The Lope and Leads

There’s no faster way to a low score in a reining class than your horse loping in the incorrect lead. Since you will deducted one point for every quarter circle that you are not in the correct lead, and there are twelve circles in every reining pattern, the penalty points can add up! And before we go any further, if your horse is correct in front and incorrect behind, he is not “half right”!!

The lope and leads are hand-in-hand. When a horse lopes, he will be in the right lead, the left lead, or disunited (not ever desirable!) If you watch a horse loping, it will appear that either the left or right fore and hind legs are carried more forward. He is in the left lead if the left legs are extending forward; he is in the right lead if the right leads are extending more forward. If he is disunited, he will be in the right lead in front and left lead behind or vice-versa.

The “correct” lead for left circles is the left lead; the correct lead for right circles is the right lead.

I expect my horses to learn to lope a lot of circles. After my horse is well warmed up with basic suppling exercises, jogging and trotting, I will usually (always on the youngsters) ask for the lope from a posting trot. On the two-year-olds, if I am trotting, I sit down (but lightly – not hard enough to stop), keep some weight in the outside strirrup, move my hands forward and say “lope”. Then I make a “kissing” sound. This works like a charm on a colt that I have never loped but have asked to lope on the lunge line with a “kiss”. Later, and on my trained reining horses, I school the lead departure in the correct lead from a walk or stop (a future post on Reining Training Tips) so I don’t incur penalty points by starting my circle in the wrong lead. The following video demonstates the lope and leads:

What can go wrong?

Sometimes a horse does not seem comfortable in one lead and always uses the other – even when it is the outside lead e.g. he lopes in the right lead on a left circle. This often happens on a two year old that is just learning to lope. If he picks up the incorrect lead, I do not punish him. If it is the first time we loped, I want to make sure to reward him for loping! But this can’t go on for long, of course. After I know he will lope when I ask, I want the correct lead too. I drop back down to a trot if he picks up the wrong lead and try to feel his natural balance and use that to my advantage. There will usually be one part of the circle where I can feel he is more likely to be correct. If he has missed the lead several times, I make sure to change the place in the circle where I asked because he has “learned” to miss it in that spot. Also, I make sure I keep outside rein pressure on him to keep him on the track and help with the outside leg. So much of this is timing – feeling when the horse is in a position to automatically take the correct lead.

I like a pretty loper. There can be quite a difference in the way horses lope. Some of it is training and the different styles of the trainer – very collected or natural way of going for instance. That is personal preference, but the way a horse lopes – the way he is built and the way he uses his body – cannot be changed. My opinion is: Ride a good loper because a great portion of the time the judge is watching him in the reining pen, he is loping!

Circles and Collection

Every reining pattern has six circles so my horse better know how to execute, not only a circle, but a correct, pretty circle. Also, circles are the backbone of a reining training program.

If my horse gives to my hands and gives to my legs, the theory is I can teach him to walk, jog, and run circles. If he gives to the right rein and gives to the left rein, I can direct his head; if he moves away from leg pressure, I can position his ribs and body; if he understands to move forward when I ask, I can ask for any gait I wish - in a circle. That’s the theory…

From the first rides to the finished reining horse, my program is to correct my horse when he leaves the circle and leave him alone when he is on the circle. That, to me, is fair and easily understandable to my horse. Also, that is the way to have a horse that will gallop circles with no rein contact – or even bridleless! In other words, if I am loping a circle to the left, my hand is low as long as he stays on the circle. If he drifts out of the circle, say to the right, I pick up my hand and leg yield him back on the path, then lower my hand again and leave him alone. If he drifts out again (or collapses in), I correct again, then leave him alone again.

Before I go any farther, I must talk about what a circle is. A circle is a figure bounded by a curved line that is everywhere an equal distance from the center – no more, no less.  A circle is round - not oval or lopsided - round! If you are having difficulty ascertaining whether you are on your circle, it might be a good idea to “chalk” one with lime in your arena. Practice walking and trotting this circle until you have the feel of keeping your horse in the correct frame to stay on the circle, and then try at a lope.

Hand in hand with circles is collection (although a horse needs to be collected to be able to perform all reining maneuvers). A “collected” horse is balanced between the rider’s hands and legs. As I drive my horse forward into my hands with my legs, he shortens his frame, rounds his back, and strides deeper behind. He cannot do this if he is not giving to the bridle. When he softens to rein pressure, he can then round his back; when he rounds his back, he can stride deeper with his hind legs. Collection starts with giving to the bridle and is completed when the horse gives to leg pressure. As always, if my horse is green, I expect less.

The Exercise

Walk your horse in a large circle and slowly apply pressure with both legs. Then slowly apply rein contact and hold (I tell my students to “lock their elbows”) for four or five strides, applying enough leg pressure to keep your horse moving forward. You should not keep pulling with your hands – stop your hands and drive with your legs. (Your reins should be at a length so that your hands are not behind the horn when you have taken the slack out of them with your horse giving vertically). The goal is for the horse to give his head to rein pressure and become lighter on the forehand as he places his hind feet farther under his body.
Repeat the exercise at a jog, a posting trot and lope as the horse understands. 

• Apply legs before hands.
• Apply more leg than hands.
• Do not restrict more forward motion than you can create with your legs. In other words, if you have very strong legs, you can apply more pressure with your hands because you can overcome it with your legs. A child, on the other hand, with very little leg strength, needs to be very light on the reins.

This is what keeps your horse moving forward. If you apply more rein pressure than leg pressure, you are actually asking him to move backwards. We want to keep forward motion. At first, relax pressure for three or four strides before asking again but as your horse gets more trained or if he is already trained, you can release pressure for only one stride or even a half stride. The goal is for the horse to maintain the collected frame because he BELIEVES that you will always put him back in that frame. The following video demonstrates collection at a jog, trot and lope on a two-year-old.

I do a tremendous amount of schooling work on circles. After warming my horse up, I jog, then trot, then lope circles, collecting at every gait and, of course, reversing directions. Only after my horse is relaxed in a circle will I ride straight lines. I like to say he has to “earn” his way into straight lines. If he is chargy or not focused in the straight line, I go back to circles and collection in the circles.

Rider Aids: Tools to Teach

The way a horse learns is really quite simple. It's the rider’s responsibility to keep it simple. The simpler you can keep your schooling program the better. It all comes down to a few simple teaching tools and how you use them.

The horse learns and performs through aids from his rider. Every basic exercise is taught with these aids; every reining maneuver is executed with these aids.

What are the natural aids?

• Hands

• Legs

• Voice

• Seat or weight

Applying aids and the order with which you apply them is important. Different maneuvers require the rider to apply the aids in a different order for the desired result. Sometimes aids are applied as a progressively more demanding signal if the horse is not responding. I ask; I demand; I correct; and I always release when my horse gives me a response.

Ask. Demand. Correct. (Then release)

The first aid you apply to ask your horse to do something should be soft (ask); the next one you apply (but only if he does not respond to the first!) is more intense (demand); the third one should leave no doubt in the mind of your horse (correct). Then release all aids when the horse responds.

Example 1: You want your horse to move forward from a standstill. First, "lighten" your body in the saddle and move your hand forward a little. If he does not walk, say “walk”; if he still does not walk, bump with your legs. Ask. Demand. Correct. (Order of aids here is body/hands, voice, legs where legs are the correction). Release all aids when your horse walks forward (don’t keep saying “walk” or kicking).

Example 2: You want your horse to come down from a jog to a walk. Without lifting your hands to pull on the reins, change your body position by stepping into your stirrups, locking your hips and squaring your shoulders (ask); if he does not respond, say “walk” keeping your body in the “behind the center of balance” position; if he still does not respond, slowly apply rein pressure. Ask. Demand. Correct. (Order of aids is body, voice, hands and the hands are the correction). When your horse has stopped, release all aids (release rein pressure and bring your legs and body back in the center of balance).

Example 3: You want your horse to spin to the left. Assuming nothing in your body language is telling him to move forward, raise your hand in the direction of your left shoulder without pulling; if he does not step into the spin, bump him with your right leg; if he still does not move, bump him harder. Ask. Demand. Correct. When he is spinning, do not keep right leg pressure on him; if you do, soon your “correction” with a leg will not mean a thing!

Example 4: You want your horse to stop. Without lifting your hand (your rein hand is low, isn’t it?), change your body from forward motion to a position behind the center of balance (more about that later) as in example 1; say “whoa”; if he does not stop or is not getting into the ground as he should, slowly apply rein pressure. Ask. Demand. Correct. Keep your position until he has completed the stop, then release your aids. (Order of aids is body, voice, hands and the hands are the correction). In a reining pattern, there may be another maneuver such as a rollback or backup after the stop. If so, you will still release your aids and apply aids for the new maneuver.

Very important! In both these cases, the next time you ask for a response, use the softest aid first, etc. When the horse responds to the first signal (ask), you do not need the others. Consistent repetition of the aids is the key to consistent response.

If you train your horse this way, everything you do will mean something to him and he will perform with almost imperceptible cues. I've often been told that it doesn't look like I am doing anything to ask my horse (of course I am!) to perform, My answer is: "Good. That's what it's supposed to look like!" That can only happen if my horse believes I will correct him with stronger aids if he does not respond to the soft one.

I initiate all the reining maneuvers – circles, lead changes, spins stops, rollbacks and backing up – with rider aids. I ask for the maneuver with the softest aid first for the prettiest picture, and hope my horse responds because he understands (from the many schooling hours on a consistent program) that I will back up what I asked with a more demanding aid if he doesn’t. If I have made a believer out of him, he does!