Q/A about yeilding the front end

This is an e-mail question I received, I thought I would go ahead and post both the question and answer on the blog as it is a pretty common problem facing many people learning these groundwork techniques.

Question:

I am having the most difficult time getting Montana to yield her front end/shoulder. She keeps pushing into me, and if she does yield, she still arcs her body into me instead of flexing it away. Any advice? I don't know what else to tell you, so if you have questions, please ask and I will tell you what I can about what I am doing.

Answer:

Now when you are yielding the fronts, is this from a stand still and you are walking the fronts around the hinds away from you, or is this from the circle, with him moving around you, un-tracking the hindquarters and then stepping the fronts across. We assumed that you were talking about walking the horse around you, un-tracking the hindquarters and then stepping the fronts across away from you, so our answer only will make sense if that is what you were doing.

It sounds like you have a few things going on. First, you don't have your horses attention, if he is looking away from you and running you over, it is not paying attention to you. You also do not have the horses respect, if he respected your space, he would not be running you over. Both of these things are very important for your safety and your ability to direct your horse both from the ground and from the saddle. Keep that in mind as you work through the following things.

Anyways, first start with your circle, how is he yielding his body, is her body on the same arc as the circle, is he traveling a correct circle with his feet, his inside hind foot should line up with his outside front foot while walking the circle if he is tracking correctly. Is his head and neck arced around the circle looking the direction he is traveling or is his focus to the outside of the circle with his shoulder is coming in towards you (My guess is this is what you are having happen). First to get his head towards you and his should away, you will have to bump on the lead rope (maybe pretty hard) to bump his head towards you, this bump should be rhythmic, don't just pull on him, you can't win a pulling contest. If you can get the timing right with his inside hind, it will make it a lot easier (bumping his head towards you as the inside hind is leaving the ground). This will step the inside hind up under her belly, drifting the hindquarters to the outside of the track of the front quarters causing the horse to arc her ribs and shoulders away and around you. This might cause the shoulder to come in towards you or the horse to stop its front end, if either of these things happen, swing your rope towards the shoulder, if after one swing the horse as not responded to the swing of the rope, make contact with the horse. Be firm enough if you make contact that it means something to the horse, don't be afraid to firm up, but also only do what is necessary. Once he is traveling rounded, tracking correctly and is soft, it is time to un-track the hindquarters. Change hands on the lead rope as you step in towards the hindquarters of the horse, this should cause the horse to arc more towards you with his head and neck and his hindquarters should be moving away from you, if his shoulder or head is pushing into you, let him run into your elbow with the side of his head, make sure he runs into hard enough he moves away from you and thinks twice about stepping on you again. Now, once the horse is un-tracking its hindquarters pause your feet open up your leading hand and lead the fronts across, if the horse comes towards you, bump your leading rein and firm up on the shoulder, head, neck with the lead rope, do whatever is necessary to get that horse to yield away from you. Now you should be going the other direction, repeat the above steps and continue to work on both sides, remember, each time doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be better than the time before, give it time and he will come around.

Here are a few links to post on my blog that should help with this, watch the videos and read the posts before you try this, they might help clear this up and get you on your way.

http://buckaroohorsemanship.blogspot.com/2008/12/circling-up-part-1-flexing-head-and.html

http://buckaroohorsemanship.blogspot.com/2008/12/cirlcing-up-part-2-getting-hindquarters.html

http://buckaroohorsemanship.blogspot.com/2008/12/ground-work-freeing-up-your-hind-and.html

http://buckaroohorsemanship.blogspot.com/2009/01/drifting-hindquarters.html

http://buckaroohorsemanship.blogspot.com/2009/01/is-your-horse-crowding-you.html

Well, I know this is a lot of information to absorb, just remember take it slow, maybe read over this stuff a time or two, then try it, come home and re-read it again. Best of luck, if you have any other questions, please let me know

Enjoy the Journey

Nick & Jessie