Yes, I definitely am trying to be conscious of that!
1 Like
Thereās a better video in the full subscription library but I have found Warwick Schillerās ear flick for focus method really useful for my distractible young horse: https://youtu.be/jCOO80nydGE. Mine gets more distracted by stuff outside the arena going left than he does going right. This method has made it much easier to get his focus back and also to get him to relax in a new place more quickly.
1 Like
Thank you so much!
Yes, I love the ear flick. I was out riding my young mustang this weekend on my property - just halter and bareback and would ask for an ear, get it, and then praise him by stroking his neck.
Had already worked on that on the lunge and itās amazing how something so gentle, seeing the lunge like a rein and just a wee bit of āaskā in the feel of the lunge, get the ear, and verbal reward. How bringing in their thoughts to you solves so much and ends up being calming for them and you. Itās like a fun game.
3 Likes
Look just before the one minute mark and watch her teach this young horse to cross over and move his body. Then again at the 1:28 mark you see how the horse has learned to open up and step away as well. And you are teaching a young horse to move away from you, not into you.
All so valuable. Youād see her in other videos using a flag to teach the horse to move away. All very calm and with kindness.
Donāt over drill. They do what you want - the reward is in not doing it much more.
Iād have small 5 minute sessions working on all of it and be done. A little every day. Next thing you know theyāve got it all done and you move on. I even hung noisy bags like she has and they really help too.
What Yvet does in spades is she is so kind and her timing is impecable. She has lots of free videos and I do highly recommend doing a 30 day or 3 months membership. Sheās the real deal.
2 Likes
And this is why **I do ver little lunging, because I donāt know how to fix this outward bend.
I havenāt used the Vienna reins more than a couple of times. They help get the horse to use his back more, but they might let the outside shoulder pop out too much, especially with a shorter inside rein. Youāll have to try it and see. I just use old fashioned side-reins with the rubber donut.
1 Like
With a note that side reins can help ā¦ this is what I do, especially when working without side reins. It works well for me.
Itās the same idea as riding ā if the horse isnāt paying attention, given them something to pay attention to. Keep them engaged and busy with their mind.
If the head turns and/or the ears/eyes go elsewhere, shake the line a bit, enough for them to feel it. Do not pull ā that messes up the circle. And the movement, and everything. Send the shake down the line in their direction, not jerking back toward yourself. Only enough to get that horseās attention, some need a lot, some need very little. If they are calm about the whip, you can point it straight at them in an attention-seeking way, not a go-faster way.
When they are straight on and paying attention, release all pressure and let them travel with a straight line with no pull on it (with the same length of line). Thatās the reward ā pay attention on your own, horse, and you can travel on without being bothered. That has them engaging their body without the human holding them together.
If there is a distraction spot on the circle (always) and you know their attention will drift, start fixing their attention on you before they lose it. Be pro-active to maintain engagement. As much as possible, donāt allow the attention-wander to happen in the first place.
The distraction is a reward in and of itself. So you canāt allow the distraction to occur over and over, and then try to fix it. The horse just develops a habit of attention-drift, even if they come back to you more promptly.
Rather, develop a habit of maintaining attention on the person. With the reward of allowing them to travel on without pulling, bothering and fussing with them, when they are doing it correctly, we replace the distraction-reward with the doing-it-well-reward.
If the person isnāt consistent but constantly waits to see if the horse will lose focus, and only acts after that loss occurs, this method wonāt work. It may serve only to irritate the horse without learning anything. The person has to observe the horse and see what the deal is with maintaining and/or losing focus, and work with that. Be the leader, not the reactive follower.
Starting at slower gaits of course, working up gradually. Give the horse a chance to be better at each stage before going to the next one. Just as with riding, if you make progress, find a good stopping point and let that be the horseās last memory of the exercise.
I hope that makes sense. I have a very distractable horse, and this does work on him. But I really have to get it right and pro-actively keep him engaged.
This is the same principal that we use while riding. (I hope so, anyway.) Show riders especially. Keep the horseās attention consistently on the rider. In a show class, even an instantās distraction can mean enough unraveling of the task ā plus the obviousness of getting the horseās attention back ā that the rider is disciplined into working diligently on focus.
There is one fatal weakness to this method, and that is if the rider is also distractable and does not maintain their own focus. A horse canāt be expected to be more focused than the rider! 
I know a couple of riders that do have problems keeping their horseās focus, and to my eyes it is the rider who breaks focus before the horse does, every time! 
4 Likes
Thank you, great info, yup I do this when riding, feel what they are about to do and change their mind before they do it.
2 Likes
Yeah, thatās why I bought them since the DHH like to hollow their back more. But I think my trainer has regular side reins in mine donāt work
1 Like
With Viennaās unless they have ring it can be hard to judge their evenness. When using side reins early on, be sure to start looseā¦
2 Likes
IMO this approach is absolutely essential to ride dressage and to ride jump courses. Basically, precision steering. They naturally lose focus at the most inopportune instant. You miss the turn! 
I think that when many horses feel the rider prep for a direction or gait change, the horse instinct is ālemme check everything firstā. Right when you need them, they break focus to scan the horizon, or check something beyond the arena.
Horses are sentinels, by nature. We are trying to switch that off. But even when they learn to pay attention first to the rider, that instinct is always there in the background, waiting to come forward.
2 Likes
Thatās what half halts are for. 
1 Like
I forgot to add that a turn on the forehand in hand is a good way to start your longe sesson in bending on a circle. The most important part is always what the inside hind is doing. Use your longe whip to encourage the horse to cross his inside hind over and move around the forehand. Then you can move him further out on the circle keeping the inside hind stepping under.
3 Likes
That makes sense! I plan on trying to add that to my little in hand warm up I do with him before getting on too!
1 Like
Good! It helps!
1 Like
If you choose to do this, OP, be extremely aware of your horseās fatigue. Over working the weaker muscles will cause the horse to develop incorrect carriage as he tries to use his stronger muscles to compensate for the weaker ones, or he will brace against giving the desired bend.
Working both sides for equal time is inherently more work for the weaker side. The weak side will catch up if youāre mindful about your riding.
Frequent changes of rein will interrupt bracing and reduce the need to use the strong muscles incorrectly to support the weaker side. Rein changes also interrupt the riderās bracing as they focus on getting the result from the weak side.
Try keeping a sense of play. Ask for whatever on the weak side, praise, and then gently encourage a little more, when you get it praise and quit asking - just let the horse carry it for a few strides before taking a break (which simply means do something else before trying again, not necessarily a loose rein walk).
7 Likes
This absolutely! This mare is a wonderful girl but I think this is the first time in her life she has been ābossā mare. She takes her job very seriously in that she is always on the alert, constantly scanning the horizon for wolves or scary plastic bags. Her head is constantly bent outwards. If I keep her on a very small circle with the whip pointed at her shoulder she will somewhat bend but her eye is still looking out.
It is actually a bit easier in the saddle but I can still feel her trying to point out.
3 Likes
An old horseman I worked with when I was a teenager would sometimes put a blinder on the horseās outside eye if it kept counter-bending to the outside when being worked on a lunge. It sometimes worked well to get the horseās focus back on the arc of the circle, but other times it backfired, esp. if there were noisy distractions going on. Then the horse sometimes would try even harder to contort its entire body to the outside so it could see with its inside eye. It really depended on the particular horseās psyche as well as its level of training and understanding of the work involved. Some horses would just go right back to work, as in, āOh, right. Sure thing, I got it.ā But other horses were much trickier so Mr. Harlan had to figure something else out.
2 Likes
Oh my gosh this is a huge issue for my horse. His is distraction. He is just very disengaged mentally on the lunge.
But the other day after he, uncharacteristically, ripped around like a lunatic in the lunge and slipped and fell a bit (luckily heās a bit insecure so trying to actually leave the circle didnāt cross his mind), I decided a new approach was needed.
So the other day I simply asked him for a few walk steps and a halt. A few times then we moved into trot the same way. A few steps and back to walk or halt. It worked wonders.
I usually do transitions on the lunge but never in that way. When halted, I would praise him heavily and even go give him a pat at times.
Lots of good suggestions here though that Iāll also try out. Honestly I think he was round penned more than ever taught to properly lunge which is the problem. Baby steps
2 Likes
