The exercises presented here are loosely based on several natural horsemanship techniques with an emphasis on the physiology of the horse and the psychology and principles behind horse instincts, language, learning, and trust. (see Natural Horsemanship)
We highly recommend that you read the many sections in the Horse Training Theory section of this blog. (Theory) Those explain the “Why”s to these Exercises.
A sound understanding of what motivates a horse to react in any certain way under a particular circumstance will help you to extrapolate into new training lessons or unfamiliar activites. ie: If you know how a horse sees, it might help you to understand that moving into a dark horse trailer from a bright sunny day may intimidate a horse because he cannot quickly adjust to the light change and cannot see inside the “open box”. (see Horse Vision)
There are hundreds of examples of horse physiology and psychology informing your training methods.