trail training and lateral flexion

[cowboy ed]

i have recently been working with several "green" horses and have had the opportunity to use a lot of lateral flexion work/one rein stops to encourage these horses to work past many obstacles. some of the obstacles that generally cause a young horse problems are, deep ditches, creek crossings, pond crossings, stepping over logs, and another favorite, deer jumping out of the woods. the lateral flexion work is proving its worth in keeping these young horses relaxed and willing to move forward.
it is also very useful for working past barn sour/buddy sour issues.

if anyone is having problems of this nature with your horse, let me know. i would be glad to help you.

[CarolU]

Great suggestions. I didn't think about using it here, but you have a very good point. I used this with Diablo (an older 'spook-a-holic) who likes to work himself up. If I one-rein stop him into a flex, he knows I want him to relax - and he does. It is amazing how well this works.

Great suggestion Ed...and since I have two youngsters and old stallion to 'start' this year, it'll come in handy.

[SandyMM]

(Pssst - how do you schedule the deer jumping out of the woods? ;-) )

[PASOFAN]

I use this all the time and love it. There are times when my young boy looses his head and doesnt want to flex but were working on taht and in time he will do better.. But I for one am a big believer in flexing.. :D

[LynnG]

One excercise I am using in my Gaited Horsemanship Program is: set up a circle of 8 cones of approximately 25'-30' diameter. The horse and rider work the outside of the circle and then the inside of the cones circle (tighter bend/curve) both directions using leg yield and direct rein. Then we do serpentines around the cones in the circle. We practice at three speeds: relaxed normal walk, extended walk and collected/short stride walk. This exercise really supples up a stiff horse. You could do it at a faster gait just have a larger circle, unless you are riding a fino horse. ;-)

[Primroseddp]

Thats great Lynn , another way is to use the woods , trees are great to work around as long as they are far enough apart and no low hanging limbs, when i used to train a lot of reining horses that is the way we started them, it was kind of easy and the trees they could not go through and that made a for a great obsticle

[CarolU]

Thats great Lynn , another way is to use the woods , trees are great to work around as long as they are far enough apart and no low hanging limbs, when i used to train a lot of reining horses that is the way we started them, it was kind of easy and the trees they could not go through and that made a for a great obsticle

Woods? Trees? What are they?

If I remember, a few years ago Ed said he used trees to train horses to rein. I told him I'd NEVER do that...oh, got people all upset until they realized that I wouldn't do it only because I can't. No trees! LOL

[LynnG]

That was the ring exercise I had been using, and then the last half of the last lesson we ventured into the woods and applied the ring lesson to real world riding in the woods with no clear defined trail and in and out around trees! The student said I don't know where to go when I let her lead, since the trail wasn't clear with many trees to dodge. FUN!

[Minouri]

When I saw Clinton Anderson's clinic he flexed the horse's neck back and forth through almost the whole thing. I thought the horse's head was going to fall off. I usually only do it a few times on each side before a ride to loosen him up. Is there an average amount that one should do on a regular basis?

I've never used it to calm him down on the trail. Walk me through a scenario if you don't mind. I'm riding down a path. A wild turkey jumps out and scares the dickens out of Scooter. His feet are going mad. Hopping like his feet are on fire. I'd flex him then? If you guys suggest it I'll try it. Usually I just relax my legs and hands and let him dance for a minute then it goes away.

There is one time when I'm definately going to try it. When I go out on the trails by myself ...he is great going out.....he is great coming back. Doesn't rush me or pull against me. But he's not so good standing and enjoying the view unless I get off. If we stop he starts dancing. That would be a good time to relax him.

Is this what you're talking about?

When I worked with a natural horseman he had me doing all sorts of circles and serpentines....so did the dressage trainer I had. Amazing how different and yet the same it all is.

[ErinC]

sounds great , but do tell us more , I am like Ruth, I flex for warm ups. then ride.
I will only stop and flex again if I feel a stiff gait.

[Brigitte]

I flex to calm Serano down, when coming back home sometimes he'll want to take off, I stop him hard and flex him he'll relax and be good for a while. The flexing has helped him alot

[CarolU]

First you train your horse to flex...Teach him to flex on a light rein, hold his head in until he relaxes and you see a visible give to the inside. Release instantly. Then do the other side, always until he relaxes and you feel the give. Then release. Once he KNOWS this, he KNOWS the object is to RELAX.

Then at a walk, reach down and pull his head in at a flex. Hold until he stops and relaxes (he may walk in circles a second or two). Then do the same to the other side. You are training him to stop and relax. Once he is doing both sides at a walk, teach him the same at the corto, then at the largo, and if you canter, at the canter.

Then when you are on the trail and he's chomping to go home (or nervous), flex him to a stop until he relaxes, and then go on. Remain calm all the time, no temper, no frustration. When he's afraid, this cue to relax is an incredible tool.

Oh...I should add that YOUR body language is important. YOu need to have relaxed legs...he won't stop and relax if you are tense and your body is telling him to continue moving.

[cowboy ed]

yes, carol's description is exactly the way you do it. now, as for when you do it, anytime your horse gets nervous, refuses to move forward, spooks and spins away from something, refuses to cross water, goes faster than you ask and you get into a tug of war with him, or just about any scenario you can think of, this will help you out. IF you have spent enough time teaching the horse to flex and relax. how much is enough? it depends on the horse. some take less time and repititions, others take a lot. i dont really think you can overdo it, IF you are doing it right.

[jodiTowne]

Can you give a scenario on how it helps when a horse refuses to move forward?? I can't picture that.... I picture a horse that has stopped, is calm and just says "i really don't wanna do this anymore". Not being ornery, just plain glued to the ground.

[cowboy ed]

sure, i can give an example. have you ever been on a horse that didnt want to cross water? i mean one that will plant its feet, snort and blow, then dance around and try to get away from it? this is a classic case of where the one rein stop/lateral flexion excercise will enable you to get the horse to calm down and move forward. i have done it many, many times, and it usually only takes a few minutes.

[CherylE]

I have aquestion on that too....when you flex on one side and they calm down do you then flex to the other side? If you only do one side, do you alterrnate sides as you use the flex?

This is great....I have used this recently with hyper and refusals....the flex helps the stuck horse to move. Just wondered about using one side and the other or alternate when you need to use it.

[motorgypsy]

Flexing is indeed another useful tool in our bag of tricks. Flexing works well in many horses but doesn't really work well with Chinook. And as was mentioned we have seen it really overused. If she refuses to go forward you can flex her for an hour (we did it) and she won't budge (in fact she'll nibble your boot toe or your stirrup if you let her) but it's great for stopping a bucking fit or a threat to rear or just plain stopping. So how do we get Chinook to move when she plants? Turn her and back her in the direction we want to go, turn and ask her to move forward, repeat, until she finally moves forward which is usually when she can no longer see her home pasture or hear her buddies. It's obvious her trainer used this because she can back as fast as she cortos and she steers as well backward as she does frontward. Quite amazing! She is great fun! Just needs a rearview mirror!

One other time and with one other horse we had really fabulous results and that's with our older mare (23). If you give her a normal move forward cue she always took off at a gallop so I started giving her a really subtle right then left cue - pinky touch light. And off she'd go at a nice relaxed walk. Amazing. She has apparently been trained to respond to such light cues that she can be turned with a pinky touch on her withers and a normal turn cue is a signal to spin which she does very well!

Figuring out an already trained horse is like coming in at the end of a movie and trying to figure out the beginning. Fun but challenging!

[cowboy ed]

yes, cheryl, alternate sides. do three or four repititions on each side whenever you stop or your horse plants his feet.