|
Now you can request an article for your
newsletter or magazine. Click on Title to Read Article
Correction vs. Punishment by Monica Erman Last year as I was doing a training demonstration, a man called his wife to his side and asked to see Luke hug me again. With my back against Luke=s left shoulder I asked him to bring his head to me. He swung his head around, putting it against my torso. I clucked to him and he brought his head even closer, holding me in a Ahug.@ AWow,@ the lady said. AHe really does love you.@ Was that an example of Luke=s love for me or of his understanding of my cues? I find the latter more likely. Luke had gone through a step by step lesson plan learning that cue in gradual progression, like a dancer learning choreographed sequences. By the time the finished product was requested he knew exactly how to respond. Since no part of the training had been hurtful or scary, he performed without any stiffness or fear. Every time we pick up our mule=s lead rope we want him to respond quietly and quickly and without tense muscles. How do we build that kind of response? And what things should we avoid, in order to encourage the kind of peaceful yieldedness that we look for whether in the show ring in front of a judge or simply leading him to the barn. Building a partnership entails just what it says - building. In order to build a strong, long-lasting structure, the craftsman uses knowledge and painstaking work. He looks ahead and predicts what will happen if he uses the wrong equipment or doesn't completely finish a certain part before proceeding to the next. The same is true when we work with our horses. Every moment we are around them, we are building. Whether or not we are building a strong relationship depends on us, on our thoughts, words and actions. Correction vs. Punishment: Think about the word correction. When someone corrects a problem, say a hole in a boat, he doesn=t take use his hammer and begin beating the boat. He figures out the problem and determines what he needs to fix the hole. To correct something is to make it right. If our horse does something we don=t want, we need change his actions into something we do want. Could he push ahead to the barn if he was backing up? Could he pull away from us if he was pivoting on his front feet? Could he refuse to pick up his foot for the farrier if he took one step forward? Could he raise his head away from the bridle if we had a cue to lower his head? On the flip side, punishment has to do with some kind of physical or emotional discomfort. There are places for discomfort in our training, but think about what happens during punishment. If our horse is afraid of crossing the creek, a counter-productive approach would be to beat him into crossing the water. He would remember he got hurt the next time the creek came into view. If he spooks at a rock and we jerk on the reins, his fears are being not only confirmed, but multiplied! What occurs when we jerk on the lead rope, hit his face or administer any kind of slap? His head jerks up, pulling against the lead rope or rein, maybe he pulls away from us, none of which are things we want him to learn. The more often he practices those actions, the harder it is to train them out. We don=t want him to ever stiffen his neck against the rein, or pull away from us. The bottom line is that punishment often produces bad side affects, so if we can fix our problems another way, we should. Pain-free instruction: Every time we go through an event with our horse and he is calmer at the end than he was at the beginning, he is gaining confidence. Lots of people have asked me how they can get their horse to trust them. The interesting thing is that I don=t think anyone who had control of their horse asked me that question. ATrust@ wouldn=t be necessary if we could have him face us and stand still while we approached. We wouldn=t say he had to Atrust us@ and cross the creek if he walked forward when we asked. So what we often call trust, is just the responses we have taught our horse, played out in a calm, practiced manner.
The Calm Down Cue by Monica Erman If you feel nervous when your horse puts his head too high, you should be. The horse=s neck muscles can be tight and braced when his head is up. When his muscles are tight, it=s difficult to control him. Something like a dancer trying to move his partner with ease and grace when her arms and shoulders are tense. When a horse rears, one of the first things he does is raise his head high and straight in front of his shoulders. Tie downs are often used to try to counter high heads. But tie downs don=t work as reliably as the cue I=m about to outline.
You=ll love this cue when you=re on a trail ride and your horse takes an avid interest in the rock or mail box up ahead. You can pick up the rein and ask him to drop his head and relax. This changes his focus before he lets his imagination run away with him. Western pleasure riders, here is a way to teach your horse to lower his head. Dressage riders, the judge likes to see a mount that will stretch his nose down and out during the walk on a loose rein. Endurance riders, this cue will come in handy when you would like your horse to put his head in a different position to relieve and stretch other muscles, keeping him from over-straining one area. Trail class riders, the judge likes to see a horse lower his nose toward the bridge before crossing. Overall, this cue is invaluable, both for safety and enjoyment=s sake. Getting Started We=ll
use a four step formula to design the lesson plan. If you like, you can start this lesson from a standstill. But if your horse likes to wander, go ahead and practice at a walk. Pick up one rein and watch the spot you marked. Wait for it to go down. The horse will probably raise his head, a normal reaction to something new. Maintain the same amount of pressure on the rein. As soon as you see the spot move toward the ground, even if just a fraction of an inch, release the rein. Let the rein have slack for a few seconds and try again. Make sure to pick up only one rein at a time. Initially, practice and more practice is required to get response to this cue firmly established. What to do if. . . To get his nose straight, keep tension on the rein and raise your hand up his crest. Place the rein against his neck to Apush@ his nose forward. You might need to shorten your rein to keep pressure on the rein. When you see his neck straighten, release the rein. Promptly pick it up again and resume your request for the spot to go down. He puts his head down a little, but brings it right back up when we release the rein. Ask him to put his head down more often. In other words, let less time go by between each request. Not only will this teach him to keep his head down, but it will also get him drop his head further. He starts to think about laying down. This is normal. As the lesson progresses, we usually end up going in circles asking him to put his head down - relax. Have you ever watched a horse get ready to lay down? He drops his nose to the dirt and makes little circles. Lots of people have taught their equines to lay down with this method. If you feel him start to go down, take your feet out of the stirrups and watch the saddle horn. About half way down, the saddle horn will point to the right or left. When the horse is totally down, step off in the direction the saddle horn is pointing. His feet and legs will be on the other side. Let him stay down and pet him. Don=t get on him while he is down, hoping to take advantage of an easy mount. Not only is this hard on his back and hocks, he can get scared and start bucking when he realizes you are aboard after he stands up. If you don=t want him to lay down, use both legs to speed him up. This will bring his head up and discourage him from laying down. He starts to pull the rein as he puts his head down. That is acceptable. When he starts to take his head real low, he has to put pressure on the bit to drop his nose. There is no reason why we can=t ask him to put his nose close to the dirt as he walks or even trots in the arena. Loping with his nose lower than his elbow is not a good idea, as they are more prone to tripping. We want his head back up. Simply pick up the rein and don=t release it when his head goes down. Release it when his head comes up. You can also increase his speed to bring his head up. If you are worried about him becoming confused, he will be if you lose focus on what you are asking for each and every time you pick up the rein. If we remain clear about what we are asking C and that is a matter of rider-concentration C our mount will gain increasingly excellent response to each cue. A final word about this lesson.
Fixing the Buddy Sour Horse by Monica Erman It=s stressful, nerve wracking and scary. We try not to worry when our horse in the pasture or pen goes bonkers in the field as we lead away his favorite buddy. Hopefully he won=t go through the fence or run himself sick, we think. There must be a way to fix this problem. There is. Most of the time the horse left behind is the one that throws the bigger fit. But sometimes the one we are leading gets dangerously out of control. We can build a lesson plan to help both of these horses. We=ll talk about the horse left in the pasture first, then explain some ways to quickly regain control of the horse we are leading away. For the horse left at home. . . The key is repetition. When we take our horse=s buddy away from him, he is going to get excited. Most of the time we only take the buddy away once and the horse gets upset and may stay upset for the duration of the buddy=s absence. We need to give our horse the time and opportunity to get comfortable with seeing his buddy leave. By practicing leaving with the buddy, the horse in the pasture can get accustomed to the fact that his buddy is going to leave, but he will come back. Put the horse in a pen or pasture in which he is safely confined. No wire fences. Halter the buddy and start to lead him away from the horse. Watch the horse as you leave. Go just far enough for the horse to see that his buddy is leaving, then lead the buddy back to the fence and let them reunite. Allow them to stay together until every one=s heart rate is back to normal, then lead the buddy away again. Before the horse gets too upset, return for another reuniting. Keep practicing this leave and return pattern until you can leave for longer periods of time. The more times you repeat this exercise, the better. Eventually the horse will understand that not only is his buddy going to leave, but the buddy will return so there is no need to put himself through the emotional stress. For the horse leaving home. . . Sometimes our horse is so attached to a buddy that asking him to leave is just asking for a wreck. We can treat this basically the same way we helped teach the penned horse to accept his buddy=s departure; leave and return. But we won=t spend time simply standing next to the buddy. Now we are going to be busy asking him to do things like go left, stop when we stop, trot forward, back up, etc. As we practice his ground control and manners, we=ll watch his emotional state. If he gets too excited, go closer to the buddy and keep practicing while he calms down. (If the buddy won=t stay close to the fence, tie him on the opposite side of a safe fence. That way you won=t have added anxiety if the buddy decides to go find something more interesting out in the middle of the field.) We gradually work our way away from the horse in the pen. The more times we leave and return, the better. These exercises can be done from the saddle. Keep your safety first and remember to allow yourself sufficient time for repetitions at gradually increasing distances, so the lesson can be effective. |
|
|
