Training Tip: Ask Clinton: Stay in the Lope

Q: How do I keep my green horse loping without kicking or squeezing him constantly? – Jaydyn H. 

A: It’s no fun to ride a horse that constantly makes you babysit him. You need to teach your horse to be responsible for his own feet so that when you tell him to lope, he keeps loping until you say otherwise. You can do that by teaching him the Cruising Lesson.

Find a safe environment to practice in like an arena or small pasture. Hold onto the middle of the reins with one hand and place that hand down in the horse’s mane or on the saddle horn. Then ask the horse to lope by gently squeezing his sides with your legs. If he doesn’t lope, cluck twice to him with your tongue. If he still doesn’t lope, use a whip or the end of your mecate reins to spank him on his shoulders (starting gently and then increasing the pressure) until he does lope. It’s always best to spank a green horse on his shoulders rather than on his hindquarters in case he overreacts. Don’t worry right now what lead he is on – you can fix that later. Right now just concentrate on getting him to pick up the lope and stay loping until you tell him otherwise.

Once the horse is loping, let him go wherever he wants to in the arena – don’t steer him. Just keep one hand on the reins (you can grab some mane or hold onto the horn if you feel like you’re losing your balance). If the horse breaks gait and trots, let him commit to the mistake and then Squeeze, Cluck and Spank until he lopes again. If he goes too fast, slide your hand down one rein and pull it up to your hip to bring him to a stop him. Then ask him to lope again. Continue asking the horse to lope until he’s relaxed and not trying to speed up or slow down. It may take a few days of practice to get him really good at the exercise.

Once he learns to be responsible for his own feet and stays loping when you tell him to, I guarantee you’ll have a lot more fun with him, mate!