Teaching your horse to half halt collect rate stop pulling on the reins etc with Jake

Jake has finally (mostly) gotten the hang of not pulling on the reins at the walk, and has mostly quit trying to break into a trot. So, now we progress to a slow jog. Any time Jake throws his head, pulls on the reins, or tries to break into a canter, I back him up. Whenever Jake throws his head, he is trying to evade collection/contact with the bit. By backing him up, he is forced onto the bit & forced to round his body up underneath him, as that is what is needed for reverse motion. Whenever he backs up far enough that I feel he will maintain his frame (stay round/collected) when allowed to go forwards, then I quit backing him & move his impulsion forwards. Eventually, he will maintain his focus and try to anticipate backing up, but in order to do this, he will want to maintain contact with the bit so that he can feel the slightest pressure on the reins (which could signal backing), but when he is that fine tuned, instead of backing him up, all that will be needed will be a small (2-5 lb) squeeze on the reins...voila, a half halt, to be able to rate him, collect him, and stop him. He didn't do too bad at the trot in this video, but he still has a ways to go. Since he is a very hot/high strung/hyper horse, I tried to keep my legs off of him as much as possible so as not to encourage breaking gait/speed, and I tried to keep my hands as still as possible(so that my hands were not the reason he threw his head, and steady hands make it easier/less stressful to know where the point of contact is with the bit/reins/hands.)

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• half halt
• horse training
• training tips
• rating