Control those Hips!

by Tracy Porter - John Lyons Certified Trainer
The hips are one cool piece of equipment! Understanding how they work and how you can use them will open up new windows of opportunity. For most of us, it’s scary when we find how much we don’t know about them. Most times we can get them to move, well generally…at least forward. (Sometimes with a little too much speed!) And hopefully, we can also get them to stop… well, maybe… sorta stop near or kinda close to where we wanted them to. Hey, think about it… you’re up in a plane and find that the pilot has expired and you’re the one that has to fly the plane and land it. That means stopping it safely. Now, have you ever seen anyone jump on a horse, go for a ride; yet, not have a clue of how to stop it? Yeesh!

We’ve all heard about disengagement. But how does it work? Why does it work? First, let’s back up a bit and consider why we should even care about disengagement. Quite simply, it’s your emergency brake! Still unconvinced? Ask anyone who’s ever had a horse run away with them, rear or buck them off. Now write this 300 times…"it’s the rear end that drives the horse…it’s the rear end that drives the horse…it’s the…" If you can understand how to control the hips, not only will your ride be safer; but you’ll be able to get your horse to do some pretty neat things! 
First, what are some rudimentary things we can get the hip to do? Well for starters, we can use them to get your horse’s feet to move and once he’s moving, we can use the hip to change our horse’s direction. We can also use the hips to stop our horse or just slow him down.


Starting on the ground is a wise choice. 


See if you can feel the front shoulder stop. When you do ask the hip to give to the rein.

 If you don’t care to learn anything else about a horse…but just want to ride, the one thing you need to learn is disengagement. Exactly what is it and how does it work? Once you understand this, you can go on your merry way with at least knowing how to effectively stop your horse. Practice on the ground first and learn to control those hips.

What is disengagement? It could be two people deciding NOT to get married! But in this case, it’s when the front legs and the back legs are no longer working together. Think of our horse as a car with rear wheel drive. The rear legs are pushing the front legs. If we move the rear legs laterally to a point that they no longer are able to drive the front legs, we are disengaged! If we just move the hips to the side without disconnecting them from the front legs…the horse will still continue to move. This is what happens when someone on a runaway horse is told…"JUST CIRCLE HIM"! It just doesn’t work.
We need to get the hips to move two steps to the side with the inside rein. Once this happens consistently, we need to recognize what the front feet are doing. The slower the horse is moving, the less likely it is that the horse will have energy in its body to take the two steps with the hind end before coming to a halt.

Why does the horse come to a halt? When you use the rein to ask the hip to move over, you may notice that the horse begins to pivot on his inside front foot. You can actually help the horse find this by releasing when he begins to pivot on the inside front foot. Later, you can build on this by feeling the pivot and then asking the hip to give to the side as it moves away from there from the rein. In essence, we are able to multi task with our one rein…that is we can talk to two body parts at one time. Keep in mind, the more forward energy in the horse, the more you will feel this happen. Now keep in mind that at the moment the shoulder pauses, we quit focusing our attention on the shoulder and redirect it to the hip. If there’s enough momentum, the hip will seem to fly to the side. If there isn’t we may have to ask it to move. And remember do all this first on the ground. If you are essentially clueless, you can get yourself in a whole lot of hot water trying to learn by the seat of your pants and just might find yourself sitting the ground…especially if you and your horse have had a questionable past history.


Getting the hip to give to the rein.

Disengagement is a complicated maneuver. We need to understand it and have it so ingrained in our psyche, until it’s like breathing; something we do unconsciously.

Why does the shoulder pivot when the nose is offset? You don’t have to understand the physiology, but just that it does. Be assured it works 100% of the time. To get the feel of what is happening to the horse when you find this nose and shoulder area, try this exercise with a human partner.
First decide who will play the following roles:
  • Person A:   You must stop the other from trying to circle you.
  • Person B:   You must try to circle Person A.
Standing facing each other, put your right hands together. Person B is trying to get around Person A, continuing to go forward. Person A is trying to stop Person B from going forward or at least slowing down the their energy. First let Person B circle Person A. Person A is allowing Person B to circle…this is the same reason why doing circles does not stop a horse.

Now try:

Person B proceeds around Person A. Person A will then move Person B’s hand in front of Person B’s face. Of course Person A’s hand will also be in front of Person B’s face too! Both A & B will feel the forward movement end or slow down. This moment is exactly what it feels like when you feel the front shoulder pivoting!

Yes, there is a significant difference between people and horses; they have two more legs! Still when you place your hand in front of Person B’s face…there would still be energy in the rear of the horse. What will happen is the horses rear will move to the side. This is the hip disengaging (forward movement is immediately stopped)! I think the finding where the shoulder pivots is similar to the sweet spot on a tennis racket. You can hit the bloomin’ ball with any part of the racket… but when you find the perfect spot…the ball sails effortlessly through the air!

One should first learn this from the ground; both at a walk and a trot. When I work with an owner and his/her horse, I let them sit in the saddle and talk them through what they should be feeling. Again as with other things, it’s much safer to practice this on the ground than in the saddle and wishing you were on the ground!

If we really want to get our horse to respond better and softer…we also need to ask the horse to give to the rein before giving the hip. As the horse gets better, the horse can give his hip, as the horse is giving his jaw. If I do this correctly, I automatically feel the shoulder pivot. Then after I feel the hip to give, I wait once again for the jaw to give once more before I release the rein. This is what is called "linking". I think of it as asking the horse to give his jaw, then hip, then jaw. Eventually it will happen all together…"giving" the jaw/hip/jaw".

In future articles we will learn how to do this from the saddle and also how to use this exercise in other ways to help the horse stop better and improve his lateral movements!
The hip is just the tip of the iceberg! For more information on building relationships and successful riding relations with your equine partner…contact Tracy Porter 608-868-5432, thefarm@ticon.net, http://www.tracyporterthefarm.com.