In my experience, horses with neurological issues benefit from consistent, gentle reminders that they are responsible for their balance. Even when they aren't able to walk well, you can still do the throatlatch, shoulder and ribcage releases and remind them to lift their withers and rock back – all without moving their feet. It's a great exercise to do in short bits of time for stallbound horses or those whose exercise has to be limited. Maintains muscle tone, keeps the mechanism of self-carriage working and gives them something to think about. Keep that in mind should Mojave have periodic setbacks when you need to keep him confined.

When he's more mobile, I find that exercises (ground and mounted) focused on proprioception are essential. Keeps the horse interested and engaged (physically and mentally) and keeps the nervous system working so none of the pathways start to shut down. You can do many things just with a few poles – lead straight over, lead over in bend each way, take front feet over in one bend and then change bend as the hinds step across. Meet the pole at various angles so the horse steps laterally across. Back across with front feet, back feet, both feet. Then you can do all the same stuff with or without the pole on a little hill so sometimes the horse is bending or changing bend going up a slight rise and sometimes going down (it changes the balance question just enough to change which muscles have to do more.) Halt uphill and downhill. Back up a gentle slope and down the slope. All kinds of simple work can really help keep the motor nervous system tuned up and firing on all cylinders, so to speak.

When I am teaching a horse to drive, I actually take it in stages (like most good training progresses) starting with first having the horse really comfortable working on a longe line. I prefer that the horse has developed both the balance and strength to be able to hold a bend from nose to tail at least some of the time, tho realize that driving is a tool that refines that straightness on the circle by introducing the support of an outside rein.

For the first step in the transition from longeing to driving, I put on the surcingle and start out just longeing as usual (especially for horses who haven't worn a saddle much). I work both ways, watching to see that the horse is comfortable bending through the ribs with the surcingle on – isn't stiffening up there to keep from "bumping into" it when the ribcage moves to the outside to follow the arc of the circle. I don't want the horse to start bending only in the neck – for obvious reasons related to the long-term training but also because it will making driving harder – braced necks cause that disconnect from back to front that makes it easy to overcorrect when steering.

Once I'm satisfied the horse is okay with the feeling of a "girth," I run one driving line through a surcingle ring (usually top or next to top) on what will be the outside of my circle. I leave the "inside rein" on the halter as a longe line – not through the surcingle at all. I lay the outside rein over the horse's loin area, behind the surcingle, completely slack, and go on longeing as usual at a walk, though usually with quite a short line. (I may be only a few feet away from the horse ... for an insecure horse, I might be right next to him where I can touch if needed. So that I'm not creating a tiny circle, I end up walking alongside the horse and encouraging him to match the size of circle I'm walking. Easier in a roundpen to start with, though it can be done along an arena fence.)

As the horse gets into a nice swinging walk, I start to take a feel of the outside rein, just exploring an elastic contact with the horse's mouth. For those of us who ride more than we drive, it does take some time to feel like we can maintain that give-and-take through the elbow we're used to doing in the saddle. I do this with the rein over the back until we're both comfortable with the feel at the walk, in a halt and in a trot. Then I repeat on the other side, again working until we're both comfortable with the feel. I like doing it this way because, for both of us, at least half of the feel is familiar – one of my hands is doing familiar longeing work and one side of the horse is doing what he is used to, as well. Then we can both concentrate on the unfamiliar, the driving hand for me and the outside rein for the horse.

For some horses, what I've described up to now will happen in one session – at least the walk and halt, not always the trot. For others, it might take several. I'm more interested in creating a good foundation. A quiet horse used to working might be able to go on to the next stage in the first session. A baby who needs things chunked down into short work sessions likely will not.

In addition, the next stage requires that the horse has been properly sensitized to having something around his butt, touching his hindlegs and even going up under his tail. That's because we're going to move the outside driving line off the back and run it around the horse's butt. I would not do this with a horse who is super sensitive and has not gotten used to being touched like that because you need to keep the line a bit snug to keep it from getting caught under the tail or running the risk the horse will step over it with a hind leg. Most driving lines just don't have much "give" and it's easy to goose the horse in the butt without really meaning to. Also, I have worked with a few horses who acted almost claustrophobic at having input into their bodies all the way from the head down that outside side and around the backend. They tend to either rear or do the kick out/bolt combo – not behaviors I want to program in.

My absolute favorite way to get a horse comfortable with feeling something touching his entire body, including his butt, is to use a TTEAM bodywrap. If you're not familiar, here's an article that gives the basics. The photos show the basic figure-8 configuration; for horses that have issues with the surcingle/girth, you can add another wrap that goes around the barrel at the girth area. Excellent tool – light, soft, elastic, non-threatening. Really helps horses feel comfortable

I do the same type of program with the line around the butt – starting in close so I can support the horse and gradually letting the line out longer until the horse is at a more normal longeing distance. Only after both the horse and I have a good connection in this configuration do I consider going on to run the inside line through the surcingle. And at first, I stay more to the side of the horse than behind, still doing a sort of hybrid longeing/driving thing that would probably drive the classical driving instructors to drink! But, for me, I have found that if I get right behind and try to drive "properly" I end up being too strong on the inside rein and start noticing the horse tends to start going too deep in response. That's a habit I truly hate (having a horse who was confirmed in that behavior when I got him and he still reverts back when he's insecure!) and I do not want to be responsible for creating it.

Honestly, I generally end up accomplishing what I want to with the half longeing/half driving technique and seldom go on to use the inside "rein" as anything other than a longe line. I do not think driving is the best way to teach a horse to steer – I want even babies to start learning to bend from the ribs and not just through the neck and find that more easily accomplished astride. And I do not find that, unless you have incredibly talented and experienced driving hands, driving gives you the soft, balanced halt you want a greenie to start learning. I would rather do that from the saddle as well, mostly because I don't ever want the "brakes" to come from my hands, I want all versions of halt to be 95% a seat aid. I do like the longe/drive program for helping horses understand how an outside rein can help and support them and for providing the structure that makes straightness the horse's posture/balance of choice.

Sounds like you're doing the right things with your gelding, just going slow and easy. I think the biggest gift you can give to horses like that is a routine that is just challenging enough to hold their attention but also designed so they feel physically good when they do it and they mentally/emotionally get to feel like they are doing right. My fallback still is the S-turns exercise, both on the ground and mounted, because in addition to just being a good balancing and suppling warm-up, asking a series of easy balance questions like that really gets their brains and their feet synched up. You did this exercise with me way back when, but here's a refresher if you need it.

You might also go to the health food store and buy yourself a bottle of the Bach Flower Essence called Rescue Remedy. Buy yourself an empty dropper bottle, too. Fill your empty bottle with distilled water and add a teaspoon or so of alcohol (the kind you drink – I use cheap vodka) as a preservative, then put 6-8 drops of rescue remedy in and shake well. That gives you a "dosing" bottle you can stick in your pocket and take to the barn. Pull out his bottom lip and put a few drops on the inside before you work with him to see whether it helps any. (Can take a while.)

I found this a huge help for Ichobod when I was taking him places. After I'd been administering the Rescue Remedy directly into his mouth for a while, I started just dropping a few drops into the palm of my hand and he would lick it off. He got so at a clinic or show he would nuzzle my palm when he was feeling nervous and I'd just give him a dose. Took the edge off nicely. It would be a pretty inexpensive experiment with your gelding. Because it's a vibrational remedy, it's not likely to interfere with anything else he might be on. I believe it's important for you to be in a positive frame of mind when you give it – try just simply stating your intention out loud or in your head by saying something like "this is to help you feel more relaxed and focused." Can't hurt, right?

© 2011 Desert Horse Services/Stacey Kollman