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.

The training sessions are easier and more successful if you start with a horse that has the conformation suitable for this particular discipline.

Ideally, the Western or English pleasure horse should be long across the topline of the neck and short on the bottom line. This makes it easier and more natural for the horse to carry its neck in the right spot. Not too high or too low, just about level from the poll to the withers, the nose no more than 3-5 inches in front of the vertical not behind the vertical or “behind the bit”.

The horse should have a totally level top-line from their poll all the way to their tail. This nice long neck and short bottom line makes it easier for the horse to carry its neck at the ideal level. It’s called a “balanced horse”. Of course, there are exceptions; in your Arabian, gaited and some pony breeds. However, if your goal is to succeed in western pleasure showing the conformation breeds, i.e. AQHA, ApHc, and APHA, and most pony breeds then the natural head carriage and conformation play a big roll in how much work you have a head of you and if you want to be in the winners circle.

Don’t misunderstand me, if your horse’s neck isn’t long or their bottom line short that does not mean they are not a pleasure horse. Typically, I like to see a horse with a long pretty neck that comes flat out off the top of the withers. Not too long because then they are to hard to train to keep level, they want to naturally carry them too low and if you aren’t sure what you are doing up there then you will have your horses head too high. You don’t want a neck that comes straight out of the top of the shoulder either. Truly, it is more difficult for a horse to relax its neck and drop down to pleasure mode when they are built like that. Again, depending on the breed there are a few that do and want this style of pleasure horse so we don’t rule out their way of traveling.

Winning in the show ring or just out on the trail achieving proper head and neck carriage; that nice slow comfortable flat kneed jog/trot and lope, well, this all comes as the end result of a lot of hours in the schooling pen. If the horse uses their body correctly they will carry their head and neck in a relaxed comfortable position and naturally. It won’t look artificial. It is a matter a teaching balance.

Before I go any further, all the ground work needs to be finished. I’ll cover this is a separate article. Let’s get back to the more advanced part of training the pleasure horse.

The slow moving comfortable “pleasure to ride horse” has nothing to do with the type of bit or gimmick you use. It is a huge mistake to think the slow gaits and headset can be achieved by using a high port or long shanked bit that forces a horse to cram their head into their chest and made to go slow. I don’t use a bit when I first start my horses. I begin with suppling the head, neck, poll and withers. I use a rope halter, the one with the knots placed at the sensitive parts of the head, and a lead rope. I ask them to bend from side to side, up and down, a little at a time, day after day. Relaxing those muscles teaching the horse to be relaxed at these points so they become supple and responsive. Another exercise I do for my horses is the simple “bow.” I ask them to give me their head between their knees and reach back as far as they can. Stretching the neck and shoulder muscles. Remember, baby steps, horses can pull muscles, tweak a tendon or simply sore up from to much over extension.

It’s a give and take because the horse responses to pressure. As soon as they give, you give. It’s got to be that quick. If you don’t, the horse will become hard, leaning against the pressure instead of the opposite and not responsive enough for you to continue.

The only training aids I use are the sidepull and “The Collar“.  The sidepull is a light weight headstall with a rope nose band and snaffle bit. I can bend and flex without pulling on the mouth continually. The sidepull works well for me because it puts the pressure on the nose as well as the mouth equally

At this point I am not asking for a headset. I am asking my horse to stay quiet and supple and telling them where they can’t go. Depending on which direction I am going, my hand dropped behind my knee, I start bending each direction. I am not forcing the bend just tipping the nose in towards my toe using my inside leg to help guide my horse around my leg and follow their nose. I ask them to do this by giving me their head and by following the pressure on their nose. This starts the circle. Once they give, I release the pressure immediately, but continuing the circle, around and around. This exercise is done both directions. Within a few sessions the neck, shoulders and withers will start to relax, then the horse’s head will start to drop in a comfortable position. After awhile I ask for more flexing. What I mean by more flex; I ask the nose to come closer to my toe. Soon the nose can touch my toe at a walk, this usually takes about two or three weeks, I then do the same exercises on to the trot. Eventually, I can actually lope a horse in a circle with their nose almost touching my toe, no restraints, on a loose rein. It’s a good method. They just get so flexible. With repetition you will get that natural headset without using restraints.

I will typically do this for ninety days. Yes, it’s a slow process all that bending, flexing, and boring no doubt but it works. My arena is set up so I can use the polls to bend around, in and out around in circles figure eights, I just keep it up until my horse is so relaxed that the rest of the session is easy.

The next step for me is introducing them to a snaffle. I use a mild snaffle usually with a full cheek. Not a Tom Thumb. There is no curb strap. The proper name for this snaffle is “a full cheek snaffle”. Since the bending, flexing basics are done I start to refine them by going back to those basics of give and take. Now I begin working on the lateral movement, taking the left rein and asking them to give to the left. Same on the right. This exercise will help supple the poll too. Don’t pull on the horse; bump instead, little bumps, several times if you need too, until you get the response you wanted. Add more pressure if necessary, just keep in mind the horse needs the release for the reward!

All this time I am working on the horses body I teach them to move away from pressure much like the way I do with their head. If I put my leg on them and they move, I take my leg off. As they become refined I start moving their shoulders around their hindquarters and their hindquarters around their shoulder. Using the give and take from my legs until they start responding to the leg pressure.

Despite good training, a lot of hours and perhaps a lot of money, headset faults and rigid movement can still occur. The most valuable lesson here is to recognize the problem before it gets out of hand and work to correct it accordingly. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. The pleasure horse doesn’t come easy. There are no short cuts. Once the horse is properly trained and the conformation is close to being correct for this type of performance everything else just falls into place.

Now that you have the basics let’s begin with the daily regime of exercises to put you closer to the winners circle.

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.