How do you train forward drive without spurs on a lazy horse?

Hi! To really understand how to use the leg and our influence so it makes sense to the horse, we have to get to grips with how the horse learns our signals.

If we want the horse to respond to a light leg and go forward, we need to be very black and white. In other words, when I add the leg, the horse goes forward every time. Every time it should do more with its legs: a longer stride, a quicker tempo or a higher frequency. Something that changes from what it is already doing the moment the leg goes on. ❗️Every time❗️

That means we need to start with a very small signal ⚠️ Every time ⚠️ we think the horse needs to go forward more. So always begin with the signal you dream of the horse responding to. I tend to use the weight aid, shifting my centre of gravity slightly forward. ⚠️ Give the horse a chance to respond ⚠️ Then the leg comes, and it simply rests against the horse. Remember that a horse can feel a fly landing. They do not respond any better because we give a stronger or harder aid. ⚠️ Give the horse a chance to respond ⚠️

Now we come to the reinforcement. The point of the reinforcement is to use it a handful of times to get the expected response to the small signals. We are not meant to reinforce every time, because then it has gone wrong! I tend to prefer making a sound in the air as reinforcement. Studies show that using the whip on the horse gives a worse result than we expect it to. Trotting horses driven with the whip, for example, tend to run slower rather than faster. (Driving them that way is no longer permitted in harness racing in Sweden.) The next thing is extremely important when we work with influence and release (R-, negative reinforcement, where negative and minus mean "take away" and nothing else): it is removing our signal. That is, the moment the horse responds correctly, and we are talking about a tenth of a second, the aid has to come off.

The problem here is that when the leg becomes driving by going on and coming off, we give small releases without meaning to, and we often add an extra "kick" without meaning to because we cannot stop our leg in time. To the horse this is illogical, and it does not know which behaviour actually earned a release. Many horses solve it by holding against the leg and not going forward.

So the best thing you can do is start from halt and reprogramme your body to give the aids as above. You will need a little patience, but stay consistent. That means doing the same thing every time! First from halt to walk a number of times. Then from halt straight into trot, and perhaps even into canter. Once the horse understands that it should not only go forward but also keep going off your small aid (it is possible, trust me, but it takes practice over time), you can start to be more precise about which tempo or gait you want. You cannot get it perfect straight away!

Good luck!