Fixing a Bad Side Pass - By Slowing Down

Jerry wrote to me asking a question on how to fix a bad side pass, and it could have been me writing the same question to someone else. Jerry said his horse used to side pass well, but now is getting worse on side passing. I've found myself in several situations getting worse on things that my horse and I normally did okay. That is a deliberate use of the word 'okay' as opposed to say 'did well'. What I first try when things are getting sloppy, is to slow down and try to execute step by step, ensuring that I'm particular with my cues, and it helps to give the horse time to think between applyingthose cues as well.

Understanding the "why" anything is getting sloppy or getting worse is important. Horses will often begin to anticipate the rider. Sometimes it's because they are getting dull or the work we're asking them to do it repetitive,.....sometimes we as riders are not keeping the horse with us, ....and it's possible that our cues are what's becoming sloppy or in other words, we are not being particular enough in how we ask the horse to move his feet.

And I don't discount the power of the horse wanting to go back to his pen or to his buddies, either. This is actually pretty common, especially at the gate, to have an horse anticipate and to demonstrate a barn sour attitude. You may have to correct this first, or find a place to practice side passes that minimizes this.

Sometimes it's because we have conditioned the horse to do something quickly ,...like side pass quickly to a gate. And it's easy to tell as you end up having to ask for horse to step backward (or forwards) because you ended up side passing at an angle - or looking like a leg yield. Like I said, I started getting lax on side passing to open gates as well, so I just slowed my horse down. Asking for one step at a time. If he got in a hurry and took two or more steps when I asked for one, I would just ride him forward in a circle, position him up and begin again.

When I'm asking a horse for a side pass, say to the left, I'll use my outside or right rein to keep his head pretty straight, use my left rein to open or lift his shoulder without turning his nose, and use my outside leg (right leg) to contact his barrel to cue him to move to the left. My left leg is totally off the horse. When asking the horse to just give me one step, I try to be really particular about taking all life out of the reins and take my outside leg off of the horse as the horse is completing that step or just before he plants the lagging (the second) crossing foot.

In any event, slowing down, be precise with your cues is going to make it clearer to the horse what you are asking him to do.