Jay Dee Anderson Wilsall, MT
Wilsall, MT
Jay Dee Anderson is a professional reining horse trainer located in Wilsall, Mt. During our stay with Jay Dee we worked on the turnaround, rollback, lead change, lead departures, large fast circles and stops. We also participated in our first all day reining horse clinic with seven other riders. Each day we warmed up by trotting small circles and collecting the horse up and making sure he was guiding well. After doing that in both directions we repeated it at the lope. Once the horse was warmed up and guiding well we would start working on our maneuvers.
Turnaround
Before you ask the horse to turnaround you need to work on collection. Jay Dee does this by walking a small circle. He pushes the horse’s hip into the circle with his outside leg. With two hands, he picks the reins up in a “V” shape and bends the horse’s neck to the inside of the circle. He uses his inside leg to prevent the horse from dropping into the circle or turning. This exercise helps pick the horse’s front end up and teaches them to turn without sticking their nose out. The more collected the horse is in the turnaround the easier it is for them to cross their legs over and turn smoothly.
Starting the turnaround. Jay Dee trains his horses to turnaround as soon as he lays the outside rein on their neck and kiss. He does this so that when anyone gets on the horse they don’t need to think about the turnaround, they just need to lay the outside neck rein and kiss and the horse will turn. In addition, he feels using your outside leg to start the turnaround often causes the horse to look in that direction instead of keeping their head looking in the direction of the turnaround. He keeps his outside leg next to the horse’s body but does not squeeze with it. If he needs more speed he will bump with the outside leg and kiss. To stop the turnaround, he says whoa and puts his hand down. He does not like to stop every turnaround, but likes to walk out into a small circle, this help keeps the horse from anticipating the shut off of the turnaround and work on collection. Click this link to see video https://youtu.be/qtFdCeZz_6g
Rollback
We did two exercises to help improve the rollback and departure. The first was to back the horse up in a small circle. With the outside leg, we pushed the horse’s hip into the circle. At the same time, we pick up the reins with both hands and bend the horse’s head slightly to the outside. This exercise helps clear the hips and the shoulder in preparation for the rollback. Once you have done this and the horse is moving well ask the horse to rollback to the outside of the circle.
The next exercise for the rollback is done in the circle. Jay Dee lopes around in a circle and stops and rolls the horse back. This teaches the horse to roll completely around into their tracks and drive out in the other direction. Click this link to see video. https://youtu.be/CpgzCaQLp2o
Lead Changes
For a horse to do a lead change easily they need to be straight, collected and moving forward. This simple counter canter exercise helps you achieve all three. Jay Dee likes to counter canter a square at one end of the arena. Doing a square gives you four straight lines to use to change leads. The corners also allow you to practice squaring off your straight lines which you need to do to get a good rundown for the stop. Once he has done a number of squares he will ask the horse to lead change. Because you are riding in a square it also helps teach the horse to change leads and stay straight. Click this link to see video https://youtu.be/2ZTneQSUrOc
Lead Departure and Building Speed in the Circle
For the lead departure Jay Dee picks up the reins and applies light pressure to the bit and asks the horse to lope off. After a few strides, he breaks the horse down to a walk and repeats the process. This teaches the horse to allow you to pick up on the reins and to keep their head down in the lead departure. The next step is pick up on the reins and increase the speed by kissing and bumping with your legs. This technique allows you to pick on the horse in the show pen to increase speed while remaining collected. Once he has the speed he wants he puts his hand down and bumps with his legs and kisses to speed the horse up if they start to slow down.Click this link to see video https://youtu.be/yK2rGjiH84M
Run Down and Stop
Jay Dee likes to work on the run down and stop by doing a rectangle around the arena. The first step is to lope around the arena and make a small to medium size circle at the end of the arena. After doing that a few times he starts to build speed for the rundown and maintains that speed into the circle at the end of the arena. Once he has done this and the horse is straight and building well he will ask for the stop by saying whoa. The goal of the is exercise to prevent the horse from anticipating the stop and slowing down before you tell them to whoa. A good stop requires an increase in speed on a straight line with the last stride being your fastest.
While I was with Jay Dee Anderson I logged 16 hours toward my AQHA Riding Program Hours
https://www.aqha.com/trail-riding/programs/aqha-horseback-riding-program
I hope you enjoyed all the training tips and videos from Jay Dee Anderson and feel free to share this with your friends.
Please visit Anderson Training Stables website at http://www.andersontrainingstables.com/