Your young horse has stopped in the road . His program is not responding to your seat , verbal commands or entreaties . You cant click cancel because traffic is building up behind him .
So the next step before you give him fourpenny one on his fat bum , is ...
One leg ( dorrance , Peace , traditional english )( '' two legs make them feel trapped and buck'')
or Two ( Mclean , Parelli , traditional english ) ( '' one leg means sideways or turn '' ) ?
Pressing or tapping ?
How you going to get the 2 leg idea to the horse , from the ground ?

When my youngster did this, the only way to get her moving again was to turn her, so she HAD TO take a step, although it was to the side, we then usually managed to zigzag forward, and she got the idea again. So, I made myself think "forward", used two legs, one more than the other (to turn) and one rein, once I got her off balance and she took a step, I then waited if she'd go forward more, straightened her and (hopefully) poddled along.

Not a very scientific way, I think, nor is it using +R but it worked very well with her (most of the time).

It also depends how well schooled your youngster is - mine did not know very much when I got her, so "using your seat" didn't mean anything to her.

I'd just started riding my horse and at first was thrilled at how good he was . Then things just threatened to go wrong . I 'm not sure if it ws my weight , my riding , the way I was using CT in training ( too much , I think ) , the way I'd CT from the saddle so he started to ' suck back into ' me whenever the idea of a treat crossed his mind , or just adolescence . Morally unwilling and physically scared of using more pressure , I've stopped riding while I work through some solutions . At this time of year its more about mud - survival than horse training anyway !!
I had been using Parelli framework , and the recommended phase 3 cue for go foreward , is a squeeze of both legs . McLean and McGreevy also say a 2 leg cue is logical , but Dorrance and others say to use one leg . Because 2 legs on may make the young horse buck ( which was what started to happen ) This ties in well with advice from you and others , to ask for a turning step : the one leg cue would grow from this . Also , possible to train the one leg cue , from the ground .
Also , the one leg cue will eventually tie in to moving one hindleg foreward . Dorrance says all this , I had read it , but its not until I reach the actual situation that I appreciate what he's trying to say .
Wonder what other people think ? Or should I say Western riders , to avoid getting in trouble ...
My previous personal horse ( 1984 !! ) I squeezed with 2 legs , kicked , and finally whopped with a branch off a bush that was handy , when she got stuck on her first ride .It cost me £ 50 to replace the veg she trampled as she went into orbit and landed on next doors garden . We never had a fully reliable go foreward cue in sticky situations . Trying to do things better this time round .
Best wishes , Anna

Hi Anna,

Using clicker, I'd get the behaviour of "walk forward" to your chosen cue being presented automatically and consistently when ridden in the school, on a very long variable interval reinforcement schedule first, before I started hacking out. Also "stop" and "turn" behaviours. But given all that, freeze/plant is an ethologically consistent response for a horse to present, so if something you meet out hacking overshadows his learning re those three cues, then he is going to plant, and if you want to stay in the positive reinforcement box:
reinforcing the planting is out, you don't want it to happen;
avoiding situations where planting may occur is out, it is bound to happen on occasion if hacking out;
ignoring the behaviour - possible, depends on safety issues, eg lines of traffic!;
training an incompatible behaviour - I guess that's what you would be trying to do by getting "walk forward" under stimulus control, and as above sometimes overshadowing can occur.
So, options:
Don't hack out;
Hack out on quiet roads/offroad where you have a better chance of waiting till the planting behaviour ceases;
Move outside the +ive R box and use -ive R/+ive P.

Good luck.

Debbie.

Hi Anna

Would agree with what others have said - teach the walk-on cue off the road. Don't put yourself in a dangerous position if the horse doesn't understand the cue. You could teach the cue by having someone lead the horse, or follow another horse so that it's easy to establish the movement. Once your horse understands what the cue means and is on a reasonably extended variable schedule then you can progress to the roads.

I don't think you want to worry about who said what method-wise. Just decide on whether you want to use one or two legs and be consistent. It sounds like you want to leave out the clicker and just enjoy being on your horse rather than getting into a "paralysis by analysis" mode.

Have fun!

Catherine