What It Means When Your Horse Is Licking Or Chewing During Training

Is licking or chewing during training a sign of stress or relaxation?

I’m going to throw my 2 cents in on this debate #yourewelcome.

Licking can indicate your horse may have reached its’ coping limits with your training.

I believe it is a sign of both. 

If you’re horse is actively showing signs of relaxation than one would have to think that first it needs to be stressed, to release the stress and show exaggerated signs of relaxation. Right? So my thought is that it is actually a sign of learning and processing what they were working on. 

There’s no doubt about the fact that we create stress when working our horses. We create physical stress to condition their body, mental stress to grow their intellect and emotional stress to increase resilience to their environment. If we create just the right amount of stress they grow and develop. If we create too much stress they start to protect themselves. Their body tightens up to avoid injury, they stop thinking and processing what their are learning and they shy away from challenging situations. 

So while I’m not actively seeking the licking and chewing response, it is an indication to me the pressure I had on them before they started licking and chewing is probably about their limits for coping. Any more pressure and they will not be learning any more -they will be stressed. Horses can only learn and seek the right behaviour with a relaxed brain.

Begin training your horse the CORRECT way

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Why we should be teaching our horses to be curious

You’ve seen it, right?

The horse that prances, snorts and shies on a trail ride, at a competition, or even at the trees blowing in the wind.

Maybe you have even been on that horse.

It’s not exactly a pleasant scenario to be in, and can take all our skill and energy just to keep riding.

Horses are inherently animals of prey and therefore their instinctive reaction is attuned more to flight then fight. Therefore, a horse that is ‘high strung’ or displaying those types of behaviours is nearly completely using the instinct part of the brain, which disengages the ability for the horse to be able to use the parts of the brain to think, process and learn

A moving object, different colour, change of location or interaction with unfamiliar horses or people – all of these things can set your horse off into instinctive mode, even if they are normally well behaved in your home paddock.

It’s a heavily (and sometimes heatedly) debated topic on how to overcome these issues and we are going to weigh in on it ourselves.

So let’s have a quick look at some of the commonly recommended solutions.

Desensitisation:

When we use desensitisation skills we are teaching our horse that the best response is no response. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the horse is ok with what is happening to it just that the right response is no response. It also means that the horse has no way of telling us that it’s not coping. If the best coping mechanism is no response and our horse is scared of something and so shows no response we say aha!! See! My horse isn’t scared anymore! What happens is it copes until it doesn’t and then gives us no warning that it’s not coping and explodes. This is how most horses are “broken” in and if they don’t pass this qualification they are considered dangerous horses, unsuitable for riding.

Another term for this process is flooding. We “flood” the horse’s sensory processing mechanism until they no longer respond. This doesn’t mean that the horse has processed the stimulus. It just means they are not responding to it. This therefore isn’t helpful to us when we need to resensitise them to get them to respond to our cues and aids. They are then left with the choice of which stimuli will they react to and the reactions are generally extravagant and “out of character” because they don’t know how to process the stimulus or how to react they only know not to react.

Be the boss/leader:

Being the boss is a critical skill in our working relationship with our young, green, uneducated horses but not always a priority in our mature and educated horses if they have had a good education.

A well educated horse learns to look after its rider. A well educated horse has been exposed to lots of different environments and situations and has come out the other side unscathed and so becomes confident and knows what to expect when put in new and different situations.

The younger, greener horses are still learning and need a competent leader that they trust to show them how to deal with their environment and show them they are safe. An older horse that has lots of homes and instability in its life and learning can become agitated and scared when it goes into new environments because it hasn’t enjoyed the stability and knowledge that it will be going home and ok.

This skill of being the boss can be misinterpreted as being the bigger bully. Every instructor that I’ve ever had has told me that you need to be scarier than what the horse is scared of. This never fixed the spooking but it made me really good at hanging on!

Developing good leadership skills with our horse is one of Equestrian Movements core training principles. It sets our horse up with trust in us to keep them safe and allows us to introduce them to scary situations and show them how to handle it. In the long run it is the key to developing a good relationship and rapport with our horse. Setting boundaries and following through allows us to show up as good leaders so that our horse trusts our leadership skills and follows us into different environments with trust that we won’t let harm come to them.

This takes time to establish and a lifetime to reinforce. You can’t do your leadership exercises in 1 day and then try and cross a busy highway with them. You are challenging just outside their comfort zone and then allowing them to retreat and recover and process that it wasn’t that bad.

Remove the horse from the ‘scary situation’:

As we spoke above if we have put our horses into a situation that they really are unprepared for and overwhelmed there isn’t anything we can physically do to help them handle the situation. We end up damaging the relationship we have been working so hard to build because if we can’t show up as a good leader in this situation then we have lost our horses trust and respect which is hard enough to earn the first time let alone try and earn again once it is broken.

Punishment:

These are common principles that are resorted to when trainers lose their cool and aren’t able to think outside the box or has lost patience. When we resort to punishment we undo all the hard work we have put into our relationship skills. At equestrian movement we teach to not emotionally engage in the situation because this is when you can end up lashing out in frustration. If you and your horse have done all the ground work leading up to this point with the pressure release and relationship building skills you should need to resort to physical punishment.

There is a fine line in using pressure release and it becoming a form of punishment. Both are forms of negative reinforcement but in pressure release there should be the opportunity to choose and a clear pathway of consequence that is resulting in the increase of pressure.

Physical punishment is using force without the horse understanding why and how to get away from the force and using a force that results in injury to the horse i.e. blood drawn, bruising etc. When we use a force that the horse doesn’t understand why, it is not learning how to react correctly, only how to get away.

The kind of force is very important to recognise because the damage is done mentally and emotionally. Some horses are just very “thick skinned” and so require a more intense “pressure” to find their point of responsiveness. People can be scared of using this strength because they don’t want to hurt the horse. What we teach here is to think about how hard its paddock mate would have to kick or bite your horse to get them to go away from their food. They would use just enough to get them to go away but not enough for them to get hurt (hopefully) even though you know they could really hurt them if they wanted. This is part of using pressure/release. Increasing the intensity of the aid to just enough they take notice of you but without hurting them. The level of intensity will differ across breeds and previous training. How much the horse has been shut down by desensitising techniques also plays a role here.

What is Teaching Curiosity about?

The aim of teaching curiosity is about 3 key reasons:

• Safety

• Emotional Balance

• Continued Learning

A horse that is taught to be curious has the capability of reducing its’ automatic instinctive and look for cues from it’s’ rider as to what it should be doing.

A horse that is curious is listening. A horse that is curious is open to learning. A horse that is curious is able to apply his mental and emotional reasoning capabilities and lead even the greenest rider through safely.

A horse that is curious may be interested in the rustling bushes or flying flag, but not tense and prepared to bolt.

A horse that is curious will be interested in you lifting its’ leg (you may get a nose in your back) but won’t be pulling back or kicking.

Teaching your horse to be curious allows new situations to be faced without fear, without flight, without fight, but with open emotional and mental awareness, capability to learn and process, and the development of the bond between horse and rider.

Teaching curiosity reinforces leadership, trust and strengthens our relationship, while allowing the horse to progress with its learning capability.

Do you want to train your horse to be curious, confident and open to discussion?

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The Key To Training Your Horse

Your relationship with your horse is the key to the success of your training.

It may not warrant a lot of thought, but the strength of our relationship with our horse will determine the speed at which said horse will respond to your training.

Relationships are intrinsically fluid and dynamic by nature. They are influenced daily by how each of us feel, the external stressors, our personalities, our hormones, and heck, sometimes just the weather! There is little different in a human to human relationship to that we experience with any other animal, including horses - except we can generally communicate a little easier with other people.

It is inevitable that one day you will have an amazing training session with your horse, and the next one of the worst experiences in the arena possible. But it is how YOU handle this with your horse that will determine the ultimate outcome - that being the strengthening of a relationship and a better ride next time, or the deterioration of the relationship and an even worse ride to come.

There are several key things you always should remember when working on your bond or training with your horse:

• A horse is a horse - while he can sense you are stressed, he doesn't understand that it is because so-and-so said something to you at work, he just knows your stressed. Breathe and take the time to be with your horse without distractions.

• A horse is a creature with personality and therefore emotions. When working with your horse, it is important not to become emotionally reactive in the training, as this will impede your thought processes and your horse will react accordingly.

• Whenever possible, always finish on a positive note, even if it means you take it right down to the very basics of training. Not only will you feel better that your horse responded correctly, your horse will remember that the work finished not because he was naughty, but because he did something correct.

• NEVER EVER use punishment as a tool for training.

• Keep in mind that every moment you spend with your horse is a moment that could either make or break your relationship.

Training Trainability In Action

I am in a pretty lucky situation - I have the best of all best friends with a multitude of horses, so when mine is out of work (clumsy little clutz he is!), she let’s me play with some of her other horses.

Not many people get that chance - thanks Bestie!

But what it does mean is that I end up working with horses that don’t work to MY expectation.

They aren’t nasty horses - in fact, they are all very affectionate and sweet.

They aren’t naughty horses (mostly) - but they do have a few tricks or habits that, while not creating a real drama, aren’t ideal from my point of view.

In no way do I blame the owner of these horses, or the previous rider, or the horses themselves. This is just what ends up happening over time when people of different skill sets work with horses of different and ever-evolving skill sets. (In actual fact, these horses are exceptionally loved and well-treated, and the owners very intelligent).

But what it does mean for me is that I get to work through these little issues with the horse - and I love doing it!

I get to put into practice the lessons from the Holistic Horse Handling Program and see them come to life. I get to see the horse underneath that wants to look after people and be looked after. I get to see that sometimes, our horses have a lot more to say.

Today I had the joy of working with a very sweet Thoroughbred with a very subtle issue. He was tense when being tacked up - so tense, that he would have a little freak, break away from the tie rail, and take himself back to his feed yard.

To one observer, they might see a naughty horse that learnt that pulling back got him free and away from work. Another might observe that there was too much activity nearby providing over-stimulation.

To those who have trained under Katie, you would recognise that the breathing had become shallow, the body tense, and that he could no longer ‘submit’ to being tied if you brought the saddle near.

The First Do No Harm skillset identified that there was no pain with riding. The Compassionate Leadership skills saw that he became stressed when he was being saddled. So our goal - to show him that he would only be saddled WHEN HE WAS READY TO CONTINUE.

The process allowed him to think, instead of react, to the stimulus; to process what was there and have the opportunity to tell us when he was ready to continue.

• It meant giving him an avenue to communicate he was ready (we worked on that over the last few weeks).

• It meant giving him a way of expressing that he wasn’t ready (and because this is a new option for him, boy did he have fun saying no for a while!).

• It meant taking everything back to basics to understand where the problem lies and what else we needed to do to help him overcome it.

I could have chosen to ride him into submission for an hour, working out his niggles all the way, but that would only mean that the next ride would be the same - or worse.

Instead I chose to spend 45 minutes working with him and 10 minutes in the saddle, but by the end of the session he was relaxed, releasing his tension and taking in lessons and new cues in moments instead of minutes. And it means that next ride, it wont take forever to tack him up, with our ride starting off all tense and agitated. It means next ride, his acceptance of tacking up will be faster and allow him to relax, understand and process his learning.

It’s the difference between a WILLING HORSE and a SUBMISSIVE HORSE - and that is the hugest difference in the world once you experience it.

Would you like your horse to be willing to work with you, instead of just submitting?

Click here to view the Program

Attack Of The Bubble Machine - A Real Life Story Of Drama & Rodeo In The Arena

Competition puts a lot of stress on our horses that we don’t really think about.

Horses are designed to not show they are stressed. In the wild, being an animal of prey, showing signs of stress, injury or illness makes them easy pickings for predators. So quite often it’s not until our horse is really struggling that we tend to see the more obvious signs. 

Competition is stressful to the horse because we are taking them to new environments. Depending on how far you go the float travel takes a lot out of them. We normally enter them in multiple classes so they end up working anywhere from a couple hours to all day. It is a very stimulating environment with all the other horses and chaos that we expect them to be focused and well behaved in. Not to mention the athletic performance we expect on the day and the extra stress we put on our horses because of our own stress about doing well.  

A lot of my riding career I spent competing. We used to compete most weekend and work our way around the show circuit each year. Competing at shows had the extra chaos of all the people, side show alleys, rides, fireworks at night, all sorts of scary experiences. My horse King was always a bit of a sensitive soul. We had gotten a certain level of rapport that he trusted me and worked well for me even if he was nervous. Mostly we would be able to work around the scary things until he stopped looking at them. 

At this stage of my riding career I didn’t do much groundwork or horsemanship. We just worked together because of how much time we spent together and all the things we had worked through. It was my thought at this time that if you had to lunge your horse to ride you didn’t know how to ride. I had gotten pretty good at holding onto a buck.  

One of the classes we were in at the Townsville show, King was working really sweetly and we were working through our paces around the ring, waiting for the judge to pick their horses for line up - when the bubble machine in side show alley started up. Holy was King unimpressed!!! The bubbles started floating across the field. Coming across in front of him. He was only just keeping his cool. I could feel his body all tight and coiled up doing his best to stay focused and keep working. And then one bubble popped on his nose!!! 

And that was it. King was done, no longer could he control himself and he let out an almighty dummy spit broncing around the arena.

I was able to pull him up eventually. He was a mess. But once he settled we carried on with our day and had a successful show. He was pretty stoked to get on the float and go home at the end though!

King not only taught me to ride well, but understanding his nature was the beginning to understanding how our training impacts our horses, and how we can do so much better for them by using the correct tools. That is why I have created training trainability - an online course you can access to strengthen your bond, encourage curiosity, and help your horse reduce the mental stress load, plus so much more.

Want to know more?

Reached The Breaking Point? Here is why...

All horses have a point where they can no longer say “yes”.

Think about a time a work with your boss where they have given you a job and you say yes can do, and then they give you another 3 jobs to achieve in that same time frame and you say yes can do but in the back of your mind you think “oh that’s getting tight”. They walk back in with a few more tasks to add to the list and all of a sudden your at your tipping point, ready to walk out. Or on the flip side, an anxious mess trying to figure out how you are going to get through all your work.  

Here’s another scenario: Have you been given a task that you have finished and handed it in only to be told not good enough? So you’ve taken it back to review and thought “yeah I can tweak that”; handed it back in, and it’s still not good enough. How many times can you be told it’s not good enough, with no recommendations on how to make it good enough, before you stop trying?

These are breaking points. You are pushed to your limits.

How well you cope with this kind of pressure has a lot to do with your passion for the project, your personality and how successfully you have worked through challenges like this before. This is why, with our training, we teach our horses to learn, work through their emotions, and to try and cope with pressure first, before we start giving them tasks like doing well at competitions.

A lot of horses with behavioural problems have those problems because that is the only way they have left to communicate NO.

Ideally I would like the horses not to know that bucking, rearing, bolting, biting and kicking are an option. But often that has already been established by the time I start working with them. So at this point I want to know:

• How much pressure they can cope with before they react “negatively”

• What behaviour they choose when they hit that breaking point.

• What little behaviours and subtle signs they give before reaching that point

• What settles them down

Our Training Tools

When we ONLY use negative reinforcement (IE creating an uncomfortable stimuli to illicit a certain behaviour), we will always hit a breaking point in our horse. This becomes an even more frequent occurrence when as the handler we miss our timing for the release of pressure. Using positive reinforcement we can encourage our horse to seek the correct behaviour through incentivising that behaviour with a reward.

At Equestrian Movement we use gentle negative reinforcement through pressure release to establish boundaries for acceptable behaviour and discipline, and then combine this with positive reinforcement for cue training and aids.

This means that now and then we will push our horse for more, but ALWAYS aim to avoid their breaking point by knowing when and how to release the pressure. We most commonly do this when our horse is challenging our authority. So we MUST know what to look for when our horse is about to hit breaking point.

The breaking point

Basically the horse shows resistance, and that resistance grows in intensity.

If we have done our pressure release right and we know our horse knows to seek the release of pressure.

If we have ruled out all other reasons for resistance (ie, pain, not understanding what we want or not being able to do what we want) we have a spectrum of behaviour.

Initially, if our horse is comfortable they will choose to ignore us, or they could also be shut down (read about symptoms of a shut down horse here). There is a very fine line of responsivity before we are putting too much pressure on the horse and they are overreacting. We want to gently find that point of responsivity to find out how much pressure our horse needs to get a response from our ask, without the pressure overwhelming them and making them scared or aggressive.

Just because you’ve gotten your horse to respond to you doesn’t mean that the horse will pick the right response. But getting stronger and increasing the pressure won’t make them choose the right response either. You have to look at your other tools. Is your horse not responding correctly because:

• It’s in pain (IE teeth are sharp, saddle doesn’t fit, damaged muscles etc)

• It doesn’t understand what you want

• It can’t do what you want

• It is scared of what you are asking, getting the answer wrong and getting in trouble or what you are asking it to do will cause it pain or for it to do something it doesn’t want to do.

• You’ve asked too many times without reward or break

If any of these reasons are the reason for your horse to say no, you will push it to its breaking point and make it over react.

We have covered some simple training rules in our training trainability course to help you avoid reaching that breaking point while still getting the behaviour you want from your horse.

Begin training your horse the CORRECT way

Click here to view the Training Trainability course

How To Tell If Your Horse Has Shut Down

Did you know that some horses ‘shut down’ their emotions while still doing what is asked?

The stillness that is the result of a tight and tense horse is often mistaken for calmness - until the horse overreacts

When your horse shuts down, it is a coping mechanism for not knowing what is expected of them and being scared of the consequences of doing the wrong thing. What is thought of as your horse being calm and relaxed because they are standing still is actually them choosing to do nothing to avoid the consequences of the wrong behaviour.

When this occurs in training, the horse stops learning and engaging with us and starts trying to protect itself. Rather than them learning how to process the training cues with calm relaxation, they are tight and tense on the brink of being tripped over into a fear state. This stillness that is the result of being tight and tense not knowing what to do is often mistaken for a calm, quiet horse. The horse hits its threshold for what it can cope with and all of a sudden overreacts leaving the owner/trainer saying “where the hell did that come from?”

Being shut down is also like learned helplessness. Learned helplessness is a shut down state but not all horses that are shut down are in a learned helplessness state.  

Signs your horse has shut down:

• Horse stops responding to whips, spurs and being led by the halter or bridle

• The horse is unresponsive to a lot of stimuli (typically called a bomb proof horse) when trainers train desensitisation without training how to process, relax and breath through fear, the horse learns to just not to react to things it is scared of.

• Horse is standing perfectly still but standing tense and not breathing deeply. Their posture is guarded, they know where their exits are and ready to run, if there are no exits they will be getting ready to fight.

• Horse unexpectedly over reacts like launching into the air, broncing, bolting or lunging out at you with their teeth or legs.

• Avoid contact. They don’t try to initiate conversation with you and actively avoid you by not looking you in the eye, not touching you with their nose, standing perfectly still when you pat them and sometimes flinching at your touch.

• The horse doesn’t exhibit the normal stress signs because it is like a dissociative state. They have “left the building”, disconnected from their body.

Your horse is often trying to communicate it is uncomfortable when it is shut down before it stops coping. This is why with the way we train we try to encourage our horses to tell us they have a problem before they have a big problem. The signs are often very subtle however and often missed.

It can be the swish of a tail, the stomp of a hoof, the toss of the head, the swivel of the ears. This is where knowing your horse becomes so important and also why we use pressure release the way we do. Your horse can do these things as a little grumble and protest but then chooses to work with you. Other horses will do this as a sign to say back off I’m not coping. Its important to learn how much pressure your horse can cope with before they aren’t coping anymore, what behaviour they show when not coping, how they communicate to back off and what you need to do to help soothe them back into a state of processing cues again. 

Over time as your relationship and trust builds your horse should become less sensitive and more willing to your asks but only because they know you are listening to them and respecting their boundaries they allow you to ask more of them.

Using tactics to scare, intimidate and bully horses into submission is a common training tool used today. And, because it works, it continues to be used. It’s how I was initially taught to train. “Be scarier than the thing your horse is scared of”. However, I also learnt to train by teaching beginners who aren’t strong enough, coordinated or savvy enough to get a horse to cooperate through these tactics and so had to find another way they could get their horses to not only do as they asked but also to look after them.

Begin training your horse the CORRECT way

Training Trainability takes you through the methods to avoid your horse shutting down - click here to learn more

3 Reasons Your Horse Is Pushing You Around

Do you ever have those moments when your horse comes in close - then nearly stands on your or knocks you over? Or perhaps a horse that pushes ahead of you to get to the gate, even though it is on the lead?

Then you know what it is like to have a pushy horse.

A pushy horse isn’t necessarily nasty, but if the behaviour is left unchecked, it could result in a dangerous situation.

Of course, the last thing we want to have to do is continuously discipline our horse. It feels horrible to constantly tell them off, and it can damage our relationship.

If you know why your horse is pushy, it could save you a lot of time and effort in correcting the issue.

TIP: OUR FREEBIE IN THIS ARTICLE NOT ONLY SHOWS YOU HOW TO START CORRECTING THE BEHAVIOUR, IT DOES SO WITHOUT DAMAGING YOUR RELATIONSHIP OR AFFECTION FOR EACH OTHER!

1. You horse is insecure

An insecure horse is going to push into you for security, or may try to pull away from you to get to a more secure location - such as with the rest of the herd. This can happen when you horse is dealing with separation anxiety, or when they are in a new environment.

Tip: if you work on your horses trust, they will follow your lead more consistently. Work on adventures in our guide to start establishing trust and identify the areas your need to strengthen in your training and relationship.

2. Your horse doesn’t see you as a leader

It may be that your relationship is new, it may be that the herd structure has changed, or it may simply be that your horse has an alpha personality - whichever it is , your horse will, at some point, make you prove you are their leader.

Leadership is based on a level of consistency and knowledge, as well as comfort that you can. If you give the impression you cannot, your horse will look for someone who can - and will take it upon itself to see if it should be the leader instead. It’s instinctive - it is what would happen in a herd.

You can be a strong leader without beating your horse into submission (or scaring it with objects), and you don’t have to turn into a horse to do it either! The Holistic Horse Handling Program provides you with the tools you need to become a human alpha and understand the challenges that face it.

3. You keep giving your horse mixed signals

The biggest mistake I see is a lack of consistency - which is absolutely critical to preventing pushiness.

Your horse doesn’t care about the day that you had a cold and still had to turn up for feed time - but what it does care about is that it was able to push into you to get food quicker, and it worked.

Being consistent means you know what you expect and your expect this EVERY — SINGLE — TIME (perhaps singularly excluding life-threatening situations). Know what your boundaries are, and make sure your horse respects them too.

We hope that you have recieved some insight into why your horse may be pushy - pushing your boundaries, pushing your buttons, and potentially pushing your over. Contact us here if you need any further advice!

Are you looking to improve your horses security with you, become a leader your horse can trust, and understand how to clearly and consistently communicate with your horse?

Click the image below to register for the free Masterclass,

or join the opening communications course to get started!

The Mounting Issue - Scary Tales from a Professional Rider

For a good period of my career as a horse trainer and instructor my biggest worry was horses with issues with mounting. When mounting we are in such a vulnerable position - we are committed to getting onto the horse whilst not being balanced and in the saddle yet.

This fear started with a warmblood thoroughbred cross who would take off broncing when I would have one foot in the stirrup and the other one swinging over his back. He was a big lad and it would really hurt when I fell. I didn’t at the time understand why he was doing it and I didn’t know how to stop it. So I got scared. I had created the problem.

As a teenager I had a pony club instructor that drilled into me the pony club etiquette of mounting. This was where you stood at their shoulder facing their hindquarters with one foot in the stirrup and gracefully swung onto the back of the horse. I never successfully achieved it. My mounting technique became “stand facing the horses hindquarters with foot in the stirrup and hop, hop, hop until I was facing their head and then stand into the stirrup and pull myself up onto the horse from the front of the saddle.” This was fine with the horses that I had ridden up until that warmblood. 

He had a large barrel that came down past the length of my leg. Without my awareness as I hop, hop, hoped around to face the front my toe would scrape along his ribs causing his body to tighten and tense up with the pain and discomfort. Then I would pull/haul myself up, twisting the saddle into his now tight and tense back. Standing into the saddle with one foot halfway over his back he would take off broncing leaving me no chance of pulling him up and staying in the saddle. I was just at the beginning of my career as a horse trainer and breaker and now was petrified of mounting unknown horses.  

So for me the best way to overcome fear is a sprinkle of faith, a dust of trust and a full stocked armoury of knowledge. What does it look like if a horse is going to react to the mount? What does it feel like? Where do you see the warning signals? What’s the cause? What’s the trigger? But also how do we fix it?  

Since that horse, I was able to refine my mounting technique to avoid being the trigger! I also had my fair share of other horses that had different reasons for having problems with being mounted and was able to learn how best to work with them to resolve their issues. I believe the mounting process is the most important process to have safely established because as riders, this is where we are most vulnerable. Also, a horse that figures out it can get out of work this way is the most difficult to fix. Ideally this should be addressed when they are broken in. In my training a prefer a horse that doesn’t know that this kind of behaviour is an option and trying to avoid the broncing out process in favour of the horse accepting the saddle and the restriction of the girth. Accepting my weight and my seat in the saddle. Accepting me as they figure out how to balance me when they move. And lastly established and sound enough through their topline to not need to buck in their transition to canter or other times in the trot etc.

Reasons a horse can bronc or take off in the process of being mounted:

• Saddle is not fitted and causing pressure or pain

• Problems with their spine or sacroiliac joint

• Problems with the way the rider is mounting for example me scraping my toe along the ribs or plonking heavily into the saddle on the mount

• The saddle being twisted as you mount

• If a horse has had a bad experience being backed, or mounted (for example if at some stage they haven’t been taught to accept the saddle and girth or were sore through their back with someone mounting and it wasn’t addressed) and that memory being triggered

• Figuring out it gets them out of work

Actively involve your horse in your training!

When our horses feel a part of their training, they are happier to work with you! Click her to learn more

Signs your horse is not going to let you safely mount

When mounting becomes a problem, we need to make sure we are listening to our horse and also that they are willing to talk to us before we can embark on fixing the problem. Foundations of Equine Development Training Trainability will give you all the tools to establish that communicaiton.

• They are standing still or tense as you get ready to mount

• They are fidgeting as you get ready to mount

• Their back roaches up, you will also feel this if your horse is bracing itself when you sit into the saddle and they might start broncing when you ask them to walk off.

• Roaching up through the back as you tighten the girth.

• If you lunge them before you ride, they start broncoing when you send them out on the lunge in the walk.

This is definitely not an issue I recommend you taking on lightheartedly NOR without the supervision of a professional with plenty of experience with this. There’s a good chance your instructor won’t have the tools necessary to work through this behaviour and you will want to find a kind breaker to help you and your horse. Once you are successfully mounting your horse again it doesn’t mean that the problem is “fixed”. It will come up again in the future unless you implement some strategies to keep an eye on how your horse is coping with the process. You will most likely need to keep going back and working with the breaker a few times until you can stop it from being a problem at home yourself. This is why I prefer to not have the horse know that its an option in the first place.

For me the most important learning curve of this process and being able to work through it myself with horses was to break down the process so the horse could give me the cue that it was going to be a problem before I was in a vulnerable position halfway on their back. In the process I also teach them acceptance, willingness and give them the opportunity to say no until I can make it a yes. While this is a slower process than our gunhoe cowboys will do, it sets up a relationship with your horse down the track that it is allowed to tell you no when it is uncomfortable and trusts that you will listen rather than push them through their problems. Having our horse actively involved so that the process happens for them not to them means they are happier to explain their gripes and then once we work through all the causes they will more happily and willingly allow us on their back, with our big goal to invite us on their back and enjoy being ridden!!

Actively involve your horse in your training!

When our horses feel a part of their training, they are happier to work with you! Click her to learn more

Is Negative Reinforcement Really So Negative?

Have you ever wondered if the training you are doing with your horse is considered positive or negative?

Have you ever heard someone strongly debate the fact that negative reinforcement used in training is a form of punishment and therefore cruel?

Negative reinforcement does offer some confusion, given the name implies it is already unpleasant. So let’s delve a little deeper into what it is, how it differs from positive reinforcement and punishment, and when you may be using it with your training.

What Is Negative Reinforcement

Negative reinforcement is a training tool that SUBTRACTS an stimulu, usually a level of discomfort, in response to a desired learned behaviour.

AHA! There it is, that word! Discomfort!

But let’s delve a little deeper into the that as well.

The adverse stimuli, or discomfort, doesn’t necessarily mean HARMFUL. Let’s think of a few human experiences where negative reinforcement comes into play:

• On a certain day of the week, you leave home earlier to avoid particularly bad traffic. Leaving home early is the learned behaviour, and bad traffic is the negative stimulus or discomfort.

• You partner or housemate rinses their dishes in the sink before loading the dishwasher, to stop you from complaining. Washing the dishes is the desired learned behaviour, your complaining is the negative stimulus.

• You grab a child’s arm (negative stimulus) to stop them from going near the kitchen near the stove, and release when they go the other way (desired behaviour). (Note, this may take many tries. Thank goodness I work with horses, as they are usually quicker at catching on!)

When we apply these examples to horse training, you get:

• Pull on the reins (negative stimuli) to make the horse stop (desired behaviour). When the horse stops, we stop pulling on the reins - thus, making it negative reinforcement.

• Applying pressure with the legs to make the horse go. When the horse moves, we stop applying that pressure.

See where I’m going with this?

The big issue is when people confuse negative reinforcement with punishment, and vice versa.

Begin training your horse the CORRECT way

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What Is Punishment?

Punishment, on the other hand, is the infliction of discomfort in RETRIBUTION for an offence, which, in the case of training, is not complying with the desired behaviour. The level of discomfort is also usually excessive than required if negative reinforcement was used.

To take one of the human examples, punishment would be to continue to shout and nag at your partner/housemate regarding the dishes, even after they get up and do them. Or to continue to shout and nag at them because it’s not “good enough” even though they are trying their best. And then continue to hound and nag at them for more tasks to be done with no appreciation of the effort they’ve already given.

In the case of the use of punishment in horse training, I can see you now conjuring the trainers or riders using excessive force with whips and spurs, buying stronger bits and nose bands and generally bullying into submission. Perhaps even using whips around the head for a horse not behaving, or locking the horse up and not feeding them. Not only are these methods unethical, but you cannot teach a behaviour using them - in fact, you weaken the behaviour, or weaken the personality that will exhibit the behaviour.

And this isn’t what horse training should be about.

What About Positive Reinforcement?

This one tends to make us feel warm and fuzzy, simply because of the word positive. And to be honest, it is a critical tool in the trainers box that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Positive reinforcement is to use a REWARD for the application of a desired behaviour.

In people world, when someone thanks you (hopefully) for holding the elevator doors open, that is positive reinforcement. You are more likely to repeat the behaviour as you received a positive stimuli in response.

We use positive reinforcement with our horses when we:

• Give them a treat for standing still when catching them in the paddock

• Give them a pat and a kind word for trying or executing the requested exercise.

To use solely positive reinforcement with an animal that outweighs you 5 to 1 is unlikely to succeed quickly (or safely), but a combination of positive and negative reinforcement, with the exclusion of punishment, will provide a safe, stable and comfortable training experience for both horse and human. Therefore, the correct use of negative reinforcement can be classified as positive training.

One last thought…

The trick to using positive and negative reinforcement correctly is to not become emotionally engaged in your horses behaviour or results (i.e. frustrated and angry) this creates a situation where either you must win or the horse will win. We are creating a situation where we both win because what we want and what the horse wants are the same thing.

Be clear in your own mind about what you are trying to achieve with your horse, the purpose of the exercise, what the pressure will be applied for and what it will be released for.

Be ready to adjust your expectations to what your horse gives you willingly.

Timing and follow through. This is key to the success of negative and positive reinforcement. We have to time the release and reward for the behaviour we want and maintain the pressure for the behaviour we don’t want.

Comment below with your thoughts!

Sneak Peak! Behind the scenes of our Holistic Horse Handling Program!

Welcome to a quick view from behind the scenes of the development of Equestrian Movement’s Holistic Horse Handling Program!

Many amazing horses shared their time with us during the creation of the tutorials. Raf loves his time with Katie (and her quickly growing baby bump!)

Want to know more?

Click here to view the course

Blaze, learning to open up and communicate

Using video from our workshops helps to demonstrate the application of training trainability in REAL horses with REAL riders

Learning another computer program to provide the course online was not only a game of trial and error but also eventually an obsession!

Sarah even got involved by taking Custard through the program - making sure Katie's brain-dump translated to practical understanding and exercises.

Can't or Won't? What is your horse telling you?

Know the Difference between Can’t and Won’t

It is amazing the number of people that refer to their horse as naughty.

"Why won't my horse canter?"

"Why wont my horse stop?"

I always ask: won't, or can't?

What’s the difference?

A horse that CAN’T do what you requested is a horse that either lacks the physical capability to perform the task (either due to lack or fitness or a break from training), or lacks the understanding of what you want.

A horse that WON’T is a horse that understands what you have asked and can physically perform the task, but won’t do it.

How can you tell the difference?

A horse that can’t do the task will attempt to give you something. Consider the aids you are applying and the response you achieved. Could one of those aids alone result in that response? Or was the response partially there but not complete – in which case, a definite win!

A horse that won’t do the task will often repeatedly do the opposite of what you request. This horse knows exactly what you are asking and is trying to avoid doing the 'hard work'.

Of course, all of this is only prefaced with the simple fact that you are having a proper conversation with your horse to start with - which is a whole other topic to cover off.

Is your horse telling you no more than yes? Your training could be the reason

Click here for more information

What can you do?

For a horse that can't do the requested exercise, you will first need to identify the underlying issue.

If the horse physically is restricted from performing the exercise, you will need to take your training down a level - or ten. If you don't know the training scales for horses, sign up to our newsletter to be the first to know when we release them!

If your horse has worked up the training scale and simply doesn't know which aids you are using, you will need to use the principle of pressure and release - simply reward the horse by releasing the pressure (and lots of pats!) for even a half stride in the right direction. Perform the exercise three times, then switch it to something your horse can do to keep him in a positive mindset.

A horse that 'won't' understands the exercise and can physically do it, he or she is just trying to avoid working hard, and is testing your resolve to the exercise. Again, pressure and release at the right time is key here - keep applying the aid until the horse follows the requested exercise - and remember to immediately release when he or she does so, so that doing the exercise is now easier than avoiding the exercise. 

If you are unsure about the use of pressure and release, read our article on it here.

In the case where the horse becomes dangerous in his or her avoidance, I would recommend seeking professional advice - you can email us by clicking here.

So, the next time you say your horse can't or won't something, remember this, and rethink your situation.

Is your horse not doing something you want? Comment below or contact us here.

Establish Yourself As A Good Leader

What makes a good leader?

A good leader is someone we trust, that makes us feel good and that we want to follow, even when we are scared.

It's the same for our horses. Establishing yourself as a good leader is important to give your horse the confidence to follow our directions, even when life seem scary ("that rock looks dodgy to me!").

The best way to establish yourself as a good leader, is to show your leadership skills through difficult and scary situations. The situations that are scary for the horse are not normally too scary for us, so showing how to confidently get past these ‘scary’ obstacles can give the horse confidence in our leadership skills.

It is important to maintain calm relaxation while your horse is nervous to show them how to manage themselves emotionally. (Not sure how to remain calm when your horse's temperament has hit the metaphorical ceiling? Breathe!)

Teach your horse how to investigate scary objects. Desensitising them is a good option but you have to keep desensitising them to everything they find scary. Teaching them how to investigate and accept things they are unsure of can make it easier long term.

Again, the horses learn from the release of pressure not the application. Assess the situation. What is creating pressure. Pressure can be physical, mental and emotional.

Learn how leadership is one of the important foundations to training and riding your horse

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In the situation of the horse investigating an object it is scared of there is the emotional pressure of fear of the object AND physical pressure of the cue you are using to take them over to it. If you are maintaining the physical pressure when the horse steps toward the emotional pressure, the release of pressure is away from the scary object. For each movement toward the scary object there needs to be a release of the physical pressure and for each movement away from the object there needs to be an increase in physical pressure. Stay calm, be confident and encouraging, use your voice and give positive reinforcement. Make much of a fuss of your horse when they do the right thing, so they seek that feeling of doing well.

The feeling of doing something well releases endorphins and makes us feel good.

And that, my friends, is how we show our horses we are good leaders.

The Best of Behaviour and Training Articles (2018)

2018 is officially gone, but not forgotten! Here is a list of the top articles around training and behaviour, as read by you, for 2018:

1. Why you should play with your horse (and 12 games to play)

All work and no play makes Doris a dull girl – and it’s just as true for your horse as it is for you!

Building a little bit of play into your routine has significant benefits, including:

• Improving the bond between you and your horse

• Improving your horses work ethic (and your own work ethic as well)

• Increasing training techniques for you and your horse

• Improving the physical, mental and emotional well-being of you both

Read more here

2. 17 Easy Exercises to Develop a Bond With Your Horse

Establishing a bond with your horse is a lengthy and complex process. Here are some exercises and activities that can help you do just that.

Read more here

3. What if your horse doesn't want you to ride?

Have you ever wondered what your horse is trying to tell you when they are:

• Bucking

• Rearing

• Bolting

• Flinching

Read more here

4. Is your riding hurting your horses' self carriage?

A horse in self carriage is a remarkable feeling. But it takes more than good training for your horse to achieve self carriage.

Read more here

5. 9 Things No One Tells You About Owning A Horse

Owning a horse is amazing.

The intimate bond of horse and human, the ability to ride whenever you like, a place to escape to when home or work is too much…right?

Read more here

6. Heads Held High - Why Your Horse May Be Head Tossing

We all see beautiful images of horses working in a self-carriage frame, and then come across a horse that tosses his head or needs to hold it high. It can be frightening, frustrating and unbalancing when we ride these horses.

Understanding why this might be happening can improve our chances of correcting this unwanted behaviour.

Read more here

What Is A Safe Horse?

Have you ever heard the term “bomb-proof horse”?

It sounds like the ideal beginner horse.

And I’m about to tell you why you don’t want one of these horses.

Looking at the horse sale adverts, you will often see these horses that are advertised as the ideal beginner’s horse, the “bomb-proof” pony. I can’t tell you the number of times I see these ads with pictures of the horse in various phases – a tarp thrown over them, flags near their head, or a pre-teen child standing on their back (I won’t go into my thoughts on that, either, but let’s just say it’s not pretty).

These horses seem to be the perfect horse because they are not reacting to the stimulus, the “scary” objects, and you can do just about anything with them.

But most of them aren’t perfect. Most of them have shut down.

Yep, that’s right. Most of these horses have been terrified with flapping tarps, plastic bags, waving sticks and flags, and have reached a point where they no longer cope. As a result, they will react in one of two ways:

·        They explode, become marked as dangerous, and often end up slaughtered

·        They shut down, completely disengage, and are therefore marked as “safe”

Unfortunately, these horses are just like the wild cat backed into the corner. Eventually, they ARE going to explode. And if we are lucky enough, we will get to sit up from the dirt, stare at the cloud of dust left behind as our horse becomes a small dot on the horizon, and ask “What the (insert expletive of choice) just happened?”

The big issue with these horses is they are forced to not react - until they can no longer NOT react, resulting in a massive overreaction to a seemingly small stimulus. They have no capability of processing, they have no capability of thinking, and they have never been shown how to look for support and direction from their rider.

I’m not big on the terminology of a safe horse, as every horse has the capability of reacting to every single person differently (personalities, training, confidence, attitude all come in to effect here for both horse and rider), but there is a way to make your horse safer.

To make your horse safer, you need to establish a working relationship, set yourself up as a leader, be consistent in your training and handling, make your horse curious, and always be mindful to condition your horse mentally AND physically.

Be prepared to put some time into your horse. This isn’t going to happen overnight. But the effort will be more than worth it.

Added bonus – you won’t look like an idiot chasing your horse around the arena with a plastic bag on a stick.

Looking to make your horse safer?

Our Training Trainability course takes you step-by-step through the process. Click here to access

4 Reasons You Horse Evades Your Aid

Have you ever wondered why your horse isn’t listening to your aid?

It is a common occurrence, and actually easy to recognise. In fact, there are only 4 reasons a horse is not doing as you ask:

1.      It doesn’t understand what you are asking

2.      It physically can’t do what you are asking

3.      It is trying to do what you are asking but not able to perform at 100%

4.      It is actively challenging you

1.     The horse doesn’t understand what you are asking

A horse that doesn’t understand what you want will be trying lots of different things in response to your ask. They may stumble across the correct answer occasionally, but they will keep trying different things if they didn’t pick up on that that was the correct answer - for example, if you missed your timing for the release of pressure. Even if they do figure out what the “correct answer” is they will still keep trying different things. This is because they learn differently. They learn by deciding which response they like best from you. This is also how we can accidentally teach the horse the wrong behaviour. 

For example if we are trying to teach our horse to walk on from halter pressure, their initial instinct would be to lift their head. Once they realise this doesn’t result in what they want they will try other behaviours. What happens if I paw or strike out? What happens if I rear? What happens if I lower my head? What happens if I step forward? If we release the pressure (what the horse wants) for the rear we are conditioning the horse to rear when pressure is applied to the halter. If we release the pressure only for the horse stepping forward, than the horse will decide if it likes that (the release of pressure) and then it will try the other things again to see if your responses are what it likes until it decides” ok I like the response I get when I step forward”. The horse will then keep choosing to step forward to pressure because that gets it what it wants.

In a nutshell, if your horse is trying lots of different things and occasionally gets it right, it doesn’t understand what you want and you have to think outside the box of how best to communicate it.

2.     The horse can’t physically do what we ask

We see this when we start asking more of our horse. It is trying but not succeeding and they often get frustrated with themselves. This could be when we ask them to walk off for the first time under saddle, when we ask them for the first time through poles or jumps and when we introduce increased expectation and exercises of them.

Here we need to reward the horse when they attempt to do as we ask, and allow time for the proper build up of condition and understanding. The rule of three (repeat the exercise 3 times then move onto something they really understand) is essential here.

Also consider if your horse has had a spell and is being brought back into work, we have to adjust our expectations, and if they have been over worked they may need a spell.

3.     The horse can do what you want but not to the level of quality you want.

Your horse is trying and understanding what you are asking of it but you have repeated the exercise more than 3 times and it’s not as good as you wanted. We will go more into this in getting 100% from your horse. But if you have got it by the third ask your horse will slowly become more mentally and physically fatigued and go sour on the aid and stop trying. So lower your expectations and working on the conditioning exercises a step below what you are trying to get.

4.     Your horse is actively challenging you.

As we spoke about earlier your horse will always instinctively challenge you - no matter how well trained they become and how well established your relationship is. It is in their best interest to always be checking in and assuring themselves that you are still ‘the best man for the job’ when it comes to that leadership role. In fact the more confidence you instil in your horse, the more they will challenge your leadership role because you are developing the exact skills in them that they need to be a good leader. 

In a nutshell, if your horse is actively challenging you they are generally choosing to do the opposite of what you ask. You ask them to stop? They go. You ask them to go? They stop. You ask them to go right they go left. They know what you want well enough to know what they opposite is, they can do the opposite of what you are asking to be able to do what you’re asking. 

A lot of trainers will say you have to push them through it and make them do it! I find that this is not the best advice because your horse generally challenges you in an exercise that you are finding hard and not doing confidently. My advice is you have to revisit discipline by doing an exercise that you are confident in and finish your training on a win where you are back in that leadership role - even if you have to get off the horse. 

Oh my god did I just say you are allowed to get off the horse when it isn’t doing as it’s told?!? 

Yes - as an instructor for lots of beginners and green horse and riders it is far better when you lose your horses confidence in your leadership skills to finish on a good note where you can re-establish your boundaries for their behaviour and get yourself back in that leadership role than push your horse in an exercise that you are not comfortable or confident with and have to hold on to the ratty behaviour your horse will give you when challenging you. I always prefer my horses to not even think that bucking, rearing, bolting, biting or kicking is an option than riding through it. I have been that person that has ridden through but for the safety of everyone involved and for the optimal conditioning of our horses behaviour I believe discipline and good behaviour is best established in an exercise the trainer is comfortable and confident with executing. 

Are you struggling with your horse evading? Perhaps it is time to work on re-establishing your leadership.

7 Ways You Can Destroy Your Relationship With Your Horse

1. All work and no plays makes Jack a dull boy

Hopefully, we will not be witnessing another event like that in The Shining, but it is an accurate statement nonetheless.

If all we do with our horse is the basic care routine and work, we miss the opportunities to create bonds based on affection. In affect, we become boring, with our horses become bored with our routine,- to the point they may try to avoid it altogether.

2. Allowing your horse to set the rules

A horse that has to step up as the alpha when they are with us results in the loss of respect for us. Politely reinforcing discipline through our activities will allow us to identify and settle leadership challenges.

3. Not releasing the pressure

Have you ever had someone keep pushing and pushing and pushing til you want to scream “enough”? Our horses learn to seek release from our aids (pressure), but get easily confused and frustrated when we don’t apply the release correctly or at all.

4. Hurting, bullying or scaring our horse

It may seem logical, but it is still done these days. A horse will not bond with you and become your willing work partner if you hurt it or chase it around the yard with a flag on a stick. They may eventually learn to obey you, but they never become your partner, only your tool. These types of horses may become dangerous and eventually euthanased.

5. Letting them deal with their own emotional crisis

In this case, we are talking about sudden causes of anxiety, not social interactions.

When your horse is faced with something terrifying, and we step up as the leader to show them how to work through those emotions, we take the opportunity to prove ourselves to our horse. If we leave it to our horses how best to figure it out, well, most of the time they way they deal isn’t the way we want them to.

6. Pushing the pace too fast - or too slow

Our horses are all uniquely different, in shape, size, colour but also personality and learning capabilities. This means that we cannot expect our horses to all grow and develop in the same way.

When we force our horses to try to learn something new too fast, we create stress and anxiety that is not conducive to stabilising our relationship. If we go to slow, we may create frustrations. It is key that we adjust our training pace and activities to each of our horses development.

7. Neglecting to properly fit tack or address pain issues

Pain is an unpleasant experience that many of our horses experience at one time or another. When we are the cause of that pain, either via using poorly fitted tack, or working their body incorrectly, or even working them when they have a brewing hoof abscess, our horses begin to associate us with the pain - and believe me, that is not a positive bonding thought.

Do you need support with your relationship?

How To Identify If Your Relationship With Your Horse Needs Improving

You love your horse. right?

We know you do - it is why we are here, too!

But does your horse love & respect you back?

It may seem a fickle question, but it is one that we should ask.

Our relationship with our horse has a massive impact on our training. And our training has a massive impact on our relationship. Every form of interaction determines what you can expect from your horse in turn.

So, what are the signs you should be looking for that indicate you need to work on your relationship with your horse?

You are regularly frustrated with your horse - or yourself

You try your best, your work yourself and your horse hard, but you just don’t seem to be getting anywhere. Yep, you are feeling the very beginnings of frustration.

Unfortunately, frustration can lead to feelings of irritation, distance or just a lack of appreciation. And don’t think for a moment that your horse isn’t feeling those emotions from you.

If you are getting frustrated or irritated, it is time to step back and focus on the real reason you are here - to love and be loved by that majestic beast in your paddock.

Your horse is “pushy”

Is you horse disrespectful of your personal space? Do they almost step on you when you lead them, or mow you down when you let them out?

Or perhaps they are becoming aggressive and pushy at feed time, knowing that you will hand them their food immediately should they push.

A horse that is not respecting your boundaries may be testing you, but if you are seeing this happen frequently, it’s time to get your horse focusing on respecting you.

Your horse spooks - a lot

It can be scary, frustrating or just plain irritating when our horse regularly spooks. But it is our responsibility, as the leader of your horse-y group, to ensure your horse is confident, relaxed and curious. If you horse is spooking, it is unlikely that it is feeling any of those moods, and means you need to work on your relationship foundations.

You only see your horse at feed-time and for work

Imagine this: You get to see your significant other/best friend/favourite sibling every day for dinner but the only thing you get to do discuss is a business meeting. No “what are we doing this weekend”, “how was your day” or “where shall we take our next holiday”. Just budgets, margin, profits or sales.

It might be ok for a day or two, but would get pretty stale in a short time.

It is exactly the same for our horses when we do nothing more besides work them or feed them. They quickly associate their activity with us with either feeding (YAY!) or work (not always so yay). After a while, they will even get to know your routine, and may start taking diversionary tactics to avoid less ‘pleasant’ time with us.

You’re not ‘in the moment’ with your horse

If you find yourself going through a mental checklist of to-do’s, or constantly worrying about something else, when you are spending time with your horse, chances are you need to refocus on your relationship.

We understand that life is busy and full of stresses, but when you focus on anything but your horse, you are not helping your bond. Unfortunately, our horses can pick up on these sentiments as well, which may exasperate the rift in your bond as well.

So how can we improve or tweak our relationship with our horse? Have a look at this free online course Building Connection

How The Herd Changes Your Relationship With Your Horse

Have you ever experienced a change with your horse simply because something has changed in the paddock social circle?

And did it affect your horses behaviour?

Some may say that what happens in the paddock should have no impact on your working relationship with your horse. Some may say that when a horse is in tack, his mind should be in the game.

And to some extent, it’s true.

However, when we don’t take the time to ensure our relationship has ourselves set up as your horses alpha, any changes that happen to the herd will impact your working relationship and your horses confidence levels - sometimes with seriously damaging results.

Understanding how your horse works within your herd structure, the importance of the herd structure, and how you can fit in, will go a long way to improving your relationship with your horse, and result in a stronger, unflappable bond where your horse can look to you for guidance.

The Herd

Have you ever taken time to watch what is happening in a herd? You may have noticed there is a bit of a pecking order, with the lead being taken by the Alpha. Generally, the Alpha is a dominant mare, although in our paddocks filled with geldings, some more of the ‘stallion-minded’ geldings may take the head spot.

It is the role of the Alpha to determine where they will graze, where they will water, and when they need to bolt. The Alpha will be on guard and watchful as the rest of the herd graze or relax.

It is no wonder then, when there are changes to this structure, that the confidence of our horses can change. Some may be thrust into a role that they are not ready for (either because of age, genetics or lack of social skills), and others may come into a herd with limited understanding of how one works (again, due to isolation or lack of teaching from other horses).

The end result could be a horse, previously exceptionally well-behaved (or at least mostly), becoming ‘grumpy’, ‘spooky’, ‘testing boundaries’, or even outright ‘rebelling’. It is the simple attempt of your horse to understand the new behaviours now expected.

This is why it is important for us to step up and become the Human Alpha within the herd.

Start showing up as a leader by taking steps to strengthen your bond with your horse - click to access the free guide

The Human Alpha

I promise you, I don’t mean for you to spend months camped outside, pretending to eat grass and boss around your horse.

Again, when we look at the herd, it is the Alpha that sets the pace. The Alpha is confident, relaxed, and rarely triggered by their environment. When the Alpha is calm, the rest of the horses are safe. When the Alpha runs, the herd knows it’s time to put some speed on (sure, some horses lower in the pecking order may mess around or bolt when the Alpha is relaxed, but you will notice that the herd itself does not react).

The Human Alpha is simply a process of setting yourself up to be the calm, confident and relaxed leader that your horse knows to look to when he is with you.

By setting yourself up as the leader, you can begin to establish (or re-establish) your horses confidence, and regain the working brain.

How a horse learns (and the real use of pressure)

We are, as humans, inherently creatures of comfort. We actively seek the easiest and the most comfortable route, particularly during a  learning process. Horses are no different to us in their learning process.

A common problem heard from my students is "my horse wont (stop/go/canter/back up). This could be a result of many reasons with the same underlying cause - the horse either has not learnt how to do the task properly or has learnt how to evade the task without being corrected.

So how can we rectify this?

Horses learn from the release of pressure not the application of pressure. Why? Because pressure is uncomfortable and they are seeking relief from this discomfort.

The horse doesn't learn to go because you kick; it learns to go because you stop kicking when it goes.

The horse doesn't learn to stop because you pull the reins; it learns to stop because you stop pulling when it stops.

This principle, applied consistently, not only teaches effective communication in a way that a horse understands what you are expecting of them when you use an aid but also helps them to process the stimulus that is your aid or cue. In this way you can work with your horse to help it understand what you want.

What is you horses motivation for its behaviour? In most instances the main thing that motivates a horse is to be hanging out with its mates eating grass in the paddock. So use that. If your horse is evading an aid because it finds it uncomfortable use that to encourage the horse to do what you are asking to find the comfort. This is how you teach a horse to process a stimulus and work with you instead of against you. 

In understanding this vital aspect of training we can understand what is required by us to develop communication.

1.      Know what you are trying to get the horse to do. So many times I have students that haven't made a conscious decision on what they are trying to achieve. They are just riding or working with the horse and they work instinctively and off reflex. This is not necessarily a bad thing but this lack of self awareness means they are not always describing what they want properly and so they don't get the results from the horse. Each time you are asking something of your horse make sure you have made a conscious decision on what the end result of the cue should be.

2.      Break the big goal down into mini achievable goals. There are a lot of little things that go into the end result. For example you may think that mounting is just jumping on the horse but there is a lot that can go wrong between you getting ready to mount and you actually being in the saddle. You first want your horse to stand still, you then want your horse to stand still while you put your foot in the stirrup, you then want the horse to stand still while you stand in the stirrup and lastly you want the horse to stand still while you sit in the saddle. So there is actually 4 steps here and to figure that out you had to know what you are trying to get the horse to do. You wanted it to stand still while you mount. By just working on one step at a time, you can safely train your horse to stand up to be mounted, or safely mount an unknown horse. If there is going to be a problem you can be confident it will happen before you are in a vulnerable position, half in and half out of the saddle. 

3.      Decide what pressure or discomfort you are going to apply to communicate what you are trying to achieve. Once you have decided what you want and how to get there you need to decide what is the discomfort that you are creating that the horse is going to try and evade. So in the above example the discomfort is the standing still and the mounting. The pressure is the pressure applied to the bit to ask the horse to stand still and the pressure of you mounting. 

4.      Know what you will release the pressure for. Now you know what you want to achieve, the steps that will get you there and what your horse will be trying to evade. This will help you decide what you will release pressure for. So as in the above example the quality is to stand still, the pressure is the rein aid as a cue but also you mounting. So with each progression you want to release the pressure for the horse standing still. You want to take away the pressure of you trying to mount and the pressure to ask them to stand still with each step that they stand still for. This also gives them a bit of say in what is going on and you can read that, rather than them bottling it up and just coping until the reach the point of no longer coping and they explode. Each step along the way you are showing the what to expect and you are showing them what they can expect from you without feeling fearful and threatened. 

5.      Apply the pressure, follow through with consistency on the aid until you get your quality and then release. Your horse isn't always going to react the way that you want it to. The first few times of asking it to do something it doesn't necessarily want to do, it will react instinctively, this is where you may need experienced help because if you release the pressure for the incorrect behaviour you are teaching them do to that. For example, if I wanted to teach a horse to mount and when I stood in the stirrup the horse started bucking and I got a fright and jumped off, I would be teaching it to buck when I stood in the stirrup. I am releasing the pressure for a behaviour I really don't want and in doing so encouraging the behaviour. The horse has learnt that I stop trying to mount it when it starts bucking and I have created a whole lot bigger of an issue to deal with. This is where the groundwork leading up to this point needs to be solid so that the horse processes stimulus not reacts to it. 

6.      Timing is key. As we were saying above timing is crucial. You need to release the pressure for the correct behaviour as soon as the horse considers it to encourage them to seek that release of pressure. You have to maintain pressure through all the responses you didn't want so that you are not teaching them how to get out of it. If there is no release of pressure there is no reason for the horse to do what you are asking of it. 

Are you using pressure and release correctly? Or are you struggling with a particular area? Comment below - we'd love to hear from you!

 

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