BW Natural Horsemanship

       Trust is the last thing we receive from our horses, and possibly the last thing we may notice. Most people think they have their horses' trust, but the fact of the matter is, horses have learned to tolerate our everyday dealings with them.  You can't train trust into them, even doing the exercise of JOIN UP. The horse only becomes conditioned to our presences, requests, and techniques thru our training patterns. The horse only displays to us the response he thinks you wanted with that request or cue. He could have guessed right only by luck or chance. When the cue of join up is repeated over and over again, the horse learns the proper response you want by doing the same thing, approaching us when we have our backs turned, us ignoring the horses' presence. Don't mistake it for bonding or a trusting relationship. It is a conditioned response to a certain cue. 

    In order to gain trust from our horses, we must show trust. How can a human show trust to a horse?. Your trust is shown by displaying calm confidence, knowledge and clarity in skills with handling. Over years with our consistent routine, the horse will feel secure with us and our instructions, care, judgement and leadership. This is when trust is found. Because the horses' survival is their main concern, they learn to trust us when we show them that we will not jepordize their safety or cause them any harm, now you have that trust factor. Once the horse has developed trust with us, now the horse is concerned with our wellbeing, and is more likely to risk injury to himself than cause us harm. An example of trust I witnessed was when my younger daughter's horse was galloping in the corral, she unknowingly stepped into his path, and rather than run her over, the horse threw himself out of her direction, causing him to fall. He had a choice, to run her over or risk his own safety. Thankfully, he choose to protect her. Needless to say, this horse has a good home with us until the end of his days. This horse and my daughter have a very strong bond of trust. This was not the only incident. During a parade on a rainy day, the horse fell wilth her, and rather than freak out, as expected, this horse waited until she was able to free herself before he attempted to get up. I have experienced this with other horses of mine where they have had a choice in potentially dangerous situations, where they choose my safety over theirs. If you have been in a simuliar situation, and your horse did the unexpected to insure your safety over his, then you can probably say your horse has trust in you. You can have multiple horses, but trust is what makes you feel that a particular horse is special.  

      To those who read my blog I know it's been awhile, which leads me to my next topic ... Patience.

Patience is needed in everyday life and it needs to spill over into teaching and learning. In order for the teacher to be effective they must practice patience. Because the answer to the question isn't so readily available to the student, equine student in this case, the horse must sort out the cues to find the correct answer.  I can never stress enough how much patience you need when working with and teaching horses.

     However, this lesson is going to take a different spin. This time we are going to teach the student, or horse, to learn patience.

This is a valuable lesson, the benefits you will see in your everyday contact with your horse. So how do you teach your horse

patience?

     It goes back to when I first started working with horses. Once I saw a trainer tie his horse up to a railing and leave. He didn't come back for hours. I was curious on why he did that, and on asking him he said "I'm teaching him patience". I couldn't see how this would be effective. I thought the lesson would teach the horse the opposite -- frustration, irritation, impatience, and restlessness when tied. First of all this trainer never saw his horses' reaction. I did. All the while this horse paced and switched back and forth as far as his lead would let him. I can only imagine what happened the next time this horse was tied, or how you tack a horse that is in constant motion. Also, how could this method give the horse any positive feedback on what he was to do. 

     So how do you start teaching your horse patience? Start with a simple lesson, when you tie your horse leave for a short time, keep him in sight, and return to him when he is standing still, give positive feedback with a pat or take him for a short walk.

Then repeat the lesson but don't overdo it at the start, slowing extend your time in future lessons. Another lesson would be to use sizzors to trim his bridle path rather than clippers. First it takes more time, and you get the opportunity to teach your horse to yield his head to you, allowing you to place his head in positions (side to side or lower his head) for longer periods. Don't forget to give him his reward and allow him to have his head back for a short time, then ask him to lower his head again. Give him many releases during the trimming until you have finished the task. Your horse will learn to stand patiently while you work with him and you will learn how to slow down when working with him. This concept can spill over into other areas like grooming, tacking, working with his feet, which will probably make your farrier smile.  

     To quote my wife... Patience is a virtue, posses it if you can, seldom found in women, never found in man.

     Our pattern and routine in approach and tasks helps to reinforce our horses bad behavior and evasion.

We don't realize how much our horses study us and our actions. The horse is not nearly as distracted as we can be. He spends his time watching us, even when we are unaware. He knows by our behavior and approach what is about to happen, and if he doesn't want to participate, this can lead to his avoidance. For example, he may avoid the halter in his stall, run when you want to catch him in the field, or move when you try to mount.

     Many times we enter the stall, and try corner him to place the halter. To correct this avoidance, before entering the stall, kiss and get the horse to face you. Never enter a stall if the horse's rearend is facing the gate. Now enter the stall and change your pattern, don't always grab the halter first, sometimes just go in and pet him, rub him, look him over and leave. After a short period, ask him to face you again, then go in and halter. By mixing up your pattern, he doesn't recognize what your intent is, pleasure or work, therefore he has to wait rather than avoid. This works really well for the stall sour horse.

    Most horses enjoy the freedom of the turnout, why would he want to be caught? After the turnout, it usually means work is following. Again, change your pattern. In the field, teach your horse to stop and face you, and allow you to approach and touch him. Keep him guessing, sometimes just pet or inspect him, then turn and leave. Return later, ask him to stop and face you. This time, you may want to groom, or halter and take him for a leisurely walk. This will keep him guessing, maybe work doesn't always follow turnouts.   

    Dressing him in saddle and tack or pulling out the mounting block means we are going to work. If your ride is always hard work for him, he will soon react with evasion. It becomes a game of cat and mouse, you step up, he moves his hind end away. Change your pattern. Try stepping up on the mounting block, stand there and have him stand with you. He's waiting for you to tighten the reins, make a motion to reach for the stirrup and swing up. Instead, try rubbing his neck and hind end, now step off the mounting block. Repeat several times. You are creating a new pattern of patience, and he has to wait and see what is next. For those horses that are determined to avoid mounting, you must get him to disengage his hind end, crossing only his back legs, quick, hard and tight around the mounting post, until he softens. Disengaging the hind end around a mounting block is hard work, and it will convince him to stand

and let you mount. 

     Remember your horse knows you better than you think, he's had a lot of time to study you. Keep him guessing, change your pattern now and then, and he'll be less likely to anticipate, and avoid. The horse doesn't have a pattern, he has a reaction to our pattern, thus we must change .  

     Riding in balance, is a balance between mental conditioning and physical

positioning.

     The mental awareness is the person's frame of mind, attitude or emotions.

Fear is a big factor in influencing your mental state. Because of the fear of

being unseated and falling, the rider does whatever it takes to prevent a fall.

He ultimately holds his breath, tenses up his muscles, and then panic sets in.  

This panic, and tension, has an effect on the riders physical balance.

The rider starts to bounce, leaning forward, backward, side to side.

The neck becomes like jello, the head is like a ball balancing on a stick, and

all this movement has an effect on the horse. Another unintentional response

when you feel unseated, is to grip with your legs, applying pressure with the

calf and thigh muscles, pushing down in the stirrups, banging the horse's barrel.

If that isn't enough, we start yanking and pulling back on the reins, grabbing

and putting a death hold onto the saddle horn. Does any of this sound familiar?

     Now just imagine what the horse is thinking and feeling. Do you really 

belong up there, what the  -*?!_*-  are you trying to do, and what do you

want!!  I know, you must be a predator, and I need to get into my fight or

flight mode.

     Now that you know what the problem is, how do you fix it?  First, start

with proper placement of the saddle on the horse's back. Now sit balanced

or centered in the saddle, not arching forward or leaning back. You are now

sitting and ready to ride, in the horse's center of gravity. This helps the horse's

balance and yours. Never hold you breath, as this causes you to tense up. 

Many people are not aware they are holding their breath, so focus on this point.

Doing good so far standing still, now it's time to ask him to move on.

     Balance is moving with your horse's movement. You need to be relaxed,

flexible and limber, but not too loose like a spagetti noodle. You need to match

your horse's movement, so you don't interfere with his stride and gait. 

Practice matching the horse's action, so as he walks, pay attention to his

hind end movement, and match his sway side to side. Now you are in balance

with him and moving as one. As you progress, this same technique can be used

in all the gaits.