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8 years agoon
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adminOnce you have mastered disengaging the hindquarters, the next step is teaching your horse to direct and drive. This valuable lesson will help your horse respect your space, lead better, trailer load, and also relates directly to guiding your horse while riding.
The halter and lead rope are essentially serving the same purpose that your bridle and reins do when you are riding. If you take the time to really master disengaging the hindquarters and the direct and drive technique, you can become very successful with controlling your horse. As with the disengaging lesson, the only equipment needed is your halter and long lead rope.
Start the lesson in a corral, arena or someplace where you can use a fence as a guide. You will be driving the horse between you and the fence. “This is not longeing; you don’t want the horse to go all around you in a circle,” explains Chris Cox. “You want to drive the horse straight past you and then disengage him by stepping towards his hindquarters so he turns back and is facing you.”
When you disengage the horse’s hindquarters, you make him move his hind end. When you direct and drive, you cause the horse to move forward by directing his hindquarters. It’s important to realize that this is done without any pulling on his head. “Most people want to get in front of the horse and pull, but that’s not what we’re doing with direct and drive,” says Chris. “Your goal is to control the feet, not the head. If you control the feet, you will automatically have control of the head.”
When you handle the lead rope, remember that the hand closest to the horse’s halter is your “direction” hand. This is the hand that signals the horse to follow that direction. Your “driving” hand is the hand closest to the tail end of the lead rope.
You need to be effective using the lead rope in both hands. Practice feeding the lead rope through your hands and when you twirl the rope, always swing OVER not under.
Again, make sure you have the disengaging lesson down solid on both sides before you move on to direct and drive. “I don’t use a round pen for these exercises because I think you can run a horse too much in a round pen, which gets him tired and is hard on his legs,” Chris points out. “Also, you don’t always have a round pen, so if you know how to use your halter and lead rope successfully, you can handle whatever comes along.”
Getting Started
Step by Step
You may find that older horses take more time to master direct and drive than young, green horses. Chris uses this technique with every horse, starting as young as weanlings and yearlings. Direct and drive is a great exercise to keep horses of any age soft and supple and responsive.
To direct and drive the horse to your left:
To direct and drive the horse to your right:
Be consistent and don’t lose your temper. If your horse comes back too close to you, this is a sign of disrespect and pushiness, so drive him away from you.
Always disengage before you change and ask horse to direct and drive in the other direction. As the horse catches on, narrow the space between you and the fence so you are driving the horse through a smaller space. This makes it more challenging for him.
Add an Obstacle
“Once your horse is soft and responding well to direct and drive, you can start doing it across an object,” notes Chris. “This will get him to start paying closer attention and placing his feet carefully. This is also a great introduction to trailer loading.”
Start with a single pole or rail on the ground, with one end against the fence. Go through all the same steps as before. If the horse wants to stop before the log, don’t pull on his head. Let him look at the pole and if he wants to drop his head to see it better, that’s fine. Then ask him to drive forward again by picking up your direction hand, looking at his hip and twirling your lead rope again. Give the horse an opportunity to think and work his way through without overreacting.
“Keep sending the horse over the obstacle until he is soft and relaxed,” adds Chris. “Always give the horse relief when he responds correctly by dropping your hands and letting him “˜soak’ for a minute. Relief is the greatest reward to the horse.”
Up Close with Chris Cox – Born in Florida and ranch-raised in Australia, Chris returned to the United States in 1986 to make a career of working with horses. Years of working horseback on the ranch near Queensland gave Chris a healthy respect for the horse’s ability and intelligence, and helped him develop his own methods of individualized training. Active in the cutting horse world as both a trainer and competitor, Chris has trained a variety of breeds for different disciplines. He travels the United States, Canada, South America and Australia appearing at expos, conducting clinics and horsemanship demonstrations. His “Come Ride the Journey’ tour takes him to cities across the U.S. each year. Chris offers week-long intensive horsemanship clinics at his Diamond Double C Ranch in Mineral Wells, Texas. In 2008, Western Horseman released Ride the Journey, by Chris Cox with Cynthia McFarland, a 225-page, full color book that details Chris’ practical methods and training techniques. Packed with stepby- step exercises and color photos, the book will help you improve your horsemanship skills, no matter what discipline or breed you ride. Visit www.chris-cox.com or call Chris Cox Horsemanship Company at 1-888-81-HORSE for information about the Ride the Journey book, upcoming course dates and appearances, equipment and training DVDs.