In Natural Horsemanship terms we simply mean applying as little as possible but as much as necessary, to cause our horses to yield to our suggestion. Pressure can be something physical, or more often than not it’s simply applying body energy.
Pressure and the application of it will mean different things to you as you progress through the levels and the communication between you and your horse becomes more fluent and more subtle. It may be as little as a raised eyebrow or as much as phase four with a horseman’s stick, depending on the situation and the response required.
A group of students were watching Shane play with a stallion one day and he was talking them through what it was that he was doing. The stallion was a bit of a handful, very dominant and inclined to be aggressive and Shane was playing with him at his level. When he had finished, the students were discussing what they had seen and learnt. They commented on their appreciation of Shane telling them what he was doing as he was doing it, as his cues were so small and soft they were almost imperceptible and yet the stallion new exactly what Shane wanted and responded in a very positive and inquisitive manner.
There is no magic spot or button to push to cause a horse to yield in a particular direction, nor is there a standard amount of pressure to apply to get the result you are after ... knowing how much pressure to use and where to use it is a matter of practise, patience and above all fair use of phases. Some people cause horses to be heavy and dull because the use too much pressure too quickly and cause the horse to go into opposition reflex. Yet the same horse in the hands of someone with good feel and fair phases (light when possible, increasing as necessary) yields softly and lightly when they ask.
There is a good rule of thumb when it comes to using phases and applying pressure ... if your horse is getting heavy and dull, your phases are too slow … if your horse is reacting and getting scared, your phases are too quick.
It’s imperative that we remember to think like a horse when applying pressure at anytime. As humans, subconsciously it’s easy to think that our desires and getting what we want are more important than our horse’s opinions. Float-loading is a typical example. It can be so easy to get carried away because we really want our horses to go on the float - so that we can get to the show, the trail ride or the lesson etc - that we sometimes use higher phases than we need to, we get pushy and insistent and start trying to ‘make’ our horses go on to the float; rather than cause them to want to go on. Therefore forgetting to offer them the chance to do the right thing.
Remember, horses can feel a fly landing on them; that is how light they truly are. It’s not just phase 4 that we must remember and be prepared to use, it’s also phase 1!
Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.
- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.