Over the past few days I've heard "feedback" from clients both in the States and abroad. If you've ever read anything from my blog, website or posts on FB, you'll quickly realize I do not offer the "quick fix" or "easy answers" in my approaches to helping horses feel better about life. It is slow, intentional communication, and often it requires a rebuilding of the foundation of the partnership, in order for the rides to be successful.
I always say I try to teach and offer "tools" in how we communicate with our horses so that clients don't "need me", but rather they can assess, think through, and then help their horse through scenarios in order to have a positive, confidence building outcome for both the horse and rider.
I LOVE hearing stories of success; not because "my way" works, it isn't about me or the ways I've found work, it is about owners/riders being open minded enough to put their own egos aside, and to BELIEVE their horses when they are troubled, when they ask for help. Time and again, those who support their horses through uncomfortable moments, rather than challenge them through them, see amazing, long lasting changes.
So "Good on you," as I say, to those folks dedicated to being open to having an honest conversation with their horse, patient enough to respect what the horse is saying, and kind enough to search within themselves to how best to help their horse.
That is how we reach those almost perfect moments of being completing in sync with our equine partners, and it makes it all worth it. Happy riding!
Do you have horse behavior questions? Do you want to improve horse horse skills? Alternative Horsemanship™ with Samantha Harvey the Remote Horse Coach shares her horse training philosophy and coaches horseback riders of all experience levels. Offering horsemanship clinics worldwide along with distance horse coaching, instruction, and consults. Visit her horse video learning catalog offering webinars, courses, classes and more. Find her on all social media platforms #alternativehorsemanship
Pages
- What is Alternative Horsemanship™?
- About Equestrienne and Horse Coach Samantha Harvey
- Alternative Horsemanship Clinics
- Remote Horse Coach- Personalized Distance Learning
- Client Testimonials
- Video Courses & Classes
- Horse Behavior Course
- Horse Shopping Help Online Course
- Livestream Horse Learning
- Horse Webinars
- YouTube
- TikTok
- Newsletter
- Horse Humor Journal
Learning through Auditing: Improving your Horsemanship
Proactive Riding- Raising the Rider’s Awareness
Creating conditioned and patternized behaviors, or routines,
while interacting with our horses can lead to “dishonest” conversations between
the human and the horse. Whether heading
out on a trail ride or focusing in the arena, there frequently is a sense of “wonder”
from the rider regarding what the ride will “be like” on any given day. I dislike repetitive movement as there
becomes a familiarity and “dullness” to the conversation between the horse and
human leading to brainless responses and a lack of adaptability. The day the
person changes the routine their “quiet” horse becomes a fire breathing dragon
because the pattern has changed.
There should be no mystery when working with our horses. Every
interaction with the horse is an indication as to what is about to come. Weather issues, location limitations, and time
urgencies can influence people and horses falling into behaviors that
contribute to a lack of awareness, lack of clear intention and lack of mental
presence.
Unfortunately the standard with horses is that as long as
the horse isn’t offering enough resistant behavior that the human sees their
life flashing before their eyes, dramatic behaviors from the horse are
tolerated. Anticipative movement, the
lack of softness towards a light rein, seat or leg pressure, the dramatic,
flamboyant responses to an aid, are all indications that the horse’s brain and
emotions are having a problem, and therefore his physical response will mimic
the worry, fear, pain, insecurity, misunderstanding, leading to a less than
ideal ride.
Assess your relationship with your horse by asking yourself
the following: Do you work with your
horse at the same time of day? Catch him in the same manner? Enter/exit the gate the same way?
Tie/groom/tack up in the same place? Mount from the same side, in the same
location? Start off always tracking in one direction? These basic behaviors when done without
intention, lead to mentally unavailable and resistant horses.
The moment you think about going for a ride, the ride
begins. “Reality,” other distractions and
stresses from life need to be put on hold. To be proactive by making decisions to
influence how the ride will go, you’ll need a mental clarity as to what you’re
doing, how you’re doing it, and why you’re doing it. Every moment you’re in close proximity to
your horse, you are teaching him something, whether or not you mean to.
Mental presence allows you to honestly assess what your
horse is offering in his behaviors. My
approach is to first address the horse’s brain, and then the desired movement
will follow. Opportunities for assessment can begin in the pasture or stall;
notice if your horse moves off as you approach?
If so, why? Is he distracted by
new events at the barn? Wildlife that recently passed by? Does he prefer to
stay with the herd rather than being ridden? You may not initially have a clear
understanding of his behavior, but it will be the beginning of awareness from
you of noticing initial resistance from him and be able to prioritize
addressing it before you ride.
As you lead, is he ahead of you physically and actually
“leading you”? If so, he’s already telling you what the ride is going to be
like. If he believes from the start that
he is in charge, by the time you’re in the saddle, you’ll be at his mercy.
If he is pulling, hanging or ignoring your pressure with the
lead rope while you’re on the ground, he’s already telling you he is going to
be heavy on the bit and slow to respond with the rein. Why wait until you’re in the saddle to
address his concept, or lack thereof, of following, softening or yielding to
pressure?
If he’s become fussy as you tack up as you ride more
frequently, have you assessed if your saddle is fitting correctly? Perhaps pain
issues from ill fitting tack have begun, and you’ve assumed he’s just being
difficult with his excessive movement. He
only has so many ways to convey his distress before he has to increase his behaviors
until you can no longer ignore them.
Humans often anthromoporphize equine behaviors, giving human
characteristics to them and wrongly interpreting what is occurring. Taking the
time to slow ourselves down from the rushing mentality, by addressing the
little details, can help us break down overwhelming scenarios and understand
our horse’s behavior.
By learning to recognize the signs leading up to potentially
unwanted behavior, we can influence a change within the horse, before he has committed
to doing something we don’t want. But the
small details, the finesse isn’t the “fun” or “exciting” way of doing things, therefore
we humans bring chaos to horses, causing much turmoil.
Let us raise our standards.
What if the new “normal” became a horse that presented himself quietly
to be caught irrelevant of if feed had just been put out in the pasture or riding
at an odd time of day? Ignoring discipline, riding goals or experience, what if
we could straight tie, ground tie or cross tie our horse in a field, to a
trailer, or to a post, as we groomed and tacked up, without any fussing,
wiggling, pawing, swinging of the hindquarters, holding his breath while we tightened
the saddle, or tossing his head while we bridled him? Let’s be practical and
forgo outdated tradition and learn to mount/dismount from either side on the
ground, from the fence or a mounting block, without having to lead our horse to
a spot and quickly scramble on while holding the reins tight to prevent him from
walking off. What if at any point we
expected our horse could stand mentally and emotionally calm and therefore
physically relaxed, rather than anticipative of what we might ask next.
If the above mentioned behaviors became our basic foundation
that we built our partnership with our horses on, imagine the
possibilities. Here’s to proactive
riding and raising our awareness!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)