Side Passing the “T”: Look, no hands!

Side passing is an advanced lateral move that should be prefaced with extensive leading training, first on the flat ground. Your equine will be ready to move to obstacles when you can throw the lead rope over his neck and he will obediently follow at your shoulder.

[toggle_framed title=”Continue Reading” variation=”blue”]

You know he is ready to move on to lunging when he will freely follow at your shoulder obediently through all the obstacles both straight forward such as tires, and through lateral obstacles such as the tractor tire.

The next stage is to first teach him the basics of lunging to build bulk muscle…

…and then begin straight forward and lateral exercises on the drive lines both in the round pen and then in the open arena to enhance core muscle strength, balance and coordination. He has learned body awareness (proprioception), knows where his feet are and is able to be completely responsible for his own balance without leaning on you. The end result of all this attention to detail is the ability for your equine to execute all movements in good equine posture that makes it much easier for him to comply with your wishes.

Now that your equine has built up his core muscle strength and is more balanced and coordinated, he is ready to learn to Side Pass the “T” on hand signals alone. Your equine originally learned to side pass a single rail and the “T” on the lead rope and then on the drive lines. Now begin to Side Pass the “T” with just the halter.

When your equine is easily Side Passing the “T,” you can remove the halter, use a dressage whip as an extension of your hand and ask him to do the same movements with only slight indications from your whip along his side.

[/toggle_framed]