Why do we apply pressure from our legs to encourage a horse to go forward? Why don’t we use some other aid? Why don’t we tap a horse on the wither or pull on its mane to signal forward or more forward?
When we make it about how a horse feels and how we best prepare their thoughts and emotions for the barrels, canter half-pass, or six-bar, we know we have evolved into a person worthy of the title “horse person”.
The horse world is awash with training methods for every aspect of dealing with horses from handling foals to competing at the highest levels in any given sport.
There seems to be widespread confusion between the principles that training methods are founded upon and the application of those principles. I have noticed over several years that both professional and amateur horse people confuse principles and methods a lot.
