365 Days in Horse Country – Transitions
Everyone
wants an obedient, attentive horse. One
way to get this is to practice transitions.
Transitions take place when you ask your horse to go from one gait to another. By asking your horse for transitions, you encourage him to pay attention to you. If you ask for frequent transitions, your horse learns to focus on you as he awaits your next request.
Transitions are best worked on in an arena. You can practice these with other horses and riders present, or by yourself. Don’t avoid working on transitions when sharing the area. Asking for transitions while distractions are present is a good way to train your horse to listen to you despite outside activities.
Here is a patter for working on transitions with your horse.
- Enter the arena at the walk. Walk the entire arena once, and then ask your horse for a trot.
- After one minute of trotting, ask your horse to walk. After a minute of walking, ask for the trot again. Repeat for five minutes.
- Once your horse is warmed up, start working on faster transitions. Ask your horse to go from the walk, to the trot, to the canter, and hold each gait for around two minutes. Then do a transition downward from the canter to the trot, and then to the walk.
- For the next thirty minutes, practice going up and down in your transitions. Go from a canter to a walk, and then to a trot. Then go to the walk, then to the canter. Transition down from the canter to the trot. Continue to mix up your transitions, changing every couple of minutes.
Practicing transitions not only improves your horse’s attentiveness, it keeps him from getting bored. It also helps improve your riding skills.
Michael