Everything a horse does, or will do, is pre-cued in the horses body
language. They are very honest and 'liar' isn't in their vocabulary. This
is
VERY important knowledge in the use of the ORS, or any
training/working/playing with your horse. In the words of the clinician Pat
Parelli, "Horses are experts at learning what happens, before what happens
happens." Because it is in their language to each other.
You should start getting your horse accustomed to the one rein stop by
practicing some lateral flexion on the ground after you have gone through
your saddling routine. Actually, lateral flexion on the ground is a part of
my pre-flight check of my horse before I ask him to accept me in the saddle
and check his mood.
I stand to the side of my horse about even with the
saddle horn [my shoulders parallel with the horses] with my close arm maybe
up on the saddle resting my hand on the horn. I take one step forward with
my outside leg toward the horses head, and gently cup the bridge of his
nose, and step back again with my outside leg and bring his head around
close to my belly. [Be sure there is no conflicting pressure with the reins
or halter/lead rope anywhere.] When his head is back by my belly, I show
him
I am relaxed for him by bowing my head to his and letting go with a big
*sigh* and limp body when our heads are together. With your hand on his
nose, you can feel his resistance level. Be it a lean on your hand,
slightly
or more forceful. But at some point you will feel your horse soften and
give
to your hand on his nose. The milli-moment you feel him soften and give,
you
release your hand on his nose. Then love him up with rubs on his neck/ top
of his mane and forehead.
Do the other side the same way. You will be
suprised how they catch on to this. Soon you will be able to keep him in
your little huddle with just the lightest of suggestion. It is a position
that teaches him acceptance and patience.
First starting with the ground
lateral flexion, the horse will do a good job at getting you out of position
by stepping sideways away from you, but you step with him and keep your
position along side the saddle and your hand on the bridge of his nose. He
will settle and stand still when he knows you're on to him and in further
sessions the sidestepping will diminish. That's another trait perfected by
the equine. They know how to get the human in a position that is adequate to
them. And the sooner you realize that, and understand what they are trying
to do, it gets much easier to stay with them.
The reason for so much dwelling on the lateral flexion on the ground, is
because it is a twin brother to the One Rein Stop under saddle. After I am
mounted I like to sit for sometimes up to thirty seconds, again teaching him
patience and change his way of thinking.
My horse, for some reason thought,
that as soon as I was mounted I wanted to go somewhere [at first it was back
to the barn!]. So I began to implement the One Rein stop. The instant he
started to move off without cue, [I use one piece reins] I center my off
side hand [right hand] on the reins above his withers, and with the left
hand start a trombone motion [with a firm OK symbol with just my thumb and
index finger around the rein]. Go down the rein about 18" from the bit,
and
back up aprox. 2 or 3 times as a preparation cue as to what's coming. Then
after your trombone imitation, tighten your 'OK' symbol [Thumb and index
finger] around the rein and lock your elbow on the peak of the downstroke
[aprox. 18" from the bit] and extend your arm out a bit.
Now, in order,
close your other fingers [middle, then ring, and pinkie] around the rein, so
your rein is running through your fist. Move your fist with the rein
assertively to your mid thigh and hold. Hold it there, with his head around
as in the ground lateral flexion exercise. Stare at your stirrup on that
side and go limp maybe even letting a big *sigh* go. [Holding your firm
grip
of the rein to your thigh though.] Hold his head around until he relaxes.
Don't look at him, just stay limp and relaxed starring down at your stirrup.
This teaches him that you DO have control over his actions, and we will
go
when YOU are ready to go. [Patience and acceptance again.] When he
relaxes, he will give a soft feel and produce slack in the rein. Your
timing
here is crucial, because it is the release that teaches him. The
milli-moment you feel him give, or start to give, drop the rein as if it
were on fire and burnt your hand, love him up.
A good way to practice this, is to ride with a halter and lead rope to
begin. Switch the lead to different sides and practice equally. When one
rein is all you have, it soon becomes the natural way for you to stop.
That is the way I started the ORS. Now, although I ride with an O-ring
SI snaffle and one piece reins with a lead rope, I use the "OK" trombone
motion to transition to lower gaits. And in the walk, he knows the ol'
trombone means stop. The milli-moment he lowers to the gait desired, I
release instantly.
But the key is to be as honest with your horse as they
are with you. He knows after just a couple sessions that following the
trombone is the head around. So don't break your pattern unless you are
satisfied. If you start the trombone, wanting a stop, follow through with
it, and bring his head around until you get the stop and relaxation. We
started riding alot of trails this past summer, with a couple groups, and I
have a problem with alot of strangers in the first few minutes. Although I
present myself as 'cool and collected' on the outside to the other riders, I
don't fool him, and he responds by breaking into a trot on his own.
Horses
sense your nervousness, doubt and all your emotions. But that's a problem
of mine I'm dealing with and he is helping me. When he moves off without
cue, he's telling me "Would you just settle back and enjoy this buddy??" I
do our one rein stop, and it actually helps me relax as well. He will stay
as long as I hold him and we BOTH reach our relaxed state. And funny
thing,
minutes into the ride, as soon as " I " relax, wouldn't you know, that there
are NO more uncued transitions?? Funny thing, isn't it?!? ; ] Not
really, if you stop and think. He feels me settle in, and responds
accordingly, settling into our ride.
Anyway, I'll get up off the couch and continue. When you release
sooner than your intended goal, that rewards him for whatever he is doing at
the point of release. [Buck Branamann states; "You get what you reward.."]
Your horse WANTS to please and understand you more than we realize, and
receive comfort for that. And releasing too late, moments after he has
given
a soft feel [that's why I use the term 'milli-moment'], leaves him with the
question mark of what you actually were asking of him.
This is the "emergency brake" on your horse. Every horse has one, you just have to make sure they know it’s there. If you have ever seen a horse run away with someone and they didn’t know what to do, this would have saved the situation. I never get on a horse without testing to see if the horse can do a one rein stop.
This is so simple, that it’s amazing more people don’t teach it. Use your rope halter and lead rope. You can do this with the lead rope alone or with the lead rope as a set of reins.
Bend the horse to the left and plant your hand on your thigh. Look down at the ground. Your horse will probably move it’s hind end. Keep your hand planted on your thigh until the horse quits moving. When the horse stop’s, immediately reward the horse. Now do this to the right. It's important to remember not to bring your hand behind your thigh. If you do this, your balance and center of gravity are behind your body -- if your horse did something foolish you may be on the ground. Also, make sure you don’t have any leg on the horse. You don’t want to confuse this with a balanced turn or leg yield at first.
As an exercise, you should try the one rein stop 60 times (30 on each side of the horse) alternating sides. No this is not a misprint! Your goal is to get the horse to reliably stop moving when you ask for the one rein stop. Oh, did I forget to tell you – if the horse fails, you have to start over at 1.
Disengagement
You really need to be able to disengage a horse's
hindquarters if you are to ride him safely. The
hindquarters are where the power comes from, so to be
able to stop that, you can regain control if he
spooks, bolts, rears, otherwise.
I like to, as with everything, teach it from the
ground first. I know some horses that if you just got
on them & put one foot back on their side, they'd
scoot sideways or take off.
Get them used to moving from pressure on the ground,
so that they learn to yield, not escape. As long as
you start friendly, rubbing the spot, then apply
steadily growing pressure, then instantly release &
rub the spot again, he should learn to move whatever
part of his body when you push and stop when you rub.
Pretty soon, you'll be able to lightly ask him to move
in any direction and he'll respect it & won't escape
away. You can ask him to move one foot or more, be
able to position and direct him wherever you wish, in
any direction.
This will all translate to when you ride, where you
put your weight, hands & legs. When you put your foot
back on his side, he'll know to move his hindquarters
over, as he was taught on the ground, so you can
disengage that power.
I also like to ask for a bend when I need to disengage
the quarters. This gives even more control in an
unexpected situation. If you can bend them without
bracing & disengage their back end, then you can start
circling, so they can't run away with you or rear.
From the ground, I taught my horse to 'smell his tail'. I
stand beside him, holding the end of his tail, so he
knows not to turn his body, then with my other hand I
draw his head around till he's sniffing his tail. I
draw his head without force, because I want him to
learn to do this without bracing & fighting. If he
fights it, I don't keep pulling, but hold the pressure
& his head there until he softens, then INSTANTLY
release to reward him. Next time, I'll get past that
point before he gets too uncomfortable with it. I use
my hand & also the lead on the halter, to show him how
I'd ask with the rein. This exercise needs to be done
in baby steps, slowly, PATIENTLY, PATIENTLY!
On his back, I drop my focus down to my inside thigh,
reach down for one rein, bring it steadily up to my
thigh & hold it there to get him to bend his neck
around. To disengage the quarters, I focus at his
rear, that I want to push around & put that inside leg
back to disengage the quarters. I always want to start
with the focussing, because eventually one day, I want
to be good enough so that he responds to that, without
me having to use my legs or reins.
The one rein stop is about preparation and follow through. It is about
connecting the reins to the feet. It is about releasing the topline of the
horse to allow the underline to do its job. It is about removing the
braces, not building them. It is about helping the horse follow a feel,
not dragging the head and feet against a rein. And, it is also about
stopping a horse. Feel free to find other ways to do this that do all of
the above. The young horse being ridden for the first time may struggle
with understanding some things that are different, because of the different
feel he's getting from the rider.
Is there another way to get all of the
above mentioned things done, on that first ride? It is easy for a horse to
push against two reins, if he does not understand what they ask. It is
difficult to push against one rein alone, if he does not understand it.
Would you expect him to understand it the first time you asked? He will
experiment with things. He will try things that won't work and discover
something that does. When he finds what works, he also finds he can bring
his hindquarters underneath him, that he can balance the rider better that
way, that he can relax and not need to push against the rein, that he can
yield those hindquarters in any direction needed, and use them to keep
himself straight.
Ride as if you have no legs, or ride as if you have no reins, each by
themselves to create the softness you need, then there is much less
confusion when the reins and legs begin to work together.
Human beings find limitations, but human beings can also find freedom and
beauty. If a human being would not apply limitations, the freedom would
not be restricted and the beauty defeated. Why would you not want to stop
your horse with one rein? Why would you not want to stop with two? Or
none? Each has its value, and its place. Each has its purpose. There
should be no limitations.
You create what you choose to create, by the way you present your idea.
You are holding a conversation with your horse, and it goes both ways. The
braces are confusion. The tension is misunderstanding mixed with
demanding. A rein breaks, and the freedom returns. Will it bring you good
fortune, or a wreck?
A one rein stop does not create problems. Poor presentation, poor timing,
poor feel - these will cause problems. I have heard the one rein stop
criticized for being the cause of much misunderstanding in the horse. If
there is to be criticism, it should be in the presentation of the rider,
but that is only due to misunderstanding by the person as to the purpose
and use for stopping on one rein.
A person can ride a one rein stop to the exclusion of feel, timing and
balance, for the purpose of perceived safety or control, and it can be a
help to that person for that time. When the person can successfully attain
self-control, the person can tune in to the missing feel better, and follow
through on the presentation more clearly.
There are plenty of folks out there who can close a finger around the rein,
and the feel would be the same to the horse as it would for someone else
who must close the whole fist. For the meaning to be clear to the horse as
to how the rein connects to the feet, a horse who has learned to find
release from pushing through the fist of the latter person, would need the
closed fist of the former to come back to the feel of one finger closing.
If the horse found release from pushing through the fist of the first
person, the second person would have no chance to recover.
I bring this up
more for the first person than the second. The first person could help by
understanding the second person's physical limits. It is unlikely the
second person would ever cause a horse to throw its head sharply back
without a violent pull on the rein, where the first person could do it with
a flick of the wrist. Again, this is for the first person to understand
more about the second person, since neither person would want the horse to
do that.
That first person might get by all his life without ever using a one rein
stop, but there wouldn't be as much freedom or beauty as there might be.
The second person would probably not survive a young horse well without it.
Both of these people would benefit from stopping the horse with one rein.
This won't make sense to everyone, yet.
