Showing posts with label mental availability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mental availability. Show all posts

Mental Clarity

Assess yourself before you critique your horse.


When did your ride really start?  Your ride should begin when you THINK about going for a ride.  You need to raise your level of awareness that at everyone moment you are interacting with your horse (starting with when you catch him) you are influencing the "tone", energy and attitude for the upcoming ride.

Distraction, stress, goals, patience, sensitivity, work, family, “real life.”  Leave "reality" at the door.  If you're not 110% available for your horse, there is no way you will be able to offer clear and effective communication with your horse.  If you're not completely "present", then there is no way that your horse will be.

Intention-Purpose-Self Analysis Do not brainlessly go through the motions, even when catching, grooming and tacking up.  Have an initial "plan"- though this will change numerous times throughout the ride.  If you set small goals (even just for every three or four steps of the ride) you will be able to break down what you are offering, what your horse is doing in response, and what changes you'd like to create a better quality ride.

If something is NOT working, try creating a change in you in order to find one in your horse.  Many people think that repetition is the way to teach a horse something.  Put it into people terms.  If someone were trying to teach you something, and you didn't understand, if they kept saying the same thing over and over, louder and louder each time, you STILL would not understand.  They would have to change how or what they were saying to find a way to offer you a better explanation.  The same goes for riding.  Even if you think you're being clear, you need to address each time your horse isn't clear, which may mean diverting from the "original" goal, in order to set the necessary foundation in order to accomplish the end goal. 

Brainlessly offering the same movement over and over until your horse accidentally or finally figures out what is being asked of him, decreases his confidence and willing to try and learn the next time you offer something new.

Word of the Day: Trust

Trust- the quiet, confident relationship established between a person and horse using clear two-way communication that allows the horse to mentally, emotionally and physically be available and receptive to requests and direction from a person.  The more the horse can trust the person, the more "try" (mentally, emotionally and physically) he will offer during any circumstance.  This helps decrease the level of "reaction" from the horse in a situation that bothers him, and instead it can become a confidence building experience. 

The world of thinking people creates thinking horses…

Anyone who has heard me teach or read articles I’ve written are by now familiar that I use the term “It’s the thought that counts,” as a way to sum up the mental availability we are seeking in our horses. But, we cannot achieve that in our horses until we find it within ourselves. Just the words “mental availability” can overwhelm a lot of people. What is that? Why do we want it? It all stems from years and years of riding (without knowing it) being mentally unavailable and riding “shut down” horses. They looked okay, they tolerated me, sort of, and they performed to the least the minimum necessary levels, so why “rock the boat?”

I had never approached a horse before a ride and had thought, “Where’s your brain today?” As I worked on the ground or warmed up a horse I never noticed things like his ears, the worry lines above his eyes, the wrinkles from stress on his bottom lip, his inconsistent breathing, the inconsistency in the size of his steps, the tightness in his back, if he was moving as if he were on a tightrope or more like he’d had a few beers, if his tail was clamped down against his hindquarters, if the muscles along the underside of his ribs was engaged in a resistant manner, if he was turning left but “quietly” leaking out towards the right, the degree of his “heaviness” or subtle resistance against my aids because eventually he’d get the job done. And for me, whether it was racehorses to Three Day Eventing horses to Jumpers to Dressage horses to young horses, as long as I kept one leg on either side and we managed to “survive” any negative portion of the ride that was good enough. I had no standard other than performing “close enough” to the ideal (which was a very broad spectrum to measure the quality of a ride by.)

It NEVER occurred to me that the note I was finishing on today was going to affect tomorrow’s ride. I never imagined I was there to HELP my horse, but rather it was a dictatorship, which sadly too many times led to constant badgering from me towards my horse on all of the things he WAS NOT doing right. I NEVER assessed my horse from the ground before the ride. Fussing, fidgeting, pawing, and spookiness were all NORMAL parts of working around horses, right?

There was never room for my horse to have an opinion, because they only opinion I ever saw was not a good one, such as when he refused a jump or behaved like an “idiot” on the trail with a group of horses. It never occurred to me that there could be a quality TWO WAY conversation.

To me training with the mentality I’ve described above was an uphill battle as you can imagine. Theoretically we all talked about the ideal ride, the soft, light, balanced, supple and collected horse, but reality included whips, spurs, martingales, severe bits and other “torture” devices so that we could manhandle the horse into eventual submission. If this didn’t work, the animal was deemed a bad horse, and you got another one.

So long story short it took a lot of re-evaluating everything I thought I knew and having to spend many hours assessing, questioning and thinking about ME and what I was doing. For me it will be a forever ongoing process, which is exciting because you never know how “far” on the journey of quality time with the horses can bring you.

And this all brings me to a funny little story; it’s moments like what I’ll describe below that makes it all worth it. The occasions that catch you off guard, the ones where an accumulation of the hours, energy, and effort pay off with simple experiences that leave you smiling with that warm and fuzzy feeling for a long time.

I was heading out of town and was moving all of the horses off of the property to another facility where they could be turned out for the week I’d be away. But instead of hooking up my big trailer, I figured I’d make two trips with the smaller trailer which is a slant load with dividers.

I’d already loaded two horses that were waiting patiently with their dividers closed and the main rear trailer door was left open as I headed out to the infield to catch several other horses to be moved. I noticed one of the loose horses in the field Pico, a colt that had been orphaned that I’d adopted years before, went galloping up towards the trailer area and a pasture I’d left open. Not thinking much of it I caught the two horses I planned on moving and headed back to the trailer and was just thinking, “I wonder where Pico went?” as I didn’t see him. As I came into view of the trailer from the rear, there was Pico who had self loaded himself. He wasn’t just standing in the trailer, but he was lined up as close to the divider (ahead of him) as he could be so that I could easily shut him in with the next divider. I laughed out loud and while still standing outside of the trailer I asked him to look at me, which he did, and then asked him to come to me, he promptly took one look, and then dramatically turned his head to line up straight staring out the window in front of him. Ok, fine, he was going anyways so what would it hurt?
"Pico" at 3 months
Note to the reader: DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING WITH YOUR HORSE- THIS COULD BE DANGEROUS AND IS NOT THE RECOMMENED MANNER TO TRAILER HORSES

So without a halter or anything else on him, I shut Pico in with the divider, loaded the remaining two horses and was on my way. I arrived at the next facility and began unloading horses. By the time I got to Pico I slipped in under the divider and threw a lead rope around his neck, opened the divider and slowly back him out, one step at a time, asking him to pause and stay focused on me and what we were doing rather than getting distracted by the horses running around loose and making noise in the pasture next to us. So one step (literally) at a time he unloaded and quietly was turned out in the pasture.
"Pico" at his first Ranch Roping age 4

I didn’t for a moment ignore the obvious safety issues and all that could have gone wrong by doing what I did with my horse; but this was balanced out by years of creating a trusting relationship with two way communication. I had a sliding scale and bucket of “tools” to communicate to Pico with. This came from the time and effort I’d invested in working with my horse in order to create a foundation with which the underlying fundamental was that anything I presented, no matter if we had done it before or now, my horse had to stay mentally available to try. This in turn led to a building of the horse’s confidence and ability to make his own decisions, in this case self loading into the trailer, and not just keep the natural “follow the herd” mentality, but at the same time being able to maintain availability towards me as we unloaded by waiting and for me to offer when and how he moved in and outside of the trailer.

Now I know there are plenty of horses who load quietly and of course plenty who don’t. But my point was how many people have ever created the opportunity for the horse to make a decision- and feel good about it- while the horse still retained the ability to hear what the person was communicating rather than just completely taking over? For me that’s the point. No matter what is presented, whether we’ve done it before or not, (Pico had never done this before) my horse needs to participate and think of how to behave reasonably with an intentional manner. It’s those scenarios that build the confidence for a horse like Pico to come up with the idea that he too, wanted to go, wherever the trailer might have been going. The two horses in trailer weren’t even his pasture buddies and there were other horses loose that he could have easily stayed out grazing with. But HE made a choice to participate. And moments like that, are the ones that make it all worth it!

As the song says “Little moments like these…”

Sam

Training with Reality…

Too many times I’ve encountered horses that have been forced through the “school of hard knocks” training theories- whatever situations they had “survived” equaled to the description of being an “experienced” horse. I’m always surprised how often I see advertisements for horses for sale with “a ton of experience” but who need a “confident” rider. To me this blatantly translates into the horse has been manhandled through scenarios, survived them, but because he is so concerned about what might be presented next he carries a lot of worry, concern and stress with him making him a “hot” or “sensitive” horse. So he needs a “strong enough” rider to push him through the next experience…

The idea for this blog came to me the other day as I was working with a three year old mare I’m starting. Those of us in the northwest have been experiencing quite the rainy season with the last two weeks almost nonstop rain, wind, hail and snow up in the mountains. Not exactly ideal conditions neither for starting a youngster, nor for me who prefers my winters spent in the desert warmth. But without other options one must continue.

Part of the less glamorous side to my lifestyle is the maintenance- the mowing, the pasture clean up of dead limbs, the dragging pastures, the fixing fences, clearing trails in the woods, etc. Usually there’s one big clean up in the spring when I return after a long winter, but this year with all of the blustery weather it seems to have become part of my daily routine…

Many times owners are shocked at the changes in demeanor, personality, confidence, etc. in their horse after a few weeks spent with me. Part of the change they are seeing comes from my prioritizing to spend quality time with the horse and to solely focus on creating a “warm and fuzzy” experience every time I work with them. The other part is that I always try to mesh “reality” with my horse training.

It does not matter to me what long term discipline or direction the horse may be destined for. For me, I want all horses that I work with to have a solid foundation. I always say I want my jumping horses to be able to chase a cow, and my cow horse to be able to pop over a fallen log on the trail. Basically the underlying theory of all that I attempt to do with horses is to create a mental availability to “try” no matter what scenario I may present for the horse. If the horse can mentally address what is being presented, eventually physically they will comply with what is being asked of him, without the stress, trauma and drama that is more typical when someone just tries to manhandle a horse through a situation.

So back to the young mare, bad weather and using reality to build quality experiences for her. I want to make clear that I’m not suggesting that everyone runs out and does some of the things I’ll mention below, but this more to expand your thinking for when you work with your horse. I also want to mention that there were many pieces of the “puzzle” I had to present to the horse before I did any of the following with her in order to create clear communication with both physical and spatial pressure, respect of personal space, and being able to direct her thought to something specific. Without that clear communication established, the rest of what I may want to present to her would be done with a “hopeful” feeling, rather than a “helping her” mentality.

With all of the windstorms I seem to have a continuous flow of dead limbs falling off of trees in the pasture. After proper preparation of desensitizing the horse to pressure, ropes around her body and legs, etc. I then used her to drag out the fallen limbs to wherever I needed them. Rock clean up time out of the arenas is another great “learning” experience for a young horse, them having to follow you around as you’re “focused” on finding the rocks, plus throwing them to the edges of the fencing, the horse can learn to wait, and get used to the sudden movement of the rock without all of your energy being directed towards the horse. If I have to run down to the far end of the property to fix fence I’ll pony her or just have her follow me and “hang out” while I fix fence. When she’s “just standing there” she’s not allow to eat, focus on the other horses, etc. it’s rather a great place for her to learn how to stand quietly, patiently and wait for me. As I’m moving hoses to different waterers, I use the hose dragging on the ground around her feet as another scenario to desensitize her. As I fix the hay tarps she gets to focus on the noise and movement of the tarp flapping, crinkling, etc. As I ride through my woods on a more experienced horse to cut small overgrown branches on my trails (done from horse back- no I don’t suggest this to just anyone) I pony the young horse so she gets used to noise above her head, the movement of the falling branches, and can pick up on the calm the horse I’m riding is showing about the situation. At the same time I usually have two dogs or more with me to help her with sudden movement from them “popping out” of the woods and running in front, behind, or next to her feet.

One of the hardest parts in working with a horse is staying creative enough to keep each session interesting. Depending on your facilities you may have to spend some time creating obstacles or ways of presenting scenarios with variation. Too many times the horse and handler can fall easily into the routine or “patternized” behavior. This creates the false illusion that the horse is doing “well”- until a new scenario or one that is altered from what the horse is used to has been presented. Then the “real” feelings of what the horse has been carrying around come to the surface. A lot of people and horses become really comfortable with what they know and do not like change. The problem is the day you don’t have an option and must present a change from the “norm” you’ve then opened a whole new can of worms with your horse and its usually not the time for a “training” session.

If instead you can prepare both you and your horse to view any situation as one to expand their experience, exposure and confidence you’ll be building a solid, trusting partnership for the long term. With this mentality you many not seem to “accomplish” as much as “fast” as someone else, but don’t worry about keeping up with what other horse people are doing. Go with your instinct and do what is best for you and your horse. Both of you will be happier in the long run.

Have fun,
Sam

Arizona Ranch Remuda- Review by Sam

I just returned from a scenic five hour drive north of where I spend my winters to attend the 12th Annual Invitation Arizona Ranch Remuda Sale held just north of historic Prescott, AZ. Horses consigned were brought in from throughout AZ, CO, and NM. Beautiful weather helped set a fun mood for a crowd of at least 100 spectators.


If you’ve never been to a Remuda sale it’s a completely different experience from a “regular” auction. Even though the horses are being “judged” it retains a very relaxed feel. And I believe the “judging” doesn’t truly affect the potential buyers. Most buyers are ranchers and cowboys who know what their looking for in a proven horse or a young prospect and are not influenced much by the judging. Riders wear whatever attire they feel comfortable in horses- most look like they are about to head out for a day’s work on the ranch. Horses come in as if they’ve just been working on the ranch- there’s no worry about cleaning, primping or prepping like you find at many sales. The rider’s ages varied from eight (yes, eight) years old to late 60s, and horses ranged from coming three year olds to just ender 10 plus a few two year olds shown in hand.



I’ll give you a description of the day’s events and then I’ll break it down into an assessment of what I was looking for, seeing and came away with!


At 11:30 in the morning the horses were presented in hand and “inspected” by several veterinarians for soundness and overall health.

 
Then they are saddled and are individually showing their flatwork which included loping a figure 8- with either a flying or simple lead change. The horse and rider then demonstrated several “stops” from a high rate of speed, perhaps a few rollbacks, and then a few steps to show the beginning of a “spin” or the actual completion of a full spin. Then a calf is let out of a mechanical shoot and the rider demonstrates the horse’s ability to “drive the cow” along an imaginary “wall” of riders attempting to keep the calf separated from his buddies.


After a few times of (ideally) gently turning the calf back, the rider then drives the calf down the fence line in an attempt to show the horse working at speed to gain on the calf, get ahead of it, and then turn it back down the fence line. This may be done a few times; it’s up to the rider. They then build a loop in their rope and rope the calf, trying to show the horse’s ability to haze the calf, his comfort with being tied off to the calf, and then his ability to “drag” the calf- all things that would be asked of the horse in a “working” lifestyle. This individual demonstration would range anywhere from five to 10 minutes.



I tend to get frustrated watching many “mainstream” competitions whether it be English or Western disciplines due to the lack in quality of the horsemanship and the “holes” in the partnership between horse and rider. People in competition seem to get so focused on winning- with too many times the rider pushing the horse “at all costs” for a performance the horse may not be prepared for. As I tell my students, the show is not the place for TRAINING your horse and introducing new things unless you are using it as a schooling experience. The show arena should be a place that the rider and horse can confidently demonstrate their abilities. The show is also NOT the place to “try something for the first time.” I tell students they should be riding at a more difficult level comfortably at home, than the level they are planning to compete at.



So in the case of watching the ranch horses perform I was looking to see how these real life work horses “performed” in an arena scenario. Here are a few of the factors I was watching:

Rider’s skills (finesse, softness of aids, “quiet” hands/seat/legs, etc.)

Clarity of Communication between rider and horse- Was the rider just “suddenly” demanding things of the horse? Did the horse “know” the plan ahead of time because his rider prepared him for what was going to be asked of him?

Horse’s maturity- Many of these horse were young and I find for a lot of horses it takes a while for their mental and emotional maturity to catch up with their physical maturity

Horse’s work ethic- Where was the horse’s brain? Did he WANT to participate or was he tolerating what was asked of him?

Equipment- What was used on the horse, was it effective?

So now I’ll break down each part of the rider and horse’s performance using examples of riders who in my book would have scored ranging from a nine or 10 and at the bottom end of the scale, a two or three.


One of the best horse and rider combination of the day was the first rider out. The problem with this is that they set an initial “standard” – which I think many of the spectators didn’t appreciate until they saw some of the other horse’s performances and realized just how quality the first pair was. I like to tell students the more quality your ride, the more boring it should look.


What I mean by this is usually the “dramatic” ride is not a quality one. This first pair did exactly that. The rider came out with a big soft curve in the reins between his hands and his horse’s mouth. His lope circles displayed the horse’s soft body with him looking attentively around his circle, creating a light and balanced gait. His flying lead changes- which most riders incorrectly think “rushing” or gaining speed before asking their horse will help- looked almost slow motion and with just a slight skip in his step he’d easily switch from one lead to the other. You could see the rider tell the horse to prepare for the new direction, and not until that horse was committed to the new direction, did the rider ask for the lead change.


The quick stops were not “jammed” down the horse’s face with dramatic rein communication, instead you could see the rider again “tell the horse ahead of time” the stop was coming. This allowed his horse to prepare and softly stop with the majority of his weight correctly on his hindquarters and his top line relaxed.


On the other end of the scale, more horses than not, would look like they had the “emergency brake” pulled as they were literally slammed in the face for a “quick” halt. To me, that’s scary. The horses would stop so hard and so unbalanced, that they would “pop” forward a few steps to try and regain their balance from the abruptness of their “surprise” halts. The horse’s mouths would be bared open and gaping, trying to avoid the severity in which the bit was being used.


Because the first rider could ask the horse to shift his weight onto his hindquarters, the horse’s forehand was “light.” This allows the horse to easily move his front end around his hind- such steps are used in spins, quick and balanced turns such as what one would use in a rollback.


In other horses you could see where left and right (literally) still weren’t clear to the horse. There was no association with a certain aid from the rider having a clear meaning to the horse. This caused many horses to “push through” their turns for several reasons.


First, the horse never even looked to where he was about to step. Next, because he wasn’t looking, his weight wasn’t distributed in a way that the shoulder closest to the direction he would be asked to turn could step. So because he was unbalanced, he’d have to make the first step with the opposite shoulder- causing him to “walk out of” his turn. It would take two steps forward to achieve one lateral step. The “drag” that appeared in the horse’s response was due to lack of clarity. A lot of the young horses looked like they didn’t have a clue.

This is where there is a fork in the road in some philosophies in training. For me personally, no matter the discipline, I want my horse to be clear on left, right, forward, stop, back, moving portions his body independently, and having a sliding scale of the energy he moves with. This became very important to me after years of surviving riding “slightly out of control.” I was jumping horses over pick up trucks without having steering or brakes!


Today, whether I’m educating a green horse or re-education a more experienced one, I always start with the basics. To me, without the foundation of clear communication and the basics- it just typically becomes a fight between the horse and rider as the difficulty in performance is increased. If I don’t have these established “tools” to use when working with my horse, I don’t feel I am “armed” with enough options to help my horse, especially when he gets into an uncomfortable spot.

A lot more common theory on educating a horse is “wet saddle blankets.” This means that miles and miles of riding and surviving real life will give the young horse enough exposure that eventually he’ll “know his job.” I have a hard time with this theory because I find that there are very few talented riders who can still balance this theory with “helping” the horse as he learns.

More often than not, it winds up with the rider “pushing” the horse mentally and emotionally, until he physically wears out and “gives up” by not showing any physical resistance even if he is mentally stressed. To create this feeling in a young horse in my opinion can leave for a lot of years left of riding a horse that will absolutely do his job, but is mentally shut down towards the rider.


So it all boils down to what is the rider’s goal and his ability to balance that goal with his horse’s mental, emotional and physical well being throughout his education. In the case of this show, you could clearly see the horse whose attempts were “good enough” and those where the rider had prioritized clear basics.


So with the first horse you could see he had been taught to look (literally) to where he was going- again another way the rider can “tell the horse” ahead of time what the plan was. So between shifting the horse’s weight to his hind end, asking him to look, and then being able to move the horse’s body independently (hindquarters separate from the ribcage separate from the shoulders,) the rider could ask the horse to step his front end around his hind, demonstrate a quality spin.

You may be wondering why a horse needs to be able to spin if he’s working on a ranch. Well for the next part of competition, the horse had to be able to show his ability to turn back and sort a calf. If your horse isn’t watching the calf, he isn’t prepared for a quick turn that may be demanded of him in order to “cut” the calf’s movement. Take this a step farther would be when the horse is hazing the calf down the fence line, there has to be a balance in the level of energy and where that energy is directed towards that calf. The horse needs to be able to adjust his speed, movement and spatial pressure, which will affect the speed, movement and direction of the calf. This way the rider and horse can “influence” what the calf is about to do, rather than react to what the calf presents. Here of course you can imagine timing and finesse separates the mediocre from the quality horse and riders.

This ability then prepares the horse to be able to “softly” follow a calf at speed that is not being “driven” down a fence line, but rather is in the “open” and the rider has to rope it. Soft and balanced turns and lead changes are crucial to help set the rider up in the ideal position to rope the calf.

Once that calf is roped, the horse must be balanced to “sit” or sink his weight onto his haunches to bear against the weight of the struggling calf. The horse also needs to be able to quickly relax mentally and emotionally after the high speed “chase” as soon as that calf is roped. In real life the horse may need to stand on his own keep the rope tight against the calf, while his rider doctors, brands or cuts the calf.

Too many times we’ve all seen or experienced that horse that “once you get him going, you can’t get him relaxed again.” In a real life working scenario there isn’t room for that- the rider on the ground has to have full faith in their horse as their partner and “tool” to help bet the job done with as little stress to the cattle as possible.

The less educated or clear horses “sloughed” their way through their turns and spins, which was magnified when “real life” with the calf was happening. The calf would stop and turn back, and there’d be a delay in the horse being able to find his balance to turn back and move with the calf. That delay would allow the calf to get “ahead” of the horse, so then the horse would have to race at a faster speed to catch up. But because the horse was moving so unbalanced, the faster he went forward, the more dramatic his stops, the less balanced his turns. As you can imagine, it can quickly evolve into a chaotic and stressful situation.

This is the point when the rider’s emotions tend to interfere, and feeling the “pressure” of not moving the calf as desired, the rider winds up over riding his horse, causing more stress which never helps a horse’s confidence and certainly not his performance.


The other thing that was interesting was to watch how many horses only wanted to lope on one lead on their figure 8. But when they were hazing a calf or attempting to set up their rider to rope it, when the horse’s brain and attention was on that calf, the horse “all of a sudden” had no problem changing leads as necessary to follow the calf. That is such a great example of why I’m constantly asking riders to focus on getting their horse mental availability. If your horse isn’t thinking his way through the ride, everything presented appears to be a “surprise.”

There was an extreme case of that with one of the coming three year olds performance. As one rancher watching said, “that horse doesn’t even know there’s a calf in that arena.” And he was right- the horse was literally looking out over the arena at EVERYTHING except what he was supposed to be focused on.

The quality horses and riders always easily stand out, no matter the discipline. At this point I will mention that the first rider happened to be 12 years old. Yes, that’s right. I jokingly tell my adult students that if they rode with the intention and commitment that teenagers tend to ride with, so many of their horses would be clear on “the plan.”

On a funny note the calves won the “high jump” award of the day. As I mentioned there was a mechanical shoot that would let each calf out. I also mentioned part of working the calf was to show sensitivity to the “pressure” created by horse and rider. Well a few of those calves got real smart, real fast. They began to realize what the “routine” would be and by the time the rider would get to the roping portion, if the calf felt too much pressure, he aimed straight for the 4 ½ ft tall solid wall of the arena and would jump it- and clear it- to get back to his herd. There were only about six calves that were rotated through and about four of them had figured out an “alternative” to being roped.


I’ve always told my jumping students that cow could jump a fence three foot fence from a soft trot and that the horse did not NEED a lot of speed to clear an obstacle, it was all about balance of his movement when the jump was presented. The calves that proved my point!

So the return trip I played tourist in Prescott, which is home to the “world’s oldest rodeo”- although that statement has been contested several times. This was again another fun and educational road trip. Do you have a fun or unique horse event in your area? Let me know!Sam








Bits- NOT the quick fix... A few thoughts..

This was a recent question from a new client... all too often people seem to look for a "mechanical" band for an issue rather than address the issue in itself...

Question:

My 15 year old QH has a hard mouth. I currently ride him with a full cheek snaffle twist and with a standing martingale. But sometimes he outs his head down and tries to yank me down. I don't know what to do. Many people have suggested a harsher bit or spurs but I really don't know. What should I do? I need more control.

Answer:

Thank you for writing, hopefully I can offer some alternative ideas and suggestions from what you might be thinking. Too many times our horses tolerate what we ask of them, but as we increase the intensity or performance levels, they start to show signs of stress, worry, insecurity, fear or "acting out" in dangerous or unwanted behavior. Most of their behaviors are seen as "suddenly" appearing, which is wrong. Many times horses attempt to communicate in many shapes, ways and forms when they are having a problem. Too many times people ignore their horse's pleas for help and guidance, forcing the horse to comply physically while he is mentally and emotionally stressed out.


Imagine if you were being taught something new by someone. If you had some concern or worry about, and they just kept telling you "it'll be fine" and you went along trusting them. Then what if "it" didn't turn out to be fine and you reached of point of being completely worried for your safety. What would you do to get them to believe you could no longer "tolerate" what they'd been telling you? You would do whatever it took to get them to believe you were REALLY having a problem. It is no different with our horses.


Too many times people are satisfied with "good enough" or "close enough" because they get so focused on the end goal, instead of the quality of the ride that will allow them to achieve the end goal. If the ride quality at ALL times is good, then the end performance will be the ideal without having unnecessary stress for either the rider or horse.


Most "run away" horses or horses that do not stop when we would like them to, do so because something is scaring them or making them emotionally uncomfortable and therefore they respond by physically trying to get "away." The only natural defense a horse has to protect themself is to run. The tack and equipment you use are only addressing the symptom (the not stopping) not the issue (your horse being mentally available to listen to your aids from the saddle.) The stronger and more severe equipment you put on your horse will only create more stress and worry in him. It may temporarily appear to be an easy and quick fix that will force him to contain his frustrated or worried feelings until the day he finally is pushed to his limit and he explodes. By only addressing the equipment used and it's effectiveness will only delay your lack of controllability in your horse for a short period (like putting a band-aid on a wound that requires stitches.) I would say you need to go back and assess the clarity of your aids and the mental and emotional availability of your horse in order to create clear two way communication.




Break his "running away" down into steps. You might ask yourself these questions: When does he start to get strong when you ride? What kind of bit and other equipment do you currently use on him and why? Does it fit him correctly and is it effective? How soft and responsive is he towards your aids during your sessions when not running barrels? How effective are your aids? Does he respond worried if he is distracted, leaving his barn mates, riding in a group, etc.?


My guess is that he probably shows you signs of panic before he actually takes off. If you try to address this while it's happening, you are merely responding to his panicked reaction. You need to be able to recognize and RESPECT his behavior before or even when he STARTS to get panicked and be able to intercept his thoughts of running by offering him a better alternative. Keep in mind he will not listen to your aids unless they are both clear and effective.


Number one: The bit stops your horse. It does not ever stop your horse. His mental availability and respect of your aids is what allows him to physical stop.


Number two: Would you get into a car if you knew the steering or brakes only sometimes worked? If you wouldn't do that, then WHY would you not make it a number one priority to address steering and brakes when riding a thousand pound animal that has his own ideas and emotions about life?



Number three: Most horses have what I call a teenager attitude towards people. When someone offers the horse something most horses respond with a "Why should I?" attitude. Instead, our goal is create a mental availability in our horses in order to have them offer "What can I do to make this work?"

Number four: Most people are reactive riders. They wait and see being "hopeful" about how their horse might respond. Then they decide if they like or dislike what their horse is offering. Instead you must TAKE YOUR HORSE FOR THE RIDE rather than going along for the ride. You need to tell your horse AHEAD of time what you are going to ask of him instead of hoping he'll figure it out.

Number five: Horses and people are "patternized" beings. They get very comfortable with what they know and as soon as something different is presented they fall apart. How often do you change your routine of when you catch horse, where you groom and tack him up, when you ride him, what you ask of him throughout a ride, etc. Your horse should be available to try and do whatever you make ask of him at any time, anywhere.

So even though your horse has been ridden for years you may have to go back to some of the basics and re-evaluate you and your horse. In your case I would gather that there is general lack of clear communication between you and your horse. There are many ways to break down his lack of willingness to lope at various speeds. Because he is currently confident that when asked to lope it must be at a full out speed, that is all he thinks he needs to offer you. You are going to have to be able to influence his brain with alternative ideas, clarify how and what aids you use, and help him start to gain confidence when he mentally addresses you so that he can then offer alternative physical responses, rather than the current conditioned brainless responses.

First look at yourself, you will need to evaluate how you are using what aids, when, why and with how much pressure and then break down exactly when your horse mentally "tunes you out." Remember that a horse can feel a fly land on his skin, if you are creating a lot of "activity" with your aids and not getting a response, your horse is tuning you out.


Many horses are what I call "shut down" (mentally unavailable) due to boredom and routine rides. It will take a lot of creativity to create interest in your horse so that he will begin to enjoy participating in the ride rather than tolerating the ride. You will also have to establish black and white lines that clarify which of his reactions to your aids and what behaviors will be acceptable and those that are not. The faster you can catch an unwanted response, the faster he can "let it go" and try another response.

The faster you acknowledge that he achieved your "ideal" response, (giving him a break, move on to something else, etc.,) the more confidence he will have to increase his level of mental availability and physical performance. As you increase your own awareness and thought process you will begin to be able to pin point where and when you need to do something different in order to get an alternative response from your horse.

Also you need to become aware if your horse only has a hard time slowing at the lope, or perhaps you may not have noticed, but I would guess, that asking him to perform various energy levels within the walk, jog/trot, he probably also has a difficult time doing- this only becomes worse the faster he moves, which is why at a lope he feels slightly out of control.

Many times when working on a repeated exercise, horses try to please us by trying to do what is "right" ahead of when we have asked them. In reining your horse probably has been conditioned to perform the pattern, rather than waiting for specific cues or direction from you. You need to have his mind available at all times to consider what you are asking, even if in the middle of a pattern. If you can influence his mind, then you can change his outward actions. The more he realizes you are helping him throughout the ride, rather than fighting to control his speed, the more sensitive he will be to listening to your aids.

Last but not least. Keep in mind that race horses run their fastest when they are straight... Mentally many horses are way ahead of where there are physically moving, so if your horse is moving too fast, offer him a circle, turn or specific task that will act as something to get his brain to slow down, and tune back in to where he currently is at. You can slowly make the task more specific, until he offers to slow down... then continue on with your ride as if nothing interrupted you... Soon it'll only take one rein about to offer him a circle, turn, etc. and he'll slow down... Again, check your body language... If your weight is forward, similar to that of a jockey, you are offering your horse to run faster... If you weight is back in the saddle you are offering him to slow down...

With patience and clarity you will start in small steps (literally) to begin creating the opportunity for a two way conversation. This will allow both you and your horse to gain confidence in the other which will then lead to a trusting and fulfilling partnership that will allow you to both enjoy a quality ride. Remember, when your horse shows signs of rushing, nervousness, concern, worry or stress he is not trying to act naughty, rather he is asking for your help.


Sam

Anticipation- In both the horse and rider

As we sat around in blustery WY swapping horse stories the other night I realized there was one common theme. Anticipation. The focus happened to be about team roping, but my thoughts on this subject still apply to ALL riders and their horses.


In this day and age riders are starting to expand their equestrian activities rather than just sticking to one specific discipline. This is great for both the horses and riders and encourages them to raise their level of awareness, their horse's mental availability when presented with different tasks (rather than the same routine,) and it allows them to evaluate and use tools to offer clear communication no matter when and where they are needed.

As I listened to the group I realized I was hearing horror story after horror story about people either having had experienced themself or having had witnessed roping accidents. The most common occurrence had to do with after a rider had caught a steer.
Once the steer has been caught the rider uses their coils in their hand to "dally." A coil is the excess rope that is held in neat and organized circles in their hand. Some of these are released as the rider throws their loop at the desired steer. A dally is when the rider has caught the desired steer they then take their rope and wrap it around the horn of their saddle in order to maintain control over the steer they caught.
In this sort of roping things happen very quickly because the riders are competing for who has the fastest time in catching both the head and the heels of a steer. This can become dangerous if the rider does not keep track of their coils and has caught a three or four hundred pound steer that is showing resistance towards having been roped. After the steer is caught the coils need to be easily and quickly separated from the rest in order to dally. If there is any slack between the steer and rider, if the coils are not neatly held or are accidentally dropped while the rider is trying to dally, a rider can get their fingers and hands literally ripping off from the force of rope tightening/wrapping around their hand as the caught steer is trying to make his get away.

As with anything, the faster things "have to happen" the more pressure and intensity both the rider and horse feels. Here are a few things I see happen all too often:

• Seeing a horse feeling pretty troubled in the box (the area they wait until the steer is released form the shoot and the rider begins chasing it to catch it.) Serious accidents have happened from a horse becoming anticipative about the upcoming run and they can get pretty light on their feet. You'll see this commonly in sports that require quick bursts of speed such as race horses, barrel races, team roping, etc.

• Often the rider is more concerned with their performance and accuracy with throw of thier rope they accidentally end up ignoring areas of horsemanship that need to be addressed BEFORE they head out of the box or to a competition.
A lack of quality horsemanship and awareness seem to be the worst contributors towards how a horse and rider handle ANTICIPATION.

There are many parts of clear communication with a horse that need to be established (not just on the day of the event or competition) so that going into an event the rider and horse feel confident and clear in how they interact with one another.

In this case, if a rider is solely focused on the actual roping of the steer- how are they ever going to GET from the box to the steer with any accuracy, speed and control if they're horse is worried, anxious, insecure, etc. Too many times because of patternized (click link for blog definition) practices (i.e. practicing by riding the horse numerous times out of the box trying to attempt a catch rather than focusing on doing it a few times with a calm, confident and quality ride.)
Instead if the rider took the time to create clear communication through the use of their aids rather than reactively riding (click link for blog definition) or responding after the fact, they can "tell" their horse while the ride or run is happening what they need their horse to do. If a rider winds up being hopeful (see blog definition) that their horse will do what he's supposed to do they have no clue as to what and how their horse will respond as they come out of the box.
Because the horse gets used to not being told by his rider, he winds up taking over and starts getting anticipative because it does not make him feel good to come out of that box "on his own." Just as with people, they like to know what the "plan" is.
The next element in this particular discipline is the steer itself. The rider and horse have no idea what the steer is going to do as he comes out of the shoot. So they have to be ready for whatever may need to get done in order to rope the steer. If the horse has only previously been taught that "he's on his own" then he will tend to anticipate (many times causing a time fault for leaving the box early, also known as "breaking the barrier.")
Once a horse reaches a certain degree of stress they typically reach an "unreasonable" state. This is where the horse takes over and the rider winds up "going for the ride." Again this is another undesirable and potentionally dangerous situation. Once he takes over, especially in an event like team roping, if you need your horse to quickly turn, slow or speed up, you have less of a chance that you horse is going to perform as you need him to when "you've got to get the job done." This lack of responsiveness, mental availability from your horse and unclear communication is the largest contributor to an accident waiting to happen that my have been preventable by taking the time to address the quality of horsemanship with your horse ahead of time.
So whether you are a roper or a Dressage rider, a trail rider or a barrel racer, the next time you head out to ride start to assess if you horse may have a degree of anticipation in him. If so, start to break down into little steps how and what you ask of him and then how he responds. He'll tell you if your communication is clear, and he'll certainly show you if it's not.
It's more "work" to be a safe rider, but in the long run it decreases the level of stress you carry with you as you step into the saddle and in turn the more relaxed and confident you are, so will your horse be.

Being HOPEFUL: The missing link in communication

Hopefulness. Waiting and Seeing. Reactive Riding. Taking the "try" and willingness out of your horse.
What do all of the above have in common? They are a domino effect that occurs in the riding world far too often. Let me explain.
Each of the following three scenarios is acts of "Hopefulness" by riders:
Have you ever experienced or witnessed someone riding down the trail and seen something "scary" before your horse did? What did you do? A common response is the rider will hold their breath as their horse gets closer to the scary item, sitting very still in the saddle, and perhaps asking their horse to look the opposite way from the item as they "snuck by." Then they waited, and were silently hoping their horse didn't have a melt down as they passed by. Afterwards they let out a "sigh of relief" that nothing dramatic had happened.
Or how about the horse who was inconsistent about his willingness to load in the trailer. After he was caught as he was walked to the trailer the handler is chanting in hushed tones under their breath a message of hope "that today the horse would load willingly and not have it turn into the 5 hour fiasco like it had last time."
What about as you watched (or experienced) someone approaching a jump, half way through their barrel pattern or was building a loop while waiting in the box, what was going through your head (or what appeared theirs based on their facial expression) before the horse was asked to perform? And then what was the reaction from the rider AFTER the round? "I wasn't sure what he was gonna do..." "Whew, glad that's over with..." "Well THAT was a little scary..." "I hope that doesn't happen again..."
Many equine enthusiasts talk about communication between horses and their owners. This in itself is a whole other topic for another entry. What I want to mention is what about the LACK of communication between the rider/handler and the horse. All too often I see horses that have been deemed a "bad" or "ill behaved" horse. When I actually watch the interaction between the rider/handler and the horse often I find myself staring at a horse with a totally blank expression or confused look on his face due to "silence" from his rider/handler.
Then when the horse starts showing signs of worry, concern, stress, or other dramatic behavior, because he doesn't know what is gong on, he is punished or reprimanded for it. Instead the rider/handler ought to be having a CONVERSATION with the horse. The horse needs to be told AHEAD of time what is going to be asked of him. All too often the person winds up being "hopeful" and then after the horse offers a physical action does the person address him. By now, it's too late. The rider is REACTING after the event. This is what I call REACTIVE RIDING.
When people sit down in that saddle their brain tends to focus solely on themself. Instead if they treated their horse like they were "on the same team" and told the horse what the PLAN was ahead of time, the horse would have a better chance of offering the desired response to the handler or rider. BUT in order to have a plan, one must be THINKING (again, another blog topic) AHEAD of time of what, how and when they will ask something of the horse.
People tend to HOPE their horse will figure out what is going to be asked of them without ever offering any physical, spatial or verbal communication. Then when the horse doesn't respond as the handler/rider had wanted, the horse is reprimanded but never shown what the desired response had been. So the horse continues to stumble mentally and emotional, therefore physically, due to his continual existence in the "gray" area when interacting with a human. Eventually the feeling that he "just can't get it right" overwhelms him and he mentally checks out. Once he's mentally gone, there's no chance he'll physically comply.
When a horse reaches this point, people term them as being "naughty," lazy," "disrespectful, 'bad," etc., when in fact this is not the case at all. After trying all of his "options" if there is no communication from the handler/rider, the horse eventually gives up trying to figure out what it is that the person is asking of them. This is how people take the "try" and CURIOSITY (again, another blog topic) out of their horse.
In summary, by being HOPEFUL you will end up WAITING AND SEEING how your horse is going to respond in the future. This means you are now RIDING REACTIVLY which causes your horse to be operating in the "gray" area which will eventually TAKE THE TRY out of him and cause much stress to both of you.
So the next time you head out to visit with your four legged friend, please keep this in mind:

IF YOU DON'T TELL YOUR HORSE CLEARLY AHEAD OF TIME DON'T EXPECT HIM TO BE ABLE TO READ YOUR MIND AND PERFORM AS DESIRED.
Until Next Time...Sam