Waiting has always been a challenge for me. I think those early years of learning to be effective also taught me that horses were meant to be on my schedule, not me on theirs. But my friend showed me that to get something done when a horse was not ready was an abuse of power and privilege – it’s what bullies do, not horsemen. My job was to either wait for them to be ready or find a way to help them become ready.
Using Feel To Change A Horse's Thought
It has been drummed into most of us that when we apply a feel to teach a task, our horse learns the meaning of the feel by the timing of our release. We know this. We all learn it and we all apply it to some degree. It is a mantra that a horse learns from the release of pressure, not the application of pressure.
Pushing Comfort Limits
Emotional Memory
I believe emotional memory is very real for horses and very potent. If you accept this theory as plausible, it’s logical that we should always ask a horse to change its idea to one we would like it to have before being fastidious about what the feet are doing. It’s our best chance of keeping the ‘try’ in our horse and building a working partnership.
What's Changed?
There was a time when the average rider didn't ride in an arena. There was a time when people thought nothing of riding in the bush, chasing stock, going to town. Yes, the prevalence of the horseless carriage made horses more a luxury than a necessity. But surely that’s not the only reason. What else has changed?