Lately, I’ve really been working on getting to the front of my saddle leaving the box so my horse can feel the really big move I make after I throw—setting him up to stop harder and shut the run off faster. 

Identifying the Problem

I figured out I was running to the calves sitting down, then standing up to throw, because my horses would start to peg off instead of running through my throw and hitting the stop. It was still working for me, but I wasn’t getting the results I was wanting in the horses. My horses just weren’t stopping as hard because they didn’t know I threw. I was never at the front of the saddle to begin with so they never felt me cue them to stop.

Fixing the Problem

I train and sell horses with Nick Travaglia, and he and I pretty much saddled every horse from the young ones down to the finish ones. We just worked at it—making sure every run, I was getting up leaving the box. 

When I’m at the front of the saddle, I want my toes pointed down more to help my body stay to the front of the saddle. 

Why It Works

If I can stay to the front of the saddle and drive them to calves, then when I want them to stop, when I pull my slack, all I have to do after I rope is sit down and they feel me and get into the ground. The goal is only to be sitting down when I pull my slack. I don’t always do it right, but that’s the goal.