How to teach your horse to piaffe in hand

Okay, so I'm going to show you today with Harvey a little bit how we're working on the half steps and I've worked with him, you know, maybe once or twice a week for a few months now so again, I have a carbon fiber rod which I like especially with a sensitive horse because it doesn't bite as much as a whip that has like a Into it because it has a little bit of a softer duller tone to it so I always start with the leg lifting and With the leg lifting I start I stroke them starting on the hip Slide the the stick down to the hock area or sometimes lower onto the cannon bone area Give him a little tap and what I want is that that he lifts lifts his leg brings it forward under his body and Holds it and I want him to hold it up until I Take the stick away a boy And this you know when you're teaching the half steps this leg lifting stuff is like really tedious But it's really important. So slide down Touch him on the hock. He lifts that leg. I release Slide down touch him on the hock Lift come on a little higher. So I want him higher I'm touching tap tap tap tap tap and then release and then same thing with the right hind And you can see like he knows That I want I'm gonna want the opposite leg. So he starts shifting too fast So with him, I want him to really wait for me. So right hind leg good release wait now left hind leg Release now right hind leg boy, and the reason that Like the reason it's so important that they lift and hold that leg Instead of just like like sometimes I'll lift it up and then put it back down and then slam it down is that in the end You know, you don't want to pee off this like this You want to pee off that's you know, like this where they're really jumping and holding the weight on one leg at a time So that's why when you're doing this leg lifting you want to be able to touch they hold that leg up and then release and it's also Important for when you're riding them that when you tap them with a whip and you're riding them that they think to lift and hold their leg rather than to Slam their leg back down into the dirt. So Left hind leg and get him a little straighter here. Oh Boy so left Right, and then you can also add a little clock. So when he's lifting Clock But until your horse is lifting their hind legs that well You really aren't ready to start with the P off, you know, you want to spend a few weeks of just getting the leg lifting so then when I'm ready for the half steps, I have my reins over his neck and Again, I take a little contact. I get a little behind his shoulder because I want him stepping forward So I ask him to walk forward here Good and to start with if he just gives me a few steps Good Just like when he finds that rhythm of a little trot step and when he kicks out I Just ignore it. Oh Good Boy So and then I try to do this on both sides, so I'll turn around and go to the right although I'm definitely not as coordinated this way and He gets a little more worried on this side. So again, I'm just gonna halt here for a minute. Oh And just reassure him You don't want your horse to be Doing any of this out of fear you want them to stay relaxed when they're doing it boy So then I'm gonna ask him to walk forward So first I'm just gonna get a nice collected walk No Walking good Good Those last few steps are really good. So I'm kind of with him Working on doing collected walk like collected walk a couple half steps collected walk a couple half steps Since he's young. I'm not expecting and he's still learning I'm not expecting like 15 P off steps like you need in the Grand Prix But if he tries if he gives me a couple P off steps, then I let him out of it Good And you can see now he's getting a little more bounce Good And it's really important the reward You know horses learn by the reward So if there's if you put the pressure on you have to release it You have to release it at the right time. You have to release it when they do the right thing So if he gets a few nice steps, I'm gonna release it and really kind of pet on him Especially with him he gets he gets nervous. He's kind of an overachiever So he needs lots of reassurance that he's done the right thing Good Oh And like those first few steps were a little uncoordinated so I just waited until he got a couple rhythmic trot steps and Then rewarded him again walking forward If he kicks out, I don't mind because he's just a sensitive horse Now I'm saying come a little more forward Come Good so at first too, I'd I'd rather have the The half steps traveling forward and then once they're good. I can put them a little more on the spot Same thing when you're when you're training them under saddle So I'll go back to the right again, and he definitely he's different to work in hand on the right and the left on the right He doesn't travel as much forward and he seems a little More nervous with me on this side And I'm also not as coordinated So I'm gonna just start saying come on. Can we just walk? collected walk Not too fast. They're easy Good and walking straight Come Come good Oh Good And you saw how there When I challenged him for more he got a little bit upset for a moment He kind of kicked out, but then he gave me some really nice work So that's kind of like in training. Sometimes you have your comfort zone and then you have your stretch zone So sometimes you have to push them a little in that stretch zone and ask for more and Then go back to your comfort zone But if you never get out of your comfort zone if you never get out of where they're comfortable, they're never gonna Do more so it's just important that you don't live in the stretch zone You know you want because you want your horses comfortable. You want your horses relaxed So you don't want to be pressuring them super hard all the time But sometimes you've got to go there a little so they try harder for you So this is kind of you know, what I when I work him in hand what I do with him I don't pressure him a lot. But just that he a little bit gets the idea of the half steps Because in the Grand Prix, you know, the Piaf Passage is 33% of your score so you don't want to wait until you're doing the pre st. George before you start working on the Piaf You're a good boy You