Being prey animals that depend on their instincts for survival, they have learnt to be very quick to recognize comfort and discomfort, danger and safety. It doesn’t take too many times for a horse to recognise if something or somebody, is good for them or not ... much to the chagrin of many humans over the course of history! As such, horses tend to pick up extremely quickly on patterns, be they positive or negative.
How many times does it take for a horse to figure out that bucking someone off gives him comfort, even if only temporarily? If he does it once even by accident and he finds comfort, chances are he’ll try it again. If it works once more, there’s a pretty good chance that a pattern has formed. Have you ever ridden into an arena or paddock and been surprised to find that your horse knows exactly where the gate is? You may have only got off there once to open the gate and that’s all it took for you horse to find comfort. It pays to be wary of where you create comfort spots.
This tendency in horses to find patterns can work for us equally well as it can to work against us. With a bit of savvy, we can use positive patterns to help us and our horse learn new things and expands our abilities. Already through the programme to this point we have begun establishing patterns and now, as we begin to ask for more and stretch our comfort zones, these patterns will become more and more important.
You’ll notice that when we begin something new, we often begin by establishing a circle. That is, find a centre spot and rest there for a time to mark our stopping spot and then set about riding a few laps in either direction to mark our circle. It doesn’t really matter what your pattern is, a long as it is something familiar and easy to duplicate. Generally a circle is easy to establish just about anywhere at any time and provided you have done your homework, is instantly recognizable by your horse. It’s in that moment when he starts to become right-brained, that you need to be able to show him something familiar that also affects his flight distance, in order to get his attention back on you and calm him down again. Circles are the perfect example.
Have you ever tried to ride your horse somewhere new, say in a nice big open space? Being agoraphobic (scared of open spaces) just the size and openness of it may have been enough to get your horse excited and nervous. Let’s say you really want to ride out there and do something constructive, however it seems almost impossible to get your horse’s attention. You’ve been doing your homework though, so you grab a cone and put that out in the paddock and begin to establish your pattern. If you do something constructive on the circle, like sideways around the cone or simple lead changes, within a short time you’ll have your horse’s attention back again and you’ll be able to go on with what you wanted to do. If your horse comes uncorked again, you’ll just go back to your pattern. If you’ve done a great job of your homework, you won’t even need the cone. Just beginning the pattern will be enough.
In this way we can use our patterns as a form of approach and retreat when teaching our horse, or us, something new. If we establish something familiar and then build onto it, chances are we will save ourselves some confusion. In order to learn, we need to be left-brained and thinking clearly too.
Let’s look at galloping for example. For this we will use our circle pattern. Starting on the circle, we will gradually wind it out a little bigger and a littler faster until one of us - either our horse or us - begins to get right-brained. At that point we will wind gradually back down again a little smaller and a little slower, still staying on the circle, until things settle down once more. In this way we have used something familiar, we have stretched to something new and then come back to something familiar to finish. In the process we have stretched both of our comforts zones to new dimensions.
A helpful hint:- be sure you know the pattern yourself. When you are out there and riding around, especially at speed or with a more complicated pattern, it’s easy to lose where you are. Trying to muddle through will only cause you and your horse more confusion. It’s a great idea to walk the pattern first on your own two feet, to get the idea yourself first before expecting your horse to do it.
Positive Patterns are such a terrific tool. Make sure that you and your horse know them well. In that way, you will always have something to fall back on if ever you need to.
Read More Road To Horsemanship articles.
- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.