We have started using a system of communication that both horses and humans can understand. We have used pressure with our body and lead shank, a touch or pulsating pressure and verbal aids. We have released pressure, again from our body, lead and voice and continue to establish ourselves as the dominant horse (leader.) This communication system gets the horse to move, where we want, when we want and how we want. We are communicating with our horse in a way that they understand but more importantly, the way they interact with each other. We will discuss behaviors that both horses and humans have and how the horse perceives, and therefore responds to the behaviour.

B.C.T.U. Better Communication Through Understanding
In order to better communicate with horses, we must first understand several things about the body language of a horse, our reaction to the horse and horse behaviour that we perhaps take for granted and don’t think about when we work with them. I will quickly review the points I discussed in last months article. I covered our basic body positions and what it means to different types (personality breeds). I discussed why we should back out of a stall so we are not showing submissive postures which are confusing to horses and also keeps us safe. We do not want to be a dictator or micro manager (doing the horse’s job for them) or total disciplinarian (bully) Remember; we want our horses to want to be with us. Though we are the leader and make the decisions, they have responsibilities too. However we do have to understand what they are saying to us with their actions and behaviors, and I will cover this information in the following lesson plan. Remember, Better Communication Through Understanding, B.C.T.U.

We have practiced Come, Whoa and Back in the following places:

• When given from either side of the horse
   
• In the stall
   
• In the aisle
   
• In the arena

We will now move to the next step. This lesson consists of having the horse walk with us in a certain position, having the horse pay attention and setting the horse up to longe.

This will put more structure into our herd of two and continue to establish and confirm our place as leader. Two things that I often see when training is the horse lagging behind us or pulling us along. A well trained horse can actually walk behind us; after all, that is the horse’s place. The leader walks 1st and then the next highest in the herd, but as I said that is a position for a well trained horse. I usually have my horse walk beside me because it’s safer. Safety is the determining factor here. I can see what he is paying attention to, in case he spooks or gets distracted, plus I can give him something to focus on, both my shoulder and my movements. It gives the horse a specific place to be and a job to do. I often see horses pulling their people along and wonder, “Who’s the leader there?” One thing to remember, if we allow our horses to make one decision, they will make more. They will assume they are the leader, and hold no ill will against us, but as leader they will try to make all the decisions. That is their nature. So if we only make some decisions, they get confused and will take charge. We will have proven ourselves not worthy of their trust. The best thing for all concerned is for us to choose where, when and how the horse will go, and the safest place is for them to walk beside us. We need to use an arena or fence line to start (it takes away one line of movement). Even if the horse is stubborn, we can ask him to come to us then we would back away and give him a space to move into. Repeat this, continuing all the way to a fence line (arena) to start the training. We need to have the horse haltered, with at least a 9-12 foot lead shank (no chain), you may also use a dressage whip (a floppy one) but I tend to go with just the lead, and gloves. If you want to put boots on your horse you may. I never have my lead shank excess in a coil. This is dangerous. It could tighten around your hand and cause terrible damage. I hold mine in a figure 8 and that way if I need line it just unravels safely. *Note* some people might like a longe line, but I think its too much line and you or your horses leg could get tangled and trip.

Time to Start
Standing beside the horses neck, with you in between the horse’s head and shoulder, on the left side, both facing forward, with your right hand holding the lead approx. 6 inches below (just below) the snap. Do not put downward pressure on the lead. Hold the excess line in your left hand (for safety, always have 2 hands to control your horse. If the horse pulls away from your right hand you still have hold of the excess in your left). With the excess in your left hand, make sure you have the last 2-3 feet hanging out loose. You will have to use this extra line to flick towards the horse’s hind end (more on this later). If you so choose to use a dressage whip instead of the excess line that is quite acceptable – the whip/and or line is not to hit the horse; instead, it can be used as a visual aid or to tap them (they have great peripheral vision so they will see the movement) Be patient, all of this will start to make sense soon.

In our starting position, between the horses head and shoulder, both facing forward, we will lean forward to indicate we are about to walk and/or move forward. We will use a verbal aid such as “walk” or “walk on”. More than likely nothing will happen, so we will then take the excess lead that is in our left hand and flick it around the left side towards the horses hind end and then again repeat all of this by leaning forward (just a bit), saying “walk” and give a click (for attention) and flick the lead towards their hind end. It is important NOT to pull the horse forward with your right hand; movement comes from the horse’s rear. If your horse still does not respond, and nothing happens, please remember C.P.P – Consistent, Persistent & Patient. I will continue to lean forward, as if to take the first step, click and say “walk” flick my lead or shake my whip (again from my left side) and continue flicking until the horse walks forward or takes a step with me. As soon as the horse takes the step, release the line or stop giving all the prompts. This release or cease is the signal that they have done the right thing and the release from pressure that I will build on throughout the training. You want to always recognize the horse’s attempt even if it’s only one step. It is a step you can build on. Give lots of praise to your horse.

If your horse backs up, and it’s quite possible they will (they may get nervous and move away from the perceived danger or if they are confused) It’s important that YOU DO NOT back up with them. Instead if they do, you will turn and face them and ask them to come to you. If you we’re to back up with the horse, the horse would perceive that as you moving to them. (Obviously if your horse backs up and pulls you along, there’s not much you can do, but wait until they stop. When they do, face them and ask them to come to you)

It’s important to lean forward, because we want them to move or walk with us. Our leaning forward indicates we are going somewhere. Don’t pull your horse forward. We want them to move with us, not be pulled, plus it looks very unbecoming….they sometimes look like donkeys when we pull and route their nose out (no offense to donkeys) Get them to move their hind end first. That’s why we flick towards their hind end. After all, collection comes from the hind end and we may as well start now. Use a verbal aid; we will use the verbal aid to longe and to ride. (“Walk” means walk, “jog” means jog, “trot” means trot, “lope” means lope, “canter” means canter, “easy” means to slow down at whatever gait we are at and “whoa” means stop…K.I.S.S. - Keep It Sweet & Simple

Now that we’re walking we will need to teach them to stop. Remembering our confident body posture, when we are ready to stop, the 1st time we will take an extra large step forward, immediately turn 180 degrees, and say “Whoa” (you can also use your hand as before). We use our strong body position to 1) get their attention. 2) Build a wall. 3) Build on our previous lesson using all the tools or aids we’ve learned so far. Body, voice etc. It will reinforce our voice aid or “Whoa” (to stop and plant all 4 feet). After walking forward a few more times and stopping by using our body and turning a full 180 degrees (not 90 but a full 180), we can then start walking and asking for a stop with our voice aid and reinforcing with our lead shank by placing direct rein pressure towards the center of their chest. When the horse has stopped, release the pressure.

Important: Do NOT Change Hands When You Turn 180 Degrees.

Your horse may bump you in the beginning because they are just learning what we are asking of them. Don’t hesitate to go back to using your body language (turning 180 degrees) and repeating it a few more times. You will know, when they start anticipating the stop, and you can then go back to asking while walking beside them, saying “Whoa” and using your right hand lead shank pressure towards the center of their chest. Don’t forget you can still also use your left hand and bring it up 12-18 inches in front of their face. We have lots of tools. As you both progress through walking and “Whoa-ing”, and you feel the horse has a basic understanding of both, you can begin adding some rules. Walk with me – keep up Don’t bump me – back up Why are we teaching our horse this? Well, first there’s the obvious reason which is walking safely and properly with us, but we’re also developing structure and manners, as well as reinforcing ourselves as the leader. We are teaching them to trust us and therefore, they can relax around us. We will gain their respect because we are teaching them what they need to know, to be part of our herd. They are starting to pay more attention, focus and are thinking more…they really do love to think and use their brains. We have taught them to focus on us, pay attention, because we may want to move at anytime, so the message is “Be prepared”. We have taught them that we can move their feet where and when we choose. We’ve taught them that we won’t pull them and that they should move their hind end. We have established ourselves and reinforced ourselves as leaders.

Now that the horse will walk when we ask, we now become very specific about where they should be. Remember a specific question gets a specific answer and a vague question, well….you know. When we walk, we will ask them to be, and STAY in a specific spot that we choose for them. They should keep up whether we go faster or slower or turn inside or outside. By repeating the same steps that we did to get them to walk we will now re-ask in the same way to walk faster.

Lean forward (to walk), click (vocal aid), and if necessary, flick the lead towards their hind end. Once walking we will then increase our pace, click and most likely you will need to flick the lead towards their butt, and continue to flick the lead. Once their head is where it should be, immediately stop clicking and flicking. That’s their reward for correctness. A release from all pressures. That’s the way we teach them. Ask for an answer and continue asking till they give the correct answer and then stop all requests. They then relax and start to figure things out for themselves. Then repetition, which will let them know that they did give the correct answer and allow them to build on that.

Sometimes they may have flicked their tail at the same time that they walked faster, so the next time we ask they might again, flick their tail but not walk faster. We continue to ask and they think “Dang, what was it I did when they stopped bothering me?” Then they will try walking faster and we release, so the next couple of times they will walk faster right away and we will stop bothering them right away. In this way they think and figure things out. A thinking horse!

To slow the horse down at a walk we will slow our body (our pace). Make it a noticeable change in pace and also use your voice (“Easy”). If need be we will “check” on our lead shank by again bringing direct pressure towards the center of chest (if we were to bring the lead to the side of the horse it would encourage the horse to turn and stop sideways by swinging its hips). We can also gently swing the excess lead that is in our left hand, in front of their chest. They will see it and if they ignore the swinging line we can always tap them on the chest while using our right hand lead shank pressure to give a check and release. If they ignore all of these things (which they probably won’t) ask with all of the above a maximum of 3 times then turn your body 180 degrees and say “Whoa”. The earlier training should pay off here. What you DON’T want to do is try to brace your body (with your back to them) and stop them that way. Remember that’s a submissive posture.

We turn 180 degrees and say, ”Whoa” for a couple of reasons:

1. We don’t want them to learn to ignore our requests.
    
2. We need to get their focus back, so we use a big change in a confident body position.

Then repeat, walk, walk faster and slow down. Remember C.P.P - Consistent, Persistent & Patient. Ask the same thing, the same way and do it till the horse understands. We are good leaders and we will not get over excited. We will teach them what they need to know.

When the horse is confident with the new skills, then go to their offside and re-teach everything from their right side. Sometimes the offside is more difficult for us humans than it is for our equine partner. We teach both sides so that the horse can be longed and because we need to work off both sides of the horse.

I want to touch on one thing now. Backing, when they bump us. Once we are sure that they are well on their way to understanding the lesson, we can now add in a repercussion for bumping us.

We, as the Leader of the Herd are NOT to be bumped. If we are, it shows a lack of respect, and to be a good leader we need to be respected. Safety is an added plus. If they know not to bump us we are safer. If something scares the horse they will tend to run past us, not over us. How many times have we been in a situation where the horse gets scared and jumps into our space and hurts us? Not pleasant. Once we are sure they understand the above lesson we can now add the rule that they are never allowed to bump us. If they do, we will stop and back them up, and remember the repercussion is equal to the infraction. This rule always applies from now on. If your horse bumps you gently, then you will back them up one maybe two steps or even three. If they bump us hard or with total disregard for us we will back them many more steps (5, 10, even 15 steps) or what ever you think is appropriate. Avoid being over aggressive but be strict in enforcing the rule. They will also back as a repercussion for future problems, in hand as well as under saddle. We are establishing a precedent and reinforcing our role as herd leader. They don’t bump the herd leader when they’re turned out because they know they will be bit and or kicked and chased for a quarter mile. There are consequences to their actions. After all they are part of our herd and they expect to be treated as such.

We will also teach the horse to do inside and outside turns. The inside turn is easy, because we move into our own space not theirs, and they will love that. There is no conflict for them because we are not moving into their space yet. While we are walking we will slow our body down and start doing an inside turn. Remember your body position; we must not turn our back to the horse (confident body position). Keep your shoulder pointing to their neck. As we turn, our body slows, but the horse must keep their head in front of our shoulder, so they must increase their speed to do this. At the same time we slow ours to make it easier for them to stay in position. Throughout the entire exercise they are not allowed to bump us. If they do, we must back them up. The next is an outside turn. This is more difficult. The horse may not want to do this, as this puts them into their place as second to us, and they may not easily relinquish their (perceived) dominant position. The first thing that we do for an outside turn, is lead their nose to the outside, (this is very important), then we move into their space (basically move towards their throat-latch at a 45 degree angle), and click (for attention). If the horse does not start moving away from us, we will teach them that when we move into their space, they should move away. We’ll do this by applying our fist (the hand that is holding the excess lead); in a pulsing action on the shoulder (on the fleshy part on their side NOT the point of shoulder). While pulsating pressure, we lead their nose, click, move into their space and as soon as they move away, immediately stop all the above and walk straight (again, that’s their reward and release) Then repeat and get a little more of the outside turn and after a short while you will just lead their nose and move into their body and they will do an outside turn.

Things to watch for on outside turns You’re moving into their space and asserting your dominance, and if you’re going to have issues, here’s where they may arise. Beware of a bite – avoid it by making sure you tip the horse’s nose away from you. Don’t get over aggressive as you begin introducing this maneuver. Most horses will do the outside turn, just remember to be careful. Another thing to watch for is, when you do this is the horse may try to get you to walk more forward. If you find that you are walking quickly around them, they are getting your feet to move. Stop, and then use direct rein lead shank pressure towards center of chest with an ask and release (checking motion, to slow), so that when you do walk your outside turn LINE it’s at your pace. Another thing is that you want their SHOULDER to move. Sometimes they will pivot on the forehand and circle, but you want to make sure that they are moving their shoulder, so as before, continue your request till they move their shoulder.

Horses are aware of all the little things, the subtleties. For example; If you are doing an outside turn and they are walking you forward, the horse perceives this as weak leadership and you, the weak leader. If you move into their space, they don’t move away and you fail to correct them, again it is viewed as weakness. If you are walking along the rail in a straight line, and they move you off the rail, the horse again sees this as poor leadership. A horse will try all of these tests to your leadership plus many more.

We all exhibit behaviors that we do not consciously think about. One of these to watch for is that when you are not asking anything of the horse be aware that you are not pulling on your horse even a little bit. Pressure is to be used when you want something, either for direction or correction. If you are walking and you find there is slight pressure on your lead shank, it means the horse is choosing the pace and pulling you along. Ask a maximum of 3 times for “Easy” and if you get no response, turn 180 degrees and stop the horse and then back up a little.

Next month we set our horses up for longing! Have fun! Walter

If you would like to contact me, please do at, eternaldreamshorse@hotmail.com