How Do you get your Horse To Move off your leg?

Answer 1

use more leg, ur horse should be trained to move off ur leg, if not, the just use alot more leg, and after a while they should get the idea

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This horse was a rescue and trained wrong. Leg makes her move forward and pulling makes her move backwards. Plus she rears when you ask her to stand still. Were working on that problem too.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

then u should have that handled

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right and that's what I was asking how to do so.......

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would work on the rearing problem first!! That is a dangerous habit and unless you have a lot of experience with horses, you may want to hire a professional trainer to help you.

About moving off leg: always start with the basics, especially with a rescue horse. First, she need to learn to move away from pressure. This should be done on the ground: using gentle pressure from your fingertips and gradually increase the pressure until she moves away from it. She should be able to yield her forequarters and hindquarters off of light pressure. Your horse may already have learned this, or you may have to work with her until she understands.

Once your horse gets the idea that pressure will go away as soon as she yields to it, you can translate this into other things: pressure on the poll to lower her head, etc etc. It will become a natural reaction for her.

Under saddle, apply your leg clearly and a little farther back than normal to ask her to move off of it. Be clear and consistant with your signals. When a forward moving horse (like I'm guessing yours is) feels this, their natural reaction is to go faster. Half-halt using your seat and keep a steady rhythm in your mind so she understands that this is not what you want (you may need to use the reins to slow her down, but try to keep out of her face). Because moving forward is not an option and she knows she must move off of pressure, she will go sideway.

From there, it's just repition. The first couple times, accept even the tiniest movement in the direction you want. Immediately after she moves off your leg, take your leg away from her side. As she understands, you can ask for another step, then another, and another. Be consistant with timing and praise. An intructor or even a knowledgable friend watching you ride can be a big help.

Good luck. Let me know if this helps!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks! Ill keep you updated. We are going to ride her this weekend sometime! :)

Answer 2

squeeze rather than kick or put on some spurs or if you carrying a whip put the reins in one hand and give him a huge whack on his back end and if that doesn't work whack him again then squeeze him with the spurs and when he gets lazy again whack him also you can do some direct transitions e.g. trot to halt, halt to trot, walk to canter canter to walk. I hope this helped.

Answer 3

First squeeze lightly with your calves. If nothing happens, lightly squeeze with your heel. If nothing still, give a light kick and say the command you want him to do (walk, trot, canter, etc).

If none of these work you should lunge your horse. Lunging should get your horse to move at your command.

Answer 4

to make a horse respond to your leg, try to kick in the direction you want to go (example, kick right to go left). You also need to kick in the right spot, that is about where your heel falls. Lastly you need a strong leg, and if he/she doesnt listen try again harder and use your crop

Answer 5

That depends whether you're riding him or working him on the ground. With riding, you should squeeze your legs or heels into the sides of the horse to give him the cue to move forward. Slapping your legs and heels to his side will get him to start running from the get-go. On the ground, simply beginning exercise by walking beside him with a lead rope and halter will move him forward. In the round pen, clicking your tongue to your cheek and swinging rope in a circular motion will encourage your horse to start moving around the pen.

Of course, with each horse person there are different methods used to encourage a horse to move forward, be it in the saddle or working with it on the ground.

Answer 6

Getting a horse to move off leg pressure without speeding up can be a little tricky sometimes. If you are interested in getting the horse to extend their gaits but not speed up, then you have to use a 'restricting' or 'closing' hand to stop the horse from speeding up. This is done by simply closing the fingers around the reins to let the horse know not to speed up, however this can also cause them to collect their gaits if done too much, so a 'touch and release' method could be used by simply squeezing the reins for s second or two and releasing. If you just want the horse to move forward and not spring into a trot or canter you have to do a lot of transition work and as soon as the horse breaks into the faster gait pull them to a stop and try again until they get the right gait, once they do praise them for it. These methods work for English riders and western riders who use both hands and a snaffle bit.

Answer 7

U squeeze in certain places and ways to give the horse messages of which way to move the different parts of its body