This young horse is rehearsing the basics of giving his nose, flexing at the poll, and arcing his body so he stays on track around the barrel.

To successfully run timed-event patterns, you need to control your horse and communicate with him at top speed. You have to accelerate, slow down, turn and speed up, all the while staying on a specific path.

Those abilities are all built on some important, specific skills. These basics are so simple that people often dismiss them in their eagerness to get on with the “fun” things. That’s a mistake because almost always, when a horse fumbles during a timed event, it’s because one or more of the four essentials wasn’t working correctly.

 The basics are the very first things we teach a horse and the very things we must keep refreshing throughout his lifetime. The basics of performance are giving to pressure side to side, breaking in the poll, moving away from leg pressure, and responding to the rider’s body position. It is upon these four principles that every part of the timed-event run is based.

Basic Number One
The first principle we teach a young horse is to give his head to pressure, side to side. From day one, we ask our horses to learn this. It begins by picking up on the rein and holding it steady until the horse softens and gives to the pressure. When he does, we release.

When you pick up the rein, think of it as asking, “Will you please give to pressure to this side?”

Then think of your horse’s perception of the conversation. “Why are you pulling on my mouth? Stop it. I don’t like it.” The horse bumps the bit, hard.

The pressure stays the same, so he begins to pull against it, and then bumps the bit a couple of times, not quite as hard this time. Remember, it’s important not to release until your horse actually yields.

With the pressure constant, the horse pulls some more, then finally moves his head toward the pressure.

Immediately the pressure is released. “Thank you.”

This process is repeated, over and over and over again, until it’s so natural to the horse that when he feels pressure to the side, he automatically gives to it. He understands that you’re asking him to do something. He answers by giving to pressure, and you answer back to his correct response by releasing.

We recommend doing these “basic number ones” to the right side for a while. Then spend a few minutes quietly walking your horse, and then do ask and release with your left rein. It’s best to work on one side at a time, rather than go back and forth from right to left, which makes it harder for the horse to learn.

 As your horse develops in skill, you’ll begin to ask him to give to pressure, then keep his head in the giving position for several seconds. Finally, you’ll be able to position his head anywhere for as long as you want, because he’ll read the reins.

The horse is confident because he knows that when you make contact, there’s a right answer for him to give and when he does, the pressure will be released. This knowledge—this certainty—is the foundation for the rest of the basics.

Basic number one is also important in its own right. It allows you to shape your horse correctly for the turns, with his head to the inside so that he can turn efficiently. If, instead, your horse has his head tipped to the outside, he may drop his shoulder to the inside. That can cause you to hit barrels and poles.

Of course, sometimes it’s hard to figure out just how much bend you should have in the pattern. Here’s an idea that can help. Picture your path through the pattern like a railroad track and your horse as a train. If you are bent too much for the part of the track you’re on, you’ll run off the track to the inside. If you are not bent enough, you’ll run off the track to the outside. Shape your horse’s body to the track and you’ll have just enough bend.

Once the horse has completely mastered basic number one, number two will come quickly.

To encourage your horse to flex at the poll, remember to squeeze gently with your legs as you pick up on the reins.

Basic Number Two
Basic number two is teaching your horse to yield to the bridle, or what is often called “breaking in the poll.” That’s the hinge-like front to back movement of the horse’s head toward his body. When you pick up the reins, you want your horse to follow the pressure bringing his face in, not pushing his nose forward and pulling on your hands. As he follows the pressure from the reins, he should remain soft and without resistance.

To teach this, as you’re walking forward, squeeze slightly with your calves as you pick up on the reins equally until you feel some resistance. Then, as before, just hold steady. Your horse will likely resist for a short time because he wants to give his head to the side. After all, he’s worked hard to learn that! But since he’s already learned that when he feels pressure and gives to it, he gets a release, so it usually doesn’t take long before the horse drops his nose. As before, when he does give, release the reins.

Soon, he’ll respond to you picking up the reins by automatically giving his face. If you ask him to do this without leg pressure, he’ll stop.

As a matter of fact, this second basic is the foundation for “whoa,” and for “rating,” in other words, slowing down for a turn.

Basic Number Three
Basic number three is teaching the horse to move away from pressure from the rider’s legs. This allows lateral (in other words side to side) body control during the run.

To teach this, squeeze your horse forward with both legs and ask him to give his face—that’s just basic number two. Then, as you continue to walk forward, keep your hands steady but release the pressure from your left leg.

When you open that left side door with your leg, most horses, even from the beginning, will shift slightly to the left. When he does, release all pressure. Pat him and reward him. He’s learning now that your leg signals mean something besides go forward. You’ll be surprised that it won’t take your horse long to pick this up.

As you did with your rein signals, you’ll do this to the left for awhile, then to the right.

A Cure or a Band-Aid?

Almost everyone has, at some time, put a band-aid on an injury. It covers up the problem and gives a kind of quick relief. From the outside, it looks like it is cured. The injury is still there, though, and needs to be properly treated in order for it to heal correctly. In the horse world, band-aids are bigger, harsher bits, or more extreme measures. They may mask the issue for awhile. But, just as with that scraped elbow, the problem is still there. The best tactic is to take time to instill a set of basic skills in the horse. Then later, if a problem develops, you’ll use them to fix it.

Basic Number Four
Basic number four is teaching your horse to respond to your body position. Your horse will learn to reduce his speed when you sit or melt down into your saddle. He’ll learn to increase his speed when you move more forward.

You’ll develop your own subtle body language. If you’re consistent with your position every time you say “whoa,” or when you cue your horse to go forward, you’ll find that this comes naturally. Horses are very perceptive to slight changes in their rider’s body language.

Better Than a Band-Aid
These four simple basics will allow you to negotiate any timed event pattern. Later, if problems develop, they will be your means for correcting them.

For example, when a horse runs past the first pole or blows by the first barrel, many riders want to run the horse up to the turn, then set him down really hard. They think they are fixing the problem. Instead, they are scaring the horse and making him dread that “rating spot.” What happens then is, when the horse runs the pattern, he’s more likely to speed up there because he wants to get past that scary place.

A better fix is to go back to your basics. Using basic number two, you can work on getting your horse soft in the bridle and having him respond when you pick up the reins. You can use basic number four to encourage him to reduce speed when he feels you sit down. Lots of slow and medium speed work on this will do more than a band-aid. It will fix the problem. 

Maybe the horse has gotten aggressive about the turns, dropping his shoulder and anticipating the request for speed as he comes out of the turn. It’s time to really work on basic number one—bending side to side. When your horse gets soft again, it will be easier to work through this problem. You can also use your inside leg (basic number three) to keep him from crowding by subtly shifting his body away from the barrel or pole.

Whenever there’s a problem, ask yourself what basics need to be working in order for the particular part of the pattern to be done correctly. Then ask which basic is not working and what you can do to change that. Once you do, you’ll be back on track to solving your horse’s problem.