In my recent post entitled, “What Are You Teaching Your Horse?” (July 4) I mentioned the scenario where a horse is resistant to going forward in response to the feel of a rider’s leg but readily responds when the rider carries a crop. In response to that description, there were several comments from people that are dealing with the same issue. They need a crop or spurs to create forward movement from their horse. I got a couple of messages asking if I could explain how to wean a horse away from dependence on a gadget to create forwardness. So here goes….

The first thing to understand is the idea of pressure being on a scale. So I’ll start there.

Most people have heard of the analogy of pressure ranging on a scale from 1 to 10. P1 is the smallest amount of pressure that a horse can detect when a question is being asked. On a highly sensitive horse, P1 could be the size of a butterflies breath, or on a very shut-down horse, a pressure of P1 could be a pretty hefty kick in the sides. On the other hand, a pressure of P10 is the maximum amount of pressure that a horse can experience just short of creating an emotional meltdown. I sometimes call this “nuclear” pressure.

In most situations, for most horses, a rider is dealing with pressure somewhere between P1 and P10. But when building a partnership and connection, the goal is to able to apply a pressure of P1 to create the change in a horse’s thought we seek. We are seeking to have a quiet and alive conversation with our horse. A pressure of P1 keeps the horse as emotionally comfortable and calm as possible, while simultaneously creating the movement we intend. Therefore, when training we may be working at a pressure of P5 today but we aiming to be able to achieve everything we want with P1 tomorrow.

The other thing I want to clarify before going further is that in this post I am NOT talking about a horse that does not know how to respond to leg pressure. I am not describing how I would approach a green horse that was afraid or unclear about what leg pressure means. In this post, I am describing an approach that may work if you have a horse that understands to give to leg pressure, but that has become dull to it. It’s not that the horse does not know how to yield to the leg, but that listening to P1 has lost its importance. I hope that is clear. It’s very important because I would not approach a forward problem in the same way for a horse that was confused by how to yield to leg pressure as I would for a horse that has become dull to it.

One last point I want to make is that for this essay I will confine my discussion to leg pressure as the motivation to get a horse thinking forward. However, in real life, I will use my seat as one part of the equipment to communicate with my horse. But for the sake of simplicity, I will stick to just talking about a rider’s leg pressure.

Let’s look at a common case….

A lot of people try to teach their horse to have a more responsive forward button by applying a little leg pressure. They apply P1. If that does not get a result, they apply P2. If still nothing or a sluggish response, they then apply P3. This goes on until their horse gives them the forwardness they intend. Say it takes a leg pressure of P5 to get their horse motoring forward.

Now that their horse is moving forward, to ensure their horse keeps moving forward they apply more leg pressure every stride. Generally, this pressure is somewhere between P1 and P5. If the rider stops applying leg pressure their horse slows down and may even stop. So they bump with each stride. BUT the application of leg pressure with each stride makes the horse dull to leg pressure. This is because instead of the leg telling a horse to “go forward”, it is telling the horse to “not stop.” It’s a huge difference and almost universally the cause of dullness to a rider’s leg.

How to help a horse respond to leg pressure of P1….

I generally start at a standstill and focus on a transition from halt to walk. If my horse is particularly dull to my legs I will carry a crop or whip as an aid to the leg pressure - not a substitute to leg pressure.

I have a loose rein. The reins should not be imposed on the horse in any way UNLESS he is about to run off a cliff or you want to transition down. In other words, rein contact should be avoided.

I begin by asking for a forward movement by applying leg pressure of P1. I expect a quiet, but comfortable forward walk. However, I am prepared my horse will be asleep. What does that mean?

Knowing that it usually takes leg pressure of P5 to get him to respond, I then also know that P2, P3, and P4 will be pretty meaningless to him. But I ALWAYS ask with P1 because that’s what I want him to listen to. So I ask with P1. No response. So I then ask with P6! Now my horse opens his eyes and jumps forward, asking himself where did they come from?

I let him rush forward a short distance then bend him with an inside rein to come back to the walk and halt. I sit quietly and pet him for a moment to ensure he is calm. Then I ask with a P1 again. No response. I ask with P6 and he shoots forward. I gradually slow him down and bring him back to a halt. Then ask with a P1 again. This time he marches forward. If he doesn’t have a forward gear, I ask again with a P6 or some level of pressure that will give importance to my polite ask of P1. I repeat and repeat until P1 becomes important.

This is the principle that is most important and most people don’t understand. By going from P1 to P6 I am not trying to make him run away from leg pressure. I am trying to give importance to the feel of P1 leg pressure. I have made my horse dull to P1 to P4, so I now need him to listen to it so that our conversations in the future are quiet and comfortable and he does not have to work at ignoring P1, P2, P3, and P4. With repetition, my horse will stay focused, listen and give meaning to P1. No more shouting matches where I have to use much more pressure to be heard.

With a little practice, a halt to walk is easily established. Then walk to trot before moving onto halt to trot. Then move onto a trot to canter, walk to canter, and then teach my horse to move laterally from a leg pressure of P1.

However, it is important that to maintain the forward button in response to P1, there should be no more kicking each stride to block your horse from stopping or slowing. EVERY time you apply some leg pressure you MUST create a stronger forward thought, not just maintain what your horse is already giving you. So if you feel your horse slowing, let him. Then apply P1 leg pressure. If you don’t get an increase in forward from P1, go to P6 or whatever the smallest amount of pressure is needed to give importance to P1.

Remember, the only reason to increase your leg pressure is to teach a horse to listen and give meaning to P1 leg pressure. It’s not to simply make a horse go forward by running away from your leg pressure.

I hope I have not confused you too much.