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Q: My horse
respects me for the most part, but when push comes
to shove, he is not always obedient. I am not an
experienced trainer, but I cannot afford hiring a
real trainer. What can I do?
A: Since horses
communicate mostly with body language, they are far
more adept at reading and understanding body
language than we are. They know your emotions and
intentions better than you know them yourself. Your
horse can read and feel your lack of commitment very
well and he knows as long as you are not committed
to following through on what you ask him, that he
doesn't have to do it.
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It is important that you
change your attitude than use any other sort of training
aid. As soon as you change your attitude and show a
commitment and a determination to reinforce your cues, your
horse will happily obey. When you get wishy-washy with him,
he senses a lack of leadership and tries to step into the
leader role, rather than the follower role. Every time this
happens, you are eroding your authority with him and pushing
him toward the dominant role. But whenever there is a void
of leadership, the horse will always move into the dominant
role.
There are two concepts for
you to think about. First, don't ever ask a horse to do
something that you are not capable of, or committed to,
following through on. If you can't make him do it, don't
ask. Because if you ask and fail, you have successfully
trained your horse to be disobedient. Once you ask something
of a horse, it is imperative that you follow through with
whatever means you have at your disposal, otherwise you are
anti-training him.
A common example of
"anti-training" is when you ask a horse to turn in a
direction he does not want to go (like away from the barn)
and he resists and tries to go the other way, and you cave
in and allow him to turn that way. Even though you may plan
to take him all the way around to the point you were headed
to begin with, he has been rewarded for resisting your
request by being allowed to turn the way he wanted, not the
way you wanted. He has no conception of the fact that you
circled him all the way around to the direction you wanted
to go to begin with. All he knows is that by resisting you,
he got to go the way he wanted to go to begin with.
Secondly, there is a theory
in cueing horses called "Ask, Tell and Command." It means
that the first time you ask a horse to do something, you ask
lightly and politely. The second time you tell the horse
with greater authority and the third time, you let the horse
know you really mean business. If you are asking beyond 3
times, you are training your horse to ignore your
directives. This concept only applies to trained horses that
know what the cue means.
I see this problem all the
time in clinics and it always stems from a lack of
follow-through from the rider. The rider may ask the horse
to trot (or canter, or go to the rail, etc.), but with
ambivalence and a lack of confidence. The horse detects the
lack of confidence or the lack of determination in the rider
and just ignores her. So the rider gets frustrated and
instead of reinforcing the cue, the rider just quits. And
now the horse has been trained to ignore the rider's cue and
this cycle goes on and on. Typically, I (or any confident
rider) can get on this horse and in seconds he will respond
promptly and willingly to my cue, because he will recognize
my authority and determination.
You need to really
concentrate on every aspect of your relationship with him.
Are you babying him too much and giving him treats? Are you
sometimes compromising with him ("oh well, I guess you don't
really have to do that right now")? How are his ground
manners, does he stand quietly and obediently and lead well
and move out of your space or does he bump into you and rub
his head on you, etc.? These are all symptoms that the horse
has not truly accepted your authority.
Think about how horses treat
each other. When a horse is disobedient in the herd, does
the boss mare come up to him and try to reason with him, pet
him and make nice to him, or does she assert her authority
in no uncertain terms? In the herd setting, horses are quite
physical and violent at times. I am not advocating that you
are violent with your horse, but if you think about it, they
are pretty physical.
Horses are obedient and
respectful to the leaders of the herd and they would never
think of infringing upon a more dominant horse's space,
because if they do, they'll lose some hair over the deal.
The leader of the herd has gotten to that position by
consistent and strong leadership, which sometimes involves
biting, striking and kicking his way to the top. Sometimes,
we have to assert out authority over horses with string
leadership and authoritative corrections. The good news is
that once a horse accepts our authority we can maintain that
authority through kind and consistent reinforcement of the
rules.
Before you tackle the canter,
make sure your horse is moving well off your legs at walk
and trot. Ask him once lightly with your legs and weight cue
and if he does not respond promptly, immediately correct him
with your legs and with the crop if necessary, right where
your leg cues him. The next time you ask, he will move
promptly off your leg because he knows what the consequences
of disobedience are. If you do this right, you should only
have to use the crop once or twice, which is far better than
carrying it with you always and giving him nagging taps
every time you cue.
Be cautious at the canter
because often when lazy horses refuse to canter, they will
buck. So make sure you are confident to ride through the
bucks. If not, ask for some help from someone that is more
capable of staying seated through the bucks. Lots of people
are willing to help if you just ask, but most knowledgeable
and competent people will not offer help until you ask (it's
the ones that are offering advice unasked that I would
avoid).
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If you liked this
article, Julie suggests the following products to help you
continue the work with your horse (or call 800-225-8827 for
ordering help):
Goodnight's Principles of Riding, vol.
1 Balance & Rhythm
Goodnight's Principles of Riding, vol.
2 Communication & Control
Goodnight's Complete Rider Package
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