If you have too much ‘make’ in what you ask your horse to do, it will not take him long to figure out that you cannot reach him and he will become more and more dull and desensitised.
Therefore, attitude will be a major key here. Learning to ‘offer’ something to your horse and rewarding the slightest try will yield the best results. Let’s use an example.
One of the tasks that we do in Level 2 is to ask our horse to make upward transitions while on the circle. So…your horse is circling you, you turn with him and lead him up, asking him to go faster. He doesn’t follow your suggestion to go faster, so you start spanking the ground behind him with your stick and string. This time, although he doesn’t change gait, he does speed up a little. You recognize the try and leave him alone, giving him comfort and the all important release. Pretty soon, after a couple of tries, he figures out what you want and this time when you ask him to go faster he makes the change and goes up a gait. The response is light and soft because you were polite and he is trying to help you out. Now let’s look at the other scenario. You ask your horse to go faster. He ignores you, so you start spanking the ground. Although he is now going a little faster, you are so focused on what you want, which is him going up a gait, that you keep on spanking the ground. He starts getting right-brained and pulling on the rope as he goes around you. You keep on spanking because he hasn’t given you what you want yet. Now he is getting scared, so he goes faster but because he is right-brained he loses all impulsion and flexion so he becomes straight and as stiff as a board ... pulling harder on the lead rope and he still doesn’t change gait. Your frustration builds because its not working and you are still spanking the ground for all your worth.
Remember that rhythmic motion (the repeated action of waving your arm, stick, string … anything) will desensitise your horse*. So, a couple of goes at this scenario and your horse soon realises that although you keep spanking the ground, you can’t reach him, so he starts to ignore it and becomes dull and desensitised. Pretty soon you are out there spanking away and he’s just poking around on the end of the line and losing respect for you by the second.
If you can teach your horse to go toward comfort, rather than away from discomfort, it will not matter how far away from you he is, or even if he has a lead rope on or not. This is going beyond communication. This is building rapport and heart and desire, which will stand you in good stead whatever your endeavours.
*refer to previous article on Desensitising
Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.
- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.