Rollbacks
for the Reiner and the Working Cowhorse
By Todd Martin
To execute
a proper rollback, we need to first discuss the fundamentals of body
position and what your horse needs to know beforehand.
The
first and most important thing is that your horse has a good understanding
of following his nose. By this I mean that he not just follows with
his head but with his entire body. A good indicator of this is when
you pull to the right is the horse's first step with his front right
leg toward the direction in which his nose is turned? Once he does
this, can you get him to follow with both shoulders and the ribcage,
causing him to set his rear right leg ( if going to the right) and
pivot on that leg? You need to have the horse doing this on a consistent
basis.
You
also need to have your horse yielding to leg pressure from the outside
leg. This is something that is sometimes overlooked. It is much easier
for a horse to be bent to the right and pushed out with the right
leg. This is where we begin to teach yielding to leg pressure, but
outside leg pressure must also be taught and is just as important.
Outside rein pressure is nice to have at this time, but is not yet
a must as it is used more in finishing the rollback. However, direct
rein pressure is a must.
I first
teach a rollback from a back up rather than from a standstill. The
reason for this is because I can dictate which rear leg is used to
pivot on. If I work from a stop or a standing position, both rear
legs are planted and holding weight. However, this is not the case
when backing up. How this is used to my advantage is like this ( put
your thinking cap on and visualize): When backing up, feel with your
seat which rear leg is stepping back. If I am going to rollback to
the right, I will feel for the horse to begin to step back with its
rear right leg and at that time I will pull with my right hand, only
guiding with my left. Don't do this quickly--rather make it smooth,
pulling your right hand first towards you right rear pocket. Once
the horse has pivoted 90 degrees, your right hand should be pointing
in the direction in which you are wanting him to leave the rollback.
Your weight should start to shift forward and your left leg should
be encouraging him to push through and into the correct lead.
Once
again, I must add that you as the rider should be looking where you
are going next--not where you're at. Look in the direction that your
horse will be leaving the rollback, which is 180 degrees from where
you started. If you are looking at your horse's ears, he has no way
of knowing where he should be going next. Remember--just like the
spin, the rollback is a forward motion maneuver and cannot be performed
properly if he is held back in the rotation and sling-shot out at
the end. This is the reason: when a rollback is used to work a cow
on the fence, in order to not lose ground on the cow, the horse has
to keep forward momentum in the stop and through the rollback--if
not, precious ground and time is lost trying to catch up to the cow.
If forward momentum in maintained, the horse approaches the stop with
the inside rear or rear fence leg planted deeper in the ground and
is following the cow with his nose. He continues to walk on his front
legs, rolling across with his front end and driving out of the maneuver
with his rear end. This is different from the cutting rollback because
the objective is not the same. In cutting, you want the horse to pivot
on the opposite rear leg.
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