Why the Rush?

A horse that hurries into lope departures can tank your placing in the arena or ruin your ride at home. Here's how to prevent it and fix it.

- AL DUNNING, WITH JENNIFER PAULSON

Almost every problem you encounter with your horse goes back to the foundation-your horse's and yours. If your horse wasn't taught correctly from the beginning, then he doesn't know how to execute your requests-this includes something as basic as a lope departure. And if you don't use correct positioning (e.g. you lean forward and overreact with your spurs into a lope), your horse might not know what you want and/or develop a negative response to it.

Here, I'll cover why a controlled lope departure matters, my tips for achieving smooth departures, and how to fix a chargey horse.

Why Does It Matter?

If you're not a competitor, you might wonder why it matters if your horse gets excited going into the lope. The biggest issues this behavior creates are dropping the inside shoulder into the lope, which puts his body into a reverse arc, and tossing his head. Additionally, that pushiness can bleed into other parts of his training. If you compete, you know this behavior can dock points from your scores.