[Ashleyn]

just as the title says. im training my horse to turn on the forehand from the ground right now and he's doing great. but i want to train him to turn on the haunches as well but i dont know how to diffenciate between the cues. can someone help please much apprieciated.

[CowGirlUp1833]

As with most things, its easiest to teach by over exagerating and then becoming more suble in our aides once the horse understands clearly. Moving away from pressure is the first step, which can often be taught from the ground and pushing with your hand into thier shoulder/haunches respectively. In the saddle, when working with a green horse I also arm myself with a dressage whip to use as a tapping device. For turn on haunches I slide my leg in front of the girth, providing a little bump, bump as a cue for him to give to the pressure of my leg. AS SOON AS he responds correctly, take off the pressure and PRAISE! GOOD BOY!! *pat pat* Repeat. Repeat. Gradually, the cue will have to be less obvious and you will only have to slide your leg slightly forward to achieve the same goal. Keep in mind that you need to keep contact with the reins so he doesn't simply just turn around. The body should remain straight and the hind in place.

Same principle for the turn on the forhand, only reversed.

Hope that helps!

[Blistering Winds]

What she said.

Overexaggeration. You literally SHOW HIM by moving his shoulder over with your heels.


Then once he gets the idea, then start bringing your leg back more from the shoulder little by little till you just need to shift your heel slightly.

[GottaRide]

Since you are working from the ground right now, your focus when doing a turn on the forehand (making him move his butt while his front end stays in place) should be at his hip. For a turn on the haunches you need to focus on his shoulder (not his head or neck or back end). Push his shoulder over one step at a time. He should learn to cross over with his legs.

When you are in the saddle, you will use leg cues. A cue farther back towards his flank will get him to move his hip. A cue near or at the cinch will get him to move his shoulders.

[belle4]

Good advice so far.

For either turn on the haunches or fore, your leg can stay almost the same.

Turn on the haunches, plant your rear end on either one side or the other, depending one what way your want to turn. If you shift your rear to the right, then this frees up your horses body to move left.

If anything, for turn on the forehand, you leg should come BACK to encourage the hind end. Turn on the haunch, leg stays in a natural position where it normally falls.

In the saddle, I would start with only one leg and tapping. If I tap with my right leg, I am waiting for my horse to at least LOOK left. When the horse gets to looking left on cue, I then move on to asking to look and STEP left with the tapping.

You also have to have some forward going on with the turn. Circle down, getting smaller and smaller at a brisk walk. The whole time cuing with outside leg BEFORE the inside hind touches the ground. You have to influence the leg in stride. If the leg touches the ground, you are too late to influence where the foot will land. You are looking for the inside hind to step underneath the horse and then the outside fore to cross over the inside fore.

When the horse gets to thinking that moving away from the pressure and putting his feet where you tell him is a pretty good idea, then you can kind of hurry your horse out of the circle and go forward. You have to keep your horse thinking forward for the turn. Change it up, both right and left. Even on seasoned horses, this is a good exercise.

You literally SHOW HIM by moving his shoulder over with your heels.

I would personally never advise someone to cue a horse on the shoulder while mounted with your foot. How in the world does that translate into any kind of long term goal in any discipline?

Good luck

[harli36]

^^^^What belle said. I also find it helps to work on one turn first before working on the other. So if you decide to work on turn on the haunches don't work on turn on the forehand until you have turn on the haunches down pat.

I also find it helps to teach voice commands while working on these turns on the ground. Then when you get to the saddle you can use the voice command as an aid to let the horse get the idea and then gradually phase the voice command out.