Train the Horse to
WAIT for
YOUR CUES
H
by Clinton Anderson
You play a major role in your horse’s tendency to anticipate a cue but with training and patience you can curb this anticipation. orses are great at predicting our behaviour and learning our habits, and it isn’t generally too hard for them to do so. We humans tend to follow the same routine, day in, day out. It doesn’t take long before our horses start to figure out what we’re going to do and where we’re going to do it.
Anticipation isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s one characteristic that makes horses so trainable. If they didn’t anticipate, we wouldn’t be able to train them. The trick is to use the horse’s anticipation in our favour. It’s important to realise that you play a major role in your horse’s tendency to anticipate and can curb its anticipation by implementing the tips below.
Be Mindful of Yourself
Without realising it, you may be unintentionally giving your horse ‘pre-cues’ to a manoevre. I have to be very careful of this when I’m riding my horse Diez. Because he is so in tune to me after 12 years of working together, if I even think ahead to what I am going to ask him to do, he starts doing it. Unconsciously, my body gives him a subtle signal.
“I had to learn to not even think about the next manoeuvre until the exact moment I want him to do it.”
I often see riders unconsciously cueing their horses when working on pattern exercises. Let’s say the rider is supposed to ride their horse in a straight line before turning him one way or the other. What often happens is the rider will be thinking ahead to the turn they’re about to make and will start to lean in that direction. It doesn’t take long before the horse realises that when the rider leans to the right he’s going to ask for a right turn. So the horse figures it’ll just turn as soon as it feels the rider shift his weight. In instances like this, it’s important that you are conscious of what your body language is telling your horse.
“If your horse can feel a fly land on his body, you can bet it can feel you shifting your weight, no matter how slight, in the saddle.” Keep Your Horse Guessing You always want your horse thinking, “What’s next?” If you constantly keep him guessing about what you’ll ask him to do, he’ll be forced to tune into you. That means mixing up your training sessions so you don’t practice the same exercises in the same order. It also means that you’re conscious of being a leader for your horse and not letting him decide what you’re going to
Continued
“Always do the opposite to what your horse thinks you are going to do.” do. For example, if you’re riding a straight line toward a fence and your horse starts to turn left before you cue it, then turn right. With repetition, your horse will learn to wait for your cue because every time it guesses, it’s always wrong. Always do the opposite of what the horse thinks you’re going to do. Be sure to include variety in your training program. Variety is crucial to not only keeping your horse happy and interested in its job, but to stop it from anticipating you.
“Don’t just ride your horse in the arena and keep drilling on the same exercises.” Train on the trail and incorporate obstacles into your program. You can practice the same manoeuvres – sidepassing, two-tracking, bending, etc., only your horse will be more interested in its job because it’ll be in a new environment, and using obstacles makes your horse use its mind rather than just going through the motions. It gives the horse a reason to perform the manoeuvers you’ve been teaching it and gives a point to its job.
Practice Patience
If you want your horse to wait for your cues and be patient, you have to practice. Whatever you practice with your horse is what it gets good at. I literally include periods of waiting into my training sessions. For example, when I feel a horse anticipating a lead
departure, I walk forward on a straight line, push the horse’s hip up to set it up for the departure, and then instead of kissing and asking it to lope off, I hold the position for a few seconds and then do the complete opposite – take the pressure off and walk the horse in a straight line again. I don’t want my horses getting into the habit of thinking that every time I push their hip up it means we’re going to lope, because horses are very smart about knowing what we’re going to do before we do it. Before long, your horse will figure, “Why wait for the kiss? I’ll just canter off as soon as he puts his leg back.” I want the horse waiting for my cues, not just going through the motions. The more you can get your horse to slow down mentally and think about what it’s doing, the more correct it will be. If you’re conscious about building these ‘waiting periods’ into your training sessions, not only will it teach your horse to slow down and pay attention to you, but it’ll stop you from rushing through the manoeuvres as well.
About the Author - Clinton Anderson
Born and raised in Australia, Clinton now resides in the USA where he tours the country conducting clinics based on his Downunder Horsemanship Training philosophy. Clinton believes in the necessity of understanding horse physiology and the underlying psychology of why horses do what they do. You can catch Clinton and Ian Francis (Two Aussie Legends) at the Queensland State Equestrian Centre on the 14th and 15th December 2019. Ph: 0409 199 457
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October/November 2019 - Page 50
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