July 1998

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The things I rememember are the holes I have with my horses and the more advance stuff that I missed last year. I agree that Buck was in a lot of pain and I could see that his legs were not working as well as he would like.  He still put together a great clinic.

  What I have done is put together of list of things that I noted:

  If a horse rears while working on the ground, hustle behind the shoulder to drive it forward.

  Horses take the wrong lead and kick out because of sticky feet.

  A horse goes to buck after a turn because the cinch gets 3 times as tight.

  Troubled gray mare (the warmblood that Amy mentioned), muscle behind the jaw should be inactive.  A confirmed puller, will have this muscle developed.

  If the nose travels out, work on bending the neck (lateral flexion) and then bending at the poll (longitudinal flexion).

    When working a colt, he did not care at first whether they stayed at a lope, he was more interested in the transitions up and down.  He demonstrated that even with a green colt, his seat could bring them back down to a trot and then a walk.

   Look for nose position during lateral flexion, you want to reward for a nose tipped downward not up when they give to the pressure.

   When working with a flag on the ground, switch hands with the flag under the rope.  First roll over behind then roll over the front but don't let them get away with rolling over in front with forward motion, they should be rocked back.

   Need to make sure the hindquarters are not sticky before asking for the front.

   Use the flag for riding to drive the front end to get a better off set while keeping the rein light.  Otherwise, you can tend to drag their front feet across which cause them to be less light to rein pressure.  Of course, you check them completely out with the flag before ever attempting this.

   If a horse is well halter broke, you can get a yield by pointing a finger a couple of hundred feet from the horse.

   Rub on the horse with your free hand to help them find the stop (I believe this is with a one rein stop).

   Be careful to not use your outside leg in a turn with a green colt since they can not see that leg and it may surprise them.

   Don't work fast until it is accurate.
 
   When asking for a lead by, have the horse do an even number of steps (cross, reach with both hind legs), pause while shifting your hands then advance when sending the front end across.  A lot of people forget that second advance and build a brace into the front end (I have to say I'm guilty of this and tried it Friday night and it made a big difference with my horses).

   There are canter turns and trotting turns for the offset (which I believe is another way to say bringing the front end across).  With the canter turn you get a little hop because they are actually in  a lead as they come across.  Good for cow work, when you have to hustle out of a turn into a lope.

    Use the hotter/colder game to help a horse find the right answer.  Taper off energy/pressure as they get close to the answer with a full release for the right answer.

    To get a horse to cross in front, turn without rocking back.  To get them to cross behind, rock their weight back first.  Play the teeter game where you see if you can shift your horse back and forth without them taking a step.

   Ask for a disengage when the hind foot leaves the ground.  Timing is everything.

   When asking for a back with pressure on the nose, do not push straight back but squeeze left/right.

    If a horse can not stand tied, he has more problems then just that.

    Based on the old vaqueros, tie them high to something stout and wait until they settle.  They will automatically, disengage themselves as they go forward and get to the end of the rope.

   Changing eyes a lot (using lateral flexion) is good for horses that like to buck.

   "Hang on a rein" to get the longitudinal as well as lateral flexion (pull rein up high).
 
  There is a big difference between giving and giving with the horse turning loose.

   Look to do turns with the horse's head and neck in the right position (bent on the arc of the turn).

   For turns, open up with the leading (inside) rein and use the outside rein to ask for the front end to come across.

   A horse's head will come down when the front feet are freed up.

    Lateral flexion will determine if you can even start to get longitudinal flexion.

    Back circles with arcs if you are having problems with backing with correct cadence.

    Backing while riding, release when the shoulder goes back (foot hits the ground), keeping a soft feel with the other rein.  (So left front comes down, release left rein, keep right rein with soft feel if you want another step back).

    Backing right for Buck means front end goes right, rear end goes left.  which is the same arc as doing a left turn so head is tipped to the left. (At least that is what I wrote down, please tell me if I'm not correct :-) ).

    Use the outside rein to get the weight back when backing circles and make sure there is a bend in the horse's body.  The outside leg should be back.

    When backing circles on the ground, head is to the outside always.  If backing towards your left, head should be tipped to the right.

    Do lateral flexion when you get on to make sure it is good and to prevent the horse from moving off right away.

    When working with colts, use the night latch when going from trot to lope since this is where they can get into trouble the first few times.  But don't "sneak a ride" on them but not getting into a lope, they need to know that it is no big deal.
 
     To get an energetic walk, ask with an active seat and follow through with legs but if the horse starts to trot/jig then make it unhandy for them to do that with the reins (slight pressure back/forth) until they got back to the walk.

     Adding more thoughts:
   Basically, Buck rides a horse with the ultimate goal of being a bridle horse right from the beginning.  Therefore, he takes great care in offering a very light feel before getting firmer.  He confirmed what I thought that the longer the horse is braced, the more important to release for a try even if the  horse was just doing that same movement a little while ago.  Of course with Buck, regression does not happen as often but it does happen.  He uses the flag to get the front end across with very light feel on the reins.  The flag helps to get the horse's weight rocked back.  The first few rides, he uses very little leg to go forward, relying on his voice, rope coils and mecate end to give the horse a signal to go forward.  The mecate end was already presented to the horse on the ground so should not surprise them.  He does not nag the horse with his leg.  With more rides he works on getting the horse to turn off of the leg/seat so that he can keep a soft feel on their mouth.  He starts the soft feel from the halt, rewarding for backing and/or flexion which ever comes first then moving up to rewards for backing with flexion.  If he is looking for flexion, he will release slightly for a back but really release for the flexion.  If the horse gets too braced, go into a lateral flexion back and forth until the head moves with the softest feel and no hard spots and then go back to longitudinal flexion.  The horse needs to move forward with a soft feel.  Until you get a soft feel, don't even think of using two reins to stop (GUILTY!).  Also, to keep the soft feel, back up after stopping until the horse gives you a soft feel (if they stop hard).  You ask light and then go firm.  One of the other big things I learned was the hotter/colder game can help them to hunt up the right answer.  I always went for just the big release.  I also know that what I think was a soft ask, wasn't.  He talked about impulsive horses that move without feeling, despite of you not because of you.  Fast work too soon can lead to impulsive horses.  If a horse tends to squirt forward when troubled, asking for lots of backing.   To keep a soft feel, release before it gets hard and if it does get hard go through that spot to the softness again for as long as it takes.  Need to work on getting a better step out with the front legs.  The reins need to go right to the feet.  In my mind, the more advance work was just like dressage but it the movements I saw were much softer than what I typically see in competitive dressage.  The horses I see in Grand Prix seem to do the movements with a brace but once a horse is freed up with Buck, it is a flow.  It really makes everyone in the audience inspired.
 
 

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