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Dealing with the Jiggy Wiggy Horse
Every experienced horse person will be able to relate at least one story about a “jigging” horse, a negative behavior that can be a mild annoyance at first but can be difficult to change and therefore lead to greater problems down the trail. My own jigging story began with a Quarter Horse mare, Truly Autumn (TA). She was race horse bred and had unsuccessfully been run at the track: she was so bad at the track that we had to hire outside jockeys to ride her as the ones who knew her refused to. After she came home, TA would rear or jig everywhere she went and I didn’t have enough knowledge back then to be able to solve her problems. TA was a lesson in patience and in the end it took me 6 years before we were able to stop her jigging behavior and successfully walk her down the trail.
What is "jigging"? From a human perspective it is essentially a horse who is going faster than the rider wants it to go usually because of fear or anxiety. From the perspective of the horse it is a human who is intentionally shortening its stride causing elevation through holding or pulling on the reins. In either case, its what some people call being "p-offed", meaning the horse and/or the human is angry, frustrated and probably afraid. When jigging is used in a controlled setting, such as in dressage, it is called a "piaffe", a maneuver where the horse moves its feet in place without moving forward.
The number one scenario in which jigging is usually encountered is in a horse that is heading home after a ride. Some other common examples of jigging include: spooking, a horse being herd bound to the other trail horses and trying to keep up with them, any time before a competition when a horse is required to wait, or even when leaving home to go out on the trail. All of these situations have one thing in common: ADRENALINE.
Since horses are prey animals, they are remarkably sensitive to people, places, danger and things. When faced with a situation that they deem is dangerous, they instantaneously release adrenaline which stimulates their nervous system, causing increased alertness and preparing them for flight (to run away from the perceived danger). Adrenaline can be harnassed by the rider for IMPULSION which means that the horse is fully engaged in the tasks the rider asks of him and does them with lightness and responsiveness. Adrenaline can also be misused by the horse causing IMPULSIVE behavior such as rearing and bolting. It is up to the rider to use the natural adrenaline of a horse to engage it instead of causing it to flee.
Besides being sensitive to people, places, danger and things, horses are naturally claustrophobic. This instinct can present itself in many different situations: a horse who raises and tosses his head when being bridled or won’t stand still to be saddled, a horse who refuses to be trailer loaded or won’t go over obstacles on the trail is expressing this basic claustrophobic response. Adrenaline again plays a part as the fearful horse attempts to get away from what it perceives is an attempt to confine it. Constantly holding a horse with the reins can induce claustrophobia as well: a horse that has forward energy but can’t go forward because it is being held will usually go up (rearing, jigging or bucking). In jumping, when this forward energy is used positively it is known as suspension, engagement and elevation.
When horses go out on the trail together, they naturally pair bond. I’m sure every rider who has ever trailered 2 or more horses together has witnessed this aspect of equine behavior. Horses very quickly become dependent upon each other, and when you are on the trail and lose sight of your partner your horse may become fearful and jiggy. The same applies to a horse who is jigging on the way home: in both cases the horse is herd bound, meaning they are looking to another horse for safety and leadership instead of looking to the rider on their back. A forward thinking rider will recognize their horses lack of leadership expressed as fearfulness in jigging and will work with their horse to gain their trust and respect.
However, what riders normally do when horses get jiggy is: 1. pull on the reins or hold them in an attempt to get the horse to slow down or stop the behavior; 2. putting the jiggy horse (who is usually the fastest traveling horse on the trail) in front and let them be the pace setter for the group; 3. get off and walk the horse to get them to slow down as most humans feel that they have more control (and therefore are safer) on the ground; 4. get mad at the horse and employ any means available (including hitting) to stop them. Sometimes these strategies work, sometimes they work for awhile, and sometimes riders have to continually escalate what they do in order to get their horse to calm down.
Ultimately, we want our horses to rely on us for their essential equine needs of safety and leadership: in the meantime one of the best ways we have to establish ourselves as the leader of our "herd" is through games that teach both humans and horses their responsibilities in the human/equine relationship. We first work with our horses on the ground, either round penning or on line, asking our horse for maintenance of both gait and direction. There are several ways we can do this, but one of the most crucial skills we need is being able to ask our horse to face us. This is known as disengagement of the hindquarters and it takes a horses ability to flee away from them.
If you are in a round pen or online, use the drive line of your horse (located where the cinch on your saddle is) to cause movement. 2 things happen behind the drive line: going forward and disengagement. To go forward, stimulate behind the drive line with a rope or dressage whip and point to your horse where you want them to go. The stimulation behind the drive line should cause the horse to go forward and once they have moved in the direction you have asked leave them alone. If they stop, point, stimulate again behind the drive line with the tool of your choice even if you have to touch them to get them to go. To get your horse to stop, bend over at the waist and look at your horses flank: this will cause the horse to stop, disengage its hindquarters, and face you. If in the round corral you are unable to get disengagement, put the horse on line, pull the nose towards you as you drive the hip away until the horse looks at you with both eyes.
Once you have your horses attention, ask them to circle around you at the walk, trot and canter and then back to the trot and the walk. This game teaches the horse maintenance of gait and the rider that they are responsible for their horses speed and rhythm. Once you have mastered maintenance, you can begin to ask for different speeds in each gait. It has been said that every horse should have at least 3 speeds in each gait: slow, medium and fast. These speeds can be used in sport such as endurance riding where a rider needs to conserve their horses energy over a long period of time, or in sports which require quick bursts of speed and fast stops such as cutting or roping. Having a horse who maintains their gait is less likely to be jiggy as they respond to the requests of their rider.
On board, we can play several games that will teach our horse maintenance of gait: the key is that these games require us to drop the reins and ride with our eyes, torso, and legs instead of relying on our hands. As humans we want to control horses and we have a very difficult time letting go: we fear we will be injured (or worse). By us not trusting our horses we set up a relationship that is based on fear: since horses are very sensitive to humans they pick up on this and respond to it by themselves being fearful and distrustful, the very emotions that set up negative, adrenaline induced behaviors. If you truly have a hard time letting go, try these games in a controlled environment to begin with, either in a round corral or with another trusted rider who holds your horse on line while you are on board.
One game you can play on board is called simply The Passenger Game. All that is required of the human is to choose the gait they want their horse to stay in and sit in the saddle, allowing the horse to move in whatever direction they want to go. This game teaches the horse maintenance of gait and direction and teaches the rider how to let the horse assume these responsibilities. If the horse changes gait, run your hand down the rein and softly pull the horses nose towards your foot to disengage his hindquarters. Then let go and continue on, only correcting your horse when they make a mistake. Allow your horse to change direction at will and only bother him if he speeds up or slows down. If your horse slows down, stimulate behind the drive line until he resumes the gait you have asked for. If he goes too fast, use disengagement to slow your horse down and teach him to hold an even and steady gait. This creates natural self carriage for the horse and rider. The goal for the human is to learn to stay on without holding the reins, which is called an independent seat. The goal for the horse is to hold a gait without being held or pushed there by the rider.
Despite our hard work and best efforts on the ground and on board, negative behaviors such as jigging in horses can be persistent and difficult to extinguish (remember TA, my 6 year project?) Here are some ideas for when you get stuck and your horses jigging behavior rears its ugly head:
COMING HOME if you are alone, disengage your horse’s hindquarter just once and then let go and let the horse have a casual rein: repeat this until the horse can walk forward without being held by you even if it takes all the way to the barn. If you are with other riders, you can play the Leap Frog game, where each horse takes a turn being out in front, being in the middle and being in the back. The front rider is responsible for holding the tempo and rhythm of the group and horses have to stay in line behind one another.
SPOOKED OR SCARED bend your horse to disengage its hindquarters and take away its ability to flee: then ask your horse to look at the object that caused it to spook and continue on down the trail.
BEFORE COMPETITION keep your horses feet moving instead of asking him to stand still: ask your horse to go sideways, over obstacles, all the while focusing your own attention on the task at hand instead of your horses behavior;
GOING OUT JIGGY this can especially be a problem with horses who get ridden only occasionally; allow your horse to "get the cream off the top" by putting them in an arena or round pen and letting them go as fast as they want until they calm down and can maintain gait. Another idea is to trot your horse out onto the trail instead of walking; if you allow the horse to trot he will soon realize that you aren’t going to hold him and will more easily maintain the gait and speed that you have asked for. Before you go out, make sure you can disengage your horse if he speeds up.
ON THE TRAIL if you find yourself in a situation where your horse is jigging and you have to hold them, use both your hands and your legs to move back and forth across the trail, no matter hownarrow, meaning you leg yield your horse. This game allows the horse to continue to move forward but makes it more difficult for them jig.
Resolving the problem of jigging requires time, patience and the ability to be flexible to respond to your horse in a given situation. Playing games with your horse benefits both horse and rider. For the horse you make his negative behavior more difficult than the positive behavior you are trying to instill. Remember, disengaging his hindquarters every other minute when coming home is much more difficult than not jigging. Many times a horse will simply tire of having to perform the more difficult task and the jigging behavior will stop. If the rider can learn to let go of the reins their horse will search for leadership and the comfort of not being constantly criticized. This gives both the human and the equine a more fair and equitable relationship, in fact it creates a true partnership.