Ann Kirk’s IMPROVING YOUR SERPENTINES July 2011 is here and I trust you are enjoying your summer thus far. You survived another winter and the long, wet, cold spring so hopefully it is sunshine and warm days for a little while. So let’s add some more steps in the making of your ideal horse that has come so far already. The last training article I wrote, I explained how to teach your horse to follow its nose and give to the bit at a walk. If you followed my steps, your young (or old) horse has developed a wonderful soft feel in the bit as you pick up the rein and ask it to change directions. Your horse may have started out with its head rather high, especially if you are working on an older riding horse, but as you continued to wait for the give, you saw the horse lower its head, soften its neck and relax. So this month, I would like to advance to the trot which will improve the softness and head position even more. If your horse is new and you have not trotted yet, let me explain how I start my young horses trotting. This has worked well for me and they learn to advance with incidence. When I feel he goes forward good off my legs and understands the serpentines from a walk, I will go back to the ground for a short session to reestablish the go forward cue into a trot. I hook a lead into his bit or use his reins and
give him enough slack to get into a trot but keep him close enough that I can tap him with the whip to teach him the cue. I put him on the circle to the left as if I was doing the Bridle Dance. When he is walking, I start kissing successively and then after about the 4th kiss, I start tapping in time with the kiss. As soon as he starts to trot, I stop both the kissing and the tapping to let him know that is the right answer. I will repeat this about 3 times on the left then switch to the right and repeat. I will continue going back and forth until the horse moves up into the trot just from the successive kisses. Now that I know I have a cue in place to ask him to trot without having to overuse my legs, I mount up and follow the same sequence from the saddle. I start him to the left. I begin kissing successively and bumping with my legs until he breaks into a trot. As soon as he starts trotting, I stop bumping and kissing. I do not try to keep him in the trot. Most will drop back to a walk when I stop cuing which gives me the opportunity to ask again. I keep his head turned to the left so I will be ready to disengage the hip if he reacts with too much speed. I will practice his walk to trot transition about 3 times on the left then repeat on the right. When I want him to break back down to switch sides, I will bring him down gradually into disengaging his hip. When he trots out nicely on cue and he seems relaxed, I will begin switching directions without stopping the trot. This is the beginning of trotting serpentines. You will follow the same sequence as walking serpentines. First get the horse to
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