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Meeting Needs: Working With the “Mind” Horse in the Round Pen
Today's post will continue the discussion of how you begin working with different kinds of horses in the round pen. In my last post, we looked at how to start the process with a "Pressure" horse, meaning a horse that is easily worried by pressures of various kinds....
Meeting Needs: Working with a “Pressure Horse” in the Round Pen
In my last post, I talked a bit about the three Relational needs of Mind, Space, and Pressure, and how the round pen can help us to start meeting those needs: "The first thing is to determine what your horse’s primary need is. Are they more of a “Pressure” horse,...
The Round Pen: Meeting Needs, Creating Peace
While you certainly don't need a round pen to train a horse, using one does offer some real benefits, particularly when it comes to building a connection with your horse in a relational context. What the round pen provides is a wonderful middle ground, where the horse...
EXERCISES TO BUILD CONFIDENCE: TARP WORK, PART 2
In my previous blog post, we looked at some confidence building exercises you can do with a helper dragging a tarp. Once the horse is comfortable with your helper dragging the tarp behind him, you will move to the next step: taking control of the tarp yourself and dragging it without a helper. When I have control of the tarp, I will walk straight lines and also make turns and circles around the tarp. When circling around the tarp, the tarp stays to the inside, well away from the horse, and the rope does not touch him.
Exercises to Build Confidence: Tarp Work, Part 1
While the Four Intentions work we looked at in my last blog post helps a horse learn to remain calm under pressure, we can take that development even further with other exercises that build the horse's confidence to the point where he moves beyond calm and actually...
Building Confidence in Your Horse: The Four Intentions of Pressure
One of the methods I use to start building confidence in the horse is teaching the horse to differentiate between what I call the "Four Intentions of Pressure". This involves using the same aid (I use a flag) to call the horse's attention to four different intentions...
My Crew
As a trainer I have found that the more horses I can work with, the better I come to understand horses in general. This has been one of the greatest privileges of teaching clinics, as it has allowed me to see literally thousands of different horses. But working with other people’s horses at clinics is a different experience that working with my own, because those horses are reflecting the struggles of other riders. This is why I feel the need to always have a bunch of horses going myself, as it allows me to constantly see myself through them and continue to grow in my own horsemanship journey.
Building Confidence in Your Horse: Controlling Pressure vs. Sacking Out
Many people believe in the practice of desensitizing a horse through a process known as "sacking out", which involves the repeated or continual application of a pressure, usually until the horse stops visibly reacting to the pressure and often even beyond that point....
Problem Solving: “My Horse Bites!”
Many people interpret nipping or biting as dominance on the horse’s part, and the proposed solution usually centers around getting more forceful with the horse or making him run circles until he shows signs thought by many to indicate "submission". I interpret this...
Relational Horsemanship: Meeting the Needs of Mind, Space and Pressure
In the past handful of posts, we've looked at several different styles of horsemanship -- Emotional, Dictatorial, and Mechanical -- which are based on different interpretations of the way horses think and behave. Today, I would like to give you a look at my own style...
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