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Principles
 

SOME INFORMATION ABOUT OUR HORSEMANSHIP PRINCIPLES


Our goal is to have our horse want to be with us more than they want to be anywhere else:

There is a big difference between a horse being comfortable near a person vs. a horse feeling it has no other choice than to be near a person. It's important to see the difference between a horse feeling forced and just physically standing next to a person vs. a horse that is mentally present and content to be near a person. With horses things change from moment to moment, and there is no rote way to go about doing things. There is a vast range of things that will affect how you would go about doing something with each horse. The following information on this page offers just a taste of the principles and a few scenarios and suggestions that are meant to get you thinking about doing things in a way that will help the horse to be comfortable and mentally present when they are with you. 

The horse is communicating all the time. Even if they are shut down and not willing to engage mentally, they are still communicating how they are feeling. From the moment they see us, they are letting us know how they feel about what they perceive to be true. Reading each horse accurately and recognizing the smallest of things they are communicating to us and then communicating to them in a way they can understand is the first and most important step to the horse feeling safe and comfortable being with us. Recognizing things like when the horse is needing you to slow down, or break things down into smaller steps for them so they can think through the process of learning something. Recognizing the first signs of concern or tension in a horse and not ignoring what they are telling you. These are the types of conversations between the horse and person that bring about the mental connection needed to have a safe and joyful relationship.

Almost every time someone is having a problem with their horse the problem the person thinks they are having is really just a symptom of the problem they and their horse are having together. When the person begins to become aware of how their horse is feeling and begins understanding the communication the horse is offering, many times the person admits that they had noticed some of the things the horse was presenting, but either didn't know what to do or didn't feel it was a real need the horse was communicating and so they just ignored it. If we can stay mentally present and aware that the horse is always communicating (even if we don't feel we know what the horse is saying), and just acknowledge to the horse we heard them by stopping what we are doing, many times just taking a little time to allow the horse to process and let down before starting over again will give the horse what it needs to be able to think and figure out what we want and help them feel more comfortable about being mentally present.

Make it simple, make the right thing easy:

"Making the wrong thing difficult and the right thing easy" is one of the most common principles in the horse world. However most of the time people focus on making the wrong thing difficult, and they forget to make the right thing easy or clear enough to the horse.

If we can focus our own minds on making the right thing clear to the horse, breaking things down to smaller pieces, allowing the horse the time to figure things out, reading the horse's emotions and rewarding for trying, all of these thing are more apt to help the horse succeed and feel good about good about the learning process.

What is the horse saying, are they understanding but unconfident, are they unsure and frozen, or are they unmotivated to try, if we are aware of these things and knowledgeable in creating a way for the horse to want to try, then there is really no need to make the wrong thing difficult.

People can tend to focus on what the horse is not doing, or doing wrong...and then go about making the wrong thing difficult. If that happens, the horse may do what we want, but they did it out of a flight reaction rather than willingly thinking through what they were doing, they were just escaping pressure...they really didn't choose to be in that spot they ended up.

A common example of making the wrong thing difficult is during trailer loading when someone is using pressure on the horse around the outside of the trailer and the horse ends up escaping the pressure by getting into the trailer. Pressuring a horse into a trailer and taking the time to teach a horse to load itself into the trailer are two different things.

The horse needs clear direction, and then be allowed the time they need to figure out how to do it. The mental search the horse needs to goes through to figure things out is the very heart of the learning process. If we don't understand this, then more than likely we'll be making the wrong thing difficult and putting some sort of pressure on the horse to get them to physically do what we want them to do. 

Really listening to the horse and understanding how to communicate with a them in a way that helps them use their mind and calmly figure things out rather than just physically reacting or just going through the motions is key to gaining the horse’s attention, participation and trust.

Sometimes when they do understand what you want they may do the opposite. They aren't presenting any one strong thought of their own, they are just avoiding what you want them to do. It may be because they don't have enough confidence, or have had a negative experience in that area. This is where people tend to want to add more pressure. We need to put less importance on them just doing the thing we want and realize that the process of the horse figuring things out and having the confidence to try is far more valuable in the long run. The more experience the person has with this process of making the right thing clear and easy, the more patience and confidence they will have that the horse will make it, and the horse feels that too. 

When a horse goes through the experience of finding a better answer for themselves with our help, it can make a lasting impression on them. Over time, they can start to see our direction as a support to their self preservation. It gives them the experience of the human being part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
 
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"Feel", a little bit about a big subject...

Feel encompasses more than what the eye can see or what we can physically touch. Have you ever known something when working with a horse but couldn't explain why you knew it? The horse knows when we know, and they know when we don't know.

When we talk about "feel" as it applies to horsemanship, it can have many different meanings and applications. In most cases, several different applications of "feel" are being used at the same time in any given situation when we're communicating with a horse.

Feel affects everything, it can cause something to work out really well, or not work out at all.

Feel is innate to the horse. It's how they naturally operate and communicate. They learn to follow a feel and yield to a feel from their mother from birth.

When a horse has a set habit to resist following a feel as their first response to pressure, here is an idea to think about...it goes like this, "Go with your horse's idea so they can have the opportunity to experience the feel of going in unity with you". This idea can be used on the ground or in the saddle. When we use this idea in order to help a horse gain understanding of how it can feel to be in sync with us, it will also tend to extinguish a clash of wills with a horse that has a strong resistance to following a feel. As we are going with the horse, we can feel places where it would be easiest to influence the horse's thought and movement for a moment, or a step or two. You want to feel for spots where they would be most apt to take a suggestion from us. We can ask for the horse to follow our suggestion from us for a moment and then just continue on back into going with them and feel where there is another opening to our suggestion. To the horse it is always clear who is leading and who is following, and yet as we put this into practice, who is leading and who is following can seamlessly change from moment to moment. The goal is to help the horse find comfort in staying connected to us, where there is no clash of wills when we pick up on a rein or rope and ask them to mentally follow our feel...they can learn to let go and go with our thought.

Some of the aspects of "feel" can seem very elusive. Most people are not used to being aware of that part of themselves or that part of the horse. Feel is not something strange or mystical, it's part of how we were created. However, in a world that has become more and more direct line and task oriented, and where technology has advanced to the place where people don't have to interact with someone in person, or even a real person, it can be easy to overlook or even realize that this part of life exists. The depth of the horse's capability to operate through feel is beyond human capabilities. They are born with senses that are far beyond ours. A herd of horses communicates and operates the vast majority of the time silently with clarity and accuracy. They can find water from long distances away, their memory is acute, and all of this is directly tied into their sense of self preservation. However, over time, as you continue to better your listening skills to what the horse is communicating, everyone can improve their horse reading skills and their feel of and for the horse. 

Controlling our thoughts and emotions while being aware of the horse's thoughts and emotions as well as our surroundings is a part of being able to clearly communicate to them that they can trust us. Every un-needed thought a person has carries a feel and has the possibility to convolute what the person is trying to communicate to a horse. That's why you can watch someone walk up to a horse and the horse seems at ease and willing to respond to them, and then someone else can walk up to that same horse seemingly in the same manner, but the horse seems hesitant or unwilling. 

A couple general aspects of feel are indirect feel and direct feel. Every time we physically touch a horse and ask them to respond to that touch we are using direct or tactile feel. When we are asking a horse to yield at liberty without physically touching them or being attached to them by a rein or rope, that is indirect feel.

Our attitude, energy and intent has a "feel" that the horse can feel, which affects how the horse feels about responding to us. As a wise horseman once said, "It has to come right out of the inside of the person, to the inside of the horse".

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Some things to ponder....

Considerate consistent communication creates "sureness" and connection.

Inconsistency causes disconnect and resentment.

Think about people that are attracted to gambling games...how many times out of 100 do they need to get a pay off for them to keep playing? The rewards may be few and far between, but those intermittent pay offs are meant to keep people believing it's possible for them to get the big pay off. It encourages them to keep trying. The same intermittent reward incentive applies to horsemanship. It may take only 1 or 2 times for some horses to learn something you never wanted them to learn. If we pick up on a rein or lead rope and release for something we don't want, or we are ineffective when we decide to block the horse from carrying out a thought, then we've just reinforced that very thing we don't want them to do.

Each and every time you pick up on a rein or lead rope, you should have something in mind that needs to take place in the horse before you release. It may be letting go of a thought, a momentary look in the right direction, or some other small try...how the horse initially responds, and what they already understand will dictate what you actually release for.

A soft feel between horse and rider is when you have relaxation and understanding coupled with willingness that starts in the horse's mind and goes down through the body to the feet.

Softness is first mental, then the physical softness follows the mental softness.

Softness needs to be there in all movement...any tension in the first steps will probably build into more tension as you continue on. 

If a horse starts to build tension as they move, don't ignore it...we need to recognize the first signs of tension and help the horse in whatever way is appropriate for that horse at that time, i.e. slow things down, stopping and starting over again, breaking things down into smaller pieces, etc.

Clarity brings relaxation.

Sometimes just slowing things down will get rid of the tension. As they build understanding and confidence, then speed can "slowly" come back into the picture.

A horse cannot carry worry and tension without it affecting everything we ask them to do at some level. Some horses cannot continue to build tension for very long before it overflows and produces some sort of dangerous outburst. So our job is continually being aware and helping the horse to get rid of the tension EVERY time it enters the picture.

A horse can learn to operate in softness when the appropriate feel is offered that communicates to the horse where they need to be or what they need to do, and then given the time to think, prepare and move their own feet.

The foundation of softness: When people talk about a "soft feel" there is usually a lot said about how the horse is supposed to respond to the reins. But a soft feel is more than just how the horse responds to the reins. In fact, the beginnings of a horse offering a soft feel should start on the ground before we ever touch them. It should be a way of life before we ever get on their back. There is a presentation given by the person to the horse that allows the horse to understand and willingly follow our feel...this kind of feel should be a prerequisite to the physical connection through lead ropes or reins. 

A horse can be light without being soft, but softness carries lightness with it. 

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More things to think about...

Do you know what's important to your horse? Does your horse see you as a place of comfort and security? Can your horse trust you to pay attention to what he's understanding and how he's feeling about what's being asked of him? Do you value relaxation over the task at hand, and are you aware of the very smallest signs of concern or tension when they first come up? The horse makes all these things clear to us

The horse is always communicating. Understanding them and creating communication between them and ourselves that is clear is our responsibility in the relationship. 

Clarity creates understanding, and understanding brings relaxation...and variety is the spice of life. We can take our communication and do a vast variety of things with it that causes the horse to to want to participate and figure things out. 

Creating a foundation of clear communication between you are your horse is essential for everything you want to do with them. How big can you make your foundation, and how strong is it? Can your foundation withstand the weight of whatever you're trying to build on top of it? Can it withstand an earthquake and not fall apart? 

What does a partnership look like, and who is responsible for how things turn out? Many times there's a clash between the person's desires and the horse's desires because the person doesn't understand what could motivate that particular horse. People can get so focused on what they want from the horse that they don't realize what the horse is needing. If the person overlooks this, then it's only a matter of time before the horse will begin thinking about being elsewhere. But because the person may still have a hold of a rope or rein, the person believes the horse should be there with them and blames the horse for the disconnect. 

When a horse refuses to get into a trailer, or participate in the bridling process, or is unwilling to walk over a tarp or through a creek, or whatever else you can think of, many times when the horse refuses the person tends to add pressure to get the horse to do whatever it is...but if the real problem is lack of understanding or lack of confidence, or even a bad past experience, adding pressure may be successful in getting the horse to do it at that moment but only adds to the real root of the problem. On the other hand if we can go about things in a way that helps the horse stay in a thinking state of mind as we take them through the steps in a learning process, the problem usually fades out of the picture.  

There is inherent stress in any learning situation, and breaking things down into smaller steps can help the horse be able to gain the confidence and understanding to try. Each time a try is acknowledged the horse is more apt to try again and put more effort into it. And over time, as a horse goes through a new learning experience this way it build confidence for the next new thing and trust in the person. They become more confident puzzle solvers and learners. This builds a more solid and versatile foundation. 

If we can try and look every circumstance with the frame of mind that we are adding to our foundation to make it bigger and stronger, it should shape how we go about doing things.

If you can look at the smallest of things you do with your horse as valuable to the relationship, then we're more apt to recognize and find satisfaction in working on these things.

The horse's memory is part it's self preservation...the horse remembers what happened before what happened happened. This is why they are really good one-time learners when it comes to living through a negative experience. P

The horse is never wrong...he's doing what he's doing because that's what he believes he needs to do.

Using what the horse offers or going with our horses idea is not just letting the horse have it's own way, it's a creative way to help take the fight out of the moment. It's using the horse's idea In a way that takes the resistance and clash of wills out of the picture so you can reintroduce your own ideas at the right time when the horse is in the right frame of mind. 

Most of the time, getting the change we want in our horse comes from making adjustments in ourselves (i.e. our attitude, our perception, and/or our presentation).

The only reason a person would put the blame on the horse or take anything the horse does personally, would be because they lack an understanding of why the horse is doing whatever it's doing.

It's important to expose a horse to various things and situations, and yet try not to overexpose them. Try and build more exposure over time while keeping the horse in a thinking frame of mind. 

Just because you don't feel like you're forcing your horse, doesn't mean your horse isn't feeling forced.

Many times giving the person a job to do with their horse can help the person develop the feel they need to offer in order to give the horse a clear picture of what the they want. The job of moving a cow, stepping on or over an object or opening and closing a gate can help give the person clear focus and intent that the horse feels, and that can help the connection between them.

On the other hand, if a person is too focused on the purpose or task without being able to listen to the horse at the same time it's easy to miss something the horse is telling them, either a concern the horse has about doing what's asked, or something of value that the horse may be trying to offer that should be rewarded.

It always goes back to the basics of attitude, consistency, feel, timing and balance.

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Mental aspirations....

When our horse's attention is strongly drawn to something, can we ask for them to bring it back and have them come back to us in a soft frame of mind?....many people can get and keep a horse's attention, but not in a way that the horse feels good about it.

How your horse's attention comes back to you is directly related to how you got thier attention back. You need to have understanding in place already in order to help them if they get distracted or worried about something so you can ask for their attention and it can come back softly with them feeling relief rather than the person was just bigger or more worrisome than the thing that had their attention.  

Ask your horse to let go of a thought as softly as possible without escalating pressure, just wait, you want to reinforce them for letting go and bringing their thought back to you, you want bringing their thought back to feel like the safest place on earth, it has to be a way of life so we need to stay aware of every opportunity to reinforce them for letting go of any strong thought and bringing their thought back.
When it's the horse's desire to be with us, then we'll have the whole horse, mind, body and spirit to communicate with. It's our responsibility to create that clear communication that will promote relaxation and the desire. It's a full circle that starts with how the person presents information to the horse.

Have a plan, but be ready to adjust to fit the situation. This is the art part of horsemanship, we need to be able to break things down or change things up in the moment depending on what the horse's needs are. 

There may be times when you have to block an unwanted thought that may get both of you in trouble, but on a moment by moment basis you are wanting to be proactive in directing and communicating, and most of all being aware of your horse's emotions so you can adjust if needed to help your horse be able to stay in a thinking frame of mind and get the right answer. 

We need to think about teaching our horses to be very aware of what we are doing, this comes very naturally to the horse...they are so much more aware of what we are doing than people realize...so we need to be very aware of what we are doing that is communicating things to the horse...it's our responsibility to be consistent and paying attention to what our horse is learning from watching us.

The horse is always right, we need to think about what we are doing that is causing the horse to do things we may not want. Many times when the horse is just wanting to be somewhere else it is a result of people's unawareness of how confusing they are to their horse and then the horse gets in trouble for this and it becomes a viscous cycle of the horse leaving and people using pressure to get the horse to come back to them.

Think about making what you want more clear and waiting rather than using escalating pressure.

It's our responsibility to know where the horse's feet are so we can direct them without getting in the way of the horse's responsibility to move them.

Anytime you pick up on a rein and there is any resistance before yielding, it will be bigger when there is anxiety in the horse. How people handle their reins either creates trust or not. 
Anytime you go to pick up on a rein and the horse doesn't prepare to yield to it or pushes into it, it's either because their main focus is on something else and they can't let go of it, or because they don't understand, or are not confident enough to do what you are asking. None of those things are the horse's fault. 

Any tension that's in a horse at a stand still or walk will get bigger when they speed up.

It's important to be able to see and feel the difference between effort and worry. Most horses are worried into a movement rather than being encouraged to offer a relaxed effort.
 
Hurry should not equal worry....when you ask them to speed up and they begin to get tense, don't let that go on...come back down and start over. Quit when they are soft and level headed.

The best thing we can do for our relationship with our horse is to create a habit in them of willingly letting go of their own thoughts and ideas.

It's important to understand that working through mental struggles is a part of learning and growth for both humans and horses.

When a horse is inattentive or has a habit of leaving the person when turned loose, many times people tend to want to add to the horse's movement and drive the horse around in the pen. The horse may end up next to the person, but feels forced to be there because he was made to choose between a rock and a hard place. If a person could think a little differently and realize that most horses want to be with a person innately, but that desire has been taken out of them and doing the same thing over and over again is not going to change the horse's mind or emotions. 

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Reiterations & parting thoughts...

When you're horse is willing, don't wear it out.

One visual that can help a person to create sweet spot between the reins is to think about creating a hallway between our hands and legs that will be a boundary for the horse to feel of. Depending on the horses experience level, understanding and mental state the hallway can be as narrow as a foot path, or sometimes it may need to be as wide as a four lane highway. If you make the hallway walls too solid or too narrow before the horse understands how to mentally yield down to his feet, or if the horse has a strong mental resistance to where you're directing him, then even if the horse's feet have yielded to stay on the line, you'll forfeit straightness and create a feeling to the horse of being micro managed or forced; they won't have a chance to find that sweet spot where they can operate in unity with you.

We should want our horse to come through every experience feeling like a winner.

Be aware of what your horse is offering you, and use it if you can.

It's important not to put ourselves in a situation where time is a factor when it comes to teaching something new or working through a problem...remember to reward the slightest try and build on that.

There may be times when you need to go with your horse before your horse can go with you.

Most of the time people give their horse something to "get away from" rather than giving them something to "go with".

When you are teaching a horse something new, be aware of his state of mind, his emotions and what he is actually understanding.

It's our responsibility to know where the feet are so we can direct them, it's the horse's responsibility to move them.

If we cannot be ahead of the horse carrying out a thought we don't want, it may be best to ignore it and start over, or go with their idea and then make use of what the horse has offered in a way that helps them get a right answer, and that way there's no clash of wills and they learned something good through the experience.

Allow failure to be your teacher, not your undertaker.

Take the time and allow the horse to learn that he can do what you're asking. Give him the time he needs and see how little it takes to get him thinking about doing what you want. Most importantly, you want to make the right thing very clear and easy as possible.

A horse shouldn't get worried when asked to put effort into the walk, but a lot of horses get worried and rush off because they don't understand how to put effort into walking without getting worried....just keep asking for effort into the walk and if he trots just keep a walking rhythm in yourself and help him back to the walk with your reins if you need to...then let the reins go and ask again for effort in the walk until he can do it without getting worried and hurrying off into the trot. You're looking for a relaxed extended walk. A horse can walk really fast but not be relaxed, it looks like a sewing machine, real up and down...but they have to be relaxed in order to really extend and walk out.

It's the little things that make a big difference. 

Many times the process looks nothing like the intended end result.

Notice and celebrate ALL the tiny things.

With young horses or even seasoned horses that experience anxiety when making a transition from one gate to another, it's usually because they have been forced into the transition. Set them up so they can make the transition themselves, cause the transition to become their idea and allow it to happen. This is pretty easy and fun using a reverse round pen.

When your riding and want to go from a walk to a trot, ask for a big extended walk and then put a trot in yourself and see if they can make it, then for a canter, ask for an extended trot and then put a canter in yourself...same with downward, you put that motion in yourself and allow them time to follow your motion. 

There's a big difference between a habit and a belief system. A horse that has a set pattern of doing something does so because the thing they did enabled them to live through or get relief from something that caused fear, pain, a build up of anxiety or even something they believed was life threatening. The horse then believes what they did was the best choice, it saved them; it in essence then becomes a part of their belief system for self preservation. You cannot extinguish a set pattern of behavior without giving them something that replaces that behavior. There was a reason the horse was doing what they were doing and you can't leave a void there. The void must be filled with something else that the horse understands he can do to relieve the pressure or alleviate their fear. Once they believe there is another choice, a more comfortable choice, that is when lasting change is possible!!!

Crookedness, dropping a shoulder, cross firing, bucking, rearing, kicking, running away, biting, etc. are all just physical symptoms of how the horse if feeling. If we recognize and consistently help the horse with the root of the problem, then the symptoms can fade out of the picture.

We want to reinforce the horse's slightest try which starts with his thought. We need to be able to see what his mind is preparing his body and feet to do. He needs to have time to think, prepare and move his own feet, and he needs to know we recognize when he's thinking of doing it by our well timed bridge/marker.

If a horse is not able to think his way through what is being asked and move his own feet, the place where he ends up will more than likely not be a comfort spot to him because he just escaped into that spot to get away from pressure. Many people cause this to happen without realizing it when they load their horse into a trailer and then wonder why their horses don't travel well or are not consistent in loading.

Checking the quality of your downward transitions on the ground can tell you a lot about how mentally connected they are to you and how they were feeling as they were going forward with you.

Transitions in an open space like around a reverse round pen is a good way to check and see if your horse can stay connected with you and follow your energy up and down in a relaxed way.

Whether on the ground or in the saddle, flagging, driving or physically kicking a horse to go forward does not create true forward. In fact it can create just the opposite, sometimes with a lot of resentment, tension and fear added in. Then people wonder why their horse is traveling crooked and they start trying to straighten them with their reins and legs. To create relaxed forward in a horse that is reluctant to go forward, the mind needs to take that horse forward, so don't chase the body....work on the mental change.

Some horses need incentive to go somewhere before they see the reason to put out effort. You can pick a destination, like heading to a target on a cone, or a barrel or the shade of a big tree. Then once they see a purpose in going, pretty soon you can go from one destination to another and then in between you can ask for a transition from a nice relaxed extended walk to the trot and and then to an extended trot to a canter without asking for them to carry it, reward for the transition.

If you're not in a hurry, none of this takes very much time at all...but people spend years chasing, kicking or pushing their horse's body, creating a horse that is resentful about going forward.

The most honest and valuable feedback we'll ever receive will be from the horse.

"It's amazing what you can learn, once you've already learned all there is to learn!"

Happy Trails!