Lateral movements

[Mrs D]

Please help! Need some step by step instructions for ground work to teach a horse to yield, for further teaching under saddle to leg yield, and other lateral movements. I haven't been able to find help. When I try to get him to go to the right, by putting pressure on his left side, he is so stubborn he will just stand there and look at me. I can only get him to move if I put slight pressure on the lead rope to get him moving. He also doesn't always cross over his leg over the outside leg, so I don't know if he has hit himself sometime in the past. I need some real basic info here. thanks in advance. You are all the best! If I need to go to simpler basics, please let me know.

[Heather]

Try just applying intermittent pressure with your hand just where your leg would be applied slightly behind the girth. Horses will lean into pressure so if you apply a solid constant pressure, he will not move. Press firmly/release, firmly/release, until he understands. If he still does not move, stand at his head, and tap him lightly on the
quarters, just above his hip, with a long dressage whip. He should move around, as if performing a turn on the forehand.

When you try it first under saddle, if he still does not want to move away from your leg, as long as he is not a kicker, get an assistant to apply pressure to his hind quarters, in time with when you apply your leg, which should also be applied with the same press/release, as you used your hand when on the ground.

I have trained many horses to go sideways using this method to start them. Always reward as soon as you get the first sideways response.

Heather

[Mrs D]

Heather - thanks! He seems to be catching on, slowly but surely!

[Asamson1122]

Mrs. D., Please read Natural Horse-Man-Ship by Pat Parelli (ISBN 0-911647-27-9) for GREAT ground work and lateral movement exercises. This is a wonderful step by step instruction to get your horse to do, on the ground, what you want him to do in the saddle. Then anything you ask of him in the saddle will be familiar to him. Anita