10/26/2023
Getting control of the hindquarters is the key to almost every advanced maneuver. The misconceptions surrounding hindquarter control abound. I think part of the reason that this is difficult for us humans is because we focus on what we see and feel with our hands. We also get thinking about things down the road. I think the primal predatory part of ourselves is thinking about capturing and eating our next prey. Horses on the other hand, stand knee deep in their next meal and are looking behind themselves for danger, tied into the present moment so that they are aware of lions, tigers and humans attempting to capture them. The result of all this is that we think in front and in the future, horses think behind and in the present. Thinking like we do lets us strategize and develop a horse for a future task, but it also causes us to ignore what’s happening now in the hindquarters. Keeping our focus on the hind and riding “from behind the saddle”, will keep our attention in the right place. It should be assumed our attention will drift to the front and the future and will have to be captured and put back to work paying attention to what’s happening right underneath us. So, where do we begin with getting control of the hind?
In the end, we will teach ourselves to ride the hindquarters every second we are riding, but first we need to begin somewhere effective. Many of us have some experience with one horse guru or another that focuses on the basic exercise of yielding or “disengaging” the hindquarters. That’s fine as far as it goes but gives people the impression that getting the hindquarters to move sideways is some sort of panacea that will fix all problems. No. In fact, done wrong, which is how most do it, it only teaches the horse to balance on the front and overflex the neck. Which will take a lot of fixing down the road. The real key is in having confident, immediate, flat, long, straight forward steps with the hind feet. This will give us the ability to send the hindquarters underneath the body engaging the hind, lifting the front, and give us lightness and maneuverability. We begin this on the ground teaching the horse to drive ahead perfectly straight. The “RFD” maneuver of circle, yield the hind, yield the front is really about arranging the hind and front so that the horse is neither braced in, nor out and can drive ahead dead straight. The moments in this exercise to focus on is how perfectly aligned and free flowing the horse is on the circle, not the hind and front. You get the hind by paying attention to the straight. Once on their back, the primary “exercise” is teaching the horse to get aligned and walk straight and free. On a green horse, I start by just teaching them to walk out. I want their attention on the hind, if they don’t respond to my legs, tap them on the butt with a rein end. Generally, c**ts will veer off, so I redirect them straight and walk again. Often I pick a point to ride to, and reward them at that point. Soon, they will go straight and then I focus on a developing a long striding walk. Keep in mind, this is only the beginning. In the end, it’s all about the hind and what you can get it to do. Ask any question you look and I’ll try to answer it or I’ll come back later with another step. Have a great day and for those here, stay warm.
