What
is a "Solid Foundation"?
By Todd Martin
I
hear myself say quite often how important it is to have a solid foundation
on a reining horse, or any horse for that matter. But I do sometimes
forget that not all of us understand just what a solid foundation
is and just how it correlates to the finished product of an event
horse. Therefore, I have decided to write a series of articles that
discuss the fundamentals and explain how these fundamentals are used
to teach the horse more advanced maneuvers. In this article, I would
like to address the spins, how I take a young horse into the beginning
of the spins, and how the fundamentals help me to teach the horse
the correct way to spin.
First
and foremost, it is important for a young horse to learn to be comfortable
and confident in the walk, trot and lope on a loose rein.
Secondly,
I want to see one learn to follow his nose. By that, I mean that when
I place his nose in a certain direction, his entire body follows the
imaginary line that I've put him in. For example, if I ask for him
to go to the right at a walk by pulling him to the right, then his
entire body should follow. His head should not be going right and
his shoulder and hip leaning to the left or the opposite direction
as he resists with his head and leans his body in. A good indicator
of this from the saddle is that if his lead leg is not stepping in
the direction of his nose, then he is not following it. If I have
him turning in to the right, the more that I direct him in to the
right the deeper to the right his front right leg should step. Eventually,
I should be able to direct his nose at slightly more than a 45 degree
angle to the right and his lead leg should start to almost step back
to the right at the same angle that his nose is pointing. I would
like to point out that at this stage it is not important that the
horse plant his back inside leg. What is important is that he keeps
forward motion and that his second step always crosses over and in
front of his lead leg. If you do not have forward motion at all times
in the spin, your horse will never be fluid in the spins. He will
question you when you get to the point of teaching him to begin the
spin from a standstill which you will need to do in competition.
Thirdly,
the horse must yield to leg pressure willingly at both the shoulder
and the hip. Without this, I cannot motivate for speed or ask for
more collection and more importantly, I cannot correct him if his
body is out of alignment. For example, if he is turning to the right
and stepping around nicely but starts to lean his shoulder out of
the spin or begins to swing his rear end out of the spin, I need to
be able to push (with leg pressure) his body back into proper alignment.
Finally,
the horse must have a good understanding of rein pressure. Eventually,
I want the horse to be able to move and stay moving in the spin with
outside rein pressure. I should not have to constantly be required
to pull the nose in order to spin. Here is a very helpful hint which
will make you happy that you read this whole article: When teaching
rein pressure to a young horse--if they question you as to what the
outside rein pressure means--rather than pull harder across the neck,
slide your reins up closer to their ears. This will provide more bend
in the neck and will help them understand more quickly than pulling
harder would. Along with getting more bend in the neck, they will
tend to put their nose in the correct direction in which you are wanting
to go.
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