Lost in a sea of what lessons to teach your horse next? There are two ways to go. Next month, we’ll give you an outline of all the training steps in teaching “give to the bit,” from the most basic, hips over, to advanced, counter-bending maneuvers. This is the sequence that I use when starting an “unbroke” horse, and it’s also the sequence that I use when retraining a horse.

But this month, we’ll do an exercise that you can use to get a horse under control in a hairy situation, and teaching it will also help your horse become more responsive in ordinary situations. It’s called “Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder.”

Pull the lead rope or rein toward the horse's hip. As soon as the horse begins to take a big step away from you with his hindquarters, release the rein

There are really only five steps in this lesson plan. We’ll give you an overview here, and then tell you how to teach the lesson to your horse.

1. Get the horse moving forward.
2. Pick up the left rein. Hold tension on the rein until the horse takes two big steps to the right with his hindquarters.
3. Release the rein.
4. Pick up the left rein again. Hold tension on the rein until he steps back with his right front foot.
5. Release the rein.

From the Ground First
Teaching this lesson first from the ground is much easier on both you and your horse. Begin by putting a snaffle bit on the horse. We’re going to be working with the left rein initially.

First, you want to give the horse a specific cue to move forward. By using the “go forward” cue, your instructions will be more understandable to the horse. After you get into the lesson, you’ll need a clear way to tell him to step forward — not to the side or sort of circling you. After you’ve stopped him a bunch of times, he’ll think that stopping is a better idea than going.

Anticipate a few minutes of confusion when he’s not quite sure that he’s doing what you want. But the more specific your request, the less confusing the lesson will be.

Use Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder
Teach the lesson from the ground. Work from each side. Teach hips over from the saddle. Sit tall, focus on the shoulder, then teach shoulder, shoulder. Use the exercise any time you need to gain control of the horse.

To teach the “go forward” cue, stand facing the horse’s left shoulder, with your left hand on the rein, just a few inches from the bit. Your left hand guides the horse’s head, but don’t pull the horse forward. Hold a dressage-type whip (about 36 inches) in your right hand. Position the tip of the whip on the top of the horse’s hip. Begin lightly tapping his hip with the whip. The moment he steps forward, stop tapping.

If he moves to either side or backs up, keep tapping until he begins to step forward. Be sure that you stop tapping immediately when he moves forward and that you don’t stop tapping otherwise.

Allow the horse to walk a few steps forward and somewhat around you, almost as if you were lunging him. You can go to the next step — the hips over — without having perfected the “go forward.”

With the horse walking forward and you facing his left shoulder, focus on that left hip again. Pretend that your eyes could tell the horse’s hindquarters what to do. Pull the left rein back toward the horse’s body.

Ideally, the horse will take a big step to his right with his hindquarters. His right hind leg will step to his right. Then his left hind leg will step to his right, possibly crossing in front of the right hind. In order to do that, he’ll have to stop his left front foot and pivot on it.

When you see him swing his rear away from you, release the rein. The horse will most likely stop. Pet him.

This is one of those things that’s easy once you have the knack, but it will take a little doing to get yourself in the right position. When the horse pivots, his head comes to the left as his rump goes to the right. If you are up by the horse’s head, he doesn’t really have a place for his head to go, so the rump doesn’t move, either. The result is that the horse keeps moving forward or in some type of semi-circle.

Instead, allow the horse to go slightly past you so that you’re across from his withers. When you pull the rein, you’re probably not going to pull directly toward his body, but literally someplace between your body and his hindquarters. The direction of the pull isn’t important, but releasing the rein when the horse moves his hindquarters is. We’re telling you the direction of the pull and your position just to make it easier for you to learn. If you’ve ever danced the swing or jitterbug, you’ll recognize the feeling right away as your partner goes past you and pivots.

After the "hips over" move and release of the rein, pick up the rein and pull it toward the horse's body, asking him to back. When he steps back, release the rein. If he stops and you want him to continue backing, pick up the rein and ask again.

Some horses are easier to turn than others. If it’s difficult to get your horse to move his hindquarters, you may need to ask him to walk faster or you may need to pull the rein more matter-of-factly. With some horses, you may have to pull hard toward their hindquarters a time or two to give them the idea. Just be sure to release the moment you feel or see that rump moving away from you. What you don’t want is for the horse to come to a complete stop and then move the hip. It’s a timing thing.

After a few minutes, change to the other side. Realize that it will take a little adjustment on your part, as you’re probably not used to working from the right. Each time, give the horse about a 10-second break before repeating the exercise. The horse usually has a pretty good idea about it after 10 minutes on each side.

Shoulder, Shoulder
By now, the horse should be moving his hip well in response to your rein. You’ve probably noticed that he’s not pulling against the rein as much as previously. And you may have noticed that he occasionally takes a backward step. That’s our goal: to get him softer on the bridle and to back lightly.

Here’s the tricky part: Your rein really isn’t the cue. That’s why the direction of the pull, as we’ll explain, isn’t critical. The rein only tells him that you want something. The particular cue — the signal that tells him what you want  — is you.

After the horse learned the “go forward” cue, you probably found that you no longer needed to tap him with the whip. Your focus on his hip told him you wanted him to move forward. The whip had motivated him — told him that you wanted something. And the focus told him what you wanted. When he moved forward, you released him from the focus and the tapping. Now he knows a release is available and he’ll work for the release.

Trainer's Tip

Not a Quick Fix Quick fixes always break. When your horse is threatening to get out of control, whether he’s going faster than you want or you feel a buck coming, it’s tempting to pull on both reins and try to overpower him. Or some people feel that by using a harsher bit, they’ll be able to manage better. The reality is that, while you can cause your horse enough pain to force him to do something on occasion, there are only two reasons a horse isn’t obeying your signals. The first is that he hasn’t been taught them. The second is that he hasn’t practiced them enough that he can obey them despite distractions. The more you need control, the more important it is to use only one rein. That seems to go against all logic, except to those people who know how ineffective two reins used simultaneously can be. So our job is to educate our horses, teach them the signals we’ll use and practice them enough that we can use them automatically and have the horse respond correctly.

Your focus on the hip also told him that you wanted his hip to move over. The rein motivated him to figure out what you wanted. You released him from the focus and the rein the moment he moved his hindquarters over.

Now your focus on his left shoulder will become the signal that tells him you want that shoulder to move back.

Working from the left again, have the horse walk forward and then move his hip over, as before. Release the rein to say, “Thank you for moving your hip.” One second later, pick up the same left rein and pull it toward his left shoulder or up toward the left side of his withers. (You’ll find what works easiest, depending on your height and the height of your horse. The direction is less important than that you release at the correct time.)

You want the horse to step back with his right front foot and then his left front. Initially, though, he won’t know what you want. So if he even leans back, release the rein to let him know that he’s thinking along the correct lines. Since the shoulder moves before the foot, and since we technically want to release the rein when the shoulder begins the movement, we call this part of the lesson, “shoulder, shoulder.”

Some horses really don’t get it right away, and they try to push forward. Don’t be discouraged. As you keep working with the hips over, you’ll find that the horse gets softer on the bridle. As he does, he’ll naturally bring his chin a little closer to his chest. That sets him up to be able to step back more easily.

Be sure that you’re moving the horse forward energetically and then moving his hips over. When he pauses to pivot, he’ll have a little extra motion to deal with, much like your car does after you stop it. With a little practice in the setup, it will be almost natural for the horse to “float” back two or three steps, like your car rolls forward when you take your foot off the brake. That’s why it’s important to release as soon as you know the horse begins the correct movement. The release allows him to carry through.

It will feel like: Forward — forward — forward —step —over— shoulder, shoulder, shoulder. (A dancer might feel the rhythm as: Step —over, cha, cha, cha.)

From the Saddle
That’s all fine and well from the ground, but let’s face it, we want control from the saddle. You’re going to do exactly the same movement, with the same rein, but sitting in the saddle.

Just as you needed a physical cue to tell the horse to “go forward,” you need a specific, physical cue to tell the horse to speed up. The best cue is to squeeze your horse or lightly bump his sides with both of your legs. The moment he moves forward from a standstill or increases the speed of his walk, stop bumping.

Using your “speed up” cue, ask your horse to walk energetically forward. Pick up the left rein and pull it toward your left hip, mentally focusing on moving the hip to the right. When you feel the horse step under himself with his left hind leg, release the rein. It’s a bigger step than most people realize, and it takes a few times before you can differentiate between when the horse merely turns and when he actually swings his hindquarters over.

What You Can Do With the Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder Exercise

Stop a runaway. Whenever a horse is going faster than you’re riding, we call it a runaway. Control a horse who’s thinking about bucking or bolting. Change directions. Control a horse who’s hard to steer. Get horse who adamantly refuses to back up to back under saddle and without fighting. Turn on the forehand. Move on the diagonal. Begin the sidepass. Begin to ride a perfect circle without the horse’s rump swinging outside the circle. Teach horse to be soft to rein pressure. Set him up so he’ll take the correct lead the first time you ask. Get a green horse to move before he understands leg cues. Control a horse when he shies.

The most ideal situation is to have someone work the horse from the ground for a few minutes before you even get on, so you know you can trust his or her timing. Then with you mounted, ask the horse to walk. Then have the person on the ground use the rein to move the hip. When you think you’ve identified the feeling, do it yourself with your helper saying “yes” or “no” to indicate whether the horse really moved his hips or not. You should release the rein when you feel the movement — right or wrong. Don’t wait for your helper’s confirmation. After about five minutes, switch to working with the right rein.

When you feel confident that you can move the hindquarters with either rein, then you’re ready for the shoulder-shoulder part. This will be exactly as when you were on the ground. Most people have a tendency to try to work too hard with their bodies. This isn’t a body thing. Just sit tall in the saddle and let the horse make the movements.

After the horse swings his hindquarters over, you’re going to release the rein. But you’re going to pick up the left rein again in one second — release — 1,001 — pick up rein.

Hold light but steady tension on the rein, and you’ll feel the horse lean back slightly. At first, he might turn his head to the left. If so, don’t let him turn it very far to the left. Instead, raise the left rein about a third of the way down the horse’s neck. That will sort of force his head to look forward. Try to do that without releasing the rein.

At this stage, the horse may tuck his chin slightly toward his chest as he begins to lean back. Watch that you don’t continue to pull the rein, but you release it instead, to let him know he’s on the right track.

Work with that as you did from the ground. Again, the timing will help considerably. Be matter-of-fact, but not quick or rough. Have the horse march forward, swing his hips, release, then pick up the left rein.

One of the times you try it, you’ll find that the horse takes a step back. Release the rein and let it stay released for 10 seconds to reward the horse and allow him to think about what just happened. After five minutes, switch to the other side.

Now comes the fun. Try this at the trot. Trot forward, pick up one rein and move the horse’s hips. Release. Pick up the same rein and focus on the horse’s right shoulder moving back.

This will feel like power stopping and steering, if — and only if — you make sure to think about what you want the horse to do. Think about the hip moving. Think about the shoulder moving. Your horse will recognize the subtle shifts in your body position. Don’t try to help him by consciously shifting your body or using leg cues. You won’t be able to use them well in a real-world situation.

Why Bother?
Now that you’ve gone through all that effort to train yourself and your horse, we’ll tell you all the benefits of having that lesson under your belt.

You’re on the trail and you feel that your horse is getting a little antsy. He’s raising his head and his steps are getting shorter and quicker. You know that pulling on both reins won’t do much except frustrate him. You’ve asked him to drop his head a few times, which he’s done, but his head is right back up and the energy is building. What to do? Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder.

He’s already moving forward, so use one rein and have him move his hips. Release and immediately ask him to back three steps. Walk forward. Still antsy? No problem. Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder. Release. Walk forward. Still antsy? No problem. HSS. After about three minutes, you’ll feel the horse settle down. The familiarity of the exercise or the fact that you’ve distracted him from his other concerns and given him a job will allow him to relax.

Maybe you’re headed for home and the horse wants to return faster than you do. You’ve already stopped him a time or two, but he’s sure that he’s going to miss dinner back at the ranch.

Instead of circling him, getting into a fight or jerking on the reins, do Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder. Ride a few steps toward the barn, move the hip. Release the rein. Immediately pick up the rein to ask the horse to back. Release the rein. Ask him to walk. The moment he gets a little quicker than you’d like, HSS. Release the rein, and allow him to walk. When he gets quick again, HSS. You’ll have controlled your horse, but you’ll also be training him that hurrying toward home without permission earns him extra work.

Let’s say that you’ve had a great ride and your horse is ambling toward home on a dirt road, just enjoying the scenery or friendship with other horses and riders. All of a sudden, a deer bounds out of the bushes, startling everyone. There’s a split second after the shy in which the horse decides if he should bolt or not. If you’ve trained yourself and your horse so that HSS is second nature, you’ll find yourself reaching for that one rein and providing him with an alternative to bolting. You may find it saves your life, and your horse’s confidence and control in that situation helps settle the other horses, too.

Perhaps you’re riding the young horse you raised. You’ve been training and are really pleased with the horse’s progress, but you’re ready to go a little faster or ride in a less-confined space. You feel ready, but also nervous that maybe things could get going a little faster than you’d planned. Teach Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder. That way you know you have a way to gain control or to tell your horse to downshift when it’s necessary.

Hip or Shoulder Only
Here’s the beauty of this lesson. You don’t have to always do the whole dance. There may be times, such as when startled by that deer, that moving the hip is enough. Moving the hip can be like a “hold on a minute” signal, a little exit on the freeway, so to speak.

And, after you’ve taught this lesson well, you’ll be amazed to discover that you can ask your horse to back (and straight!) by picking up the left rein and focusing on him stepping backward with his right front foot. You won’t have to move the hip as a setup. That will take practice. Imagine, though, how great it would be to have a signal like that if you were on a narrow trail.

If your horse is old or has hock or stifle problems, then don’t drill him at this exercise. Chip away at it, instead. Do a few moves, then go on to something less stressful for his hind legs, then do Hip, Shoulder, Shoulder a few times. You can teach this all as one lesson or work at it a few minutes at a time.

Once your horse knows the exercise, do a few HSS moves occasionally when you’re leading him back from the pasture or when you first set out on the trail. A little tune-up now and then goes a long way toward improving your control and helping you both focus. In time, you’ll swear that he can read your mind, and you’ll be dancing instead of playing tug of war.