistake; wait until he actually breaks gait, don’t anticipate or he’ll turn it into a game – he’ll get duller and you’ll work harder!
- going to too big an area too soon. Slow and right beats fast and wrong!
- trying to canter before the walk and trot feel really good.
Troubleshooting
I Just feel too scared to do this
Have someone there to help you. They could even hold the end of the 12ft line for you and play the Circling Game slowly with you on board.
Also, stay in the walk for several sessions. You don’t have any time constraints or goals. If you go slow and right in the beginning, get it really solid, the rest will come even quicker. Don’t worry about it.
My horse wants to run off
This is where the small area is important. Let the facility help control your horse. Check that you really have prepared your horse well, the ground skills are so important in getting the horse mentally and emotionally more secure with you.
Remember not to think that your horse is being disobedient. He’s just being a scared prey animal, he feels lost, its probably the first time he’s had a person on his back who’s not hanging onto the reins to hold him back. Keep your seat relaxed, small , play the Friendly Game with your body attitude, be patient with him, and help him by slowly picking up the rope, pumping it three times to hold or bend him as necessary. With this horse, use plenty of time at the halt, just sitting there to help his emotions become more stable.
This kind of horse is usually quite sensitive and reactive. the less independent your seat is the more it will upset him. Although this sounds like a catch 22, this passenger lesson exercise will actually serve you both better in the long run. Your horse will learn, through repetition, not to be so afraid when you lose your balance, and you will get big lessons on staying in harmony when a horse surges, zigs and zags.
Summary
Learn to turn loose to your horse and flow with him before you ever start to control direction through the reins.
This is the most effective and quickest way to develop a truly independent seat.
An independent seat means you don’t depend on your reins or squeeze below your knees for balance.
Always prepare your horse with the Games until you have his respect and attention.
Use a facility that will help like a round corral or small enclosure.
Tie your lead rope to the saddle horn or push it up through your belt.
Now ask your horse to walk around and flow with him without touching the reins.
Go where the horse goes, try not to influence his direction in any way, just try to stay in harmony.
Once you feel confident at the walk advance to the trot.
Have only one rule for your horse: don’t change gait. But don’t worry about his direction changes.
Over time and practice your seat will become so good that you will feel like a part of your horse.
Learn to stop your horse by letting your “life” down, looking at your belly button and relaxing.
Reinforce the “stop” by staying there for at least 3 minutes.
As you get more confident, move to larger areas and the canter.
Take passenger lessons as part of your activities with your horse over the next 20 rides.
At level 1 it will be mainly at walk and trot. By Level 2 you will do more and more at the canter.
Don’t go out on the trails until you have clear communication and ease of control with your horse.
Most people don’t realise how little control they really have of their horse mentally, emotionally and physically.
To be safe, you have to have all this under control.
Keys: small area, prior & proper preparation. brakes: lateral flexion no brace in your body go with the flow progress slowly but surely pretend you don’t have a rope.
Don’t try to steer your horse. Wait until your horse makes a mistake before you correct him! Don’t go into big areas too soon, or go too fast.
If you feel apprehensive about this, have someone with savvy help you by putting a 12′ line on the horse.
If the horse has the tendency to run off, a small area will help control this. Proper preparation is also very important.
The horse is probably not being disobedient, just acting like a prey animal when you lose your balance.
Repetition helps teach the horse and your independent seat will dramatically improve the more the horse zigs, zags and surges!
