You might be thinking how can a fence be used to train a horse; simple the fence or arena wall acts as a barrier and helps direct or change the direction of a horses feet when worked in combination with your riding cues. Let me explain how it can work.


Say you are working on your horses stop but he seems to be walking out of it, ride him straight towards the fence as you approach the fence or wall apply your cues for the whoa, the closer you get to the fence the more likely your horse will want to stop on his own in order to avoid hitting the fence. Not only do you have your voice seat and hands working for you and the added assistance of the wall to help you bring your horse to a stop. Like everything else start off slow and build up, be prepared for your horse to try to duck out to the side so keep him between your legs.

The fence is also great for teaching rollbacks and sidepassing. For the sidepass ride your horse towards the fence at a 45 degree angle keep your leg on him. Once he has ridden all the way up to the fence he will have nowhere else to go but to move sideways away from your leg, remember to keep that leg on and give him somewhere to go by taking the other leg off.

The rollback works the same way, come in at a 45 degree angle ask for a whoa. As the horse slows down and starts to come up under himself use your leg and rein aids to turn the horse into the fence back towards the same direction you rode in from. Once you feel him make the turn on his back end release the pressure and ride out. This really teaches a horse to get under himself and explode out of the turn. Make sure to work both directions and not to over do it. Once they get the hang of it at a 45 degree angle try doing it parallel to the fence then eventually without any assistance from the fence.

Fences can also be used to help teach a horse to load in trailers and to move out straight.

Hope this helps

Thanks

Steve Wawryk