Thinking versus Reacting!!! From the very first time I begin working with a young horse I begin by teaching them to think. Most peoples problems with horses is because the horse is reactive and not thinking about what they should be doing about the situation or request we have put on them. My very first introduction to a horse might be to take hold of the lead rope and ask his nose to bend to his belly , and at first he may react by fighting it or trying to pull away from me but as long as he is doing something I just maintain the pressure till he finds the answer. So you have to teach a young horse how to learn. Once a horse has grasped the idea of problem solving they will develop in leaps and bounds , but it is important that we let them know that its okay to give you the wrong answer I am not going to hurt you or get angry , just take all the time you need to find the correct answer . So many horses are not given a chance to learn how to learn many horses have been whipped and spurred for giving the incorrect answer and these horses have become reactive and scared to search for the answer to a problem and so when they are in a situation they dont know the answer to they get frantic. Here is an example of how a horse could be taught to think or to react. You may want to teach your horse to sidepass, so one person puts their leg on to go sideways and nothing happens and so they jam a spur in and the horse leaps sideways and the other person puts their leg on and nothing happens so they start to bump gently with their leg and increasing the weight of the bumps till the horse becomes motivated to do something to stop the bumping so he tries a step forward , a step back and finally a step sideways and the bumping stops. Horse number one went sideways but didnt learn to search for an answer and will now be anxious about things they dont know , horse number 2 has learnt that leg pressure means go sideways and has learnt to search for an answer and knows that you will wait patiently while he works things out. In human terms I could put a drawing pin on your chair and when you sit on it you will immediately jump off it by reacting to the pain no need to think about or I could put a pebble on your chair and you could think to yourself whats that ? That is a bit uncomfortable I will get up. Same result but one got you thinking. Horses are smart , help them to use their minds and not instincts and you will be surprised at what they will be able to achieve. Horses love to please , be patient alot of the time they dont give us what we want isnt because they dont want too, they just arent sure of the answer. Never get angry you will only hurt the horses trust in humans. Best wishes Mat The Horses View Horsemanship 0401394479
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 20:42:48 +0000