The Goal of Softness

Softness starts with your horse’s mouth and chin, through his neck, rib cage, and hindquarters—his whole body. Some riders confuse softness with achieving a “headset,” where the horse holds its head in the desired position.

“It’s beyond headset—it’s more a willing behavior to do the task you’re asking for,” says Baldus. “Some horses naturally have a neck that comes out a little bit lower, [and] they’re comfortable being lower-headed due to their style or their pedigree. Other horses with a different pedigree or style might carry their head a little bit higher and have a higher-headed look. That doesn’t mean that the horse is stiffer, it just means that he has conformation that puts his head higher.”

A horse with higher-headed conformation can still be soft with his head and neck, according to Baldus. This type of horse can still be flexed at the poll, willingly guided and soft—just with his head coming out of his neck a bit higher.

If a horse is high-headed and tense, he might be anxious or protecting himself from reins that are pulled on too firmly.

“When a horse has his head way up and his neck tight, his shoulders are heavy and he’s hitting the ground hard while he moves,” says Baldus. “His whole body is stiff, rigid and tight.”

In contrast, a soft horse has a lightness of step and movement regardless of gait or maneuver.

“He’s going to have a soft and light step, and that’s going to help the horse move better,” he says. “And that’s true whether working a cow, on the trail, just riding down the road, or riding for pleasure around your ranch. A horse that is lighter and moves with more fluidity is going to be smoother and softer to ride.”

Preparation

The bit you choose to use while working on softness with your horse is important. Baldus says that when he’s first starting to train a horse—usually in the first 30 days of riding—he’ll use a loping hackamore to work on lateral softness. He will next put the horse in some variation of a snaffle bit.

“As I transition to a snaffle, some horses are very light and soft and go in a smooth O-ring,” he says. “Others need a bit more, maybe a little twist to the mouthpiece, or even a short shank bridle to help him understand how to soften to the bridle.”

No matter what bit you use, your hands are the most important piece of the puzzle.

Move Slow and Soft

Baldus says the way you ask your horse to move is key.

“Every day when I get on, every ride, I remind myself to slow my hands down and ask [for a response] as slow and soft as possible,” he says.

This starts with asking the horse to tip his nose to the right, for example. You’ll do this every time you ride after your horse has warmed up.

“I ask myself how slowly and how smoothly I can pick this rein up and ask this horse to tip his nose to the right,” says Baldus. “If I ask slowly and methodically, in a sequence of half a pound of pressure, 1 pound of pressure, 2 pounds, 3 pounds, and so on over a 10-second time period, that horse has a chance to respond to a soft, light pressure before I increase to more pressure. By building the habit of keeping your hand slow, the horse will start to respond to 1 or 2 pounds.”

Build this habit into everything you do with your hands and legs while riding—whether you have on a loping hackamore or a spade bit on a finished bridle horse. Focus on keeping your hands as slow and consistent as possible.

The Release of Pressure

You’ll also want to focus on the release of pressure.

“Your horse is going to learn the most from the release of pressure,” says Baldus. “The moment he starts to soften in the direction I want with his head, neck or shoulders, I start to release the pressure.”

Look for a place to reward your horse, even just for trying, then pick up and ask again. He will probably get softer faster, according to Baldus.

The Sequence of Achieving Softness

Working from the front to the back of the horse, Baldus asks for softness.

“I start with his nose, and I’m just bending his nose laterally, let’s say with my left hand,” he says. “I’m tipping my left hand toward my left pocket and asking the horse to give his nose to the left.”

Baldus notes that he’s not clucking or using his legs for this step—he’s asking the horse to stand still and stay relaxed, flexing his nose toward the rein cue.

“Once he stands still and gives his nose to the left, then I release that pressure,” he says. “Then I will pick up the rein and ask again in another 10 seconds.”

Your horse is not going to respond perfectly right away—you’re looking for small steps, building habits that will stay with the horse. Baldus says it may take a horse two weeks to understand if he’s never done it before.

Vertical Flexion

The drills Baldus uses most often are asking for lateral bend and flexion, asking the horse to soften to the left and right, and then adding forward motion as he asks for a slight vertical flexion. At this point, he’s using his legs as an additional cue.

“When I’ve got the horse going at a walk, I just tip his nose to the left and to the right as we’re progressing into vertical flexion,” he says. “I’m asking the nose to move toward his chest and soften at the poll; I’m using my legs to squeeze and tell him to keep going forward. That’s the difference between your reins being a ‘whoa and stop’ cue and your reins being a ‘soften and flex at the poll’ cue.”

The moment you feel flexion or softening in the horse’s poll, release your reins—Baldus says this is a “micro release” of half an inch as a reward. Your horse may push his nose back out, and that’s OK.

“You’re just going to pick him up again and say, ‘Hey, let’s not root our nose out; when I pick my hands up, flex at the poll and soften your chin toward your chest,’” Baldus explains. “When [the horse complies], I start to release my hands again. I’m teaching him to look for the release of pressure, and he’ll find it by flexing at the poll and lowering his neck a little bit.”

Baldus works on these moves at a walk, and once the horse is solid, he’ll move to a trot, and eventually a lope and gallop on a finished horse.

Body Softness

Baldus teaches the horse to shoulder-yield next while walking in a circle. Traveling to the left, he’ll close his left leg from his calf to his heel right behind the front cinch to teach the horse to move away from pressure.

“His head and neck stay the same, and his body stays on the same arc of the 10-foot-circle, but now I’m teaching him to cross his left front leg over his right front leg as he makes the shoulder move,” says Baldus. “This helps when a horse drops his shoulder to the inside. The more control you’re going to have over the circle, the more you can control your horse’s feet and softness, and the better his patterns are going to be.”

Baldus will also ask the horse to step his hindquarters to the outside of a circle, almost like a forehand pivot, where the hind end is moving around the front end.

Once the front end and back end can be moved in response to your cues, you’ll move on to the sidepass, where you ask the horse to move his front and hind end laterally at the same time.

“Think about that softness in your horse’s head, neck and shoulders, all the way through his body to his hindquarters,” Baldus explains.

These skills translate to maneuvers such as opening and closing a gate, or sidepassing to pick up a slicker off of a fence in a trail class.

“The sidepass is another way to gain body control and softness through your horse’s body with a single maneuver to focus on,” says Baldus.

Key Takeaway

Remember, if your horse is stiff and heavy on his feet, he did not get there overnight. It may take six months for a horse to become softer and lighter, and that’s OK.

“You’re always going to ask as softly as possible and release the pressure the first chance you get,” says Baldus. “Those habits are going to build, and your horse is going to learn to carry himself in a way that’s flexed at the poll and willing and soft through his body. Then you’re going to be more comfortable on a trail ride. You’re going to have more fun, whether it’s in the show pen, working a cow, or on the barrels, because your horse is a softer, more willing partner.”

Meet the Trainer Ben Baldus has been training and showing horses since he was 12 years old. He trains horses for reining, reined cow horse, and ranch versatility, and has earned championship titles at major events with the National Reining Horse Association, National Reined Cow Horse Association, Ranch Horse Association of America, and American Quarter Horse Association. He and his wife, Cameron, operate Baldus Horsemanship in Gainesville, Texas.

Further Reading
◆ Brush Up on Your Riding Aids
◆ Achieve the Correct Timing of Riding Aids
◆ Common Horse Training Mistakes

This article about training your horse for softness appeared in the June 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Improve Your Horse’s Softness appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

But in 2024, Maynard was in for a surprise.

“It was the most stressful thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Maynard says.

As a first-time competitor, he competed in—and won—2024 Road to the Horse, the World Championship of Colt Starting. His partner was an American Quarter Horse gelding named TomCatt.

“There were moments when I didn’t know if I would get through it. I learned a lot about myself and what I can handle,” Maynard says.

Although feeling the crushing weight of stress, Maynard realized it would be detrimental to pass it on to TomCatt.

“I had things I wanted to accomplish and goals, but I didn’t let my horse feel that. I had to be very present in the moment and process-oriented so that I could always go at the speed he needed to go,” Maynard says. “It made me think about the importance of the process and not getting caught up in the goals. You can have goals, but you have to leave them behind once you are working with the horse.”

And Maynard is ready to do it all over again—with a new colt and up against new competitors at the 2025 Road to the Horse, which will take place March 27-30, 2025 in Lexington, Ky.

Growing Up With Horses

Maynard’s love of horses started early and was nurtured by his father, Rick, a Grand Prix show jumper, and his mother, Jennifer, a Grand Prix dressage rider and judge.

“My parents both rode,” Maynard says. “It was instilled in us at a young age what a privilege it was to have horses in our lives. When I was young, what I loved most was the sport—mounted games, show jumping, and eventing. But I never thought I would do it as a career. The turning point was in my mid-twenties. I discovered the world of horsemanship and horse psychology. That was when I started to think of it as a mental thing and not just physical.”

Maynard still enjoyed the excitement of jumping, but realized that delving into the psychology of horses could “become something I could do for the rest of my life. It’s like a puzzle you’re trying to work on and get better.”

Maynard spent years as a working student, learning from Olympians, prominent equestrians, and trainers. He observed what is needed to transform a good trainer into a great trainer, particularly the ability to be an effective, compassionate communicator.

“I think you have to be a good person to be a good trainer,” Maynard says. “Some people are good with horses, but you see them with people, and they are rude. It matters how you interact with people. If a person lacks emotional balance and maturity, I don’t think they have that inner thing that will eventually make them a great horse person or trainer.”

Understanding Horses

Everyone has a different take on what natural horsemanship is.

“Depending on who I’m talking to, I might say natural horsemanship, or horse psychology, or groundwork. It’s how you interact with the horse. For me, that involves trying to work with the horse in a way that is natural for the horse, how they learn and play… Trying to bring out behaviors that a horse does naturally in the wild,” Maynard says.

When it comes to groundwork, Maynard explains, “I do groundwork with every horse I work with, and most of what I do with horses is working on myself. But everyone has a different relationship with their horse. Some want to be a mentor and teacher, a passive leader or a dominant leader; others look for a codependent relationship with their horse. While I think a few of those ways might be unhealthy, I think a lot of those could be good. Depending on which of those things you are looking for, groundwork may not be essential in every situation, but it can help you learn more about yourself and your goals. We all need a little less guilt, a little less judgment, and a little more gratitude.”

Maynard is often asked to help a “spooky” horse.

“Spooky and anxious are quite different things when you think about the horse,” Maynard says. “Spooky can be sharp, in the moment, and then it ends. Rather than acute, an anxious horse is more of a chronic thing. A chronically anxious horse can turn into a physical thing. Horses have evolved to deal quite well with a spook or mild spurt of adversity but do not do well with chronic stress, so I look at the whole horse.

“I think the number one thing that causes a horse stress is confusion. In training, when you have a flag or a stick, it’s not usually one of those items in isolation that causes the horse stress; it’s the not understanding what those things mean. Communicate with your horse. When your horse does something, like get on a trailer or do liberty, see that the horse has the look of understanding in their eye and not that they are just moving around out of stress. There are various ways to get there. Encourage curiosity—curiosity is a great bridge to confidence. Every horse is curious about things. Allow, encourage, and direct that curiosity, and the horse will get less and less spooky. If your horse is scared of the dark corner of the indoor arena, put some cookies on a barrel over there, and every once in a while, give your horse a break and go over and give him a cookie off the barrel. Over time, he will be more curious, relaxed, and associate good things with what he previously spooked at.”

How Tik and Sinead Maynard Work as a Team

Since 2008, Maynard has focused on training horses full-time. In 2016, he and his wife, Sinead—a highly respected eventing rider—merged their equine businesses into Copperline Equestrian in Citra, Fla., and together they are raising their two young children.

Maynard explains what he appreciates most about working with his wife as a partner in a multi-faceted horse business.

“When it comes to the emotional, financial, and time output, if you don’t have a spouse that gets it, that can be stressful to a marriage,” Maynard says. “You need someone who understands that you might have to call off a vacation because you have to go to a horse show. We are both really supportive of each other’s careers. At the end of the day, you can talk about the stuff you’re going through with a horse, bounce ideas off of each other. Sometimes we ride or do demos with each other’s horses; my weaknesses might be my wife’s strengths or vice versa, so it works well for us.

And when I’m at home with my wife and 2-year-old and 6-year-old, I see the need to be fully immersed in the present. If I’m distracted by my phone, then I’m not paying attention to them; I need to be present.”

Learn from Tik Maynard

A gifted communicator, Maynard loves sharing his deep understanding of horses. He is an online instructor for The Horseman’s University and a NOËLLE FLOYD Equestrian Masterclass Instructor. He is the author of the bestselling memoir In the Middle Are the Horseman (published by Trafalgar Square Books) and the highly-anticipated follow-up Starting in the Middle (coming March 2025).

This article about Tik Maynard is a web exclusive for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Anxiety After Injury

Lyndsey Wanits had ridden since childhood. At 19, she sustained an injury due to misguidance from a trainer and took five years off from riding. While she missed it, she was not 100 percent sure she wanted to get back in the saddle. She knew that if she mounted up again, she would need help.

“I eventually wanted to join a show team and also show in the alumni division of a college circuit,” she says. “I posted in a Facebook group asking for a professional experienced in working with riders with anxiety and timid tendencies. The coach I found got me up to speed and in those doors with the greatest support and mentorship.”

Wanits also found an equestrian fitness coach who was instrumental in helping her regain strength and confidence. At the end of the 2022 show season, she finished fourth in the region in the western alumni division and was named Champion Jr. Horse and Reserve Walk Trot Jog Champion in her local show circuit.

A Long Hiatus

Tammy Thomas rode as a child without formal lessons, but had to put her passion for riding on hold for 40 years. In retirement, she bought her first horse and knew she needed a riding coach to help her chase her dreams.

“Because I started when I was older, I knew I didn’t have as much time left in the saddle, so I needed someone who could teach me to ride my horse while working toward my goals,” says Thomas. “We spend a lot of time setting goals, and she tells me what might not be realistic at this point, or where she wants me to step up.”

With her coach’s guidance, she finished her first-ever show season as the Green Novice Rider Reserve Champion of her show circuit. Her next show season, she won the Intermediate Reserve Champion, and by her third show season, she was winning the Limited Non Pro Championship title.

Trainer vs. Coach

It’s important to tease out the differences between a coach and a trainer. A trainer is a skilled horse person who teaches technical skills and maneuverers to you and/or your horse. A coach may also be a trainer, but goes beyond the technical aspects and focuses on your goals and mental skills to achieve your desired outcomes.

“The coach’s job is to blend everything together and to help riders understand what they want to accomplish and why,” says Shannon Pigott. She is a western performance horse trainer and an executive coach based in Fredericksburg, Texas, who formerly worked in corporate America. “My No. 1 goal is to help clients understand what they want to accomplish and why, not just the ‘how to do it.’”

Leslie Holleman rode hunter/jumpers through young adulthood. After a 25-year break, she jumped back into riding in a new discipline—American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) ranch riding and ranch trail. But ranch versatility caught her eye. She knew she needed lessons to learn how to perform the maneuvers properly. But she also wanted more: a coach who focused as much on the mental skills as the technical skills.

“A coach may also be a skilled rider and trainer, but they are highly skilled at helping you communicate your goals, translating that into a forward trajectory to level up, and working on the mental management of stress and confidence that comes with showing,” says Holleman.

Finding a Coach

Every coach brings a unique perspective and approach to their program. That diversity in skillsets means there is a person perfectly suited to your goals, values, and learning styles, and these three tips can help you find the right coach for your needs.

1. Focus on fit: The instant Holleman read her coach’s bio on the Downunder Horsemanship brand ambassador forum, she knew she had found the right person.

“Her bio said, ‘I’m a people coach, and I focus on novice riders and versatility ranch horse,’” says Holleman. “I was like that’s great—that’s me!”

Working with a riding coach is a commitment, with many coaches requiring a minimum of six months to a year in their program. So, knowing a bit about the individual before making the investment is critical.

“Choose someone whose values align with yours and who will allow you to explore what is important to you and help you develop a plan to achieve your goals,” Pigott said. “I recommend interviewing people and taking a few lessons with different people until you find the right fit.”

2. Know your learning style: People learn and feel motivation differently. Thomas, a retired educator, knew her coach frequently uses a classroom style setting, and she appreciates that approach.

“If you learn best by having someone show you what to do and then having you go out and do it, you need a coach who teaches that way,” she says. “If you’re an auditory and lecture-type learner, choose that type of coach.”

The Wrong Fit

Working with a riding coach is a lot like being in a relationship, and not all work out as hoped. It’s important to recognize when it’s time to break up.

“If you find yourself in a spot where the activities aren’t fun anymore, riding is a chore, you aren’t achieving the results you are looking for, or you feel like you have no support, start looking for someone different,” says Wanits. “Everyone deserves to have fun. Don’t lose your spark because you and your coach don’t jive.”

This article about hiring a riding coach appeared in the June 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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I’m a fan of the saying, “Your horse is doing his best with the information you provided.” It directs us to look at the signals we’re sending through our riding aids and to see whether we are being clear.

Often when we mean to ask for something from our horse and receive either no response or a “wrong” response, we assume our horse is being disobedient. Instead, we should investigate whether our aids could be more precise.

Leg Riding Aids

Because your leg is the foundation of your position and therefore where many of your key riding aids come from, we’ll start there. There are three uses for the leg: supporting, bracing and displacing.

The supporting leg is the one used most of the time, with your heel directly under your hip and your toe directly under your knee. It’s called the supporting leg because it’s supporting whatever is happening in the moment through pressure or lack thereof.

Pressure from both legs is a riding aid that tells your horse to go faster or maintain pace, depending on the amount of pressure. Pressure from one leg tells your horse to move away with his whole body, and lack of pressure allows your horse to slow down or stop.

A bracing leg is kicked out in front of the girth nearly onto the shoulder, and it prevents you from being pulled forward by your horse while executing a downward transition. There is no pressure against the horse’s side with a bracing leg.

A displacing leg comes about a hand-width or two behind the girth to activate your horse’s hind end. It’s most often used to pick up the canter, and should be used anytime engagement of the haunches is the goal.

Seat Riding Aids

Working our way up, we arrive at the seat. Your seat technically goes from mid-thigh to the bottom of your ribcage. Core strength is key to the use of your seat, as it helps to determine your pelvic placement.

A neutral pelvic angle gives you a few options based on the amount of pressure you place downward into your stirrups at any given moment. Less pressure in the stirrups allows for a full seat, and more pressure allows for a light seat.

Being in a full seat helps you rebalance or collect your horse, while being in a light seat allows your horse to move forward and cover the ground. A neutral pelvis is also used to help form the two-point position, which takes weight off the horse’s back while galloping or jumping.

A posterior pelvic tilt gives you a driving seat, which is used to urge the horse forward, particularly in spooky situations.

Hand Riding Aids

The last piece of the puzzle is your hands. They can communicate with your horse one of the five ways: open, direct, indirect, neck and pulley.

An opening rein is best for a green horse or rider, and opens out to the side with little to no backward pressure, encouraging the horse to follow the pressure to turn.

The direct rein pulls straight back toward your hip on the same side, and is used by intermediate and advanced riders for steering and all riders for slowing, stopping, or backing.

The indirect rein pulls back across the wither to your opposite hip. It helps lift the horse’s inside shoulder and rebalance him, especially when he is falling in.

The neck rein is most common in western riding, but it can be useful when paired with an opening rein, as it allows for excellent control of the horse’s shoulders while turning.

A pulley rein is used for emergencies. You pull up and back with one hand while the other is firmly planted in the withers in order to stop an out-of-control horse.

In this video from Ridely, Olympian and Chairman of Dressage4Kids Lendon Gray demonstrates the common errors some riders make when using the rein aids. She shares her tips for how to prevent these from happening and how to keep your hands still. Register for Ridely PRO to access 450+ other useful training videos.

Communicating with Your Horse

Now that you know all of the natural aids and their uses, you need to know how they pair or group together to allow clear communication with your equine partner. The leg, seat, and hand must all be sending the same message, or your horse will be confused.

For example, stopping aids include a bracing leg, neutral pelvis, and two direct reins. However, if your leg slips back toward the girth, your horse is being told to stop with your hands and to go with your leg.

Horses can only understand the aids that they’ve been trained to understand, no matter your intention. For this reason, we owe it to our horses to study up on the aids and apply them correctly in order to reduce confusion and improve the horse-human relationship.

This article about riding aids appeared in the July 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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Just because many horses move off when their riders try to mount, it doesn’t mean that the issue isn’t a serious one. It can range from inconvenient to downright dangerous if your horse takes off when you’re halfway on. For safety’s sake, instead of just getting by and trying to keep the problem from getting worse, dedicate a little time to teach your horse to stand still while mounting. Here’s how.

Before Teaching to Stand Still While Mounting

It’s tricky to teach a horse to stand for mounting if he has so much energy that he won’t stand still, period. To make the following exercises easier, it’s a good idea to longe your horse or work him in a round pen before starting the lesson to get rid of any excess energy that makes the lessons harder.

Your goal shouldn’t be to hold your horse still; he must learn to stand still on his own without relying on you to hold him there. The more you try to hold your horse still, the more most horses will want to start moving. If nothing else, you’ll accidentally teach your horse that when you’re not holding him, that’s his cue to start moving.

Test and Back

To begin the lesson, have your horse tacked up and stand beside him on his left side, assuming you usually mount from the left side. (Note: If you normally use a mounting block, don’t use it in the beginning, as this will make this stage easier, plus you’re not actually mounting at this point.)

Hold both reins in your left hand. Have the left rein run directly to your hand, and have the right rein run behind the horn or the pommel of your saddle and then to your hand. Using your right hand, start creating a stimulus to trick your horse into thinking that you’re in the process of mounting up.

You can pull the horn, swing the fender, put pressure on the stirrup, et cetera. Start small and gradually increase what you’re doing until your horse takes the bait and walks off. When he does, immediately take hold of the right rein with your right hand. Now holding a rein in each hand, put pressure on the reins and ask your horse to back up. Don’t go too fast or put too much pressure on the reins, but use enough that he realizes he wasn’t supposed to move forward.

Now let your horse stand, then repeat the process. Keep creating a stimulus and backing him up every time he tries to move forward.

Once your horse won’t move, stay in the same position and try jumping up and down a little bit. Some horses move off because they see the rider start to raise up in the stirrup, so this is another way to see if he’s really going to stand still while mounting. If the horse moves off, just back him up again. Keep this up until your horse won’t move a single step forward.

The next part depends a bit on you. If you can put your foot in the stirrup and you can stand up in the left stirrup and stay standing in the stirrup, do that holding the reins in your left hand while putting your other hand on the saddle or horse to balance yourself.

If your horse wants to move a little bit, back him up one step using your reins. If he wants to really move, step off quickly and back him up from the ground.

When you find standing in one stirrup awkward, then skip this step. Instead, do more preparation work on the ground first before trying to mount up.

After Mounting Your Horse

Once you feel good about getting in the saddle, go ahead and do so. If your horse is standing still, immediately start petting and rubbing him. This is for two reasons: One is to obviously reward him for standing still. The other is that the rubbing and petting will give your horse something to think about and will often keep his focus so that he won’t be thinking as much about walking off.

If he does move forward, immediately back him up and then begin rubbing again. Once he has been still for 15 seconds or so, ask him to move forward. It’s very important that you ask him to move instead of letting him move when he chooses to. You need him to wait on your cue to move forward—I can’t emphasize enough how important that is.

Toward the end of your normal ride, dismount and repeat the mounting lessons. When your horse is fresh, standing still doesn’t seem like a good idea to your horse. It’s easier to get the standing still training done later on when your horse doesn’t have as much energy and really doesn’t want to move as much.

Repeat these lessons over several rides and gradually lengthen the time that your horse stands after mounting before asking him to move forward. Even when he knows how to stand still, it’s important to begin rides by mounting and waiting for 30 seconds to a minute before moving. Once that becomes a habit, you will have a horse that stands like a statue while you get on, and he won’t move off until you ask.

This article about how to teach your horse to stand still while mounting appeared in the May 2022 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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