Teaching to side pass?

[tifflunn]

Could you leave your ideas here on how you go about teaching your horses to side pass?

Thanks Tiffany :bgrin

Sorry Was Suppose To Be Posted On The Main Forum.

 

[kaykay]

things like this are really hard to explain in type. but heres what i do. in the beginning i put pressure on the left (with my right hand) shoulder to encourage the horse to move to the right. At the same time i am also putting pressure on the lead to go to the right. Once they have this down i stop putting pressure on the shoulder and just use the lead. Most horses get it really quick.

 

[alphahorses]

The key, wether you are in the saddle or on the ground, is to teach them to yield to pressure - both front and back end. If you do halter obstacle, you'll want to teach them to sidepass without touching eventually.

1. Start by teaching what I consider to be simple barn manners. Tie your horse and teach them to move their hip over when you touch them and give them a verbal signal. It's natural for a horse to push back on pressure, so this could take some time. Do it from each side.

2. Next, stand at their head and teach them to move their hip away when you touch them with a crop or short whip and speak your verbal command. You'll find teaching them to take a queue from a whip helpful when you are ready to side pass.

3. Teach the horse to move away from pressure at the shoulder. Stand just in front of the shoulder with the lead in your hand. Put pressure on the shoulder, push the lead away slightly and give them a verbal signal (see KayKay's earlier post).

4. Finally, once your horse/pony has mastered all this, combine his new skils to get the whole horse (not just the front or back end) to side pass. I find it helpful if you have them face a wall the first few times. Stand just ahead of their shoulder and signal them with the crop/whip to move their hip away from you while at the same time asking them to move their shoulder away. You want to keep their head straight or slightly turned towards you, so instead of pushing their head away, you will actually hold the lead with just a little tension. The side pass is in many ways similar to a half-pass in dressage. If you've ever seen a dressage horse do a half-pass, you'll notice that the horse is bent slightly AWAY from the directly they are traveling (which would be towards you as the handler).

 

[kaykay]

great description!!!

:

:

 

[tifflunn]

Yep

: - Thank You guys :bgrin - I am half way there :aktion033: :aktion033:

 

[Matt73]

The key, wether you are in the saddle or on the ground, is to teach them to yield to pressure - both front and back end. If you do halter obstacle, you'll want to teach them to sidepass without touching eventually.

1. Start by teaching what I consider to be simple barn manners. Tie your horse and teach them to move their hip over when you touch them and give them a verbal signal. It's natural for a horse to push back on pressure, so this could take some time. Do it from each side.

2. Next, stand at their head and teach them to move their hip away when you touch them with a crop or short whip and speak your verbal command. You'll find teaching them to take a queue from a whip helpful when you are ready to side pass.

3. Teach the horse to move away from pressure at the shoulder. Stand just in front of the shoulder with the lead in your hand. Put pressure on the shoulder, push the lead away slightly and give them a verbal signal (see KayKay's earlier post).

4. Finally, once your horse/pony has mastered all this, combine his new skils to get the whole horse (not just the front or back end) to side pass. I find it helpful if you have them face a wall the first few times. Stand just ahead of their shoulder and signal them with the crop/whip to move their hip away from you while at the same time asking them to move their shoulder away. You want to keep their head straight or slightly turned towards you, so instead of pushing their head away, you will actually hold the lead with just a little tension. The side pass is in many ways similar to a half-pass in dressage. If you've ever seen a dressage horse do a half-pass, you'll notice that the horse is bent slightly AWAY from the directly they are traveling (which would be towards you as the handler).

Sorry to correct you, but in a half-pass in dressage you want the horse bent in the direction you are going (flexed in the direction of travel): http://www.classicaldressage.net/members/l.../half_pass.html

 

[Jill]

When teaching to side pass, I think it also helps to have a pole (like a PVC pipe or a railroad tie...) that the horse is standing over with front legs on one side, back legs on the other side.

There are some videos you can get from mini vendors, including Ozark Mountain, that show you the basics of teaching obstacle in hand including side passing. It's a lot easier to WATCH it vs. trying to visualize it as described :bgrin

 

[Boinky]

no half pass in dressage is bent into the direction your are going..a LEG YIELD i believe is what your refereing to. Leg yeilding is slightly bent away from the direction in which the horse is going..and is similar to the sidepass EXCEPT there is forward and sideways movement unlike the side pass which should have no forward movement..only sideways movement. These are all indeed "lateral" movements though

 

[alphahorses]

I think we're all talking about the same thing in different terms. Yes, in a half-pass the horse is flexed into (not in) the direction that it is traveling and around the rider's inside leg. But this means that the horse's head is in effect pointed slightly away from the direction of travel (with the shoulder being towards the direction of travel). The link that Matt73 provided shows this clearly.

I appologized if the description didn't seem accurate. I was trying to explain in terms that were understandable for people who have never done a half-pass.

And yes, side pass is probably closer to a leg yield than a half pass

 

[Boinky]

ok not to get nit picky but NO a half pass does NOT have the head and neck going away from the direction of travel. The whole body should be curved in the direction of the movement IE. if the horse is doing a half pass to the right the the shape of the horse woud be like a gentle C with the head and butt going to the right towards the direction of travel.

In the leg yeild the horses head and neck would be slightly turned AWAY from the direction of travel and the body pretty much straight..so if you were doing a leg yeild to the right the head and neck would be slightly to the left