Riding patterns will greatly improve the communication between you and your horse. When you give the horse a specific job to do he will become focused rather than wandering aimlessly around the arena. Patterns are a very important part of training; which keep him listening to you while working on fine-tuning your riding skills. Continue reading Basic Riding Patterns
Now that you have gotten your horse through the ground poles at the walk and trot it is time for the best part, the canter. When the horse can comfortably canter through a line of poles you are ready to tackle many other challenges, such as jumps and trail obstacles like boxes and gates. Continue reading Pole Progression: The Canter
Maintaining a consistent speed and changing directions at the cue of the rider are two basics that all horse should know and respond to. However, many horses will anticipate what the rider wants, or worse completely ignore the rider’s cues. Sometimes cues may be confusing to the horse such as constant contact on the reins, yet the horse is expected to stop when pressure is applied. This pattern will separate specific cues, making the correct response easy and the wrong one hard. Doing so allows the horse to figure out exactly what is wanted of him. Continue reading A Pattern For Speed and Directional Control