Training Tips

Training Tips: Leave your emotions at the gate

Training Tips
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I’ve written a few articles on subjects such as Intent, Focus, Breathing and Space to show ways we can get connected to our horses but the ONE thing we need to learn is to ‘Leave our emotions at the gate’.

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Don’t bring your anger, upset or fear to your horse. Try to leave any negative work or home issues at work or home. Being in the now with your horse is what works the best. It also means that whatever happens in your session don’t bring any emotion apart from love into that either. Don’t be angry with your horse for doing something you didn’t ask for, don’t bring frustration or fear to the session and always finish on a relaxed positive note.

Bring confidence, awareness, focus and love in all you do with your horse and most of all ask with clarity and without any emotional baggage.

  • Shelley – HorseSavvy(See Previous Articles for other subjects)

Training Tips: Practice makes progress

Training Tips
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Storm and me practicing leading from behind123

 

The best tip I can give anyone doing anything is that ‘Practice makes Progress’, that the hard work of learning something you’ve been taught well is to go over and over and over it until you get the muscle memory of it in your body and your mind.

It’s like when you learned to drive, or use a computer. To start with you were unsure and unused to what to do to make things work, how to start, stop, turn in the car, how to download, upload, find search engines, keep files for photographs BUT you learned one thing and did that for a while, then another question came up and you learned how to do that and did that for a while. Soon you were doing those first few things without thinking about it but you kept on asking questions and learning more about your car or computer until the first things were easy, light and you didn’t think about it and the new things integrated easier and faster.

It’s the same with Horsemanship. Learn your ABC’s, practice until you don’t have to think about it and then as questions about where you stand, what the horses feet should be doing, what kind of energy you need keep cropping up find out what you need, listen to your horses feedback and practice the right thing when you figure it out.

It’s the muscle memories of the practice that make everything happen when you need it to in circumstances such as in a lesson or in an emergency.  When you need to do something new in a lesson all the homework you’ve practiced doesn’t need your mind to think about it so practice opens up the door to progress. Progress for learning, for lightness, for relaxation, for ease of cues, for your thoughts being in tune with your horse, for everything you do with your horse.

SO, practice, practice, practice and if you are not sure you’re doing something right or you need more information to progress then have a lesson or watch the dvd and upload more data to your biggest muscle, your brain.

  • Shelley – HorseSavvy

Training Tips: What are you looking for when training?

Training Tips
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This is often the hardest thing to know or be aware of when you’re learning horsemanship…..what are you looking for when playing/training/riding? To have an end result or goal is one way of looking at it, but another way is to use the training techniques to achieve something far more important….a well balanced horse….physically, mentally AND emotionally.

My main aim when working with a horse is first and foremost for the horse to be RELAXED. Calmness helps find curiosity and with those two things the horse is very teachable because he/she can take things in well and remember good experiences. If the horse is worried or fearful he/she will also be bracey in it’s body and mind and won’t remember anything good apart from how it felt when something was being done to it so relaxation is my first and last criteria of any session. To see relaxation in the horse we also see confidence and rhythm in it’s paces, these two are missing with a fearful horse.

 

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The next criteria on my list is COOPERATION, which is shown through the horse being willing to accept my requests and to enjoy interacting with me.

My third criteria when working with a horse is IMPULSION. This isn’t impulsiveness and doesn’t mean the horse runs around without stopping, it means the horse has the same amount of whoa and go, that it can stop lightly and nicely just as easily as it goes forward in any gait and is all about balance. When the balance of whoa and go are good then you’ll see the horse be more balanced in it’s own body, it’s core will be more engaged and so will his hindquarters. This is pure athletic energy that allows the horse to go or stop with a whisper.

And my last criteria is FLEXIBILITY and this means that the horse is equal on it’s left and right sides and is as  symmetrical as possible. This way the horse can go in a straight line without the reins holding it in place. All horses (and humans) are born A-symmetrical and we all need working on to help become more symmetrical. Once we’re more symmetrical  we’re straighter and our aids become lighter, our reins can be lighter and not have to be used for keeping the horse straight and we can start to ride the dance of horsemanship.

While working through the HS Criteria list I often go back to RELAXATION when a horse needs me to help find that, this is the most important of all the criteria as without this one ingredient good learning doesn’t occur SO make sure it’s there at the beginning of the session and at the end. I also move around working on one or more of the criteria using my Horsemanship Techniques and work out what each horse needs on each particular day.

A horse that is fearful may just need calming to find that relaxation with me from the start. A horse that is more of an alpha may need me to help it find relaxation and willingness when playing with some techniques. Some horses may need to be working more on willingness and impulsion and others may need lots of flexibility play whilst still trying to find relaxation.

So, each time I handle a horse I am thinking of what the horse needs at that moment, what it needs to progress and what the owner wants to learn or where it’s training is leading to. Having the criteria to make sure whatever I do helps keeps the horse RELAXED, WILLING, FLEXIBLE with balanced IMPULSION is the key to progressing without any brace…brace in it’s body, brace in it’s mind or brace emotionally.

Learning should always be done through relaxation, confidence, curiosity and FUN.

  • Shelley – HorseSavvy