John Wicks Clinic: Hooking onto a Circle with a Horse That’s Not Fully Concentrating

8.48 minutes – In this video John helps a student get their horse to hook onto a small circle at the trot. This horse feels the rider’s suggestion but continues to choose to leave the circle. When the horse is staying on the circle but is not fully concentrating John instructs the student to put her hand down and then squeeze with both legs to test the horse. Then when the horse leaves he gets them to move their shoulders back to the circle. The rider is trying to see if her horse will leave and then correct them once they leave. Eventually the horse will want to stay on the small circle more than they want to leave. If the rider corrects the horse enough times they will learn not to leave, but constantly stopping the horse from leaving the circle will make them want to leave because the small circle becomes too uncomfortable.