Central Oregon Trail Course

by Shari Maguire

Now that you have developed the comfortable cadence and rhythm from the day to day repetitive exercises of bending around your inside leg, flexing the head and neck, suppling the five body parts we talked about earlier, the head, poll, neck, withers and shoulders, it’s time to move on to the trot.

Your posture plays a big part in these exercises as well. Your shoulders relaxed, sitting back in the saddle and not over the withers, in the middle, being centered on the horse. If you lean, the horse will lean. Sit straight up in there.
Whichever direction you’re going in your circle, your inside rein hand (direct rein) should be in a relaxed position dropped behind your knee. Not out to the side, not up in the air. I can’t say it enough, relax, so your horse can.

At this point, I am still not asking for any headset. I am patiently waiting for the horse to find their comfort zone, relax through the boring bending, drop his neck and head and when that has been achieved, I release the horse from the circle beginning the first set of rewards by one releasing the neck from the bend and second letting the horse go straight. This starts “staying in the frame”

At this point the “forked martingale” or “The Collar” will come in handy. It’s purely up to the rider which tool they would prefer to use. I will explain how they work and why I choose “The Collar”.

Some training aids give you an advantage when schooling your horse. Most do not. As I mentioned earlier in this article, the sidepull and The Collar are all I need. For me The Collar works best. It has taken the place of the forked martingale which I used for years until I developed The Collar, by modernizing an old piece of equipment I found in my trunk from thirty years ago.

There is no question of course you can train without any training aids, however, you will end up doing a lot more pulling and jerking then you’d like too. The end results will be a numb mouth, or they get “mouthy or chompy” on the bit.

The aids I use are not intended to be used as a short cut. I spend so much time doing the other work, short cuts just aren’t in the plans. I use them while the horse is learning how to move away from the pressure.

Using “tools” or “training aids”

Let’s take a closer look at the “draw rein”. If this tool is used improperly it can be very abusive. When the horse is pulled in so much, then backed off, and I have seen some folks back these poor guys up for thirty feet with their chin up against their chest and nowhere insight is there release for the horse. Just a solid pull back or with anger, jerking the horse back. Resulting in extreme pain in the horses mouth and where does the horse go from there? usually up in the air. Now we have the beginnings of a rearing problem. Plus they get behind the bit, their necks all bowed up, climbing in the front, forward movement completely inhibited or hampered. The fluid look of the flat-kneed mover turns into a pogo stick with a phony look instead.

Now the “standard or running martingale” they have their place in the jumping horse arena.”

So let’s go back to the fork or The Collar. The fork needs to be adjusted so it’s loose or it will pull the head down. Personally, I don’t want down. I want even with the withers. The Collar allows me to choose the proper ring for the exercise I am doing. It basically steadies the head, it doesn’t pull it down. I can do all the bending and flexing without inhibiting the natural head position. Once again the rings on this particular tool tells the horse where it can’t go instead of making him not go there by force from an inappropriate piece of training equipment promising to make the job fast and easy. When I don’t need the rings The Collarsimply turns into a breast collar. I just reach down and pull the reins out. There isn’t any reason to get off and there isn’t anything dangling between the horse’s front feet.  The Collar remains on my saddle. If one of the horses gets nasty or stop paying attention I reach down, filter the reins through the appropriate rings, and I get the attention back. It’s a great tool.

Practice these exercises in a trot for now, don’t try loping in the small circle yet. Free loping is great if you don’t have a runaway. If your horse wants to lope off a little that’s ok just don’t start pulling on them to slow them down, ride it out, sit back and relax. Don’t misunderstand me I don’t mean for you to let them run dangerously off out of control, do whatever is necessary to contain the runoff behavior perhaps not go there in the beginning if you are not able to shut ‘em down. The one rein stop is a great advantage to you at this point. Anyway, loosen the grip, let the reins hang. If you have a death grip on the ribcage with your legs, let go. Lope half the arena, anything but pull! This will set you back. The slow gaits, trust me, will come naturally if you don’t get them all revved up. I recall a famous TV clinician saying “if you think Fluffy is done lopin’ lope ‘em some more” If they don’t settle within a few thousand laps go back to bending until they have had enough of that and finish the lesson in a long trot leaving the loping for another day. Don’t panic it will come that nice slow lope, easier than you think. Again TIME

Creating the headset with pleasure:
Keeping the horse light in the mouth isn’t an easy task. I like to have my horse at my finger tips. They stay light because by now I am using more leg and a lot less rein. I start by being centered in the saddle, legs straight under my body not back or forward and I am not riding or balancing up on the withers. My shoulders are relaxed and hands dropped low in front of the saddle. I take their head and neck from side to side while encouraging forward movement with pressure from my legs. At the same time I ask them to give their head by alternate independent reins, right left, right left, with the rhythm from each gait pushing the horse forward with my legs. When they drop their nose I immediately let go, legs too. I have watched horses for fifty years. One thing for sure is they sway their heads back and forth to their own rhyme. You can pick up on the rhythm once you begin to feel the horse under you and listen to the foot falls.

Again folks, this is a long draw out procedure. Months of give and take with the head. Suppling the poll, head and neck, and keeping the inside shoulder up all the while. And we are still at the trot! But once you get that desired way of pleasure horse traveling whether it’s for the show ring or just your pleasure there is no going back.

Staying in the Frame or Rounding the horse:
Picture a frame. The goal, keep your horse within that frame: square. In all the gaits. Only the balanced horse can do this.

By now your horse should show signs of balance. Collected, soft in the mouth and responsive to a light touch. Moving off your leg. Coming back to you off the bit. The natural head carriage plays an important roll now. The horse should be relaxed and ready to school without trying to fix your horse’s headset. This will cause you to loose the frame because you will tend to use your hands and forget about your legs, it will stop the forward movement and the end results is frameless and heavy on the bit! We also need to concern ourselves with the four beat lope, which will develop in time if you keep dropping out of the frame or roundness. Keep practicing, the repetition will work for you and your horse. It takes time, timing and patients. Maybe a few lessons. Ride with confidence. Stay focused on what it is you are doing with your horse. If you get confused, STOP think about what we discussed earlier in this article, go back and start again. It’s ok. Everything you have read about “How to make the pleasure horse” can be applied to any training program. It’s the basic for all horse training. No matter if your schooling the trail horse, the dressage horse, the reiner or the roper, these basics will help you understand the mind and body of the horse by simply applying these exercises every time you ride. Good Luck, have fun and remember “the only bit you’ll need is “the bit of knowledge”

About the author: Shari Maguire, the owner of Rolling M Ranch, has trained and shown pleasure horses for more than forty years. Throughout her career the style of pleasure horses changed a number of times from the Vaquero Style California Headset to the peanut roller, now the level topline traveler. However, her training style did not. Still her techniques stay the same to this day.  “It doesn’t matter the style of pleasure horse the techniques I have learned throughout my apprenticeships with some of the best equestrians have proven to work all these years and I am not about to change my routine”. The exercises or techniques used are the fundamentals you need to begin any training session. Young horse, older finished horse will benefit by this daily regime of suppling and relaxing the mind so the body can follow.