The Brutal Truth Why You Are Having Trouble With Your Show Horse & How To Change It

A coaching session from 25 Time AQHA Western Pleasure World Champion Trainer, Cleve Wells on asking more from yourself, before you ask more from your horse.

Video transcript...
"A lot of times you have to ask yourself why.

First thing you're like... "My horse keeps picking his head up."

Why is your horse picking his head up?

Well, it can be a lot of reasons. He can be lazy behind, so he doesn't have the impulsion in his hocks to keep his head down, if he gets lazy in his hocks he's going to rock up behind.

He can flatten his back because you can be sitting here like this, like a sack of potatoes, and you can have too much weight on his back instead of distributing your weight through your leg and through your thighs right here, you can be sitting like a lead ball on both cheeks of your butt and all the weight can be right there and he can be like ahhhh....head comes up, so there can be a lot of reasons. You analyze that, that's your problem, mine is my problem. You know I can call a few of the problems, but the bottom line is you've got to fix it.

To fix a problem, you've got to know what the problem is, gotta be honest with yourself.

Usually when I try to fix a problem the first thing I do is go to me, Cleve.

Why is that horse doing that? Are you doing anything YOURSELF, am I doing anything to cause that? Am I sitting heavy? Am I sitting crooked? Am I sitting back? Am I sitting forward? Am I too fast? Too slow? Have I been too hard? Do I want it too fast?

Fix yourself.

"Well, yeah, you know I have been a little quick handed."

Then don't try to fix that horse's neck until you fix yourself.
Do not be harder on the horse, and do not make more demands on the horse than you make on yourself. That is extremely unfair. I would think that is a very selfish thing to do, to expect your horse to be better than you are.

So, you have to fix yourself, then fix horse. Think about it, then make the move, don't go fast and then think, dangit I forgot to slow my hand down.

You know what? If you know your hand is a problem, don't move your hand, give your hand that thought...am I off his back? Am I doing things to the best of my ability?

Yes? Ok. Because you are doing your best, transfer that same ethic to your horse.
Say by God, now you do your best.

That doesn't mean it's World Class, that doesn't mean the Congress, that doesn't mean you are going to win the state 4-H show, that doesn't mean you are going to win anything. That just means you are doing your best for this period and time of your life, so if you are doing your best and you leave no stone unturned. 100% of the time. Then, transfer that to the horse. And most of the time you don't even have to, the horse takes your lead.

You want to be lazy, the horse will be lazy. You want to be the horse's friend, he'll be your friend, but, he will be your lazy friend.

Your horse is not going to inspire you to ride. Your horse is not going to inspire you to win. You are going to do all that to your horse, that is not your horse's job."

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