Disengaging is a fancy way of saying that you want your horse to move away from you with the slightest touch. Teaching him (on the ground) how to disengage his rear, disengage his front, and back up prepares him for many, many more maneuvers further in his training program. We spent quite a bit of… Read More Training Exercises: Disengage
This is Part 2 of a two-part Lesson. Part 1 is Round Penning The object of Joining Up is to confirm that your horse has accepted you as his leader. By “joining” he affirms his respect and friendship. Watch the short video of the Caspian stallion as he “joins up” and follows his trainer as… Read More Training Exercises: Join Up
Imprinting endows a foal with trust and willingness, and it takes fear of and struggle against humans away. Konrad Lorenz demonstrated how incubator-hatched geese would imprint on the first suitable moving stimulus they saw within what he called a “critical period” between 13–16 hours shortly after hatching. When I was about 12 yrs old, my… Read More Foal Imprinting
Horses are natural herd animals and very insecure, uncomfortable, even unhappy, when not in the presence of other horses. There are many communication signals used by horses to understand each other’s intentions. Understanding horse communication is important for horse training, as most techniques try to closely simulate a horse’s natural communication skills. Lead (dominant) Mare:… Read More Horse Basics: Pasture Etiquette
Anticipation can be a positive or a negative depending on what your horse is anticipating. If he anticipates a coming maneuver when he feels the slightest signal from the reins (such as the upcoming jump in the photo), and he prepares for some yet-to-be-requested action by heightening his alertness, his anticipation is a good, measured… Read More Training Theory: Anticipation
There are two main types of Pressure: Physical pressure and Intention pressure (threat). Physical pressure: that is the tactile feelings such as the bit against the bars in his mouth or the rope halter bearing down on the poll at his head. It can be as uncomfortable as necessary to move him, or as subtle… Read More Training Theory: Pressure
Horses are a big, beautiful bundle of nerves. They have the fastest reaction time of any domesticated species, and they are constantly on the alert. They can see nearly 360 degrees around their body at all times, and they are always ready to react to a threat. Threatened mammals (including horses) have built in instincts… Read More Training Theory: Fight or Flight
In the early days of cowboys and vaqueros, horses were “broke” to ride. The emphasis of most horse training was on overpowering a horse or wearing him down until he submitted. Many training methods teach a horse to give in to avoid punishment, resulting in learned helplessness as a means of coping rather than mutual… Read More Training Theory: Natural Horsemanship