WHAT A HORSE WANTS

When you play with your horse, how do you approach the session? How do you start? Most people just get going, some start with a “warm up”, but I want to pose a very different approach to getting started with your horse, any horse.

Here’s What I Often Observe At Clinics: The students bring their horses into the arena, after preparing them for ground or riding, and they generally do one of the following: ‣ Walk around the arena leading their horse. ‣ Send their horse trotting on a circle. ‣ Play the Seven Games. (By the way, it doesn’t matter if it is an arena, round corral, playground, field.)

Observations As I watch and read the horses, most of them are not calm, connected or responsive enough, yet the students keep on circling or walking or playing the Seven Games - doing what they think they should be doing, or want to do, rather than what the horse really needs. Recently, I was watching the same thing going on and posed a couple of questions to the group: ‣ Why are you doing what you’re doing? ‣ What does your horse need? Hmm. How interesting.

Observations All except one or two of them did not need to play on the ground for more than a few minutes, or even at all because the horse was calm enough to get on. Now, even though most of them were calm, some were not connected enough, and no one was testing responsiveness. So this was a great place to begin!

Again, What Does Your Horse Need? To feel safer, more connected to you, some quiet time, calmer, focused, motivated, more active, more fun, to check out the surroundings? When you think this way you can quickly go through a mental checklist and then do exactly what your horse needs. The results will be astonishing - happier horses and humans, and ultimately more progress in the session.

Is Your Horse Calm? Yes No, or not relaxed enough What do you need to do? ‣ Hindquarter Control: Disengagement, partial disengagement. ‣ Retreat and Re-approach: Your horse may not feel safe here, or with you. Retreat and re-approach as much as necessary, until your horse calms down. It’s all about the thresholds. ‣ Stand Still: Inside an imaginary box, on a loose line or reins. ‣ Focus: Touch It Game, Target Game. ‣ Rhythm and Consistency for RB horses: It helps horses relax and rhythm is also a good indicator of whether they are relaxed or not! ‣ More Action and Movement for LBE horses: Play, Go, Do! Anything but boring, until they blow out.

Ahhh. That’s better!

Is Your Horse Connected To You (or the task)? Yes No, or not well enough What do you need to do? ‣ Look At Me (not everything else!): HQ disengagement ‣ Nothing: Usually the best for introverts. Do nothing until they connect and sigh or blow out. Just relax and scratch itchy spots, etc. for a while, then move on to responsiveness. ‣ A Task: Mentally connect them to a task as well as you as the leader.

Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing except love on your horse!

Is Your Horse Responsive? Yes No, or not good enough What do you need to do? ‣ Test It and Improve It: Forwards, backwards, sideways. ‣ Maintain Gait: On the circle, first don’t break gait then address quality of gait. If the horse is mincing around, not really going forward, doing that unmotivated shuffle I call “The Chain Gang Trot,” you need to change that. ‣ Be Specific: How many laps? How far or fast sideways? How straight backwards? Stay straight. Keep your nose on the line, etc. ‣ Expression: If your horse has a negative expression, you need to do something to change it or you are training it in. Worse still, you are doing something to upset or offend your horse that you’re not conscious of.

Responsiveness Needs to be Tested & Improved… CONSTANTLY! Seems to be a theme here regarding responsiveness in these tutorials! I cannot emphasize enough how important this is from a leadership, respect and happiness perspective, so I’m going to keep tapping it in to you! Let me explain, the more you put up with a lack of effort on your horse’s part, the more frustrated and unhappy you become. And the more sloppy and unspecific you are as a leader, the more frustrated and unhappy your horse will become!

Go Means Go!

Commit To Change This month’s Touchstone is Purpose. You’ll learn a lot about how to reward your horse, but you first have to be clear on what the purpose is for them. Does your horse know how many laps, what gait, what shape, what attitude, what speed? Note - This does not just apply to the Circling Game. The clearer your expectations, the happier your horse will be.

What To Do When Your Horse Argues OK, some may argue at first (and we know who they are!) but stay on track and they will come around. ‣ Stay focused on your goal ‣ Keep the pressure the same ‣ Don’t add pressure, it will turn into a fight ‣ Time your release to when your horse mentally looks for the right answer, not just when he physically does it. Until then, keep the pressure the same - no more, no less. (This means the pressure of your focus, on the line, with the reins or your seat or legs.) Remember this: It takes two to argue, two to fight. Hold your focus, hold your line, don’t get more active!

Hold tight, don’t add pressure or commotion

So let’s get back to what your horse needs. Even though you have a lot of information about safety, comfort, play, calm, connected, responsive, you still need to ask your horse! Read your horse. Tune in. What do you need? What would you like? Do that and continue from there. It will be the best warm up you can imagine. It’s all about getting your horse in the mood to be with you, to learn, to have fun. Again, What Does Your Horse Need?

You ready? Me too!