This is just a question I had considered and was curious about.
When you are starting a horse under saddle, how do they learn to move forward with your cues?
Is it just instinctual to move away from the pressure?
What is it that you can do to get a young horse to move forward?

maybe you need to wash the paint off.

Lmao @ Troll

Anyway, green horses don't understand your cues. The best thing you can do is give them light cues with your legs and weight- when they don't respond you have to repeat the same thing but add a tap with a whip. Horses will almost always move away from the whip- adding the leg lets them know that when you use your leg, they move forward. Once they do, praise them.

They don't naturally know what the aids are, thus they don't naturally move away from pressure.

tap lightly with your legs and cluck and have someone lead and get them to move forward. Then less of a person leading and more leg.

Normally, among many other things, horses are taught to lunge first with tack on before the rider gets on. Then they are lunged with a rider on, just getting used to weight, and the person on the ground will do the transitions. The person riding will ask with a squeeze of the leg and the person on the ground will follow up by asking the horse to go however they were taught. Eventually you can ride the green horse on their own and they should know whats expected after doing this for a little.

When you were to train them, you could either do a lunge line or just a lead rope and have another person pull them forward while you squeeze with your legs and make the clicking sound. They will soon associate the walking with your squeezing and noises and will go on their own.

No, it is not instinct. Instinct tells them to move into pressure. Your foundation work teaches them that relief is given when they respond correctly...away from pressure.

pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com

So on the ground, you teach them all of the yielding and disengaging and lateral work. You use your lead end to encourage the movement. Some people chose a carrot stick or a whip. We just use a 14 ft lead. You can swing it, slap it on the ground, or pop him gently in the butt with the lead end, depending upon how fast the horse responds to your request.

Once you have that understood, and are comfortable mounting because you have done the preparation correct, you can do these things to get forward movement:

1. Squeeze with your legs. Tap with a heel. Release instantly if even one step is taken. Squeeze again. Eventually he will get it.
2. Use your hand or small tool like a riding crop to tap him on the butt until he goes forward. Release the pressure again. Just ask of a few steps at a time. Work your way forward.
If he trots or canters. you have to be a confident rider to stay with him. Because if you bring him back to a walk or stop then, you have defeated the lesson. You have asked him to go forward, just ride him out. Round pen or small arena helps here. pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
3. Ride him out with another horse. Use your cues of squeezing or heels as the other rider takes their horse the same way. Yours will follow suit. If you can pony a young horse, that is a great way.

A lot of the prep work is done from the ground. Some people even do voice cues. Most of us do body language. So on that new horse, you actually ride the gait whether he is or not. He will soon fall into it.

most people will lunge a horse first before starting them under saddle and get them used to sound cues like walk trot jog whoa.

This is where the groundwork comes in. I teach the young horses to lead, using voice cues as well as carrying a dressage whip to tap them where your leg would go if needed. Then, I teach them how to longe, again using the same voice cues. Once I'm on them, I will use the voice cues they already know, and add the leg. They will associate the leg cue with the voice cue, and figure it out. I'll also have that dressage whip with me, and can back up the voice and leg with the whip if necessary. pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com

You can't just hop on and thump your legs on their sides. They will be confused and not know what to do.

I think it is good to do enough ground work that he will respond to your cues, kiss, clucks, what ever you use and make him move out when you give him the cue, even if you have to tick him with the whip to make sure he does move when you ask.

Then when you are riding him he will be more likely to move out when you give the cue.