Puting it all together with Travère position, Stop and backup, Rollback, Foundation to the slidestop, Speed control at the walk, Lead change, Turnaround, Side pass, Trail, The English horse

Travère position with canter departure

From the two-track the training continues towards achieving travère
which is more difficult for the horse. In a travère the horses shoulder
and head are moving straight and Bob Mayhew is asking the horse to
just give his hip. When pushing the hip to the inside and underneith
the horse it makes it easy for the horse to take the correct lead.

Stop and backup

In the stop programme Bob Mayhew practise stopping the horse
with and without the reins. In the backup Bob Mayhew increase
his stop position in the saddle and he is using the reins only to
balance the horse's face.

Rollback

Rollback is a part ot the stop programme in Bob Mayhew's educational
DVD. Bob starts to practise the rollback from the trot. When the
horse is comfortable doing the rollback at the trot Bob ask the horse
to try to do it at the lope. In this part Bob show clearly how important
the circle work is when the rider work the horse in a rollback exercise.

Foundation to the slidestop

When Bob Mayhew introduce a higher degree of difficultie to the
horse, he always ask for a try in a slower pace. In order to teach this
four year old quarter horse a slidestop Bob starts doing it from the
trot and on a loose rein. When the horse makes a stop Bob gives the
horse time to let the exercise sink in and the short rest is the reward
for the horse. When Bob feel that the horse is happy doing the stop
from a trot he ask the horse to do it at the lope.

Speed control in the canter

In a speed control programme the focus is on the riders position in
the saddle. It is how the rider put his or hers weight in the saddle
that tells the horse to speed up or slow down.

Lead change

In the snake trail exercises Bob Mahew practised hip displacing and
that was preparation work for travère and canter departure and in
the circle work Bob worked on the push off or the leg yield. These
things must come automatically to you before you can do a proper
lead change. In building a lead change Bob show cleary the different
steps by doing it at the walk.

Turnaround

A turnaround is a 360 degree spin. In a turnaround it is important
that the horse starts by stepping his inside frontleg out and slightly
back so his outside frontleg has plenty of room to cross over. It is
important to keep the horse soft and suppled.

Side pass

In a side pass exercise Bob Mayhew leg yield the horse sideways. It
teach the horse to move away from the riders leg. The side pass is
important when the rider take the horse out for a trail ride.

Trail

Bob Mayhew explains in his western dvd The Basic Principles of
Western Riding Why and How, that he never take a horse out on the
roads and tracks unless he feel that he have comple control of the
horse, a horse that is capable of doing a trail class. If you ride near
busy roads or you are riding the youngsters it is good practise to use
the hard hat. It may reduce head injures in an accident, but safety
is all about riding a well trained horse. In this part Bob shows how
to ride through the trail obstacles.

The English horse

Whether you ride English or Western it should be the same basics.
It is really important to see the slightest try and to reward it. That is
how horses learn. Bob does not ask much of this horse at this stage
because he is gently correcting mistakes. He have to get back to
square zero before he can build a foundation. Then this horse will
become a nice riding horse. The basic principles of western riding
helps your horse to perform better no matter what breed or riding
discipline.