07/09/2025
This goes hand in hand with my post in the past about facing up/disengaging hind quarters when saying “woah” while lunging!
Why I Don’t Disengage a Horse’s Hindquarters
If you’ve watched any horsemanship videos (except mine), attended clinics, or taken lessons in the last 30 years, chances are you’ve been taught to disengage or yield a horse’s hindquarters.
This means making the horse move its rear end left or right while the front end stays put.
On the ground, handlers do it by applying pressure toward the hip with the lead rope while pulling on the halter, causing the horse to swing its hip over and change direction.
From the saddle, it’s the same idea: you use your leg and pull the rein on the same side.
It’s simple, which is likely why it became so popular. I used to rely on it myself and thought it helped—until I had to seriously rethink my program.
In 2013, a client (hi Sherraine) brought me a gelding that wouldn’t turn with a cow. Every time she asked for the turn, he’d lock his front end and swing his hip around—useless for working cattle.
No matter what I tried—even if she avoided leg pressure—he’d disengage every time.
I asked, “Do you disengage his hindquarters a lot?”
She shrugged and admitted, “Several times a day. It’s what a clinician taught me.”
That’s when it hit me. The horse is just doing what he was taught!
I changed my program from that day forward.
Real Communication
My goal is clear communication from the very beginning. If I can do that, I can teach the horse something meaningful, but I also need a marker to know I’m really communicating, not just teaching tricks.
My marker is what I call a natural turn.
Watch a horse in the pasture with no human influence, how do they turn around?
Well, they first, look where they want to go with both eyes and ears, bend their neck, lower their head at the withers in that direction, rock back onto the hindquarters, and step with the inside front foot first.
They don’t disengage their hindquarters—they engage them.
If I can get that from my horse, I know he understands me as if I’d said, “Please turn left and go over there.”
The Shortest Distance Between Two Points…
I want the straightest line possible to that understanding—no extra steps, no confusion.
I use a snaffle bit to teach this. I pull the right rein so the horse looks right. Then I add a simple forward cue like a cluck. Now I have the two pieces I need: Look right. Walk.
If he understands, he’ll do it naturally, with no resistance.
Disengaging the hindquarters, in my view, complicates this. It adds an unnecessary step that confuses the horse.
If I teach him that every time I pull the right rein he should lock his front feet and swing his hip left, he’ll have to unlearn that to make a natural turn.
Some say they do it “for safety.” But I ask: Is it safer to yank the emergency brake on your car, or to have good steering? I’ll take good steering any day.
There’s always time pressure when training a horse. Over the years, I’ve cut my program down to only the most essential elements so I can make the most progress with the least resistance.
After really examining disengagement, I decided I’d get farther, faster, with a better result if I left it out of my program.
Now—what other industry norms can I disrupt?
Be one,
Richard 🤠
