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800 - 1400 Lane
Delta, Colorado 81416
(970) 874-7456
"The Program" by Carl Wood
“The Program” has been developed over the past twenty five or so years as my understanding of the horse and his capabilities evolved. Horses are able to do things that most people don’t know they can do. The problem usually lies in the trainer’s inability to understand. I do not teach you how to ride but instead my program helps you to train your horse and in the process of understanding you become a better rider. In fact if you fully understand the program you will become an accomplished trainer and rider. Not so fast there! Like fine wine it takes time and you must be willing to be patient and dedicated.
It is all very simple actually. The exercises that I have developed are designed to give you control of every part of your horse. By being able to put his hip here, his shoulders over there, his belly up there, and his head down there you can make the most difficult maneuvers seem simple and flawless.
For example: The flying lead change. Most people have no idea where to start and that leads to all kinds of problems in the horse. Like: speeding up when ask to change, changing only in front not in back, diving off to the center, cross firing, becoming frightened and confused, head up, and a myriad of other problems. The first mistake is to think that the flying lead change can only come from a lope. I start you off at a walk and guide you through several exercises that are part of the complete lead change when put all together. When each and every exercise is correct then and only then can you attempt a flying lead change because your horse has already mastered all the movements necessary at a walk.
That is only one of the things you learn by understanding “The Program” You will learn how to ride with leg on and your center of balance lower than you ever did before. Your cues will come from your legs and your hips rather than your hands. Your horse will be soft, collected, and giving to your touch. By placing the focus on training your horse you learn from actually doing rather than trying to concentrate on yourself. Your body figures out what to do by getting your horse to accomplish the exercises. No longer will you fear sliding stops, rollbacks, dropped shoulders, flying lead changes, canter departures, going in a straight line, collection, spins, and all the complicated maneuvers of working a cow or doing a trail pattern, or wowing a crowd at a reining show. You say you don’t want to do all that showing stuff? Well just imagine how much fun you could have just riding in the mountains on a well trained and may I say trustworthy horse! I teach all this in my Horsemanship Clinics scheduled once or twice a month here at Doubletree or where ever folks want me to go.
If you watch this spot every month there will be an exercise explained in detail. And if you get stuck just email me and I will walk you through it. “The Program” works on every horse from those two year olds on up. No matter how much money he has earned and no matter how many times you heard that he is a finished horse “The Program” will fix those spots that are not just quite perfect. And to be honest I have never seen a perfect horse. If you want to hurry up the process of learning “The Program” come to one of my clinics, schedule private lessons, or invite me to you neck of the woods.
| This months featured exercise - Circle Down into a Spin & Forward Reverse Arc |
The Program Lesson 3 & 4 Lesson 4 - Forward Reverse Arc. (Same side hand and same side leg.) All horses have a tendency to drop their shoulders and this is one of the most misunderstood problems riders have to deal with. Ever notice that your horse seems to make his circles smaller and smaller in a lope? How about diving off in the direction of a lead change? Or having trouble going in a straight line loping down the arena? Then you need to understand how to pick up a shoulder and put him back where he should be. Go back to your 20’ circle and instead of using outside pressure we will slip our inside hip and leg around him and take our outside leg off. Now take your inside rein and pick it up and back a little to bend his neck and head towards your inside leg. Your outside hand is pretty much left alone at this point. The horse should hold his bend but move out of his circle thus making his circle more egg shaped. Don’t hold it too long. Here you must start to feel what is happening under you. You should feel like a car on ice that he is slipping out of his circle no matter how you turn the steering wheel. As soon as you feel that shoulder slipping you must return your outside leg and center yourself in the saddle again and resume your circle. (Hint!!! If you were to place your cheek on your inside shoulder and look down your arm to your hand you should be pointing or aiming where you want that horse’s shoulder should go.) The proper position for the horses head is bent down and he should be looking up at you with his inside eye. If his head is up in the air his shoulder is not up and maybe you need to go back to that very first bending exercise. Do several of these in each direction before going to the other direction. This is to be done at a trot a little later. Picking up the horse’s shoulder really aids in crossing over for lead changes, canter departures, spins, and role backs. If your horse over bends to the inside just apply a little outside rein pressure. In time I want my horse to do a complete circle before I let go of his shoulder. In other words if you are using right rein to pick up his shoulder then you should eventually be able to move him in a complete circle to the left. (Head facing outside of the circle)
The lessons are available in .pdf format below - |
Perfect Sailer Reference Sires: Sierpe De Jack Bill the Cutter The Perfect Spark
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