Haltering the Horse - Setting the Standard

Haltering the Horse - Setting the Standard

We've talked about how the "ride" begins when you think about going for the ride, and learning to "leave" the reality of daily stresses and demands behind as you show up to be with your horse.

I've mentioned the conversation starts with how your horse approaches you to be caught, whether in a stall or pasture, which is a great time to assess his mental focus and "tells" you what you might need to address before you even catch him.

Today I want to talk about the act of actual haltering. Use this "simple" act as a way to practice being clear and intentional in your haltering which will spill over into all that you ask of your horse.

Haltering is a wonderful time to notice if you are task fixated or quality focused. What does that mean?

If you have a horse that is willing to come over to be caught but dives into the halter, looks away from you as you attempt to slip his nose into the halter, pushes into your personal space as you are doing up the strap, and you allow the horse to do these behaviors, on multiple occasions, you are task fixated.

This means, that your goal is as long as the horse doesn't "leave" (with his feet,) you're willing to accept however he chooses to present himself and interact with you, as long as you can eventually get the halter on.

So if this is the starting point for your "conversation" with the horse, how do you think the horse will respond to you and how much will he address you respectfully if this is how he is approaching initial interaction with you?

What will the leading him, tacking him, mounting him, and ride feel like?

Horses are searching for and offering constant feedback, as that is how they communicate and "survive" in the herd. If they are trying something, such as being disrespectful with their head, avoiding you with their thought, and you do nothing to address this, if your goal is solely to get the halter on, you have set the "tone" or standard for everything else that you will ask of them.

You have unintentionally told them they can ignore you, physically push into you, and dictate how future interaction between the two of you will be.

So by doing this, you are creating "more work" to get your horse to listen and it is the beginning of the "begging" the horse or as many folks do, "working around" the horse.

If instead, we saw the haltering as a great "opportunity" for a conversation starter with the horse on any given day. No assumptions, no "ignoring" things because it doesn't feel scary, but rather starting the time with the horse and prioritizing noticing if, when, and why the horse is mentally not with us and displaying physically resistant behavior.

Then if we took an extra five or 10 minutes to follow through and address the horse's lack of focus, being able to redirect the horse's thought, reminding the horse how to soften to pressure, how to pause and "ask us" versus "tell us," we'd be setting up both the horse and ourselves for a quality session to follow.