Feeling Down to Your Horse's Feet

Winter weather might be slowing down your riding but, as Ray Hunt would put it: Within difficulties lie countless opportunities.  Use this slow winter riding to work on your timing and feeling down to your horse's feet.

When you pick up on a rein to direct your horse, you need to be aware of where his feet are.  You need to ask in time with the movement and positioning of his feet so that you can be as clear as possible in your requests.  Take your time this winter and really study, while you're riding and even working on the ground, what your horse's feet are doing. 

In our clinics and courses, I have participants call the timing out loud, NOW, NOW, NOW, when a particular foot is preparing to leave the ground.  If you are going to ask for a movement of the foot, that's the best time to ask - when it's ready to move anyway.  If you are wanting to stop a particular foot, you are best to ask for that when the foot is on it's way down.  We need to think about riding our horses as if we are riding marionettes, puppets with strings on their feet.  Our reins need to 'mentally' be connected to our horse's feet.

In order for our reins to be connected to our horse's feet, our timing needs to be right.  Our minds need to be connected to our horse's feet so that our reins can be effective.

Here are some things you can do to develop your timing.  Get these good at a walk before you move onto a trot and canter:

~ While riding, look down underneath your horse to see what his feet are doing (just don't fall off!).  Mentally connect what you see to what you feel in your seat.

~ Get your horse quiet enough to handle having a string of baling twine tied around one of his feet.  Hold the string while you ride and feel when your horse's foot moves by the tightening and loosing of the string in your hand.   (Be sure not to hold so tight as to restrict the movement, just enough to get a feel for what's going on).

~ Place a hand on your horse's hip to feel the movement of his legs through his hindquarters.  Link this to what you feel in your seat.

~ Call out the timing to a friend who can watch from the ground.  Be sure that your friend understands what you're trying to accomplish so that they can let you know when your timing is right, or when it's off.

~ Have your friend call the timing for you, from the ground, while you ride.  This gives you a chance to feel the feet while you are hearing what's going on.

It's important to focus only on one foot at a time until you get the feel of it.  If you try to focus on all of them at once, they'll be difficult to keep straight.  It's like the old proverb, "If you try to chase two rabbits at once, you'll lose them both."

Someday, you won't hardly have to think about the feet - knowing their timing will be just as natural as knowing where your own feet are.  On our journey to becoming a horseman, that's an important step.

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