The Fundamentals
Before circles. Before the pattern. Before fancy drills or exhibitions… your horse needs to know how to 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦. Not just forward, but with intention, and with control in every part of their body.
The pre-requisites to this is simple: walk, trot, lope, stop. No fancy circles, no collection—just forward motion and a stop button in any direction. Those are first ride things. Once that’s solid, we move on to the first step to making a barrel horse, or any horse: The Fundamentals
These are the first true maneuvers I expect a horse to understand before anything pattern-related ever enters the picture. If they can’t do these with clarity and confidence, we’re not ready to add speed, pressure, or finesse.
The maneuvers that make up the fundamentals:
Move the hips around
Start from a standstill by pulling the horse’s nose toward your hip to stop the front end and step the hindquarters away. Eventually, they should be able to move their hips forward at any gait, with no bend in the head.
Move the shoulders around
Begin with small walking circles where the front legs cross over each other in front. Over time, this develops into a pivot: the horse plants the inside hind and crosses over cleanly with the front, while the outside hind steps around.
Broke in the ribs
A horse that’s soft in the ribs responds to your inside rein with bend and lift through the body—not just a tipped nose. This can be achieved in three different maneuvers:
Small Circles – Bending around your leg in a tight, 55-gallon barrel-sized circles
Counter-arcs – Keeping the body softly bent in one direction while circling the opposite way.
Straight Counter-arcs – Moving forward in a straight line (like down a fence), while tipping the nose and poll toward your boot without drifting, bracing, or losing straightness.
Bonus~ Side Pass
Not one I usually teach directly, because if the first four are solid, sidepassing shows up naturally. That’s the whole point of the fundamentals; teaching your horse how to move each body part independently so they understand how to respond when you put it all together.
Videos to come.
