16/06/2026
One of the quickest ways to identify someone who canโt ride is to watch their groundwork.
If every problem is solved by disengaging the hindquarters, youโre not training a horse. Youโre avoiding the problem.
Somewhere along the way a bunch of people who couldnโt get things done from the saddle decided theyโd do everything from the ground instead. Now weโve got an entire generation of horses that can yield their hindquarters, lick their lips, and walk circles around a person all day, but fall apart the second someone asks them to actually perform.
The hindquarters are the engine.Yet these people spend every day teaching horses how to disconnect the engine. Then they wonder why the horse wonโt stay straight, wonโt stay between the reins, wonโt hold a circle, wonโt stop correctly, wonโt spin correctly, wonโt leave on the right lead, and canโt stay connected to a steer.
Well no s**t.
Every time you tipped the horseโs nose, you taught him to throw his ass away from pressure instead of carrying himself through it.Now every turn becomes a turn on the forehand.
Every correction creates more disconnect. And years later youโre trying to fix a problem you created in the first week.
The natural horsemanship crowd loves talking about softness, but most of them have never had to run one into a stop, turn one at speed, rope off one, or show one with money on the line. Because if they did, theyโd realize performance comes from engagement, not disengagement. Disengagement is a tool. Itโs not a philosophy. And if your horse spends more time yielding its hindquarters than driving off them, donโt be surprised when the horse is just as ineffective at its job as the person training it!
Written by Dusty Harvey ๐ฅ
