Horse Communication- Keeping it Simple

I had some upper level Dressage horses in one of my clinic sessions yesterday. Riders were talking about how they felt they kept having to "do more" and yet were getting less response from their horses.

I was talking about mental preparations in the horse, similar to when we drive a car, and how we have to not only indicate what we're about to ask of the horse, but we must check in to see if and what the horse's response was to our "blinker" aid asking his brain to get ready to move, before we actually ride off.

It was a hot afternoon session, even the locals were melting, and I'd been talking for a while as students sat at a halt on their dozing horses.

Then I asked everyone to practice this new blinker technique and assess their horse's response. Not a single horse batted an, changed their posture, nothing.

I noticed a group of polo ponies coming by and told my students on my count down all of their horses would "suddenly" look left. And as if we'd practiced, my students' sleeping horse became alert in an instant all synchronized as they swiveledtheir heads in the same direction at the same time.

It was such a great opportunity to show how when the horse has a thought, he can be clear. But if he is mentally unavailable towards the rider's input, there is no acknowledgment and the rider feels at the mercy of the horse.

This is such a common starting point at so many of my clinics, otherwise we're just continuing to have hopeful riders, wondering what the horse will do behaviorally.

What's always fun is to see how quickly that unavailable horse can switch into a searching, trying and respectful equine partner when riders becomeclear in how and whentheir using an aid.