Better Balance Better Ride

Even experienced riders have a tendency to push down in the stirrups. We want to lower our center of balance as much as possible to be one with the horse. If you push down in the stirrups, clamp with your knees, or your inner thighs you will push your center of balance up into your shoulders and that makes you unstable. Release the tension you’re holding in you legs and bottom muscles to let yourself settle down into your saddle. Relaxing theses muscles and resting on your seat decreases soreness at the end of a ride and greatly improve your balance. To do that you need to turn your toes out, hug the horse’s belly with your heels, and point your toes upward. There is a difference between pushing your heels down and pointing your toes up, pushing down your heels can cause you to stand up in your stirrups, if you push your heels down as it was once taught you will again be raising your center of balance too high. To help you get through all the bumps you have to go with the flow, take them all out in your mid section and back. It takes constant thought to keep from becoming ridged and stiff. Especially when you are trying so hard to make everything right. Continually remind yourself to take a deep breath and relax those tense muscles. Keep your shoulders open, chest out, put an arch in your lower back, and allow your back and mid section to absorb the bumps. Once in a while you will need to put pressure in your stirrups just to catch yourself, but then return to the hugging and you will have a much better ride. Once you get used to leading with your hips and not your shoulders you will be more confident in what you can do in the saddle. Go Try It!

Lesson 4 Reverse Arc

Forward Reverse Arc. (Same side hand and same side leg.) All horses have a tendency to drop their shoulders and this is one of the most misunderstood problems riders have to deal with. Ever notice that your horse seems to make his circles smaller and smaller in a lope? Or cutting corners? How about diving off in the direction of a lead change? Or having trouble going in a straight line loping down the arena? Then you need to understand how to pick up a shoulder and put him back where he should be. Go back to your 20’ circle and instead of using outside pressure we will slip our inside hip and leg around him and take our outside leg off. Now take your inside rein and pick it up and back a little to bend his neck and head towards your inside leg. You might need to bring your rein up almost to touch his neck. At this point I must remind you that going forward you must always extend your arm not bring it back when asking for directional changes. Your outside hand is pretty much left alone at this point. The horse should hold his bend but move out of his circle thus making his circle more egg shaped. In other words his movement should be out his outside shoulder. Let’s think about this! You are going in a circle to the right and you bend his head towards your right knee and then turn your palm up and rise your arm upwards. Now slide your hip to the right and rap your right leg around him a little more while taking off the left leg. His is bent in an arc to the right but now his actual travel is to the left. Don’t hold it too long. Here you must start to feel what is happening under you. You should feel like a car on ice that he is slipping out of his circle no matter how you turn the steering wheel. As soon as you feel that shoulder slipping you must return your outside leg and center yourself in the saddle again and resume your circle. (Hint!!! If you were to place your cheek on your inside shoulder and look down your arm to your hand you should be pointing or aiming where you want that horse’s shoulder should go.) The proper position for the horses head is bent down and he should be looking up at you with his inside eye. If his head is up in the air his shoulder is not up and maybe you need to go back to that very first bending exercise. Do several of these in one direction before going to the other direction. Get it working at a walk and then later try it at a trot. Eventually you can do it at a lope to straighten him out. Picking up the horse’s shoulder really aids in crossing over for lead changes, canter departures, spins, and role backs. If your horse over bends to the inside just apply a little outside rein pressure. In time I want my horse to do a complete circle before I let go of his shoulder. In other words if you are using right rein to pick up his shoulder then you should eventually be able to move him in a complete circle to the left. (Head facing your pressure leg and rein hand). So now when your horse cuts that corner, or veers off a straight line, or falls into his lead changes all you half to do is apply a little leg pressure and pick up his shoulder with your hand and he will move back into the position you intended in the first place. Most horses drop their shoulders no matter how many times you might do this exercise. I have had horses that always dropped their shoulders in a circle and so I had to do this every time we did that circle to correct it. Eventually you may only have to shift your weight and he will respond. But for now exaggerate the cues to teach him what you want.

Lower your center of balance

I just wanted to add a little comment here. Almost everyone in the beginning puts too much weight in their stirrups and squeeze to hard with their thigh and knees. All this does is make you fall forward and loose your balance. Just relax and sit hard in the saddle. Try to lead with your hips not your shoulders and keep your center of balance as low as possible. That means don't squeeze! Ride with your lower calf on the horse and lift your toe rather than push your heal down.

The Program Lesson 3 Spins

Circle down into a spin. Walk in a circle about 20 feet across. Make it as round as possible. Horse must be looking where he is going just like in a turn. You have outside leg pressure and out side hip down. Gradually pick up both your hands towards your inside shoulder pulling back just a little as you go. Don’t loose forward motion! The pull back is just enough to stop the rear legs but not enough to actually set the horse back too far. (Make sure your inside leg is off!) Spins are from forward motion so don’t ask your horse to back up. We want the hind legs to stop and the front legs to continue going forward crossing the outside leg over the inside leg. At first just ask for one step over and walk out of the spin. Go back into your circle and bring it down again. As the horse improves add more step over’s until you can do a complete 360 spin. Don’t worry about speed at this point just concentrate on correctness. Do several in that direction, then go to the other direction. In your daily exercise program you should repeat this exercise a couple of times before your work out is finished. Be sure not to lean or drop your shoulders into the direction of the spin. When your horse becomes more advanced you will need to make sure that the inside shoulder is up (something we will discuss in detail next lesson) and that you are using your outside rein as the impulsion rein. Don’t pull him around with the inside rein! We will work on head set as he gets to coming around pretty smoothly at a slow pace. Don’t rush any of this!

The Program Lesson 2 Turns

Most of our leg cues are accomplished by taking off pressure rather than applying pressure. Taking pressure off is a reward and therefore he learns from the reward not the pressure. In the following exercises when going to the right, straighten out the right leg and push with your toe. This will take all pressure off the right leg and it will push your hip over to the left side. Keep the left leg on thus taking off the pressure in the direction you wish the horse to go in. When going to the left take off the left leg and push with your toe to slip your hip over to the right while keeping the right leg on. (Exaggerate the hip movement) Thus taking off the pressure in the direction you wish to go. Make sure that your shoulders are on the same side as your hips. Practice this movement while setting still and move from one side to the other. This will need to be a smooth flowing movement from one side to the other. This will make lead changes, spins, circles, and canter departures an easy task. Remember that we always want the horse going away from our weight.
Exercises for the horse:
*note: Always do both sides
1. Bend while standing still. If the horse moves while you’re trying to bend hold until it comes to a complete relaxed stop. (We want the horse to be flexible and unafraid of being confined or turned)(No leg pressure for this exercise) The goal is to get him soft, bending towards your foot.
2. Guiding while walking (following head). Do this both directions make sure you do not drop your shoulder or turn your shoulders into the turn. We want the horse to learn to follow his head, this will aid in guiding the horse in circles and spins. Make sure that the rear does not travel out but follows the head. Remember to put your hip weight away from the direction of the turn as outlined above. Using your left leg and left hand going to the right. Lay your left rein across the horses neck (no pulling) at the same time applying pressure with your left leg. With the right hand pull the horses head to the right and release immediately. If you keep pulling it gives him something to pull back against and resist your cue. Don’t pull with your indirect rein, as this helps him to react to the left rein across his neck, thus teaching him to neck rein. Next try going to the left using the right rein across his neck with right leg pressure. If he does not point his nose in the direction of the turn pull him with the left rein (direct rein) to get him to point his nose and move in that direction. (following his nose). This should take weeks on a beginner horse and sometimes more on an older horse that does not neck rein. Then do this same exercise at a trot. When this starts working pretty good then cross the reins over the horse’s neck and place them in one hand. (going across the hand so each rein comes out one by the first finger and the second out by the little finger. You may use your free hand to do the pull and release maneuver whenever you need to re-direct his nose. As the horse advances he should automatically turn his noise away from the indirect at all gates. Spend lots of time on the walking before going to the trot!

The Program Lesson 1 Go,Stop, and Back

Starting from the beginning maybe boring to many of the more advanced riders. If you stay with me you may find that some of the holes in your performance and training are due to really basic concepts that are missing in your program. There maybe an advantage of not knowing too much for those starting from the beginning. Those people will not have to undo their old habits in order to become proficient at this program.
You must create the ride not be along for the ride. With that in mind let’s start:
We are always asking for impulsion when riding and impulsion comes from your legs and hips. Set up straight roll yourself up on your pelvis, open your chest, and allow a dip in your back. With your toes up rather than heals down and directly under your hips in a line with your ear you have achieved the proper seat. Don’t sit on your pockets and if you have ever been told to scoop with your hips please never do it again. Never hold pressure with your knees or your upper thigh and don’t push yourself out of the saddle with your legs. Set down with toes up and pointed out. Reach around the horse as if to hug him with your legs thus pulling yourself down into the saddle. This will allow you to lower your center of balance into your hips not in your shoulders where you could become unbalanced. Think forward with your hands thus lifting them up and forward as you squeeze with your calves and your horse will walk forward. You have created the ride. Allow your body to be relaxed and flow with the horse’s motion. As the saddle starts to move forward at the walk push it with your hips by elongating your body. Don’t kick your horse just squeeze and lift your hand in a forward motion. To stop your horse keep the leg on until you are ready to stop. Horses want to stop so this part is easy. Take your legs off by pushing them forward and making your legs straight. At the same time allow your tummy to crunch and your shoulders to fall in the direction of your hips. Just look down at the saddle horn! Do not lean back and elongate your tummy, Put your legs in a brace position but do not push your self out of the saddle, Put your hand down and fight the temptation to pull on the reins. In the beginning exaggerate these cues so that your horse really feels a difference in go and stop. When stopping make it an abrupt change from go to stop. Try jerking your feet into position and dump your shoulders down while crunching your tummy. If for some reason he does not stop then after he continues going forward a few steps pull up on the reins and say whoa. Pull to make him back up a step or two, Try again and see what happens. Now that you are in the stop position you can back. Leave your feet in the stop position pick up on the reins. Place your hands in a line from the horse’s mouth to your shoulders bending your elbows like you were lifting a weight. Stay back on your hips and apply enough pressure with your hand for the horse to try to find a way to get away from that pressure. Do not put leg on at this point just keep the pressure on his mouth and he will find a way to pick up his shoulders and back up. If he puts his head down even slightly I release and he will start seeking down as a way away from pressure. Just ask for one step at first then two steps and then more as time goes on. So far seems pretty elementary doesn’t it? One very important thing for you to do not only in this lesson but in all of them is that you understand and pay attention to what happens when you apply a cue. If you are not getting what you want then maybe you are not communicating with your horse. Your horse will not disobey you but he may misunderstand what you are asking. Always be consistent and ask the same way every time and the two of you will become a team. This is a team sport you know?

"The Program" by Carl Wood

“The Program” has been developed over the past twenty five or so years as my understanding of the horse and his capabilities evolved. Horses are able to do things that most people don’t know they can do. The problem usually lies in the trainer’s inability to understand. I do not teach you how to ride but instead my program helps you to train your horse and in the process of understanding you become a better rider. In fact if you fully understand the program you will become an accomplished trainer and rider. Not so fast there! Like fine wine it takes time and you must be willing to be patient and dedicated.
It is all very simple actually. The exercises that I have developed are designed to give you control of every part of your horse. By being able to put his hip here, his shoulders over there, his belly up there, and his head down there you can make the most difficult maneuvers seem simple and flawless.
For example: The flying lead change. Most people have no idea where to start and that leads to all kinds of problems in the horse. Like: speeding up when ask to change, changing only in front not in back, diving off to the center, cross firing, becoming frightened and confused, head up, and a myriad of other problems. The first mistake is to think that the flying lead change can only come from a lope. I start you off at a walk and guide you through several exercises that are part of the complete lead change when put all together. When each and every exercise is correct then and only then can you attempt a flying lead change because your horse has already mastered all the movements necessary at a walk.
That is only one of the things you learn by understanding “The Program” You will learn how to ride with leg on and your center of balance lower than you ever did before. Your cues will come from your legs and your hips rather than your hands. Your horse will be soft, collected, and giving to your touch. By placing the focus on training your horse you learn from actually doing rather than trying to concentrate on yourself. Your body figures out what to do by getting your horse to accomplish the exercises. No longer will you fear sliding stops, rollbacks, dropped shoulders, flying lead changes, canter departures, going in a straight line, collection, spins, and all the complicated maneuvers of working a cow or doing a trail pattern, or wowing a crowd at a reining show. You say you don’t want to do all that showing stuff? Well just imagine how much fun you could have just riding in the mountains on a well trained and may I say trustworthy horse! I teach all this in my Horsemanship Clinics. If you watch this spot there will be an exercise explained in detail. And if you get stuck just email me and I will walk you through it. “The Program” works on every horse from those two year olds on up. No matter how much money he has earned and no matter how many times you heard that he is a finished horse “The Program” will fix those spots that are not just quite perfect. And to be honest I have never seen a perfect horse. If you want to hurry up the process of learning “The Program” come to one of my clinics, schedule private lessons, or invite me to you neck of the woods.

Collection

The blog I wrote about head sets brought up some interesting comments.
There seems to be some confusion about head set and collection. Head set comes naturally when a horse is collected. Just putting the horses head down does not mean he is collected. You have been told in everything you read and all the clinics you have ever gone to that you need to master collection. And yet I don’t believe that most riders actually understand collection. At shows I see lots of jerking and big bits to get the head down on a horse when all that is necessary is to compress your horse. Think of collection as shortening your horse. Kind of like putting his head against a wall and then pushing his hind quarters towards that same wall. Unlike an accordion he cannot just fold in the middle but he has to arch his back, pick up his belly, and lower his head. What you have to learn is how to push him forward into his bit while you are ridding him to arch his back, pick up his belly, and lower his head. If you do that then you will not have to worry about head set because it is what naturally happens when collection is achieved.

Head Set

I’ve been noticing in the magazines lately that the big topic is about hyperflexion. The International Equestrian Federation has weighed in heavy on the topic. Rollkur as it is called in dressage is in many cases cruel to the horse and we have trainers in the reining industry who practice much the same thing to get that low head set. The Federation wants to pass rules as to what is acceptable and what is not for all horses. My concern is that a rule like this will not apply to all breeds of horses and all individuals within those breeds? What if a horses just naturaly goes that way? We are so prone in the horse business to fads and styles. If a rider wins wearing a red shirt at the finals then next year you see nothing but red. If an individual wins with a fancy vest then next year you see nothing but gaudy two hundred dollar vests. Ten or more years ago I saw Bob Avila ride a really nice three year old in the NRHA futurity. The colt had a naturally low head set and really looked good in the pattern. Ever since that day everyone has tried to get that same head set on every reining horse. They are not all built like that people! I have horses that run flat out with their head low and stop with it in the dirt and I also have horses that run flat out with their head higher than their withers and stop the same way. Both are correct in my opinion. What I have stressed for years is natural head set for every individual. Don’t take away from the performance of a horse just to satisfy a fad. Styles and fads come and go and the bad ones move on after awhile. At Doubletree we stress natural head carriage in all our horses. I teach our judges for our Versatility Shows that natural head set is preferable. Educating judges about what is natural for a horse is where we should be concentrating rather than rules that might hamper a particular type of horse. Yes there will be abuses and there will be styles and fads but to make a rule that takes away from a whole group of horses that don’t conform to your particular model is probably not wise for any origination to fool around with.

Start, Stop, and Turn

I am going to start posting little training tips and this is the first of a series. If you have questions even if they are not about the tips posted please let me know!

Starts: First thing you have to learn is that you have to have leg on your horse all the time you are moving. Only when you are stopped are your legs off your horse. Your contact must be in your lower calf and ankle. Your toes should be turned out so they hang comfortable. Above all don’t squeeze with your knees or thighs. When you place leg on your horse you will be hugging your horse with your ankle rather than pushing against his sides. With your toe up (not heal down) you can place your spur under the belly of your horse. When you wish to step off just lean forward a little, hug your horses belly with your ankle, and raise your reins forward. As he moves off you can set straight again and lighten your legs just a little. As you walk forward ride the motion of your horse. It does not work to just set there. You have to match his rhythm.
Stops: Take your legs off the horses belly and straighten them forward sort of as a brace. You were setting upright now you will drop your shoulders down towards your saddle horn. Drop your hand. Don’t pull on the reins unless the horse doesn’t respond. You will essentially stop riding. Your rhythm stops and he can feel it right away.
Turns: It is what I call the secret of the Universe! In other words it is one of the most important things you must understand about riding. Here it is! Are your ready??? Are you paying attention???? Never lean into a turn. Your horse will move away from your weight. Ok now you have it! When turning right for example, you will take your right leg off the horses belly and hug a little harder with the leg on the left side. At the same time you will slip your hip to the left just a little making sure that you do not turn your shoulders in the direction of the turn. You may turn your head but not your shoulders. You may use your reins to suggest the direction but be careful not to lean in the direction of the turn. Don’t forget that you should always think forward in a turn so don’t take your rein hand back to turn your horse but take it forward instead. Now if I have confused you or not explained enough write back a comment and I will answer your question. Have a great day! Carl

Drug Usage in Horses

The use of drugs in the horse industry has always been a real concern of mine. Recently a good friend of mine Al Dunning went out on a limb and voiced his objections to drug use. I know lots of respected trainers that condone and use drugs to show their horses. NRHA has never taken a stand against drug use citing the problem with enforcement. The very least the NRHA could do is to come out and say they do not condone the practice. AQHA has drug rules in effect but has found them very hard to enforce except at certain shows like the World Show. Drug usage in human athletes has been shown to not only be unfair to the other competitors but to be detrimental to the athlete’s health as well. It is no different in the horse industry. Humanely and morally it is just unethical! One other thing to consider is that horses that win are horses that are promoted at some point as being superior for breeding. If a horse is promoted that had to rely on drugs to win then it’s offspring would not be the superior individuals that they were hoped to be. I have no problem with the use of drugs that help heal. But the use of drugs to give an unfair advantage to a lesser talented horse is just plain wrong. It is not something the breed organizations can handle all alone. All of us should voice our objections to there use and encourage the NRHA and others to establish drug rules and enforce them.

Western Dressage

Over ten years ago I was riding with Al Dunning when I expressed an idea that I had been working on. I called it Western Dressage and it referred to the discipline of leg cues used in Dressage being coupled with reining maneuvers. I wanted to control all the parts of the horse through cues to fix dropped shoulders, flex problems, guiding, weight shifts, and so on. He said it was a good idea and that I should peruse it. Subsequently I developed what I dubbed “The Program by Carl Wood”. It takes a movement such as rollbacks or lead changes and breaks them down into there simplest parts then teaches the horse those parts individually and then gradually putting them together to make learning easier for the horse. I have successfully taught “The Program” to students and apprentices from not only all over this country but also from as far away as Holland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Israel. Movie and Television personalities have learned to ride using “The Program”. Not long ago Al Dunning and Lynn Palm got together in Florida and worked on the same concept and they publicly referred to it as Western Dressage. It is truly an honor to have influenced two great trainers that I have always truly admired. But most of all the idea I had years ago seems to be taking route in the western disciplines. I believe that the level of competition has risen to the point that such a program is necessary to be able to achieve the highly advanced technical moves in today’s shows. Someday maybe I will write a book but in the mean time I will keep on teaching “The Program” to all that wish to achieve more and to be more a partner with their horse. Carl Wood

Take the time it takes!

We live in an instantaneous society. Get it now seems to be our daily living motto. One thing very special about my horses is that they are not on that time schedule. They don’t get it overnight and if I get in a hurry it shows in their level of achievement and my level of frustration. Tom Dorrance once said “It takes the time it takes”. Ever notice that your horses seem to soak up all the frustration in your life when you spend time with them. They are cheaper than a shrink and much more successful in calming us down. When you are with them shut off the rest of the world and you will be a much happier person. Carl Wood

Communicate with your feet!

I have ridden horses all my life but not until I took lessons many years ago did I start to understand that there is a lot more to all this than meets the eye. As a youth I was taught to keep my toes forward and parallel with the horse’s body. I was always a little bow legged and it was hard for me to achieve but I tried. A little later on in my development I realized that you could not put your low leg on the horse while keeping your feet pointing towards the horses head. I also realized the heal and ankle of my foot was necessary to communicate with the horse. I relaxed, pointed my toes in a natural direction away from the horse, and wrapped my legs around the horse’s belly. WOW! What difference that contact made in my horses performance. If you are still gripping with your knees and inner thighs then you need to let your toes point out and hug your horse with the ankle of your boot. You will notice immediately that your balance is transferred back into your seat away from your shoulders and control and communication with your horse just jumped light years ahead. Carl Wood

Why not a snaffle forever?

I have heard many times people asking why should they change from a snaffle when their horse seems to like it just fine. The snaffle is a great bit to start unbroken horses because you can pull on it and communicate directions using two hands. You can pull pretty hard and the horse is not confused or frightened. It learns to follow direction in learning its new role. But the snaffle is only good for those very simple tasks it has been ask to do. In time the horse will lean on the snaffle and loose his feel because of the way it works. When it is time to ask more complicated things of him you need a bit what will communicate to him in more ways. At the same time it will not allow him to lean on the bit but instead give to the pressure. You can always go back to the snaffle when necessary to remind them of lessons already learned. Some people look at the Spade bit of the Vaqueros with alarm because it looks so harsh. Most horses that graduated to the spade were over ten years old and had gone through a very thorough training program before it was ever put in their mouth. In the right hands the Spade is like a fine musical instrument in the hands of a maestro. It all takes time to achieve more than the simplest of tasks and you can’t do it without the progression to other bits. Carl Wood

Me in more places!

I'm trying as best I can to bring myself up to date in this modern world. The internet offers so much opportunity to let others connect with what you are doing that I decided to make the plunge and get on Facebook and Myspace as well as my web site. Now I can communicate events, clinics, ideas, tips, and opinions all over the place. Check the blog in the future to see what's happening at Doubletree