tripleluckyprince
Posted : 1/9/2014 7:04:40 PM
Welcome to the forum tenkides!
When I started out riding, all of the horses I rode knew how to do everything in theory. The horses that I rode were strictly western horses, ropers to be exact. But they knew how to side up to a fence, sidestep, even turn a complete circle on their hind-end and slide stop. So when I got my own horse, who didn't know how to do this, I simply used the same cues and he caught on pretty quickly. I don't know about jumping, I've never done that but side-stepping is pretty easy to teach.
Keep in mind I am not a trainer so this is just experience talking. What you might want to do is ask questions where you ride, most people will willingly give you pointers if you ask.
So side-stepping up to a gate. Usually what I did was take away the gate, stand in the middle of the arena or where ever you have room to move around and apply pressure to the opposite side of the horse. Meaning if you want him to move to the right, apply pressure with your left foot. The horse should move over, not forward or backwards. Once he does this, release the pressure and give him praise. I also move my hands over, because my horse needed it. Just collect the reins and move them over in the direction you want him to go. He shouldn't turn or move forward. Teaching something like this, you should use a pressure and release method. Apply the pressure and once he does it correctly, release. Make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard.
On the ground, it's pretty much the same, stand on the opposite side and cluck or kiss while pushing gently with your hand on his side. Hold the lead rope so he can't move forward and release the pressure when he steps to the side. You might have to work on him just moving his front end, you said he is a western horse correct? So it shouldn't be an issue, but you have to make sure that he moves with purpose and both ends, not just one. Be patient and calm and he'll catch on to what you are wanting him to do.
After your horse is moving over with your cues you can add the gate [
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Hunter's method is effective too and you can try both to see which would be easier for your horse, I've seen it done both ways so try it out and see what works better. And watching videos on youtube, it's free is a good suggestion, I've done it a couple of times.
Good luck and stick around on the forum we have a daily thread in the general chat section where you can talk to everyone and read about all of our lives [
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