Youngsters.

Many people who are breeding/raising horses say they want to let the horse be a horse. They don't want to 'do/train' them until they're 2, 3 or 4. Yet, unless that foal is out with a herd, YOU are training him.

Leading the foal with or next to it's mother to the turn-out paddock and back, getting the halter on the horse and feeding IS training. Are you only looking at one side of the training? Is being nice a good way to train manners? WOULD THE OTHER HORSES IN THE HERD TREAT THE BUGGER THE WAY YOU ARE WHEN HE MISBEHAVES???? NO! No herd leader is going to let a foal shove his chest or shoulder into him or run ahead and then kick out at him, or rear up and swing his hooves at him. If you do, he's the power figure. This isn't rocket science yet people are reluctant to take care of this. A horse rearing and striking or kicking at you??? I hate when that happens.

If you never shove him away, or shoo him off you, or let him shoulder in to you, or step on you, you are training him to be aggressive and dominant. This will make your 'real training' that you're waiting years to do so much tougher.

Taking a moment to get the youngster to understand NOT in my space is so important and since you're there anyway, don't be lazy or misunderstand your motives in not taking care of it. You are not a leader if a 5 month old colt is making you move your feet. Giving direction to a movement is leadership in training and a must to avoid injury (mostly to you). Teaching the foal to give to pressure instead of learning that the person gives to pressure is imperative as the older it gets, the stronger and tougher it gets. The un-mannered foal grows into an un-manageble 5 year old who now breaks things, bends fencing, tears up the trailer, etc.

Take care of it as the herd leaders would and set yourself up for success later.

There seems to be some confusion regarding softness and giving of the head (the horse's. There's no confusion about people. They're just hard headed. HA!). I believe a horse's head and neck should be for the most part, soft and flexible. Give a light feel. Put it in a place that I would like it to perform the task I'm getting ready to ask for.

The confusion comes in with the assumption that the horse's hindquarters need to be engaged and driven forward for the head to soften. This is not to say that you don't want this dual occurrence, just that the hindquarters aren't necessary to achieve a soft feel of the head. This really is two requests. Yet, why shouldn't the horse's head give and go??? What if you are standing still and just ask the horse to give to the left? Is bracing acceptable?? NO. So softness is what you're going for. But, since you're standing still you don't need to engage the hindquarters. What if you have the horse on line? You still may want a soft give in, down, left or right. AND you don't want the hindquarters to move. So, they aren't part of the same movement and the one request of the head doesn't necessarily require the other participation of the hind.

I was thinkin'.

I say this a lot to my students. Once a husband and wife team that I was working with stopped me when I started with it and said, "These are the three words we really hate to hear coming out of your mouth. It's always something we don't want to think about or do."

But, for me these are the three most exciting words. They fall into the same category as problem vs. opportunity.

When things are going well OR when things are going not as expected, hmmmm....is a good thing!

Oddly enough, the more this path is traveled, the more either way isn't a bother. As the quote by Krishmaurti says in my book (Curbside Service, Change the Way You and Your Horse Think About Each Other), "The secret is, I don't mind what happens."

So, lets say you're raising a foal for the hunter futurity. It's 7 months old. I was thinking... it would be fun IF you could have the horse perform in the yearling class without a halter. Not that you have to or should, but if you could.... how good would your class go if you then just followed normal protocol and had a bridle on???

What if... you took off your bridle during the class and your horse still won????

Avoiding potential problems:

Is a great way to run into them in a 'way big' manner.

You simply can't avoid problems with horses. Your best bet is to cover as much ground with spooking, manners, movement, behavior, skills, knowledge, etc. as possible so that when an issue comes up, you and your horse are able to get through it.

Push those buttons. Set up, cause the very thing you don't want to have to deal with (under controlled circumstances) so that you can get it out of there.

Expectations - Why so low?

Horse stumbles over and steps on and bumbles thru poles on the ground. Person thinks poor soul has so much trouble and can't do more until it can go over those twigs without bumbling.

Horse is thinking - this isn't even worth the effort so who cares.

Person is now scared to ride horse over these twigs because person doesn't want horse falling with person on.

Horse is okay with that concept.

Person would get horse a whole lot better by asking horse to jump over 55 gallon drums (on line). Even 6 mo. old foals can easily jump these barrels and it gives horse enough of an obstacle to put in a little effort. Let them bumble over or hit them if horse wants. Make them immovable then the next time they'll try a bit harder. People are frequently amazed at how nicely their horse jumps.

I had a guy over doing some work at my place today and he was taking some branches out to the alley before he left. I was on the other side of the property. Turns out, he didn't close the gate to the pasture and within seconds after he pulled out of the driveway, I had 4 horses galloping out the gate down the alley and out onto the street.

I ran to grab halters, leads and strings and the horses had luckily, stopped to nibble in a patch of grass. One of the horses is a relatively new arrival and has never been 'around' the outside. This can at times present the worst scenario because this horse could have incited the others to dash down the street. And it's a busy street!!

The good news is that I could act like this was a normal experience and walk up to the milling herd quietly, but quickly, snap my fingers at each one at a time and say 'come here' and they did.

Figuring out how to maneuver all four of them between plants and driveways and cars going by and getting them each back in the gate was interesting but within about 15 minutes of their escapade everyone was back in the pasture.

Of course, this happened at 1 pm in 105 degree heat. Alas, all is good!!

This is a very good reason that it's a good idea to teach your horse how not to spook and run in unfamiliar circumstances, how to be okay with you approaching in a quick manner and to come when called. Ya think?

My horse needs to do what I say.

Why?

Yet, why? isn't even the best question. Your horse needs food, water and sometimes shelter. But, if you are phrasing your wants this way, it WILL affect your results with your horse. And I am not saying that's in a good way. You want your horse to______! But, horse doesn't NEED to_____. Horse wants to ______.

As far as you're concerned, it may be safer for you, you will probably enjoy horse more, you may win more ribbons, if horse does what you say. But, that has nothing to do with horse's needs and as long as you think it, you are not working your way to the solution with the best results either in time frame or productivity.

Thomas Edison said, "There's a way to do it better. Find it!

Figure out how to keep your frustration over what you perceive horse NEEDS to do from getting the best of you. And, figure out how to get horse to think that it's a better idea if maybe he would consider doing 'it' like this.

Frustration never fixed anything.

Low level skills and knowledge aren't a big help either. Use Edison's line as a mantra.