It trains some horses to frantically circle when they get confused. More than that and the circle-back, intended as a way of correcting an evasion, becomes a way for the horse to evade the war of cues, now bigger than the original task ever was. One calm circle-back might do the trick, but just one. It’s a lousy tactic unless it’s your goal to fry your horse’s brain. It’s somehow become common knowledge in riding. “If the inside of a person is bothered, it’s for sure that the outside of a horse is going to show it.” -Tom Dorranceįirst, you didn’t create the circling back idea and you don’t get all the blame. The worst part: You might not have noticed that you cued this pig-fight but you are the one having a runaway. It’s the overlapping use of flailing cues that become a rant that accelerates and obliterates your connection with your horse, as if the goal or obstacle is a matter of life or death. It’s your nagging request that gets louder and bigger and faster and never stops. What makes it a death spiral isn’t the circle or his refusal. And did I mention you are pulling on the reins during your kicking fit? You’re just trying to get him straight, but he has so much tension and resistance from your conflicting cues that now that he can’t take a step. Now your brain is running like a rat on a wheel, it’s personal, so you circle him one more time pulling your inside rein to the exact degree that he is pulling to the outside, with your seat planted and both legs kicking up a frenzy, along with a tap of the whip. It’s asking a little louder and a little faster the second time, hoping that you can push him through, but he braces his ribs in response to your sharp heel, planted and pressing, not all that far from his kidneys. But then you give the outside rein (or lead rope) a hard pull for good measure. He avoided it, so you circle, pushing him right back. It could be as simple as trying to move your horse a letter on an arena rail. Or repeat an attempted transition to another gait. It’s asking a horse to do something he just avoided, by circling around and asking again.
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