Mastering a maneuver like this takes time, patience, and a lot of practice. While you go from your fast lope directly to a walk in this drill, the end goal is to teach your horse how to listen for subtle slow-down cues so you can go from a fast lope to a slow one in the show pen and have your horse’s response become second nature.
Because the horse I’m riding is still fairly young and green, I’m riding her two-handed in a snaffle to ensure she stays soft throughout this exercise. Even if this is just a refresher exercise for a more seasoned horse, I recommend starting in a snaffle to see how your horse is listening to your cues. While I like to work on this manuever regularly, I also pay attention to my horse to make sure I’m not over-practicing.
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This story is from the Summer 2020 edition of Horse and Rider.
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