Regular readers of this site will already know that I emphasise that all training is built on a framework of focus, clarity and softness. If you don’t already know this, I urge you to read past posts or my book “The Essence of Good Horsemanship”.
But everything begins with a horse’s focus. If we don’t have a good level of focus from our horse, everything we teach is fragile and collapsible.
A lot of people are taught that to gain a horse’s focus, you need to keep it busy. This usually means moving the horse a lot. I have been told that busy feet result in a focused mind. But it is my experience that keeping the outside of a horse busy can create a busy inside, not a quiet, focused mind. I want a quiet, focused mind. I want my horse to focus on me and the conversation I am trying to have with it, while keeping the emotions calm.
I have found that one of the most effective ways to attain a horse’s primary focus is not through a lot of movement, but through slow, precise movement. Directing a horse to move in a very precise and particular way is a potent approach to teaching a horse to pay attention to us and our feel without creating a lot of stress.
Directing a horse to move with hurry is often problematic because for many horses, hurry means worry. Their focus may be primarily fixed on us, but it comes from worry and not ‘okay-ness’. It’s obedience and not willingness. I urge people to only ask for a lot of life in a movement after they have mastered quiet, calm, and precise movement.
On the other hand, directing a horse quietly and with precision is a powerful tool for developing focus without a loss of emotional calmness that often happens when we direct a lot of movement.
At my clinics, I often work close in to direct a horse with finger-touch pressure. It can be so quiet that I am often asked how I did it because the owner did not see what I did to achieve the quiet conversation I was having with their horse. It might be to move only the left front foot back or to look at a tree or to shift their weight from the left to the right without moving any feet. It doesn’t matter what I ask because it only matters that I got them to focus on me and the feel I was offering.
Watch the video from a clinic I did a couple of years ago. I have posted this before, but it is worth another look.
Christy and Tanzi working together, slowly, but with precision. Notice how Christy slows down and uses very precise feel/pressure to ask Tanzi very many questions while maintaining Tanzi’s focus and quiet emotions. Even when Tanzi trips over the pole with her hind legs, she maintains focus and calmness. It’s an excellent example of what I am talking about.
As a horse learns to maintain their primary focus with us and where we direct their focus, everything else becomes easier. Just ask Christy.