Horses and Horse Training

If you can't move your horse's shoulders, you don't have the control you need to safely ride.

You definitely want to have your horse rocking his shoulders.

If your horse doesn't rock his shoulders, he is resisting.

And here's the surprising thing.

This needs fixed - but not at the shoulders.

Nope.

It actually starts at the bridle.

That's where the resistance most likely is.

So what's the big deal about the horse's shoulders locking up?

The big deal is that he can't turn around - or if he does, it's a big struggle to do so.

In any discipline, you want your horse to easily turn. It doesn't matter if it's Dressage, Reining, Roping, etc. It's part of horse training and a big part of today's natural horsemanship.

Even in simple recreational riding.

But if you're competing in anything, the shoulders must be "unlocked" or trouble will happen.

So whaddya do?

Well, if the horse doesn't want to turn and give, you have to start back up to the bridle.

Get him giving his head both ways.

If that's not happening, the shoulders will lock.

But a word of warning.

This can be a little tricky for the uninitiated because you can teach your horse to pull against you.

If you're not careful, you won't teach him to give...you'll teach him to take.

That's a HUGE problem for the rider.

Not only that, if you're not careful you can fairly easily make your horse mad.

And the thing about that is you can't deal with him like you can a child who gets mad where you can tell the child he's gonna do what you say despite him being mad.

Nope.

If the horse gets mad, it won't matter what you do.

You could beat him (not that you would - this is merely an example of how it can go wrong) ...and he wouldn't care.

He wouldn't do squat.

Then you have the problem of getting him unmad because you sure as heck don't want to put him up for the day when he's mad.

Why?

Because that's where he'll start the next session - right where he left off...MAD!

Fortunately, you can avoid these problems.

And let me tell ya...it's FAR better to avoid the problems than it is to fix them!

one way to do it is to "not overdo" it.

In other words, if your horse gives his head don't keep pulling to get even more.

Give back the rein. That's how you say thank you to your horse.

Also, don't drill your horse on the same thing over and over.

When he does it, you can ask for him to do it again. But not again, and again, and again.

After all, he got it right. Leave him alone.

There are more tricks, but these are a couple you can use.

J.J. Rydberg, one of featured trainers from SuperStars of Horse Training, talks a LOT about this very thing.

He has even more tricks you can use for your own bag of tricks.

J.J. teaches horse training at a local college and fixes horses other trainers can't.

To see more about J.J., go to the following:

http://www.SuperStarsOfHorseTraining.com

One more thing you might want to see.

In J.J.'s video, he shows the crippling effects of when a horse won't rock his shoulders.

Once you see it, you will have a piece of knowledge very, very few people ever know.

Be sure to learn this because it will make an incredible difference in your horse, your riding ability, and your dream of having and riding a horse.