When training/working a horse, there are all sorts of "rules" out there, that can make your average horse owner who is training their own horse is little paranoid. One that bothers me, is the idea that "if you let your horse get away with that once, he will think he can always get away with that!". I think this makes people paranoid about not dealing with something that they know isn't good, even if they aren't sure what they should do....which can lead to riders making some desperate or poorly thought out techniques. And as we know, "violence begins where knowledge ends".

Here is an example; today I went out to catch the three new mares in the bottom field, to introduce them to the barn and brush them. I wanted to bring Charmer in first, as I feel an affinity to her, but when I approached her with the halter, she backed off, and said, "no thanks!". If I believed that allowing her to decide not to be caught this one time would ruin her forever, I would have chased her around in the mud, getting the other two worked up, and spent all sorts of time convincing her she couldn't escape me. Instead, I just went ahead and caught Cocoa. After grooming her, I again approached Charmer, but she was still not sure she wanted to be caught, so I put the halter on Dixie and brought her in, to start her make over (thoroughbreds should not have foot long manes!). So what happened when I put Dixie back out? Charmer walked right up to me and pretty much put her nose in the halter!

Hmmm....so why did that work? Because instead of chasing Charmer around like a predator and convincing her that resistance was futile, I respected her decision and allowed her curiosity to take hold, and I allowed her comfort level with me to increase as she saw me interact with the other two mares. This works because I believe, that at the base of it, the horses need to want to work, and if they don't want to interact with me, then that is my problem to resolve and not theirs to be forced into. Eventually I will build a level of trust, so that sometimes the horse will do something it isn't so sure about.

Another example is the panic some people seem to feel when a horse runs out at a jump; I must discipline the horse right away so it knows not to stop! Sure...or you could simply correct the issue that lead up to the stop, whether that be pace, approach, rider error, or that the horse was over faced...just lashing out with the whip won't tell the horse what it should have done, it will just get the horse worked up in a frenzy. Sometimes lashing out and making a big deal of the issue, makes it a bigger issue that it actually was, and will lock that moment more firmly in memory. Think about it...you tend to remember embarrassing or upsetting moments more if someone makes a big deal about them!

Now that said, I do think it is important to be consistent with a horse, and I do think that it is unfair to allow a horse to do something and then punish them for doing it later on....such as if you let your horse rub on you for years, it isn't fair to suddenly punish them for it later. I think that is where you need to be consistent, and be careful what you are teaching your horse, but I don't think riders need to be in a panic to discipline, or be made to feel guilty that they didn't get their horse to do something they wanted it to do. Instead I think riders should feel comfortable respecting their horse, and understanding their own limitations...and thinking rather than reacting.

And remember, horses actually can like people, and actually can like being ridden/worked!

Karen