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Re: [RC] speaking of gaited horses - Karen SullivanI used a rope halter and lead rope as far as pressure on the head (giving side to side and backing).....and then incorporated my fingers or hand on their barrel (where your leg would fall)... to teach them to step away under themselves (disengauge the hindquarters) and move hindquarters away from me and the finger pressure. If they don't get it at first; you just turn their head enough that they want to do that circle and turn; and then associate the finger pressure with that.....I also used my fingers up in the girth area to move the front part of the horse away from me. Forgot to mention; when I first got on their backs, I used a helper (my daughter) to reinforce the cues from the ground (what the horse is used to) while I did it on their backs...this transition also seemed to help. The other thing I forgot to say is that it all takes lots and lots of time....I did this for years and years while they were very young, before they were ever ridden....and also did a lot of ponying, trailering out, hanging weird stuff off the saddle (like milk jugs and going through brush), and tried to really get them used to the outside world.... My motivation here was to make the transition into riding as easy on me and the horse as possible; and really, I'm a big chicken and didn't want any bucking or wrecks.... Karen =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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