Watching riders engage obstacles in an ease of handling phase of working equitation, I noticed that a common, and familiar, problem kept cropping up.

It’s the same problem that I see demonstrated when we are riding out on the ranch and my grandkids are faced with opening a gate or side passing up to an object.

In order to get the required sideways movement I see them repeatedly kicking or nudging the horse with a leg but getting no response.

This is because the horse does not understand that the leg is giving a signal that he needs to obey. If your mother once told you to move over and you didn’t respond, and she was anything like my mom, you got moved over unceremoniously, possibly with the aid of a hand or even a hairbrush or wooden spoon.

These actions are called a “signal” or a “cue” followed by a “reinforcer” (the hair brush). The horse learns by consistent repetition, and once he learns something, he almost never forgets it.

To build a leg signal to move sideways we start from the ground.

I will use a series of blogs to explain the method we use.

After a horse has been gentled enough to stand tied, perhaps in the barn or to a tie ring, position him so the he faces a wall or fence. Now, at the point on the horse’s rib cage where your upper calf would rest, point your finger and smoothly move it into his side at at that point.

If he moves away from pressure, immediately remove your finger pressure, and reward him. This reward can be anything from doing nothing, to a soft soothing kind word.

Let’s assume that he doesn’t move away. The reinforcer is the next thing you do to reinforce the “cue” given by the finger. I will tap the rib cage with a stick with steadily increasing intensity until he steps one step away from me. Like mom’s hairbrush! Then I reward.

After a brief break, maybe a couple seconds, I again give the “cue” with the finger.

If he moves, I reward.

This gets repeated on both sides until, during that session, you can reliably ask him for a step away with only a finger “cue” on both sides, with the same intensity.

Then you stop for that session.

Through repeated sessions, over time he will improve as long as you are consistent and insistent. Soon you won’t need the hair brush!

It is like a Japanese lacquered box, the sheen comes from many very thin layers of shellac.

Tune in next time for continued work on leg control of lateral movement, the power of Leggs!

Sittin’ in the kitchen before day, buildin’ a pot of condensed panther juice, I’m reminiscing about the horse show we just attended in Virginia.

This group of andalusian horse owners have put on a really nice horse show for twenty-six years. Good folks, good horses, and great, cool, Blue Ridge mountain weather made this a delightful summer break.

The Spanish Andalusian and Portuguese Lusitano horses have a five hundred year history of domestication and use as a comfortable riding horse for warfare, herding, bullfighting, and theatrical presentations. Though their numbers are small, we have enjoyed getting to know the people and the horses which are both wonderful to work with.

The show was small, as are many horse related activities these days, despite our booming economy. However, the part of the show that was well attended was the competition of Working Equitation.

I think it is popular because you get to DO something with your horse.

Watching it can be pretty thrilling, especially during the speed phase of the obstacle course, and the team penning.

Working Equitation started as a stockhorse and field horse test in Europe, one that could be done in an arena. It is similar to the Ranch Horse Versatility competition here in the west, only the horse is expected to engage the obstacles with more collected action and precision.

Europeans also use a lance, or garrocha for cattle work rather than the lariat as we do in the USA.

Andalusians and Lusitanos do well in this sport because of their natural ability to work in a collected frame, and because of centuries of selection as a domestic stock horse. They actually seem to enjoy being ridden and worked!

Keep your eye peeled for this sport, compadres, as I believe it will be a fast growing activity.

Well I just got back from our little razzoo over into the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. There, all anybody could talk about was how much rain they’d had. And the days were cool there, and foggy in the mornings. It looked like the tour advertisement for summer in Ireland!

Returning to Texas, I found the ranch in its usual August garb. The grass is the color of a mountain lion’s pelt, and gnawed off to the ground. The mesquite bushes are following the dogs around.

A friend came to ride with me. He was hoping to teach his young mare to cross the creek, but when we got there it didn’t have enough water in it to choke a piss ant! We rode on to the Persimmon Hill pasture to move the corrientes out into the bottom. A good many had already engineered passage through a weak spot in the bob wire fence! ( typical Twin Creeks fences are often somewhat more permeable than prison fences)

Turns out it wasn’t much of a cattle drive, as soon as they saw a few tufts of the “sort of green” grass through the opened gate, they poured out like fire ants out of a kicked mound!

It’s a little warm, too. I was opening a gate today and it felt like as if I’d caught hold of a stove pipe. The horses are sweating just standing in the field, and the salt is forming a white frost on the dry parts.

The “Dog days” are here, and we’re praying for a Norther.

Even the wild hogs have packed up and headed for cooler country! Around here the ground is so hard they can’t root.

And it’s getting close to time to start planting oats for winter grazing, but at this rate the plow will just skitter across the ground and strike sparks, and we don’t need any encouragement to start a fire.

Well, I got to go out and water the prickly pear before it wilts, see ya soon!