The answer lies within the very nature and foundation of the 3 Basic Skills and the 3 Purpose Plays*. As we discussed earlier, we are trying to learn the language of the horse, to understand what motivates them and to interact with them as they would do with each other. Horses communicate by means of body language and dominance games that they learn right from the moment they are born and continue to play throughout their entire lives.
At Quantum Savvy we talk about the importance of mastering the 3 Basic Skills and the 3 Purpose Plays as the foundation of our success with horses. These are names we have given them for convenience of teaching, however if you were to observe any true horseman, whichever field he or she was involved with, these same skills would be apparent. Whether by observation and choice or by instinct alone, these people would have discovered the need to be competent in these areas in order to effectively communicate with horses.
Again, the question is why. Why do these skills guarantee success with horses? What all true horsemen have discovered and duplicated, is the way in which horses communicate with each other. Let’s take a look at the 3 Basic Skills and the 3 Purpose Plays and find out where their origins lie.
To the horse, nothing is more important than having a great leader, a member of the herd, to whom all others listen and respond. A leader that can be trusted, that is fair, just and consistent. A leader who says what they mean and mean what they say. From the moment a foal is born, his first and most trusted leader is his mother. It is her job to ensure that her foal is mobile and responsive to both herself and the herd as quickly as possible, for both her foal’s sake and that of the herd. How she goes about doing this is just what we try to replicate through our groundwork when we first begin our horsemanship journey.
Basic Skill One – No yield
be able to touch your horse all over without them feeling the need to move As soon as the new foal is born, its mother will begin to lick and groom it all over. Not only is she cleaning it, she is also creating a bond between the two of them; a bond of trust and reassurance that enforces the horse’s innate characteristic and desire for comfort. It is immediately recognizable to the foal therefore, that comfort and safety is with mum. We duplicate this through our play, by being able to rub and touch our horses all over, even in the sensitive areas, using the same kind of rhythmical motion that she would use.
Basic Skill Two – Contact Yield
yield your horse in all six directions using steady pressure Once the foal is cleaned and rested, the mare will begin to gently nudge it, to encourage it to get to its feet and have a drink. She will use gentle steady pressure in phases to teach the foal to yield in all directions to her suggestions. Her job now is to build a communication quickly, so that the foal learns to follow her cues, enabling her to keep it safe from harm. If the foal doesn’t take her cue, she will nip it or nudge it quite firmly in order to get her message across. Within a few hours the foal will need to be up, nourished and mobile, capable of moving with the herd. This type of yield is much like the phases we would use in the contact yield, where we must teach our horse to follow the suggestion of the steady pressure of our hand or stick.
Basic Skill Three – No Contact Yield
yield your horse in all six directions using rhythmic pressure or suggestion Next she would begin to teach the foal to yield from greater distances, so as to be able to follow her suggestion and that of other members of the herd. This is a common yield used amongst herd members, with variations in lowered heads, laid back ears, baring teeth, flashing butts and flying hooves. Once again, it is the next yield we learn in our ‘no contact’ yield, where we learn to move our horses around without touching them, by using our own body language, swinging ropes, strings and sticks.
Next week we’ll take a look at the Purpose Plays.
*Quantum Savvy ground skills tasks – for more information check out the Quantum SavvyQS Lesson Packs or the free videos available on our Horsemanship Forum at the Quantum Savvy website or on YouTube.
Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.
- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.