Buckaroo Texan Blog

The turnaround or spin was a real mystery to me for many years.   I tried to teach several of my horses how to turn around and was told by a cowhorse trainer that I had a nice coke bottle turn.  Imagine spinning a cola bottle around and that is how my horses’ turn looked.   The front end was going one direction and his hind end another.  Swapping ends is what the trainer called it.   I told him I guess I did not know what a proper turnaround felt like so I was having trouble knowing how to ask, train and ride one.

He put me on a horse named Joe who  knew how to spin in spite of the rider.   Once I felt how the footfalls felt under me,  I now had the idea  and I would know by feel if any horse I rode in the future was actually turning around properly. 

Two Kinds of Turnarounds

1.  Turnaround one:  the cowhorse turn.  This turn involves the horse  pivoting off the outside hind leg.  For example, a turn to the right, his outside hind leg, his left will be the pivot foot.  The horse will cross his leg front over his right front as he turns to the right.  The right foot will have to reach out and back each stride and the left follows over and in front of the right.  Some horses are just built or even trained that the horse kinda rocks back some in this turn and will step to the right and step behind the right front with his left front.   This is a type of turn cowhorses generally do to keep them in position just with or to beat a cow.  If you do lots of cow work with your horse this is a turn that is very advantageous for your horse. This turn is generally for one half of a turn up to a full turn.  If you do this turn really fast, most horses will appear to be hopping about every 1/3rd of the turn due to the large reach of the legs.  This turn allows the horse to be in good position at any point to jump right back with a cow in the opposite direction.

2. Turnaround two:  the reining horse turn.   This  turn around is generally the type of turn you see in horses that are strictly reining horses.  This type of turn looks a bit different than the cow horse turn when you study the footfalls and over all movement of the horse.   On a turn to the right,  the horse will step over and back with his right front foot and then bring the left across and in front of the right.  The inside hind foot, in this case, the right.  is the pivot foot.  This makes a very fluid turn that can become very fast, the footfalls are very even.  The horse develops with time and practice a very fluid rhythm and cadence.

When you start to train your horse to do a spin or turnaround, you need to know what type of spin you are training for.  You need to be able to feel where every foot is being placed and how to time your asking for the turn.  It is developed one or two steps at a time over several weeks or even months. Recognize the horse trys and reward them the moment they happen.

A common problem is having a horse suck back in his turns.   This is generally rider error of letting the horse do this early in his training.  It is not all bad if you just work cattle, but a horse that sucks back to much is actually backing up with his hind feet in a circle  and crossing over, back and behind with his opposite front leg.   A hind leg needs to be fairly stationary, for the horse to make a proper turn.  If you feel a horse backing instead of turning on a pivot foot, generally sending them forward and starting over is the answer.  Reposition the horse and ask for a step or two of turn.   For a horse that has made it a habit or his style to suck back in his turns and has a tendency to drop his shoulder into the turn, you might can remedy this by trotting very small circles in one direction until your horse feels rhythmic.  If he kinda drops his shoulder into the turn, that is a good time to ask him to stop and turn back to the left.  He should be able to set a pivot foot, step over smartly to the left and slightly back with his left foot and follow thru with his right front over his left front.  Ideally he should have his left hind as the pivot foot for this exercise.

Some people are handy enough to teach their horses both types of turns.  Not every horse or every rider is at the level to do this and to be able to ask for either turn at any particular time.   Having one of these types of turns in your bag of manuvers can come in handy.

My training is in the Buckaroo Way and I offer consultation services to those who believe in partnership of horse and rider.  

 Honoring the horse and horsemanship through the western buckaroo way.