Neck Reining How-To

© 2005-2009, Keith Hosman - All Rights Reserved

Prerequisites: This is more of a "finished-horse maneuver" so much work must be put in before attempting this material. You must have the ability to disengage the horse's hips (see "Steer the Tail" and "Hip-Shoulder-Shoulder"), excellent shoulder control (see "The Clockwork Exercise"), and mastery over the material covered in "How to Teach a Horse to Pivot on Its Hindquarters," "Train Your Horse to Travel Straight," and "Simple Steps to Power Steering." (All can be found and printed out at Horsemanship101.com/Articles.)

The day you begin working to teach your horse to neck rein should be at least one day AFTER you have really nailed the exercises listed in the "Prerequisites" above. Neck reining is really just the culmination of having learned shoulder and hip control so you'll need the tools (read: abilities) found in that material to teach it.

In the horse world, the word "cue" means something that signals the horse to do something. It doesn't "make" the horse do something, it asks. Kissing to the horse says "move" but doesn't make it move, see? We cue the horse to do something (kiss, shift our weight, move our hands, etc.), then apply "motivation" should that cue be ignored. Example: If I kiss and the horse just stands there, I squeeze (or kick) with my legs. The legs say "Don't ignore the kiss or you get the boot."

Basic stuff, I know but it's surprising how often folks tend to get the two concepts ("asking for something" versus "making something happen") mixed up. There is a very real difference between "requesting" and "enforcing" and it's critical that we understand this going forward especially when teaching our horses to neck rein. This is because neck reining is simply teaching your horse an "associative cue," "When I move my hand, you move your shoulders and feet." It's not: "I move my hand and pull you through a turn." To illustrate: How many times have you seen cowboys in a John Wayne movie take their hands far across the horse's mane to turn the horse? Do their horses turn? Sure they do but due to the use of shank bits and tie-downs and pain and not because they've been trained to associate a movement of the rider's hands with a turn of direction. See the difference between asking and forcing? Were the Black Hats to remove the hardware from their horse's mouths (replacing shank with snaffle) and try riding off, they'd find the horse choosing the direction. (Those after-robbery bank getaways would look like a billiard table seconds after first break.)

A note about equipment: You can outfit your horse with a big-honkin' shank bit and get him to "neck rein" (notice the quotes) in about five seconds. This is because the very nature of a shank (or leverage) bit causes the horse to line himself up laterally stem-to-stern, that is, his tail lines up directly behind his rear, mid-section, shoulders, head and neck. The leveraged pressure caused by the bit makes this happen and allows you to "force the horse" to turn left or right. In equestrian parlance this is called "cheating." This does not mean the horse is trained to neck rein anymore than completing a paint-by-numbers Mona Lisa makes you Leonardo da Vinci. When riding, the real artistry comes with the fluidity brought about through consistent communication, practice and partnering. To put a finer point on this: You want to take the time to really teach your horse, rather than forcing him because his movement will be more natural and thus more fluid, energetic and precise. You should also be aware that "pain" is a poor motivator. After some time, it'll take more and more of it to get the same movement. In the end, you'll save the headaches by taking the time to teach your horse properly. Bottom line: Teach this material with a snaffle bit.

I believe it was Sally Swift (equestrian, trainer, author and clinician get her books if you don't have them) that said "Your horse knows when you blink your left eye." Well now, if that's true (and I believe it is), then our movements (our cues) can be tiny and still get big results, right? Oh, you betcha. So then, regarding our hand movements, let's keep a few things in mind: 1) Try your level best to never take your hands across the horse's mane when asking for a turn. Why? Because going across his mane transforms your hand movement from "request" to "making it happen" and don't get me started on that again. (I'll give you something else to try in another paragraph or three.) 2) Your goal is the ability to keep your hands in front of you, moving them but several inches to effect your turns as opposed to moving them 12 or 18 inches to the left or right. Remember, the less your hands move, the cooler you look. And looking cool is what this is all about. (*Bonus Fact: It's "effect" when you create something, "affect" when you influence something. I just learned that and thought I'd pass it on.)

And so... how do we get to a point where we can just move our hands a few inches and get a great and fluid turn? We get this by very, very, very, very consistently backing up our requests with motivation. We ask for a turn and, should the horse continue moving out straight, we apply our "Hey, you missed my request" motivator. We are consistent about this and never, never, never, never allow the horse to slack off for even one instant. (Specific directions in a moment.) If you borrow $50 from Vinnie the Loan Shark and miss his single request for repayment he sends a motivator named "Guido the Kneebreaker" and you pay up. Furthermore, you make your payments on time from then on. Same goes for your riding: Each and every request you make must be backed up with applied motivation when and if ignored.

To actually be able to say "My horse neck reins," (and not cause fellow riders to snicker behind your back) you need a horse that "stays between the reins" AND upright through his shoulders at all times and of course this includes through his turns. But... what untrained horses typically do is to lean or lay a shoulder against one rein or the other especially through turns and this ist strictly verboten (naughty). To see if your horse does this, let's take a test: With Flicka outfitted in a snaffle bit, mount up and walk off. Raise your hands up, just below shoulder height and bring them about 2.5 feet apart. (You'll create a triangle shape with your reins.) Using direct reining, (pull left, go left / pull right, go right) ask your horse to make a dozen or so turns, meandering in no specific direction. Just go left, then forward a few steps, then right and so on. As you do, look down at your horse's shoulders. If his shoulders touch the reins as he turns, use the rein on the same side to ask him to stay off that rein by disengaging his back end. (Disengaging is motivation: "If you lean on the rein, I'll make you disengage. You hate disengaging, so do yourself a favor and just stay between the reins.") It's like the kids' game "Operation." Touch the shoulders to the reins and bzzzzzt, lose points. Doing this will show you whether your horse is leaning against your reins (rather than respecting them and moving away properly), it'll train your horse to stay "in the middle," and it'll show you what to be on the lookout for when "neck reining" later. If he's leaning now, he'll be guilty of it tenfold next month when neck reining. Again, a horse that neck reins properly keeps himself upright and between those reins.

At this point you need to take a page from "The Clockwork Exercise," fine-tuning your ability to get the horse to plant the leg where you ask. "Connect the rein to the foot" is how John Lyons puts it. If you'll recall from that classic exercise, there is a clock under each of the horse's hooves. Four feet, four clocks. When the horse puts a foot forward that foot is stepping on (or toward) 12 o'clock, backwards is 6 and so on. In that exercise, you taught the horse to move its right front foot onto any number using the opposite (indirect) rein, in this case, your left rein. You also taught your horse to move that same (right front foot) onto any number based on a request from the right (direct) rein. (So both reins could cause either foot to step onto any number.) Re-practice now, specifically concentrating on numbers 2 through 5 and 7 through 11. Begin by asking the left rein to move the horse's right front foot onto the number prescribed, then vice-versa, (right rein moves left front foot). Really nail that, then practice using the direct rein to get your numbers (right rein moves right foot, left rein moves left foot). If you've previously perfected the clockwork material this should be but a refresher. Finally, gradually begin using both hands simultaneously to ask for a step on a particular number and realize how this mimics neck reining the only difference being you're using two hands. Remember, you must practice this until either rein can cause either of the horse's front feet to step onto any number.

Now, before we sew this all together... We need to get you understanding when your horse actually turns versus when he "drifts." Quite often, we think we're turning but folks on the ground see us just kind of drifting about. You need to learn to feel the difference: Lay a rope down on the ground, straight out in front of you. Walk that line and apply pressure to the left rein, "direct reining" your horse into a turn to the left. The execution is child's play, I know but you need to teach yourself what a turn feels like. Really hunt for what it feels like the very moment your horse actually turns off that line as opposed to when he just leans or meanders. If you end up some distance from the rope, did you just sort of wander away from the line or was there an instant in time when the horse actually turned away from it? Any step off the line to the left is a turn (in the same way that you can turn your horse at a sharp angle or a gradual angle). Memorize that feeling of the leg moving off one track and onto another. Feel for it and "muscle memorize" the difference.

When you're ready to move on: Place your reins in one hand, (y'know, as if "neck reining") and walk around asking for turn after turn by moving your hand several inches one way or t'other. (Note: It's important that you practice this more often at a trot than a walk once you (the human) get the hang of it. Your horse will learn faster at a trot.) Follow this pattern: Walk x-number of steps, turn, walk x-number of steps (not y-number of steps, keep objective and consistent), turn, repeat for twenty minutes. Take a twenty minute break, then work another twenty minutes. Concentrate and stay focused. When you first begin, you may want to try making your hand gestures more grandiose that's fine if it works for you but remember that your horse "will only ever be" as good as the least amount of cue you give him so keep trying to use less signal rather than more (that is, keep your hands as still as possible, moving in but a small space a few inches in front of your belly button).

Naturally, when you first begin, your horse is going to ignore your cue, lean against the rein with his shoulder and just keep moving off without turning. The very instant you feel him ignore your request disengage him in the same direction. That is, if you ask for a left turn and he blows you off, use the left hand to ask for disengagement being sure to bring in the right hand to help out if need be. Get that disengagement, then release your pressure, pet him, move forward, clear your head and repeat going the opposite direction. Two common mistakes to avoid: 1) When using the left rein/hand to disengage, your right hand must be ready, willing and able to jump in and help out and vice-versa. If you're not getting your disengagements with your left hand alone, your right hand should immediately drop the rein on the right side and reach across to help pull. 2) Be very careful to not allow your horse to slow up, however slightly, after disengaging and before walking off. This is the single-most common boo-boo I see and it's a killer. Allowing your horse to slow up in the middle as described is guaranteed to kill your training. Don't allow him to move ever slower till he just sort of runs aground. It's paramount to keep energy in the horse through your disengagements AND INTO THE WALK OFF AT THE END. At all costs, you must move fluidly at all times as if a dance. (If you're having an issue with the horse slowing up, try kicking harder, practice your timing, try differing rein angles. You might be holding the reins at such an exaggerated angle that the horse can't possibly keep moving. Maybe your horse has grown "used to" your kicks and you need spurs. Maybe you need to release the reins earlier or kick later. Experiment and do what it takes to flow evenly through the maneuver.)

With lots of disengaging, they'll often start dipping their shoulders inward, almost "caving in" if we allow them to get sloppy through the maneuver. The easiest way to prevent/fix this is to mix things up and remain a bit unpredictable. Disengage your horse in differing directions. So, in this article, if you feel the horse's shoulder sagging downward (as evidenced by a saddle that seems to slip off one way or the other), then when I say "disengage with the left hand" replace "left" with "right" and just go the opposite direction. Don't over think "which direction should I disengage?" Instead, mix and match as the mood strikes you. The very act of disengaging will help keep the horse more upright as he'll learn that the maneuver (disengaging) is easier when he's not leaning or dragging a leg or shoulder. Just be sure to keep plenty of "forward" in your movement. Fluidity is key.

Note that it is absolutely critical that you understand that when you move your hand to signal a turn, the horse either turns (within a step, maybe two) or he doesn't. He doesn't meander, shuffle or lean. He turns. It's very black and white. Recall the "walking off the rope" exercise. If you do not feel a "turn," then the horse didn't turn. Should he miss his cue, disengage on the same side, release, pet walking forward, repeat going the other way. Stay focused, objective, methodical and businesslike.

Here's the sequence for a turn to the left: With the reins in one hand (I don't care which), ride forward and a few beats later move your hand a few inches to the left. Ask yourself if the horse moved his front left leg correspondingly to the left. If done correctly, the horse will step "off the line" to the left. If instead he leans against the rein and misses the turn (moving right or still forward), apply the necessary pressure on the left rein to cause the horse to disengage. ("Hey, you missed the turn.") Make sure to use both hands if necessary. (Don't allow your right hand to simply sit there it must "swing in" to help out the left if you decide to disengage the horse.) Release your pressure, pet the horse and move forward, repeating this move to the right. Your brain should understand that when you disengage the hindquarters, it's the same as picking up the rear of a drifting boat and moving it over (as the hands of a clock) to cause a turn. Or think of it this way: You can look right and yet continue walking left but if you swing your hips (lining them up with the direction you're looking), you'll be pointed in the correct direction. Walk around and try swinging your hips about try humming something from "Cabaret" to really get in the spirit you'll see what I mean.

And finally: Until now, we've mostly been concerned with whether the horse simply turns or not. But, as time passes, and you see that the horse has begun to associate your hand movement with a turn of his own feet, start paying stricter attention to whether his shoulders are staying between the reins, as practiced earlier when you "triangulated" your reins. Again, if he leans against a rein, just disengage him to say "Thanks, but that's not what I'm looking for." If you'll learn to trust your horse, asking for the turn instead of forcing and conscientiously ratcheting things up when a turn is missed you'll soon find your horse turning on a dime with but a slight movement of your hand.

This article is part of the "How to Teach a Horse to Neck Rein" series. To read more, or to find a clinic or Certified John Lyons horse trainer near you, visit horsemanship101.com.

About the Author

Keith Hosman If your horse won't speed up, slow down, stop or turn, you missed the latest training methods from Josh and John Lyons.  Have you lost your confidence?  Want a horse to brag about?  Invest one weekend to make big changes with John Lyons Certified Trainer Keith Hosman.  Keith is based near San Antonio, TX and is available for clinics, private sessions and training.  He frequently conducts clinics and demonstrations with an event coming soon to a town near you. For more horse training articles, or to attend a clinic or find a John Lyons trainer living in your area, visit horsemanship101.com now.   No part of this article may be reproduced without the express written permission of Keith Hosman. To contact us regarding reprints or syndication of our articles (in print or online), please contact us via www.horsemanship101.com.