The three principal entities involved in developing true horsemanship are the coach, the student, and the horse. You must have synergistic integration of all three to achieve success. There can be no missing links. Here is a concise summary of what I think each of them contributes to the whole....
Teaching the horse this exercise will mobilize his shoulders as the back end drives the front end around. The horse also learns to turn by moving away from the outside rein and not having to be pulled around with the inside rein. This exercise is usually called a ‘turn on the hindquarters’ with all four legs stepping throughout the movement....
The history of horsemanship is not a smooth, steady linear progression. It is rather an evolutionary, migratory, exploratory, and experimental state of affairs. And, like anything else, it has its regression periods as well as its progression periods. The regression times are highlighted by people generally having too much to do in a compressed period of time, being prisoners of technology, trying to ‘grab the brass ring’ by living 7/24/365, which the human body is not designed to do, with little time for serious deep reading and reflection....
Part of learning about horses and horsemanship is reading what the Old Masters and current master horsemen have had to say about the challenges inherent in understanding the nature, psychological makeup, and physical attributes of two entirely different species in their quest to meld the horse and human into a complementary harmonious relationship...