Tip of the Month
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Let me start off with a statement that seems to confuse a lot of people. " A horse moves into pressure and away from the anticipation of pressure." Doesn't that tell us that we have possibly been doing the wrong thing for a long time? Most of the methods we use today, we inherited from the Calvary. These techniques have remained the same for hundreds of years. Now if we look at this intelligently, we should know that the majority of the men that joined the Calvary did so simply because they needed a job. Many had never seen a horse before, much less ever attempted to train or communicate with one. They developed ways of physically controlling the horse instead of learning how to teach him by using his natural instincts. Harsh bits, sharp spurs, tiedowns, and heavy hands (just to name a few), were the tools of choice. Let's face it, these people were not known for their expertise in horsemanship. On the other side of the coin, you had the Indian nations who were capable of riding their horses with nothing but a single rein made of grass that simply looped behind the horse's bottom back teeth. They were capable of taking their horses into large herds of bison moving at high speeds, and with the no contact on the horse, hold him next to the buffalo and with precise accuracy, shoot an arrow into their prey. Awesome control? Actually no. Awesome communication? Yes. Once again, communication means the interchange of thoughts or information. This leads up to what this tip is all about. When we start our horses, if we begin our communication by putting pressure on him and we don't get the response that we are looking for, we only have one alternative and that is to use more pressure. If you begin with a lot of force, then you have absolutely no place to go. In addition, if your timing is bad, you will be teaching your horse the opposite of your intention. An example of this would be the stop. If you should first pull back on your reins, and then say the word whoa, you have taught your horse that stopping hurts, and if anything hurts they are reluctant to do it (as are we.) For many, if the horse blows through the stop too many times, they will go to a more severe bit. I know for a fact you have seen this many times and may be guilty of it yourself. This is one of those things that has been handed down to us and since we don't know a better way, we believe that this is what we are supposed to do . Okay, how would I do it? Since it is the horse's natural instinct is to move away from the anticipation of pressure, he really doesn't need much teaching. I have a 4 foot whip that I use to tap on the ground to get the horse to move in the opposite direction. Example... In front of the horse to get him to stop and/or back up, on the sides of the horse to get him to step over or side pass, and I bring the whip up behind the horse to ask him to step forward. The horse anticipates pressure and moves in the direction I want him to go. The horse figures out very quickly that this does not hurt and can concentrate on the task, and not the pain. Add a cue to this and you are on your way to the horse of your dreams. If you choose to use my method, you will not only have a horse that takes his cues willingly, but you just might wind up with the best friend you've ever had. The choice is yours, no pressure here.
Be good to your horse Dennis |
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