THE SECRET TO A TRULY WILLING HORSE
By Dana Hokana 

Willingness is important. In order to have that fabulous ride we all want and work toward, our horse has to be willing. When I train, I want their heart; I want them to want to try, and to want to be part of the team. You can get a lot of rides out of an unwilling horse, but eventually it will come back to bite you and the unwillingness will come out. He will either start cheating you in the show pen or show signs of problems in his movement or attitude. He may act like he hates his job.  

Training your horse to be obedient is important. It is critical to a broke horse. But when you carry that a step further and spend the time it takes to build willingness, in addition to obedience, you are creating a team that can last for years and you will have a truly fun horse to show. Too many horses look great in their futurity years and then “burn out.” This doesn’t have to happen. It may take a little longer to develop and maintain that willing attitude but it is great when your fabulous futurity horse is still a beautiful senior horse. I want you to know that there are some horses just like people who have bad attitudes and just don’t want to be part of the team. You have to discern if your horse is suited for his job. If you are asking what he cannot give, you will build unwillingness. I spend a lot of time analyzing or diagnosing

• “Is he capable of doing his job?”
• “Am I giving a clear message?”
• “What is he saying back to me?”

If you feel he can do his job, then ask yourself “Is my horse…”  

• Throwing his head
• Jumping up in the air
• Kicking at my leg
• Biting at the bit or gnashing his teeth     
• Pulling down or away from pressure
• Getting heavy in the face
• Turning his head from side to side or jerking his head away from pressure
• Wringing his tail
• Pushing his hip into my leg
• Stomping his feet at the ground

Other signs of unwillingness can often be misdiagnosed as problems with your horse’s movement. When in fact, they often start as being unwilling to accept your leg or hand cues. This is when the body gets out of balance and movement problems start. If your horse starts out as a good mover and you have ruled out any unsoundness and he is now clutching or climbing in his front end almost like a break in flow or cadence, this is a form of unwillingness. He may be snapping his hocks or using excessive knee. His jog may be flat and sloppy. His head and/or top line may have too much movement or may be rocking. He may be over-bridling and look tight, archy in the neck and look intimidated in the face. He may look angry in his expression or he may open and close his mouth. All of these may be signs of unwillingness, like he doesn’t like his job or is uncomfortable. He may not always like his job, but the goal is for him to like or accept his job the majority of the time.

Here are three steps that will develop that truly willing horse: 

1)      Teach Your Horse to Say “YES” to You.
It is critical that your horse responds and is obedient to you and that you get your desired response, that’s the first step. They have to say yes to you! Let me just talk you through one exercise such as pushing the hip around off your leg and I’ll show you how my principle will apply to his willingness. If you ask your horse to move over off your left leg and push his hindquarters to the right, we will isolate his hindquarters from his shoulders. If needed, ride two-handed, pull his head to the left and cue with your left leg asking his hindquarters to step to the right. Step 1 is to get your horse to say “yes”. Insist that he step over or move over off your leg. If he sticks or refuses, you can pull his head way over to the left and push, kick or mash until he unlocks his hindquarters and steps over. To encourage him to say yes to you, release or reward him after he gives even one step, then reapply the cue and ask for another step. Horses learn by reward. Look for a good response and a good place to reward even if it’s just one or two steps, then get out and reward. I even use my voice sometimes and tell my horse “good boy or girl”. I will also pat my horse. It may sound corny but believe me, horses respond to positive reward and horses love to hear the sound of your voice. Don’t be fooled into thinking horses are like machines. They are animals, powerful beautiful animals, and they respond to sound and touch and you are building a relationship, a good relationship, and it helps to know all about your partner.  

2)      Teach Your Horse to Say “YES” Willingly
In the first step, we taught you how to teach your horse to say “YES”. We got our desired response. Now let’s evaluate his willingness. Let’s say we have our horse moving over. He is stepping over off our leg cue but how is he stepping over?  Is he mad and running over off your leg or is he moving over only as much as you are asking him to? Let’s think and evaluate while we’re riding. Are you in control of his legs? Can you push and get the response you want? Are you driving or riding? I like to think I’m driving, not my horse driving me. I pay attention to his body language. Are his ears back in anger? Is he wringing his tail? Is he sticking and refusing or is he willing? In the first step, we taught our horse to respond, to say “YES”. Now let’s develop willingness. Let’s ask with our leg in a fair, communicative way. Mash or push your leg against your horse. Only kick or spur if you get a refusal, then go back to asking. Don’t ride angry if you need to get tough. Get tough then go back to asking. You may need 5 minutes or 1 hour of repeating your cue and practicing this one maneuver until you develop and build willingness. I realize this takes time but it is worth it in the long run. Each day it will get easier and take less and less time. Practice this until your horse says “YES” to you and says “YES” willingly. 

3)      Teach Your Horse to Say “YES” Willingly with Cadence.
Cadence is a rhythmic flow or sequence, a rhythmic movement. I want to feel fluid motion. I want to ask and not feel surges and uneven steps. I want to feel my horse step, step, step in a rhythm and when I take my cue away, he stops moving and waits for the next direction. You reach this level by pushing through until you feel his acceptance to such a point that you are the driver and you are driving him into and through his maneuver. Part of how this works so well and affects and improves his movement in every way is that when you push his hindquarters around and ask him to step with cadence, he has to be balanced in order to perform this maneuver. So many times we stop at just a give or a yes to a cue but we didn’t get the full benefit of the maneuver or all the horse had to give because we didn’t ask him to do it and carry himself and have balance and flow in the maneuver. If he can push his hip around with flow, he can lope and trot with more flow. His transitions will be smoother and better. He will be happier. Even though I used the example of pushing the hip around, this will apply to anything, to moving the front end, to driving to the face, to backing, to two-tracking. Anytime you connect or communicate with your horse through your hands or legs, if you use this principle, you will improve your horse. When you have this level of willingness, you can truly have his legs and control of his body. Work toward gaining his heart and his willingness.  

When we ride and work on our horse, we are in a relationship with our horse. We have many relationships in our lives and our riding relationship with our horse is very important to many of us. To have that truly great ride we all work and aim toward, we need to be a team with our horse. We want our horse to want to try for us. Developing and improving your relationship with your horse is time well spent. Work on this and watch your horse try for you. It’s a great feeling! May God bless you and have a great ride.