"If you lower their head, you will switch off the flow of adrenalin that causes all this fight or flight behaviour and you'll turn on the flow of endorphins that creates a calmness in the horse."
The reason why we have been able to work and exploit horses for our benefit over millennia is that they evolved to be highly trainable and compliant. We don’t ride grizzly bears, and we don’t plough fields with giraffes for good reason.
Today I want to talk about mounting blocks. I think some of what I am about to say will make some people bristle because the bottom line is that I hate mounting blocks. I really hate them.
Some people believe that to make a horse safe to ride, they need to get the “freshness” out through exercise. This is not true. So-called “freshness” is the result of a lack of focus and anxiety.
A few years ago somebody was telling me they were adopting a more spiritual path in their horsemanship and they felt it was helping them. More recently, I heard a criticism directed at me and my work for not being on a spiritual journey.
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.
