Horse Tips to Interrupt the Hurry in Your Equine Time

The simplest synopsis I offer students regarding time with their horse is that five minutes of quality communication has far more short and long-term value to the equine, than chaotic longer, "dutiful" by-the-clock sessions.

When equine enthusiasts are in a hurry, they tend to focus on creating a “task” as a reference to assess "what" they did with their horses, and if they "succeeded or failed" in accomplishing it. The black and white-ness of this perspective can become an unintentional reference if the time was "well spent."

It also influences the human's preconceived notions, anticipations, emotional triggers, etc., and their future interactions with horses. People can fall into the mental struggle of justifying the expense, time, effort, etc., associated with the horse. If the horse experience is not "rewarding" enough, they will often lower their standards of what they consider "success."

Example: If the horse mostly “goes along” with what is asked the behavior is accepted. Due to time limitations, mental distractions, and usually chaotic/high energy, combined with other factors, as long as the horse is not acting dangerous or scaring a person, and eventually complies with the task, the time is seen as a success.

The problem with this approach is the more the horse time is focused on tasks accomplished with mediocrity, the more the partnership is set up to become overwhelmed as expectations of the horse are increased while the human's skill development remains stagnant.

Below are a few questions to "carry" with you during your horse time. These gentle reminders can help you learn to stay present to practice observing the horse's real-time communication and help you learn to adapt support and requests accordingly while addressing the equine in a manner that builds his willingness.

Consider the following questions:

• If you walk into the pasture/stall does your horse automatically move away from you (fleeing from your spatial pressure)?
• Does he approach nicely but “hover” in your personal space (delegating the pecking order of where you’re at in his herd)?
• If you raise your hands to halter him does he move his head up, away, or “dive” into the halter (defensive, anticipative, disrespectful)?
• When leading him is he lethargic and slow in response, does he try to “hide” behind you as you walk, does it feel like he is “leading” you and rushing, or does he constantly walk with his head cranked over his shoulder with his body bumping into you?
• If you walk past grass or a buddy horse, does he try to drag you to where he wants to go?
• If you ask him to stop moving using the lead rope lightly does he respond slowly, is over-reactive, or completely ignores you?
• If you walk faster or slower does he mimic your energy with his, or does he only offer one speed irrelevant to what you’re asking?
• When tied does he paw, wiggle, chew on the lead rope, pull back against the rope, or move away from you as you groom/tack him?
• When you mount, does he stand still, walk off before you’re ready, or fidget if asked to stand longer than he wants?

The above questions are commonly overlooked opportunities that can help you learn to recognize what "holes" there are in the communication or in the education of you and or the horse. If they are ignored, the chances of accomplishing the task with quality diminishes.

If you’ve answered yes to any of the above questions, start by breaking down each question into how what segments you would communicate to then present the whole scenario- think of it as building blocks. How do you offer specificity in your communication of each segment? Do you acknowledge the horse's feedback or counteroffers? Do you address his unasked-for responses so that he could let them go or do you quit in the middle of the chaos because he was not "getting it" fast enough? Notice if you try to get the horse's body to comply before asking or noticing where his mental focus is. Is there a separation in how you communicate directing the horse's focus separate from his movement? Do you see real-time processing in the horse?

All of these small pieces are the "ingredients" one needs to communicate effectively, efficiently, and in a relevant manner. Beginning by refining your awareness and skills in short segments has far more value to the horse while building skills, and creating supportive communication that encourages the horse to keep trying irrelevant of familiar or new scenarios, without increasing his anticipation, fear, or defensiveness.