Teach Your Horse to Sidepass

The sidepass is a handy tool to edge your horse closer to a gate, or shift away from the horse beside you who is giving off bad vibes in the class lineup. It’s a necessary skill in competitive trail and working equitation disciplines. Moreover, the basic sidepass is a foundational brick in training your horse.

Training Benefits

I use the sidepass as the most basic step in introducing the concept of lateral movement. Why? I approach coaching using equitation science – what we know about equine learning:

1. Build a skill with the simplest concepts first.
2. Teach one response per signal – e.g. don’t combine cues simultaneously, such as sideways and forward.
3. Keep signals separate and distinct.

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Avoid anticipation. Settle for one step followed by resting in “neutral”. This tells your horse that straddling the pole is a happy place to be. (photo courtesy Lindsay Grice)

How to Start

Does your horse yield away from light pressure, applied to his side from the ground? Groundwork facilitates any process in the saddle. Some riders find it helpful to face a wall. The barrier in front eliminates the forward option, leaving the sideways option more appealing.

The role of your leg is to create just enough pressure to motivate your horse to move. Use your leg at the girth. Leg pressure placed behind the girth would indicate turn on the forehand to your horse. When he chooses the “step sideways” answer, relax your cues and sit still a few seconds before asking for another step.

The role of your hands is to keep your horse’s neck and head straight (i.e. perpendicular to the wall) and ready to block any forward step. Keep your hands neutral until you need them. For example, you may need to straighten his forehand to keep it in line with his haunches, with an opening rein. If he walks forward, block his exit briefly with both reins.

A woman on a horse reaching to open a gate.

Sidepassing closer to a gate is a necessary skill in competitive trail and working equitation disciplines ‒ and just a handy all-round skill to have! (photo courtesy Lindsay Grice)

What if…

My horse is confused and backs up? Sidepassing is not a natural movement, so your horse may try answers more obvious before stepping to the side. These may include stepping forward, turning or backing. For all wrong answers, simply keep your sidepass cue in place. Sometimes the right try happens by accident, as if the horse is guessing. Reward the try – even some semblance of sideways – with release (termed ‘negative reinforcement’).

My horse is tense? Don’t graduate to sidepassing a pole or navigating a gate until your horse is no longer “trialling” wrong answers, but calmly stepping sideways from a light cue. Rushing the process will overwhelm your horse. Horses feel vulnerable with anything around their feet, which is not an ideal frame of mind to process a new skill. I stop and rest along the pole in various places. Too many horses learn the routine of whizzing down to the end of the pole and walking away from the obstacle.

My horse gets ‘stuck’? If your horse stops moving, step up your leg pressure just enough to motivate him to move, and no more. Timing is crucial – remove the leg pressure the instant your horse opts for the “step sideways” answer. As a judge, I’ll reward the competitor demonstrating efficiency and softness. A sidepass in self-carriage – steady steps of even length with no sign of tension – earns pluses on my score card. Sit up straight and make it look effortless!