We all know that horses learn from the release of pressure. Pressure is applied to motivate a horse to search for a response and when the horse offers the response we want we remove the pressure as a reward to indicate he did the right thing.
Lateral flexion is one of the most common exercises taught to horses that are being started. Virtually every trainer, 90% or more, in the “Natural Horsemanship” sphere teaches it. I am one of the few trainers that won’t teach lateral flexions and discourages its practice at my clinics.
At clinics, I sometimes get asked what is the one thing that a person needs to learn to get along better with their horse or to have their horse perform better. My answer used to always depend on the person asking the question.
Recently we have had to say goodbye to a couple of our most cherished animals. It's something we all face at some time in our life. I don't know of any animal owner/lover who escapes this heart-wrenching experience. These are my thoughts on the subject.
Albert Einstein once said there are children in the playground today that could solve some of physics' biggest problems. Wouldn’t it be great if the next generation of horse people broke through the dormancy of today’s thinking?
