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Today I have continued to work on Max's lateral flexion. He is definitely improving and I believe that in the next couple of days, we may be able to work him into a bit. In the meantime, I have started work on Hindquarter control. This will teach Max to be sensitive to the leg as well as be able to engage and disengage his Hindquarters.
Control over the Hindquarters gives the rider emergency steering and emergency brakes. It is also the principle manner in which the rider can discourage bucking. To discourage bucking, the rider should bend the horse's neck to one side, and move the horse's hindquarters in the opposite direction. For example, if the horse gives an indication that he is going to buck, the rider can discourage it by bending the horse's head to the Left, and moving the horse's hindquarters to the Right. With his head turned to one side, it is harder for the horse to throw his head down in a serious act of bucking. Furthermore, with his hindquarters moving sideways he loses a lot of his upward thrusting power and thus it becomes very difficult to buck. But make no mistake, it is not impossible.
There is also another reason this action discourages bucking. Usually bucking is the result of some fear, anger, or frustration. And when the rider asks for a couple of very simple movements and provides the timely release of aids when the horse delivers, he demonstrates his reasonable and predictable manners. And so the horse becomes less inclined to buck because he no longer sees the rider as the root of his problems.
In this first video, I am again assessing Max's compliance to the rein. It is imperative that he become very compliant to the rein so that if he was ever inclined to buck, I could use the rein to turn his head. If he was not compliant, he would just keep his head straight, and he would be able to throw it down in a massive buck.
You will notice that I raise the rein, then slide my hand down the rein 3 times before gripping the rein. I will not consider him compliant until he turns his head the first time I slide my hand down the rein. I should not have to grip and pull just to get him to turn his head. I also do not want to use a bit as that can mask non compliance. When he turns his head on the first slide of my hand consistently, (2 out of 3 times) then I will be willing to use a bit.
In this next video, I tackle the second essential part of being able to discourage bucking. Controlling the hindquarters. In this video, I first bend Max's head in case he decides to take off or buck. This way, it is already harder for him to do so. Furthermore, with his head bent to the side to begin with, I will have more leverage to keep it that way in case things do not go well. Since he has been brought along nicely up to this point, all goes well. I place my leg on his side and wait for him to move his hindquarters. When he does, I immediately release the rein on that side and remove my leg from his side.
The timing of the release is very important. It must be as close as possible to the moment he moves thus assuring him of the correctness of his choice of movement. You can see that in the beginning, he is not very compliant. Therefore, if he were agitated, or inclined to buck, I would not have been able to move his hindquarters. But today is the first day. He will become very compliant about this by tomorrow in which case, it will be time to start working on controlling the forehand. And that is by far more difficult.
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on June 26, 2009
at 6/26/2009
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