# Teaching/Enhancing Leg Action



## ponygurl (May 18, 2011)

Hey everyone, I'm going to be showing in the youth Country Pleasure driving class this season! I haven't trained a Country Pleasure horse before, so any tips as to things I need to teach my boy? I know Country Pleasure horses have a low headset and they also have a big reach in their step. I'm not sure how to teach my boy to reach more, other than trying to get him to open up his gait more... Any trainers or drivers out there who can help me out with this and anything else I need to train him? Thank you so much!


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## disneyhorse (May 19, 2011)

Getting your horse in good shape will make the most dramatic difference. A horse that is physically fit will have the muscle and stamina needed to stand out in the ring. I would focus on that first and foremost. Lots and lots of trotting!

Good luck,

Andrea


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## targetsmom (May 19, 2011)

Just wondering if you have gotten confused because of the incorrect photos of Country and Classic Pleasure that were printed in the April MHW. CLASSIC Pleasure is the class with the low headset and long sweeping strides. COUNTRY Pleasure has a higher headset and higher leg action, but less extreme than Single Pleasure. (Key differences anyway). You might also want to order the new Driving DVD from AMHA which clearly shows the differences and some things the judges are looking for in each class. I don't think it is on the website; you have to call.

I would suggest longing or ground driving over ground poles to encourage a longer stride, if that is what you want.

Good luck!


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## rabbitsfizz (May 19, 2011)

I always ask for different gaits and lengths of stride when I am round penning, and I tend to do this with voice and lunge whip, rather than trotting poles (although trotting poles are good) as I can then transfer this to driving- using the same command, for instance, to ask the horse to open up and push on, that I would when penning.I find it breaks up the monotony of round penning, too, and the horses start waiting for the command- one that starts it is time to start rein work- they give me their attention, I give them more to think about, and it seems to work. Now I do not have all these different types of class to worry about, and as I have stated, a check rein of any sort is _not_ in my tack box, so the head set my horses come with is the head set they go on the ring with.

That being said there are lots and lots of things you can do to enhance what nature gave you.

Good muscle tone, good presence and a happy horse are all good places to start.


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## Mominis (May 19, 2011)

The trick to getting bigger motion is to get the horse off of his forehand so that he can use himself.


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## ponygurl (May 20, 2011)

Thanks everyone so much! Tons of awesome advice. Yes I'm starting to get him in shape, which will help (He doesn't have too big of a belly on him, but getting his stamina up should definitely help!). I like the idea of round penning and doing work over trot poles, but if I use the trot poles, how far away from each other should they be placed? Any other tips are definitely more than welcome!!
 



Thank you to everyone so much! I love the advice!


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## RhineStone (May 20, 2011)

Personally, Mominis has the right idea. Because horses carry the majority of their weight on their front feet, especially because of their head and neck, you need to get the horse working off their forehand and onto their back end. This is accomplished with time (green horses pull with their front end) and lots of transitions. The horse needs to have balance and rhythm before any trotting poles are going to do anything more for him than trip him up. The transitions teach him to balance himself, and get his weight on his hind. Circling and serpentines can also help with that. Green horses (minis) need to start with bigger circles, like 20 meters (66 ft.) before moving to smaller ones.

If there is anything that I have learned in the past few years (and I have been driving for about 20), it's that the "obvious" is rarely the answer. If you want more front action, you need to start at the back. Truly, it is much more complicated than just "enhancing the front". Anything that you can find on the German Training Scale will also help you understand what the foundation needs to be for a performance horse. Doing anything else is just producing artificial short cuts that won't truly show your horse to his ultimate potential.

Myrna (who with the help of Suzy Stafford, World Gold medal pony driver, got Alax to have the best trot people had ever seen in a mini!



Unfortunately, I was driving and didn't get to see and nobody took photos or video.



He has been under harness for five years, and we are going to continue to work on it.)


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## Mominis (May 21, 2011)

RhineStone said:


> If you want more front action, you need to start at the back.






:yeah



:yeah


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