Encouraging Steady Forward Movement in Indifferent Young Horses: A Training Approach

One of the most important aspects of riding is keeping the horse’s natural forward movement.
Yesterday, a 2 year old out of Einstein Revolution came to me for training. I found out he is a little sluggish and doesn’t really show concern for anything.
With these types of horses, I tend to train the horse in different ways. Every horse that comes to me for training is different but one thing that nonchalant horses have in common is that keeping the forward movement is specifically important for them.
Most important thing with trying to keep your horse moving forward is trying not to use too much pressure. With nonchalant horses specifically, if you try to push them too hard into moving forward, their movement will be inconsistent and not loose. This causes the horse to constantly think about the pressure and not trying to keep the forward movement.
In the video, you can see how I am starting to teach the horse how I am his leader. For my safety, on his first ride, I am connecting the pressure from the lead rope to his legs.
1. Making sure the pressure of the lead rope causes him to walk backwards.
2. The pressure from the lead rope causes him to move his hind feet with some forward movement to both sides.
3. Leading the horse on the trail until I feel he is less tense and then getting on.
After getting on, I made sure that he follows the horse that was with him. That kept him moving forward without much pressure.

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