Tip of the Month
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We know that the horse has the ability to sleep on his feet and rarely gets more than 45 minutes of REM's (rapid eye movements) per day. These he gets in five to seven minute intervals. I have often wondered if the horse ever truly relaxes at all. I would have to say, since mother nature gave him this unique talent, he does. We, however, were not given the ability to sleep on our feet. Although sometimes I swear I have seen it. We can relax but it seems that most of us have to talk ourselves into it. When working, playing, or simply just trying to communicate with horses, relaxing around them will make all the difference in the world. Let's talk about this a little bit. Relaxing requires no physical exertion, so therefore should be very simple to do. I know that most of us believe we are relaxed but we are not. If you have ever had a problem sleeping and have used the method of relaxing one little part of your body at a time, you soon realize that the rest of the body is not relaxed at all. When we relax it is easy for others to relax around us, including our horse. Let's use the lead rope as our example and see if we can get our training day off to a better start. Just the way you hold your lead rope can make a big difference in the way your horse responds to you. Using a standard lead rope, may cause you to squeeze it just a little, if for no other reason but to hold on to all that excess rope. Now if you squeeze your hand, you stiffen your body. Remember when we used the method of relaxing one part of our body at a time in order to fall asleep? Some of us are better at this than others, but most of us seem to have this problem. Now since there are so many areas where we have a tendency to stiffen our bodies, if we tried to cover all of them, this tip could get quite long, so we are going to stay with the lead rope and hopefully you can apply the method to all the other areas. I have never understood the reason for a five or seven foot lead rope, other than maybe to tie my horse to something and that too, would be rare. When I begin training with any horse, I always use a lead rope that I have cut down to about 2 1/2 feet in length and is approximately 1 inch in diameter (a fat lead rope). I tie a knot in the end to avoid having the rope jerked out of my hands. (Burn the end of the lead rope to keep it from unraveling.) This allows me to have just enough rope so that I don't put pressure on the horse and trap him. It also allows me to hold the lead rope loosely in my hand without the concern of losing it. It is impossible for me to step on it or get it tangled around my feet, and in most cases, if the horse should get away he will not step on it either. This way I can keep my hand relaxed for the most part and I can focus on what the horse and I are going to do. There are many advantages to using this short lead rope as I am sure you will experience if you try it. Now if cutting a perfectly good lead rope in half bothers you greatly, you could always keep the other end for a spare. But if not, just relax... lead ropes are only about eight bucks.
Be good to your horse Dennis |
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