This is a clip taken from a recent clinic for the Horsemanship Class at Louisiana Tech University. This is a game I call the Hokey Pokey and it is how I begin getting people to feel and control the horse's feet. It can be advanced well beyond this, but this simple version is beyond 90% of those riding today. Give it a try and see how you do and let me know what you think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfooDLl_maM

Some good info there, though it seemed to be lost on those riders. What's the go with the long reins? I don't think I've seen anybody ride with as much rein as those in the group were riding with?

A good point was made about the saddle horn, except for the most part we don't have saddles with horns, so we tend to say if your elbows are past your sides you have lost control of the horse.

Yeah, that was a group of college students last Fall. Several of them were fairly advanced riders, but not those in the video. Many had only started riding a few weeks before this was shot.
With regard to the long reins, I suspect we would be talking about the difference between Western, with more slack, and English, with a lot more contact.
Thanks for the comments.

We certainly have English riding here, but I tend to bush ride, so less contact for me, but just as in the video I use my arms to give slack. I find it the fastest way to correct a horse when first under saddle as I don't have to shorten my reins at all. We also have western riding here, it's quiet popular and I agree that they tend to ride on a much longer rein than other styles, though not quiet as long in the video lol.

Steve

Been enjoying watching some of your youtube videos.

Regarding the video "The Safest and Easiest Way to Mount a Horse" I am too old to pull myself up by the saddle horn like when I was young. So I'm the saddle-horn-and-cantle style now.

Throw in the fact that my mules have no mane, I don't have many options on a 15 hand mule (okay, a bit better on a 15 hand horse).

Sorry, but I am from the tight-cinch club. But they always loosen up after compressing the pad(s) when riding. To save my knees I always dismount by sliding off their butts.

You must have a bit of left arm strength and a high withered horse to get into that saddle with no cinch. Unless you are 7 foot tall, that horse looks like he's 13 hands. That would make saddling easier.

I don't even think much about getting on a 14 hand horse but 15 hands, that is a whole different world for me!

Will, if you know the animal and can get away with it, do whatever you have to. I slide off of the butt of a bunch of 'em too. It's a good test. The horse in the video is my personal demo/ranch horse. He's around 15 hands, and I didn't quite make 6 feet. I have a 16.5 hand racing QH going home tomorrow. No way in hell that I'd trust him to do that "no girth" mount, and it'd take me quite a jump to make it anyway.
I'm okay with a good snug cinch, but over-tightening them can sure lead to some behavioral issues that I see fairly regularly, like being cinchy or cold-backed. For your particular situation, I'd really recommend you just use something to stand on like a log, stump, bucket, or the fence when you mount, at least when you can. It really does save the animal's back, and the more comfortable and well treated they are, the better they'll work for us. Especially a mule. Hurt those suckers just once when you mount and look forward to years of problems mounting.

The wife decided she wants to go trail riding again after about 35 years! So I bought her that mule and one of those big plastic mounting blocks.

I may use it occasionally too.

Every emotion I have will go right down my reins and my saddle on one of my roping horses. Hell they know when I'm happy and that means I'm winning, they know when I'm mad, when I am tense in the short go of a rodeo and intent on making a winning run, and even if I am having a hang over and they react accordingly..I can't fake them out very often..They love their job and they love winning as much as I do and its damn easy to tell their mood, they know when they are doing good because I am doing good. They eat that up. they also get pissed when I am having a bad day of roping, and they might even quite working..

90% or roping is the horse under you, 10% is you catching the steer, and you can't catch unless that horse reacts to his job.

For pleasure riding I like a lightly snug cinch, but for cowboying in rough country or roping events I want my cinch pretty snug and and I want the same tension on my front cinch as is on my flank. If I am going to rope a cow,bull or even a calf in a pasture I will suck it up tight both fron and back.

For roping steers and even calves I will suck it to them both front and rear, so the saddle doesn't tip forward on the withers or pinch at the kidney area. This is accepted practice and has been for years in the roping arena.