FALCON CREEK FARM NEWSLETTER

APRIL 2003

WHAT IS YOUR TRAINING ATTITUDE?

Have you ever thought about what your own attitude is when you climb in the saddle or start working with your horse? Have you had a bad day? Are you stressed out and have some pent up frustrations? Is there a chance that the time to ride might not be the best? Sometimes when we have had a bad day or are in a less than ideal mood, we are looking for someone, or something, to take out our frustrations on, and sometimes, we may not even be aware of it. Many times, it’s the horse that is the receiving end of it. One of the keys to optimizing your training and overall relationship with your horse is to recognize when those days are. Sometimes it’s better to skip a day of riding or training, it you feel you may be looking for someone (or something) to unload on or vent to. You and your horse are both bound to lose if he is your target.

So, what if you are having a good day? Have you ever thought about the working dynamics between you and your horse? When you ride, train or interact with your horse, what are the messages you are conveying to him? Through your actions, language, tone of voice and body movements, you are continually communicating with your horse, by what you do and what you don’t do. The horse is always aware of you, even when you are not aware of yourself. You are always telling him something, even when you don’t realize it. One of the keys of better relationships between our horses and us is this awareness. A hand that moves too fast while haltering might trigger a head toss from a fear response or a small amount of leg pressure in the horse’s ribs while you are mounting, may cause your horse to move when you want him to stand still. You may be standing too far in front of him when you lounge him and then wonder why he keeps stopping. These are all subtle cues we give our horses everyday without realizing them and then we get upset and accuse the horse of misbehaving.

One of the things I try to do when I am working with my horse and see a problem, I stop and ask myself, “What am I doing to contribute to this problem?” Most of the time, I find the solution by changing what I do, not by expecting the horse to change. Since the horse tends to react to me, I need to change what I do to illicit a different response or the one I want. I don’t just expect the horse will figure it out and do what I want.

Problems, like a horse that won’t jog or lope slow in a pleasure class, a horse that won’t stand still, a horse that throws his head when you ride or ask for a transition, a horse that won’t pick up it’s feet, can be traced back to something that someone helped to create or a fear that someone instilled in that horse and is still reacting to it. The good news is, that these can be corrected, over time, with the right communication. Horses are basically flight animals, meaning that they are motivated by fear. Their typical response is to run, buck, kick or bite. It’s all about self-preservation. Keeping that in the back of your mind at all times can help you determine your actions around your horse.

I have been to many John Lyons clinics and demonstrations, as a spectator. While he is quite amazing at what he can get a horse to do, the one thing that impressed me the most about him is his attitude with his horses. The one thing I remember best about his clinics is what he says to the horse when he is asking it to do something. Can you guess what it is he says? When the horse does something he wants, he doesn’t say “good boy” or “that’s it” or “it’s Ok”. What he says is “Good For You!” Think about what that says, both verbally and non-verbally to the horse. This imparts both a confidence and a reward to the horse. He wants the horse to win. Isn’t that what we want the horse to gain from us? John is excited that the horse did what he wanted. He isn’t looking for the horse to “behave”, or to do what he wants, “or else”, he’s looking for the horse to react to a specific, non-threatening stimulus in a certain way. When the horse does, he literally congratulates the horse, like he is proud of it. So many of us just expect a behavior from the horse and don’t stop to realize that the horse is just trying to learn what you are asking of it. Horses need quiet, consistent teaching, not forceful expectations. We need to set our horses up to “win”.

Good luck with your riding and training.

Tune in for next month’s article!

Happy Riding!

To get our monthly newsletter by email, send your request to: newsletter@falconcreekfarm.com