The Crab Walk

The Crab Walk

If your horse is stiff during the “Focus & Bend” exercise, you can use “The Crab Walk” to loosen them up and get them to start using more parts of their body in a more fluid way.

Common Problems when doing the Crab Walk

If you encounter any problems with the Focus & Bend, work on them until they are solved and then go back to the Focus & Bend exercise. 

You will continue working on the Focus & Bend exercise to the left until your horse goes off around you, off of the point (not having to use the flag) every time and maintains the correct bend.  Then you will keep them walking around you (we are not lunging them, but they are going to circle around you). This will be a tool you can use if you ever need to show a vet your horse in a circle – we do not teach it for that purpose, we teach it for collision avoidance purposes and to get them to read your energy, amongst other things.

A reminder how to use this course: click on Mark Complete below and you will be taken to the next topic.

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My horse is very stiff like a plank and will not go off around me with a bend so I’ve been focusing on the crab walk. As soon as I pick up the lead rope and he starts to move his hindquarters around, his head and neck plunge down towards the ground and begins to try to yawn. He’ll then spend several minutes trying to yawn moving hid jaw all around. Eventually he might actually yawn. He’ll then lick and chew.. His eyes get really soft, and he’ll stand very still in his own little happy place. This whole cycle can take 15+ minutes. Do I just keep going with it, letting the whole cycle play out? Or, do I try to stay below the threshold where his head plunges down and the whole yawning cycle starts? He’s an off the track Arabian. I’m friend reminded me that he used to have a whole mile to make that turn.

Warwick Schiller avatar Warwick Schiller (Administrator) May 25, 2024 at 11:13 am

Sorry Kerry,
Im unsure why I missed this.
The question to ask when a horse is stuiff, is why? Many times the answer is that they are tense, and the Off track arabians Ive seen have been exactly that.
You said ” as soon as I pick up the lead rope and he starts to move his hindquarters around”. Can you tell me what you do between picking up the lead rope, and him starting to move his hindquarters around? Or maybe video it and send it to me.

Looking forward to trying this tomorrow. The one issue I am finding, is that I’m not always getting a response from the flag. Sometimes he just ignores it, even when I build the energy. I can almost always attract his attention by slowly waving the flag when I am standing in front of him (if he is looking out at something for example) but if I try and use it with energy at his flank or underneath him he couldn’t care less! I don’t want to hit him with it so what would you suggest? He is doing a nice focus and bend on the left but he is getting stuck and unfocussed on the right side. I’ve tried to take it back to the leading with energy and using the quarter turn when he starts leaning on the rope, but it he doesn’t bend and his shoulder just comes into me. Thank you in advance for any advice

Warwick Schiller avatar Warwick Schiller (Administrator) May 20, 2024 at 9:54 am

” I don’t want to hit him with it so what would you suggest?”

You need gto be effective with the flag, meaning you have to amke sure it works, whatever you need to do.

So in focus and bend when they go off the bend is towards you correct? And when they go off into a circle do we just let them do a full circle before they come back into us?

Warwick Schiller avatar Warwick Schiller (Administrator) September 13, 2024 at 12:24 pm

Yes. you are correct, the bend is a correct bend, not a counter bend. There is no certain number of circles, usually I draw them back in after that first step, the if they start well, and continue around with a correct bend, ill dra them back in when they arent thinking about it

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