Man of Trail’s Playlist

Dowload these tracks (or those with similar beats) to help you sync- up with a pattern and find your rhythm. 1. Footloose— Kenny Loggins 2. Honky Tonk Woman— The Rolling Stones 3. Blurred Lines— Robin Thicke 4. Mony Mony— Billy Idol 5. All Summer Long— Kid Rock 6. Sweet Home Alabama— Lynyrd Skynyrd 7. Cupid Shuffle— Cupid 8. You Shook Me All Night Long— AC/DC 9. The Way You Made Me Feel— Michael Jackson 10. Wild, Wild West— The Escape Club

USE YOUR RUDDER Do you hold your free arm down, like you’re showing Western pleasure, or hold it against your belt buckle when you do trail? Not anymore.

Even though you’re not physically holding anything with your free hand, it still holds a purpose. Use your free arm to your advantage by keeping your arm in a horsemanship position, and use that arm like you would a rudder.

If you ride with your left hand, your right arm will help you guide. When you put your right hand forward, you go left. If you put your right arm back, you’ll go to the right. And when you place your arm back in horsemanship position, it stays neutral. Key trail tip: You can also think of your rudder as a joystick, it’s how you guide through the whole course.

Here’s an example of using your rudder on the course. The back-through can be one of the toughest parts of a trail course, so use your rudder to your advantage. Push your rudder back to make your horse’s hip go to the left, and place your rudder forward to make his hip go to the right.

Oak Point, Texas, has designed top trail courses for some of the largest horse shows in the world. When he’s not at horse shows, he’s traveling to different countries to hold clinics that educate riders of all levels on how to successfully show trail. Visit his Facebook page, Tim Kimura: Man of Trail, to purchase his trail DVDs and learn more about him.