Direction

When you do it wrong, a horse develops a defense mechanism. To undo it, you must do it 100 times correctly. To solidify, it will take 100 more. ~Don Dodge

I came across this quote and found it pretty fitting for my day.  Coming from a horseman such as Don Dodge, who rode some of the greatest cutting horses of all time, I am not going to dispute it but rather take notes!

Often times we look for that "quick fix" whenever we have a problem with our horses. That is why many of us (myself included) have hundreds of bits and training aids. We have hundreds of drills or exercises we do for any and every problem, expecting instant results that the problem is fixed.

I'm not saying that owning a tack room full of bits or using hundreds of drills is a bad thing; It's the mentality behind it that is. I don't believe that there is such a thing as a "quick fix". Those bits and drills will cover the problem like a patch until you've done whatever you're trying to achieve correctly so many times that it becomes habit - second nature. It will take days, weeks, months or even years depending on the problem before the problem is truly "fixed".  It can't be rushed, it can't be drilled.  Repetition is the name of the game, but there is a fine line between repetition and over doing it.

I have a few exercises that I keep within reach on most every ride. It's not always because I have a problem that I do them, but rather I want to steer clear of any problem that I do them. I'm in that 100 time correctly stage, stepping on the toes of 100 times to solidify.

One of my favorite exercises is called "Direction." I learned this from a great horseman, Wade Black. I took Wade's colt starting class while in college and picked up many things from him that I knew would transfer over to barrel horses and make things so much easier, but my favorite is called Direction.

I could write pages upon pages on things that a person needs to understand to fully grasp this exercise, but I don't have the time nor do I feel I could explain it like Wade so I will do my best to summarize.

One of the most important things I took home from Wade was in order to achieve anything and have that true bond with a horse, you need "willing submission". By having willing submission, you've placed a stepping stone to achieve greater tasks. So you might be wondering, "What is willing submission?"  Willing submission as defined by Wade is when a request is made, the horse willingly performs the task requiring little to no pressure; it is the horse's idea. After initial contact, the horse performs the task on a loose rein with no leg pressure.  Willing submission is a horse seeking relief rather than just giving to pressure. The horse chooses to do what is asked and tries to please their rider. This is achieved by feel, timing, and balance.

With this in mind, I'll attempt to explain the "direction" exercise.  Barrel racing can be argued to be won or lost in the horse's turns. Regardless of how you feel on that topic, turns no less are a huge factor.  If you can not get your horse to do a perfect circle without a barrel, you surely can not expect them to be able to do it correctly with one. That is what direction is all about.

Good position, no white in the eye and slack is in the rein. You might not get a true idea in the picture, but he is not pulling on me and is meeting me with my rein. His body is in a C shape, being soft in the poll, shoulders and loin, and is driving with his hindquarters forward.  

I ask my horses to start out walking a small circle. What I'm looking for is my horse to have softness in the poll, the nose directly under the eye and to see the corner of the horse's eye.  Showing too much of the eye ultimately will put your horse off balance and out of position so you don't want to over do the horizontal flexion.  If you attached a pole to the horse's nose so that it made a line in the sand, you would want the horse's feet to walk slightly to the outside of the line or directly on it.  The horse's body should be in a C shape - soft and flexed in the poll, shoulder, and loin. All of this you are wanting to do under willing submission.

Here he has good position, but take note of his eye (white), everything else is good.

To know if your horse has willing submission, you want to look at his head. Is it elevated? Opening his mouth and resisting the bit? Is he putting slack in the reins or is he putting pressure on them? How about the eye? Do you see white in the corner or is it brown?

Although he doesn't have white in his eye, this is too much lateral flexion.

I find the eye is a huge part of this exercise. If you're horse is showing white, it is looking straight ahead rather than where it is going to go (circle). This ultimately cases the horse's whole body to tense and not be working under willing submission. When the horse shows brown in it's eye (corner), release and let the horse walk straight for a few steps. Remember, it takes pressure for relief to be effective and relief for pressure to be effective. Ask the horse to come into a circle again, making sure to "release" the very instant when he shows brown in his eye. Once they have it down at a walk, work your way into a trot and lope. You want to keep their feet moving forward and not pivoting so don't be afraid to use your inside leg. You should be pulling the rein towards your hip and you should be putting your weight on the outside and "opening up" the inside to turn. Smaller circles are easier to master, but with added speed, you'll want to increase the diameter.



With this fundamental exercise, my horses are softer throughout their whole body and if they can master this, barrels are a breeze!

Who knew that you'd be able to work a horse on barrels outside ON DIRT in February in Montana!

In summary, there are no quick fixes with horses. We are on a continual journey striving for perfection and unity with our horses. We should never cheat ourselves from becoming a true horseman for taking the easy route of gimmicks and such to accomplish a task, but rather work for it constantly so that we become something even greater than ever imagined with our equine partners.

To learn more about Wade, be sure to check out his website, www.trainingforthecross.com