I OFTEN SEE HORSES THAT buck, crow hop, run, etc on the longe line. As riders, we often think the horse is “behaving badly”. In reality, the horse is VERY uneven in the shoulders and is reacting to forward energy that has nowhere to go, it essentially slams into the front end (shoulders). Understanding this and helping the horse solve the imbalance is very important.

This article looks at a horse I met in Oregon that was clearly struggling with even weight in the shoulders. Here is his initial reaction:

Because the horse naturally turns by falling in, asking the horse to turn a circle can be difficult at first. As this horse shows, they commonly try to fall out and stop. Once we push them forward and not allow that, the horse then reacts to the imbalance. This is an important part of training for any horse to be ridden comfortably, following the steps to help the horse learn to turn with even weight in the shoulders solves many “behavior problems”.

Here is a clip from this same lesson after helping the horse learn to be straighter.

A side note: this can only be achieved using a caveson, no side reins, and following the steps to teach the horse how to turn in balanced way. Just running the horse around us in a circle has no benefit to the horse physically or mentally.

Here is the entire clip showing how we got from the first clip, to the last.

Kim Robare ©

New Smyrna Beach, FL