The Ultimate Guide To Horse
Training
Circling
Your Horse
Eric Bravo
Horse Training Videos
If you've been
around horses for any length of time then you're familiar with the
usual routine of lunging-a mindless process used to wear the horse down
or simply to exercise him.
Are you aware that mindless lunging is one of the biggest missed opportunities in horse training (catching being another)?
Lunging or circling as its known in natural horsemanship circles (lol) when done properly, builds a communication line between you and your horse. You can use circling for all of the following:
If you have a carot stick, whip or riding crop, you may prefer to use this instead of the end of the leadline to apply pressure to the hip (that will give you some flexibility to have a bigger circle as well). Some horses will respond right away, you may not even need to swing your rope at the hip. Others will be less responsive and will need some encouragement. Start off simply having your horse move out at a walk. There are two rules about controlling the speed of the horse while circling:
A big part of natural horsemanship is connection with your horse. One way to stay connected to your horse is to make sure he's paying attention to you. While circling, you can teach him to pay attention by having him turn his head in a little bit toward you, so that he's got his eyes on you. Just get him to flex in that head just a hair. You can encourage this with little bumps on the rope.
Here are two ways you can work your horse not just physically, but mentally while circling. The first is to ask him to change gaits. Regularly switch between walk, trot, and canter. This should involve alternatively asking him to speed up and slow down at random intervals. For example, you could have him walk around the circle two times, and then put some pressure on the hip and have him trot around once. Then wiggle the rope up and down to ask him to drop back down to a walk. Mix it up between walk trot and canter and vary the number of times he goes around the circle.
You can also stimulate your horse mentally by changing the diameter of the circle. Sometimes, have your horse circling as far from you as the lead rope will allow. Then reel some rope in and have him circle around you at a closer distance.
Getting your horse to pay attention and listen to cues is also enhanced by changing directions. You don't want to have your horse circle to the left all day long, so have him disengage the hip so that he'll stop, turn, and face you. You can disengage the hip by bending over at the waste and looking at his hip area. When the horse has stopped, turned and faced you, its possible to send him out in the other direction.
We can even take things a step further by incorporating some other training exercises at the point where we ask the horse to move out the opposite direction. You can call this enhanced circling. For example, you could ask your horse to back up a few steps, drop his head (for relaxation) and flex (to make that emergency stop automatic).
Enough talking about it, let's take a look at a video sample from Eric's Circling Natural Horsemanship DVD.
Here is a sample horse training video clip: where Eric demonstrates circling using gentle natural horsemanship, and then uses circling to teach a horse to jump barrels:
You may also be interested in our horse training video software, which lets you view Eric’s horse training videos right on your computer, and its Mac and PC compatible.
For more information about horse training videos software, click here
Are you aware that mindless lunging is one of the biggest missed opportunities in horse training (catching being another)?
Lunging or circling as its known in natural horsemanship circles (lol) when done properly, builds a communication line between you and your horse. You can use circling for all of the following:
- To help your horse to learn to pay attention
- Teach your horse to listen for commands
- Reinforce a mental/emotional connection with your horse
- Have your horse understand that he should listen to you for guidance on his movements-direction and speed
- Let the horse take responsibility for maintaining the desired movement once a cue has been given
- Training the horse so he is easy to control and responds lightly to cues
- Have the end of the lead rope in your right hand. Have the end of the rope attached to the halter (nose of the horse) loosely in your left hand. Use this to direct the nose of the horse to your left.
- Lift your left hand up and out. You can even point toward the left, so the horse knows which direction you want him to go. This "opens the door" to the left.
- Swing the rope at the hip of your horse. This is the cue to send your horse out.
If you have a carot stick, whip or riding crop, you may prefer to use this instead of the end of the leadline to apply pressure to the hip (that will give you some flexibility to have a bigger circle as well). Some horses will respond right away, you may not even need to swing your rope at the hip. Others will be less responsive and will need some encouragement. Start off simply having your horse move out at a walk. There are two rules about controlling the speed of the horse while circling:
- If a horse is going to slow, put more pressure on the hip. Swing your rope at the hip or use your carot stick.
- To slow a horse down if he's going to fast, shake the leadline up and down in large motions.
A big part of natural horsemanship is connection with your horse. One way to stay connected to your horse is to make sure he's paying attention to you. While circling, you can teach him to pay attention by having him turn his head in a little bit toward you, so that he's got his eyes on you. Just get him to flex in that head just a hair. You can encourage this with little bumps on the rope.
Here are two ways you can work your horse not just physically, but mentally while circling. The first is to ask him to change gaits. Regularly switch between walk, trot, and canter. This should involve alternatively asking him to speed up and slow down at random intervals. For example, you could have him walk around the circle two times, and then put some pressure on the hip and have him trot around once. Then wiggle the rope up and down to ask him to drop back down to a walk. Mix it up between walk trot and canter and vary the number of times he goes around the circle.
You can also stimulate your horse mentally by changing the diameter of the circle. Sometimes, have your horse circling as far from you as the lead rope will allow. Then reel some rope in and have him circle around you at a closer distance.
Getting your horse to pay attention and listen to cues is also enhanced by changing directions. You don't want to have your horse circle to the left all day long, so have him disengage the hip so that he'll stop, turn, and face you. You can disengage the hip by bending over at the waste and looking at his hip area. When the horse has stopped, turned and faced you, its possible to send him out in the other direction.
We can even take things a step further by incorporating some other training exercises at the point where we ask the horse to move out the opposite direction. You can call this enhanced circling. For example, you could ask your horse to back up a few steps, drop his head (for relaxation) and flex (to make that emergency stop automatic).
Enough talking about it, let's take a look at a video sample from Eric's Circling Natural Horsemanship DVD.
Here is a sample horse training video clip: where Eric demonstrates circling using gentle natural horsemanship, and then uses circling to teach a horse to jump barrels:
You may also be interested in our horse training video software, which lets you view Eric’s horse training videos right on your computer, and its Mac and PC compatible.
For more information about horse training videos software, click here