Nothing Beyond the Basics; Forward Motion (Part 2)

Ride Every Stride | Horsemanship and Personal Growth with Van Hargis

Today as we progress on the forward motion and obtaining it via the path of least resistance I'd like to address the use of the round pen for a moment. I'm certainly not gonna dog any other credible tools such as no pen at all or a square pen, rectangular pen, or any other shape. Yes, a tool can assist greatly if you know what project you're working on and the purpose. What tool one uses might, just might, depend on one's experience and the exact purpose being attempted. Here we will discuss a bit about a Facebook post I interacted in regarding a guy bashing round pens in favor of square pens.

Forward motion; for the sake of discussion we are going to be referring to horses that make up the vast majority of horse's world wide and not necessarily gaited horse's. Please note that I have absolutely nothing against gaited breeds at all. Just for the sake of simplicity I'll refer a lot to a walk, trot, canter, and perhaps a gallop. In the beginning, on any horse at any training or trained level I ask them to go forward by offering the path of least resistance and I couldn't care less what gait they choose as long as they are going forward. Of course I'd like them to ease off at a walk, but as long as they are going forward then I know all the other things I desire from them wil come. I just want forward motion when I ask for it.

Next episode we will discuss control of forward motion