Teach Your Horse To Side Pass

The Side Pass is a Great Horse Training Exercise

Teaching your horse to side pass is an exercise that has many benefits that most of us never think about. Mark Shaffer says “the side pass is the lope” he explains that what ever issues you’re having at the side pass are the same issues you’ll have with your horse at the lope. I don’t know about you but I never thought about the side pass in that way before.

Mark’s clear way of giving instructions helped me to learn how to side pass my horses the “right” way, for the first time. In the past I’ve taught my horses to side pass but I was really never getting their body in this “right” way to achieve real results. After learning from Mark Shaffer how to correctly teach my horse to side pass I was amazed at what a difference doing it “right” made in my horses movement and all his gaits.

I’m offering a Free Video of  a live clinic with Mark Shaffer teaching the side pass on this site and here. Do yourself a favor and check it out. The Side Pass is one of those exercises that every horse needs to know how to do.

I found this article with pictures on teaching your horse to side pass from Clinton Anderson and thought I’d share it with you as well. Regardless of the discipline you ride the Side Pass is something the horse needs to know.

Clinton says ” The lateral movement of side-passing helps to free up your horse’s ribcage, shoulders, and hindquarters. It teaches him to move his feet in a rhythmic, even way, without using his hindquarters for forward impulsion. It helps him learn to keep his shoulders, ribcage, and hindquarters aligned. Teaching your horse to side pass will help you make the most of his natural athletic ability.

In addition, using your legs to direct your horse’s ribcage in a side pass helps you upgrade to “power steering.”It makes your horse more easily maneuverable on the trail, around cattle, in traffic, or when negotiating tight turns–including those needed when going through a gate.”

You can find the whole article from Clinton Anderson here .

Enjoy!

Horse Training at its Best [Video]

This video inspires me to want to work with my horses more. Showing your horse in a performance event should be a reward for your many hours of work with that horse. You can see in this video that Clinton Anderson has spent many hours with this horse. And even though he competes in the reining horse events those of us who compete in the pleasure horse events can learn a lot from him.

My advice; never close your mind to a particular kind of training just because that trainer doesn’t compete in the same events that you do. A good horseman is a good horseman.

I hope you enjoy this video.

You can find this video on You Tube