Tip of the Month
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A very important part of horse training are the cues we use. After all, they are the main way we communicate with the horse. We replace most of the words we might say with hand signals and body language to get the point across to the horse. Going on that, if you only had words to use as a line of communication with the horse, your words would need to be consistent. Be very clear every time you ask something of the horse, just as your hand signals and body language should be. Keep in mind that when we use hand signals and body language on the ground, most of these same signals can be used when we start riding the horse. For example, if you are walking beside your horse, you would be focused on the direction that you are going. When you made a turn, you would turn your shoulders and look in that direction. This would be exactly the same as if you were riding the horse. Most of the cues that I give to my horse when I am on the ground are identical to the ones that I would use when I’m on his back. This cuts my training time in half, if not more. It also makes the horse that I am working with more comfortable with me, because it takes away most of the confusion. Now if poor and inconsistent cues weren’t bad enough, lets talk about over cueing, which is probably worse. I know many times, you have witnessed people using cues, when they do not need to. For example, a horse is on the lunge line, and the trainer asks the horse to trot. The horse is now doing what was asked of him, yet the trainer keeps saying the word and giving the horse the trot cue. This is much like the story of the little boy who cried wolf . When the people would come running to help him, there was no wolf, so when there really was one, nobody came. What ever you ask your horse to do, you will not re-cue him unless he stops doing it, or you are quite sure he is getting ready to stop. Another good example would be “Whoa”. How many times have you heard someone say, “Whoa, whoa, whoa”? If it didn’t work the first time, why would they expect it to work if they repeated it five times or more? If we keep repeating the cue, the cue will lose all of its strength and become nothing to the horse. You will also lose some of your power as alpha. If this sounds like it could be one of your problems, you need to go back and re-teach the cue to the horse, so you need only give it once, and teach your self, to leave well enough alone. Be good to your horse Dennis | |||
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