Ranch Trail 101: 5 Steps to Teaching the Sidepass

The sidepass is a foundational maneuver for ranch trail horses, but the exercise has value well beyond the show pen. Teaching a horse to move laterally off your leg can improve body control, responsiveness and communication in horses of any discipline.

Trainer Cody Crow explains how he introduces the sidepass and builds the maneuver from the basics. Watch the full video lesson.

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1. Introduce your horse to the pole before asking for movement

When I’m introducing my horse to the sidepass, I’ll start by walking them over the pole and I’ll let them straddle it and just sit there. A lot of horses aren’t comfortable with something being underneath them, so I’ll pet on them and if they feel anxious, I’ll let them walk away and know it’s not a big deal. Then I’ll circle back around and keep repeating until they’re confident.

2. Position your horse for success

Once the horse is comfortable, I’ll position them so the pole is about 3 to 4 inches behind my heel. If I look down and the pole is about that far behind my heel, that gives me the most distance between the pole and their front feet, and the pole and their back feet.

If my horse touches the pole, my score starts getting deducted. So I don’t want to hit it. I want to give myself the most margin of error I can.

3. Cue the sidepass with rein, leg and body position

Now that my horse is set up where he needs to be, I’m going to ask him to sidepass. I’m going to lift my reins up, square him up in the bridle, and just lift a little so when I add my leg he’s not going to walk forward. I’m going to add my outside leg right in the center. I’m going to turn and look where we’re going, open my inside leg, and push with my outside leg. Once he’s off the log, I’ll walk him forward.

4. Prioritize straightness only after your horse understands the maneuver

To keep him straight, I may have to manipulate my outside leg forward or backward depending on what part of his body needs to catch up. If I need to push his shoulders over to catch up with his hips, I’ll slide my leg forward. If I need the hip to move, I’ll slide my leg back.

5. Ride a few extra steps past the pole to prevent anticipation

I make sure to sidepass horses off the log just a few more steps because these horses are pretty smart and they’ll get used to stopping right after the log. I don’t want them to quit moving until I ask them to quit moving.

—H&R—

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