I have a mare who always likes to weight one back foot when standing. Not a soundness issue, just what she does (sometimes left, sometimes right). I want to teach her a command to weight all her feet that I can use on the ground and for a nice “stop at x” in dressage shows. Any advice greatly appreciated.
Work daily after she’s worn out of any freshness, 5 min building up to a max of 10, most will lose interest if you go too long too often. Be alert to signs they are getting ready to shift and stop it before it starts. Also watch for signs the attention span is wandering and take a few steps while it’s still your idea, not theirs.
I used to do it as part of my cool out routine. I’d start in hand so she understands the grow roots command then take it under saddle after she’s confirmed…again towards the end of your session when they want to stay still. Let them succeed, don’t keep asking until they fail.
If/when she starts to unweight a back leg, you very lightly ask her to shift he weight back know it by sort of slightly rocking her…it’s hard to explain. Teach her to back up on command and ask for just a smidge of a step back will also weight her back end even,y and is a staple of showing a Western breed in Halter.
I don’t like clicker or treat training for this if they already have a good understanding of whoa. Can’t do that at shows so school with something that will carry over.
Its a skill that requires some subtlety and patience but it’s one that’s valuable in any discipline whether judged or not.
A forward halt and a collected and balanced horse they will stand square automatically.
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Well, right, but that has to be taught as well, unless you are gifted with a perfectly conformed, impeccably trained horse with wear free mileage. I never could afford one of those, had to train it into them but it is trainable up to the limits of their conformation.
For OP, if she always shifts off the same hind foot at rest, she may move sound but she’s a little uncomfortable on it, hocks might be starting to show some wear, but if you shift her weight onto it and keep it there by shifting her forehand slightly away from that side and hold it, she should stay still. There should be some YouTube out there on presenting one in the Showmanship classes or standing them up for Halter ( same techniques) QH, Paint, 4H . Should be the same how to tips .
Matter of understanding what what you want to show iff and what you want to hide or minimize. And a whole lot of patience and willingness to consistently practice.
I taught my mare showmanship in a week a couple of years ago when I suddenly found myself filling a stall at a big AQHA- style show. :lol: I didn’t even have a chain to train her with. Basically I would ask for halt, then pull down and back to square up her back end, then forward and down to square up the front. It took some finagling, but if she got it she got big pets then we would trot forward a few strides and square up again. I never spent more than a minute asking for her to square up since you have less than that time to square up in front of the judge. If she was being really sticky I might back her up as a correction bring her back forward, ask for the square again. If she didn’t get it perfect within that time frame, we would move on and ask again later. Now any time I have her in hand and turn towards her shoulder she squares herself up. :yes: Its not super hard to teach, unlike doing a proper pivot which can take more time to teach. I know some trainers will carry a dressage whip and tap the foot they want to have move as they work the lead rope, but since I couldn’t have a dressage whip in the ring (you can’t touch your horse at all) I didn’t try that. It helps if you have your horse really marching forward, not hanging back or dragging their feet to set them up to be more balanced for the halt.
Don’t get discouraged if it takes more then a week though, if your groundwork is always precise , it’s easier…but all horses are different and the level of presentation expected can vary with the level of the show.
