Regardless of the sport or equestrian

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2 Regardless of the sport or equestrian pursuit, most riders would appreciate the importance of being able to move the shoulders of their horse to the left or right with ease, grace and without tension, enabling the performance of various movements or tasks with the minimum of effort. The ability to move the shoulders of the horse to the left or to the right with seemingly little effort in all gaits, is termed power steering. Before trying to improve the steering on a horse it is critical to understand that steering (turning) has nothing to do with bending it is basically moving the hands left or right. This movement encourages the horse to move its shoulders away from the outside rein and to stay in the centre between both rein. Bending, on the other hand, is moving one rein back and the other rein forward to allow the bend through the horse s body or neck as required. A horse can turn with inside or outside bend (counter bend) or with a straight neck. Advanced steering involves shoulder control movement, which is moving the front feet of the horse to the left or the right, and it is initially taught with a straight neck. THE TURN ON THE HINDQUARTERS The most important exercise that helps a horse to refine its shoulder control is a Turn on the Hindquarters, which is initially taught as a quarter turn 90 degrees, then as a half turn 180 degrees, then as a full turn 360 degrees. Once the shoulders can easily be moved left or right from standstill or backup it is not that hard to start to take control and move them sideways in all the gaits when this can be done, it can be said that the horse has power steering! When the rider has a good understanding, coordination, feel, timing and balance for easily presenting the turn on the hindquarters to the horse, they will have little trouble educating the shoulders to move sideways in forward motion, but without these a rider will have trouble producing good accurate steering in the forward motion of walk, trot and canter. Continued August/September Page 13

3 Power Steering continued... Turn on the Hindquarters SuppORTING REIN LEADING REIN Understanding the fundamentals required A turn on the hindquarters is a shoulder control exercise where the horse moves the shoulders sideways in a circular motion with the outside front leg crossing over in front of the inside front leg. The horse moves the front end around a pivotting hindquarters with the inside hind leg turning almost in place and the outside hind leg creating a small circle around the pivoting inside hind. THE REIN AIDS A turn on the hindquarters to the left while the horse is at a standstill involves reins, hands and elbows moving to the left. The right, support rein, comes against the horse s neck but never across it. The left, leading rein, opens away from the neck and on a green horse that is learning the movement this can open quite wide so long as it does not change the balance of the rider. This leading rein is never pulled back to bend the neck, it is a constant rein and is held in a open position. If the rider were to bend the neck by pulling back, it would be harder for the horse to move its shoulders to the left, as the bend would pop the shoulder out to the right and also encourage the hindquarters to fall out to the right. A little flexion left in the poll and gullet is fine, but only just enough so that the rider can see the inside eye, with the neck staying straight. Once the reins have moved to the left, both reins hold back a little to discourage the horse from stepping forward. The left rein holds the leading rein open and the right rein is closed against the neck, holding the brake. August/September Page 14 If more brake is required the outside rein (right) can be used in an intermittent (on/off) manner but the left rein must stay constant and continue to lead. SIMPLIFIED - both reins move to the left and give a little direction to the nose. Both reins hold back just enough to discourage forward movement. When energy is produced with the outside leg the rein aids will encourage the shoulders to step away from the outside rein and move sideways to find the centre of the two reins. THE LEG AIDS The inside (left) leg is passive (inactive) - not pushed out and away from the horse as this often moves the riders seat into a bad position towards the outside of the saddle. The outside (right) leg is used at the girth and is the active leg - it produces the energy for the movement and discourages the horse s rib cage and hindquarters from falling out to the right. The outside leg aid must be used at exactly the same time as the rein aids move to the left and discourage forward movement. In advanced dressage when doing a move such as the pirouette, which is an advanced form of turn on the hindquarter, the outside leg will be used less and only enough to discourage the hindquarters from falling out. The inside leg will add energy and rhythm to the movement. THE SEAT AIDS The rider s seat and upper body should move a little towards the direction of the turn (left), with the eyes and belly button also turning a little towards to the left. However, this should not be exaggerated. As the seat moves slightly to the left it will encourage the horse s withers to move left to find the centre of the rider s seat bones. TRY standing on the ground with feet apart and knees bent as in the riding position and then move the hips and upper body to the left without leaning, pointing the belly button and eyes a little left and then taking the right leg and crossing it over in front of the left leg. If it is easy to do this when standing on the ground it will be easy for the horse to do the same with its front legs when the rider is sitting in that position in the saddle. COMMON MISTAKES DO NOT stand on the inside stirrup and lean to left as will cause the horse to initially fall in one step with the shoulders to the left, but because the rider s outside seat bone has come up and off the saddle, it opens up the outside of the horse and the hindquarters may fall out by the second step of the turn. TRY standing on the ground in the riding position, putting weight on the left foot then leaning out to the left - this will cause the rider s outside (right) hip to lift up and as the right leg crosses in front of the left leg, the rider will want to fall or stumble to the left. Riding in this position will have a similar effect on the horse. DO NOT lower the inside (left) shoulder, raise the outside shoulder and collapse onto the inside hip. If the rider does this the inside hip moves across the saddle towards the outside (right) and the inside hip and thigh block and discourage the movement. Often when riders do this they also pull back on the inside (left) rein, making the outside rein higher than The horse moves the front end around a pivotting hindquarters with the inside hind leg turning almost in place and the outside hind leg creating a small circle around the pivoting inside hind. The shoulders move sideways in a circular motion with the outside front leg crossing over in front of the inside front leg. the inside, which results in the outside hip pushed up and open - in this position the horse can only fall out through the hindquarters because all the weight is on the shoulders blocking the movement. TRY standing in the riding position and then lowering the left shoulder and collapsing onto the left hip until the hips are pushed to the outside (right). Stay in that position and try to lift the outside (right) leg and cross it in front of the left one - it is almost impossible! The reins and shoulders must stay level or with the inside rein and shoulder very slightly higher. DO NOT open the inside leg (left) and lean to the outside with the inside shoulder high and the outside shoulder low and with the weight on the outside stirrup. This lightens the inside of the horse but weights the outside making it difficult for the horse to bring the outside leg across also, if the horse did move quickly to the left the rider would fall off to the right.

4 TRY standing in the riding position raising the inside shoulder (left) and lowering the outside shoulder and then leaning to the outside putting the weight on the outside foot and lifting the inside foot off the ground and pointing it to the left - it is now impossible to lift the right leg and put it in front of the left foot! COMBINED AIDS SIMPLIFIED. The reins, hands and elbows are moved to the left and are gently holding back to discourage stepping forward. The rider s eyes and belly button look in the direction of the turn the rider should be careful not to exaggerate this. The upper body and seat move a little to the left BuT STAY LEVEL not leaning, encouraging the withers to move left and find the centre of the seat bones. The left leg is relaxed and the right leg has blocked the outside of the horse and become active to create the energy for the turn. When all the aids are applied correctly together, the hindquarters should turn almost in place and the shoulders step sideways away from the outside rein and seek the centre of the two reins. When this happens, the horse gets relief from the aids and is allowed to walk on. Exercises for the Hindquarter Turn A good place to teach the turn on the hindquarters is when working along a wall or fence. Start by walking along the wall to the left and tip the horse s nose towards the wall (right), using the right leg to push the hindquarters away from the wall and halt facing it. This is called a turn on the forehand. Once the horse is halted, facing the wall and settled give the cues to move the shoulders 90 degrees away from the wall to the left (turn on the hindquarters). The cues are reins left, elbows left, hands left, eyes and belly button a little left and horse s nose slightly left, right leg on the girth. The hindquarters must turn in place as the shoulders move sideways to the left away from the wall. When parallel to the wall and a horse length away from the wall, soften the reins and use the right leg to encourage the horse to walk on. If for any reason the hindquarters end up next to the wall the exercise was done incorrectly. There are only two reasons that Power Steering continued... this would happen - one, the rider gave correct cues but the horse did not understand them and pushed its hindquarters against the rider s leg ending up back at the wall, or secondly, the rider forgot to hold back on the rein as the cues were given and the horse just walked forward and over to the wall. Whether it is the rider s fault or the horse s fault the correction is the same. Do not accept the hindquarters near the wall - instantly push them away with the right leg and again halt facing the wall, repeating this correction every time the hindquarters ends up near the wall. Be consistent, remember in horse training consistency is a rider s best friend, inconsistency their biggest enemy. Relax the horse for a moment before asking it to move its shoulders away from the wall again, not allowing the horse to walk until it ends up parallel with, and a horse-length away from, the wall. Reins Suggest - Legs Create Energy The turn on the hindquarters can also be asked from a backup, but be careful to ask as the horse is backing, do not back up, stop and then turn. Remember to use slow hands (rein aids) when asking the shoulders to move. The shoulders cannot be forced to move better by giving stronger rein aids - if the shoulders are not moving it is because the feet are not moving and the horse needs to give a better response to the leg aid. Remember that reins suggest the direction of the movement and the rider s leg produces the energy for the horse to move in that direction. After moving the shoulders from either standstill or back up, it is important to walk the horse on. TuRN ON THE FOREHAND Do not halt and move the hindquarters as this will often put a break in the horse s body and cause it to step backwards during the movement as the rider is applying a leg aid but not allowing the horse to move forward. Only move the hindquarters sideways from standstill once the horse is very good at doing it from forward motion. Even then, move the horse about half a step forward before asking the hindquarters to move over. TuRN ON THE HINDQuARTERS Once the horse is halted, facing the wall and settled give the cues to move the shoulders 90 degrees away from the wall to the left. Do not walk on until the horse is parallel to the wall. Continued Another exercise to improve a turn on the hindquarters is the clock exercise. Sitting on the horse at standstill, the horse and rider are in the centre of a clock at the dot where the two hands join, facing towards 12 o clock. Walk from the centre four or five steps towards 12, and then instantly back up towards the centre. On approaching the centre move the shoulders 90 degrees while still backing and immediately walk four to five steps forward to 3 o clock. At 3 o clock back up to the centre, move the shoulders 90 degrees and walk out to 6 o clock, at 6 o clock back out to the centre move the shoulders 90 degrees and walk out to 9 o clock. At 9 o clock back up to the centre, move the shoulders 90 degrees and walk out to 12 o clock. At 12 o clock back up towards the centre and repeat this pattern in the opposite direction (right). This is a great exercise to test accuracy and obedience - it may not start off neat but with a little practice it can be done neatly and this will be the start of developing good shoulder control at slow speed. Remember, good shoulder control produces good steering. The turn on the hindquarters can be further improved by side stepping or leg yielding the whole horse sideways immediately after moving the shoulders. The horse will be expecting to move further away from the same leg and won t be tempted to fall back in with the hindquarters after the turn. This exercise develops a lot of respect to the leg as well as coordination, feel and timing in the rider. Continued

5 Power Steering continued... When asked to move the shoulders, some horses will back up as a misunderstanding or as a resistance. If the rider believes the horse has misunderstood (or is confused), opening the leading rein wider with contact and softening the brake a little on the supporting rein (neck rein) may help. Often when this is done, the horse will instantly step across with the shoulders - be sure to walk on. If the horse is still doing an unwanted back up, check that the neck rein is not being pushed across the neck (it can only come to the centre of the neck). This would cause it to become a stronger brake rein and cause the horse to back up remember, slow gentle rein aids. If the rider feels that the correct aids have been given but the horse is still backing instead of turning, the correction is to trot forward for one or two ten to fifteen metre circles and then coming back to walk and halt and settling at the same spot. Maybe give the horse a rub or scratch and think about the aids before asking again for the shoulder movement. This correction can be done as many times as it takes until the horse moves its shoulders sideways instead of backing up - remember to walk on when the horse gives the correct response. Never correct backing by driving the horse forward two to three steps then halting - this never makes sense to the horse, as it was just given a go forward cue and when it goes forward the rider pulls on its mouth and said why did you go forward? This type of correction causes confusion and some horses will respond by becoming excited, jigging, rearing or running back more violently. Always correct unwanted backing by trotting forward. The horse will find backing created more work and this correction will also stress stronger obedience to the go forward cue - the number one cue. All these exercises have been done to the left - naturally they will need to be taught to the right as well. In a future issue, Steve will discuss ways to improve accuracy and steering in forward motion. The turn on the hindquarters can also be practiced on a circle. use a cone or marker as the centre of a six metre circle and, walking left around the six metre circle use the inside leg (left) to push the hindquarters away from the circle, halting facing the circle but not allowing the horse to go into the circle. From either standstill or backup move the shoulders 90 degrees away from the circle (hands right, left leg on). This can be improved by adding two to three sidesteps after moving the shoulders and then walking on a bigger circle. Eventually the rider should be able to do a turn on the hindquarters anywhere they choose. About The Author Steve Brady One of Australia s most highly regarded full time Horsemanship Clinicians with 40 years experience in the horse industry, Steve does clinics in all states of Australia and New Zealand. stevebrady@aapt.net.au Web:

6 Horses trained so their shoulders are always searching for the centre of the reins (ie. hands left or hands right should equal shoulders left or shoulders right) give riders the ability to move the horse either right or left, with seemingly little effort, and produce what is generally termed power steering. The best initial exercise to impress this on a horse is the turn on the hindquarters, which was explained in Part 1 Power Steering in the August/September (Vol 32 No 2) issue. Riding squares, circles, wagon-wheels and triangles are some of the best patterns to produce power steering in forward motion. Before starting these patterns a horse should already be able to trot and canter circles, although neatness in this exercise is not a necessity (ie the horse may sometimes fall in or fall out on the circle.) The patterns will teach a horse to retain an accurate circle whilst maintaining its bend and flexion and will also allow the rider to control the steering so they can place the horse anywhere they would like to.

7 Squares to Improve Steering Diagram 2 Diagram 1 Halt and turn: Riding squares at the walk, trot and canter is a great way to improve the steering on any horse. Initially, a horse is taught to steer with lots of pulling on the reins or even to turn by moving the hindquarters, but all advancement and refinement in steering comes by training the shoulders to move left or right and stay between the reins. Start the horse in walk on a 15 meter square using four cones to mark each corner of the square. Travelling to the left, walk past a corner and halt with the tail just past the corner. Look left to the next corner, then do a turn on the hindquarters and instantly walk to the next corner and repeat. Remember to make sure that the tail is just past the corner before halting. see diagram 1. Repeat the exercise on all four corners of the square. 1 turning in forward motion in WalK When these turns can be done easily and accurately from halt, start to do them in walk and gradually progress to trot and canter. Slow the walk as approaching the corner and as the tail goes past the corner, give the cues to turn on the hindquarters as the horse is still walking. see diagram 2. If the horse does not turn sharp enough, it means the rider did not hold back enough as they gave the cues and the horse moved too forward in the turn. Try to do better at the next corner but if the horse is still not turning sharp enough, go back to practicing more at stand still or even just stop in the middle of the turn and leg yield the rest of the way back to the square. see diagram 3. 2 Diagram 3 Not turning sharp enough Too forward Diagram 4 leg yield back to square Halt leg yield back to square Halt 3 Another resistance that may occur is the hindquarters falling to the outside of the turn causing the horse to turn on its centre instead of its hindquarters. This is often caused by too much inside bend and/or pulling back on the inside rein. Too much bend puts too much pressure on the ribs and the hindquarters to bow to the outside. No matter what gait the rider is attempting this in (initially in walk and progressively in trot or canter), they should do the initial turns with a straight neck or even a tiny outside bend. Only on a highly advanced horse would a rider do the turn with inside bend. If the hindquarters still continue to fall out, the rider should halt in the middle of the turn without removing their outside leg and as quickly as possible, side-pass or leg-yield back to the square - then continue to the next corner and try again. Consistently do this correction even as they progress up to trot and eventually canter. BE CONSISTENT! Falling out with the hindquarters is the horse pushing into the rider s leg cue. Correct it by doing an exercise that causes the horse to move away from the rider s leg (ie. The leg-yield or side-pass) see diagram 4. 4 Once these 90 degree turns in walk and trot have been mastered, progress to mastering more difficult patterns such as circles, wagon-wheels and triangles. There is no need to wait until canter on squares has been mastered before moving on. As soon as the walk and trot are mastered, start on the other patterns but continue to work with squares in canter. In trot and canter the squares should be quite large - somewhere between metres. Working on squares check list Do not have inside bend. Start at stand-still. Have the tail just past the corner. Gradually work through all the gaits (walk, trot and canter). When doing corrections, the rider should not remove their outside leg as they halt. If horse does not turn sharp enough, halt and leg-yield back to the square. If the hindquarters fall out, also halt and leg-yield back to the square. Use larger squares when working in trot and canter. Continued

8 Refining Power Steering continued... Steering on Circles Don t confuse bend with steering (see Part 1 - Aug Sept Vol 32 no 2) and when first training circles don t worry about bend, that comes later. Be concerned about what the horse s feet are doing - and keeping the feet on the circle. On a circle the horse should be trained to stay between the two reins. The rider needs to be constantly aware of not holding one rein against the neck to discourage the horse from falling in or falling out, this is nagging! If, with every stride, the rider is saying to the horse don t fall in or don t fall out by holding the rein against the horse s neck constantly, then horses - like children - will very quickly tune out and ignore the requests. They will continue to fall in or out against the aid. Do not micro-manage the horse! If the horse falls in or out only a little and the rider instantly corrects it each time, they will find that they constantly have to correct the horse to keep it on the circle. They are then starting to baby-sit the horse and will always need to be telling it what to do. Try to make the horse more responsible for the job the rider has set it up to do (ie. to stay on the circle). falling in or out Falling in or out is basically a steering problem. The horse is not staying between the two reins and, to cause the horse to want to stay on the circle, the rider needs to allow it to make the mistake of coming either in or out the circle at least three metres before they correct it. CorrECtion for falling out When correcting the problem of falling out away from a left-hand circle, wait until the horse is at least three metres away from the circle.as the horse starts to move away, keep focused and with gentle rein and seat aids, aim towards the original circle. The horse will start to run into the outside rein the more it drifts out if the rider has kept their aids towards the original circle. Once the horse has committed to the mistake by moving three metres out, change the rider s focus to the centre of the circle and do a strong 90 degree shoulder turn to the left - the same as would be done at the corner of a square- and then go straight across the middle of the circle. At the far side of the circle do another 90 degree left shoulder turn back onto the circle. The horse will soon understand that if it doesn t correct itself back onto the circle as soon as it runs into the outside rein, the rider is going to cause it to do a more difficult correction (ie. the 90 degree sharp turns). If the rider consistently does this correction every time the horse falls out, then soon it will start to correct itself to avoid the stronger correction and will stay on the circle. Diagram 5: falling out CorrECtion When 3 mtrs away for the circle do a 90 turn - go straight across the circle and on the other side do another 90 turn. Correcting falling out check list The rider will need to be consistent (correct every time) Allow the horse to make the mistake (do not micro-manage) Keep focus, position and gentle reins riding the circle as the horse falls out The horse will eventually correct itself and stay on the circle to avoid a stronger correction. If the rider is are very disciplined with focus and seat position, they can teach a horse to stay on a circle even on a loose rein. October/November Page 6

9 Wagon Wheel Pattern Turning across the centre of the circle is a good training pattern to improve steering, even if thehorse is not falling out. When a rider does these turns from different spots on the circle, it starts to look like what a wagon-wheel pattern with lots of spokes crossing in the middle. This is a pattern that can be done every day, especially in canter. see diagram 6. Diagram 6. WaGon WHEEl pattern At any given point on a circle left, do a 90 shoulder turn left (cues for turn on the hindquarters) go straight across the middle of the circle and at the other side so a 90 turn left back onto the circle. Do these turns at random points and after a few turns the pattern will start to look like a wagon wheel. Do all to the left for 5-10 min then to the right for 5-10 min. Horse images are not in proportion to size of circles in diagrams Shoulders have fallen in to the inside of circle A good shoulder and steering pattern in trot. Circles should be approx. 20 to 30 metres. start HErE CorrECtion for falling in Again this is just a steering problem - the horse is not staying between the reins and is coming off the line it was originally set on. On some horses it feels like there is a magnet in the centre of the circle pulling them in. As the horse starts to fall in - say on a left circle, it will start to lean on the inside rein and usually turns its head to the outside. It is important that the rider holds their focus, position and gentle rein aids as if they were still trying to ride the outside of the circle. When the horse has fallen in about three metres (allow the horse to make the mistake), do a strong 90 degree turn to the right (the outside) and then ride about three metres outside of the circle and then do a strong 90 degree turn to the left and ride back onto the line of the circle. If the rider is consistent, the horse will soon learn to stay on the circle to avoid the stronger corrections. As soon as it feels the inside rein against its shoulder and neck, it will correct itself back onto the circle and find the centre of the reins. see diagram 7. Diagram 8. Diagram 7. falling in CorrECtion When this exercise is done in canter the horse will break back to a trot. As you turn back onto the circle start to canter again. Correcting falling in check list Allow the horse to make the mistake. Hold focus, position and reins as if riding the outside of the circle. Over correct with sharp turns. When this correction is done in canter the horse will probably brake back to trot at the turn to the outside, then as it is turned back onto the circle ask it to canter on again. Even if the horse is not falling in, this is a good training pattern to do in trot to improve steering. see diagram 8 Riding Triangles Triangles are a great pattern, which leads to power steering. They are designed to do mostly in trot and canter. Initially they can be done in walk just to get a feel for the pattern. This pattern is done initially by marking out a 30 metre square with a cone at each corner. There are eight turns to complete the pattern. About the smallest I would do this pattern is 20 metres. The turns are a bit sharper than 90 degrees and therefore slightly more difficult. see diagram 9. Diagram 9. riding triangles Shoulder turns are a bit more than 90 and therefore slightly more difficult. Remember to push the horse around the turn with the outside leg and rein..riding triangles check list Do mostly in trot and canter. Keep repeating one way until the horse is relaxed and puffing a little, then have a rest and repeat in the new direction until the horse is relaxed again. By the time a rider has mastered squares and wagon-wheels, triangles will not be hard to teach and they will sharpen and improve their steering even more. All squares, wagon-wheels and triangle patterns are done with several repetitions the one way. Then rest the horse until it is breathing easy and repeat several times in the new direction. Squares, wagon-wheels and triangles have a calming and slowing effect on a horse s feet, particularly when done in canter. Once a rider can successfully execute their squares, circles, wagon-wheels and triangles in trot and particularly in canter, they will have power steering and teaching even more advanced shoulder manoeuvres (such as spins, roll-backs and haunch turns for stock horses and western horses or pirouettes for dressage horses) will not be difficult. Once I can ride squares, circles, wagon-wheels and triangles in trot and canter, I rarely do a ride without doing them. I particularly like these patterns in canter. Good luck and good training! Steve Brady About The Author Steve Brady One of Australia s most highly regarded full time Horsemanship Clinicians with 40 years experience in the horse industry, Steve does clinics in all states of Australia and New Zealand. stevebrady@aapt.net.au Web: October/November Page 7

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