Tracking is the art of keeping your horse moving forward in a straight line. As you lead your horse forward, you must be able to maintain your horse’s body – poll, withers, tail – in a straight line. The horse shouldn’t curl his nose in toward you, track with his body sideways or bow his neck.
Part One of Tracking Your Horse Straight reviewed the basics of how to track your horse for showmanship and halter classes. Part 2 will cover techniques to rate your horse’s speed and how to improve your circles and squares.
Teaching Rate
One thing I want all my horses to do is learn to rate themselves off my body. Again, I start with the chain over the nose at a walk, especially with a younger horse. I keep my hand steady in the showmanship position and walk a good-sized, large circle to the right (clockwise).
I want my horse’s head at my side and not in front of my body at all. If the horse bumps and bounces, I simply keep my hand in the correct position and continue to walk that large circle. That way, the horse actually teaches himself where to keep his head and body to get the chain to soften and release. It allows the shoulder and body to get into line.
Click Here to read the rest of the article by Gretchen Mathes for The American Quarter Horse Journal
