We want our horses to trust us so much they will do whatever we ask of them. This means they have to understand what we are asking so there needs to be a common communication “language” in which they and the rider are familiar. This would be, and go beyond, the various aids the rider or handler uses. Just as people can have a relationship where, without a word being spoken, each knows what the other is thinkingw want that kind of interaction with our horse. We need to go back to yesterday’s thoughts on leadership to have that level of communication be successful.
It is often said in the horse world the horseperson needs to be the “lead” horse. Just as in dog training that the owner has to be the “head of the pack”. I agree with part of this in that we need to “think like a horse, or dog” but I’m pretty certain the horses (or Cooper) don’t see me as one of them. There does, though, need to be a trust level in their recognition of me as a creature that has earned their respect whose guidance they should follow. This works because horses are generally gently, tractable animals that respond to leadership or guidiance that they think will keep them safe. Quietly and calmly providing pleasant experiences is one of the ways to start conditioning horses to trust us as leaders. This can happen anytime but starts ideally by finding their favorite places to be scratched when a horse is a very young foal. That is usually the locations they can’t reach their mouths or feet to scratch themselves such as the upper shoulders, withers, and rump. They may only think of us as pleasant things to have around rather than recognize us as leaders at that point but it is a starting point we can build off step by step.
In Mesa Farm news, our neighbor Den and I worked a little today cutting and clearing a path down by the pond that will eventually loop through our adjourning woodlands for walking and horseback riding. It will be nice to have a trail to ride on instead of just down the road.
In the COVID-19 battle, I liked Bill Belichick’s encouraging words in his brief video message, “Let’s keep stringing good days together and we will get through this.”
Photo (taken by Jen, long time Mesa Farm regular as she was walking by the farm recently): The lambs, graphically demonstrating the one step at a time principle used in training horses and riders.
