I Like The Sound That You Make- All Your Horse Really Wants

not my image, thanks internet!

I really couldn't put it any better myself.

All your horse wants is for you to shut up.

He looks for ways every ride to get you to quit.  

If you just shut up when he is doing it right, he will do it again to shut you up in the future.

By quitting at the right time and not pestering him (micromanaging) when he is doing it right you can always maintain a happy and willing partner.

Riding tips, tricks, and words of wisdom

Many of you may have hear these from myself or other people, but here is a list of tips and tricks off the top of my head.

Tips for under saddle:

1.  If you are having a hard time picking up a lead try asking in a smaller circle.  The smaller the circle (small not tiny) the easier it is on your horse to lope/canter in the correct lead.

2.  If you are having trouble picking up a counter-canter work in a bigger circle and slowly scale down the size as your horse gets comfortable.

3.  Large wide circles encourage your horse to speed up (think reining) while smaller circles encourage your horse to slow down.  This works at both a trot and lope.  

4.  The more you move the faster your horse will move, think posting verses sitting a trot.

5.  Your horse's mind is where ever his nose is.  If he is hanging his nose to the outside of your circle he is not focused with or on you.

6.  If you can see your horse's inside eye/eyelashes or the buckle of your bridle your horse's shoulders are upright or close to it when working in a circle.

7.  When trying to lift your horse's shoulders you must first lift your hand before moving it over.  If you just move your hand over you will only tilt your horses head instead of lifting the shoulder.

8.  When your horse warping your circles to the outside.  Brace with your outside leg (leg facing to the outside of the circle) and direct with your inside rein.

9.  When your horse is cutting off your circles to the inside brace with your inside leg (leg facing to the inside of the circle you are riding) and lift your inside rein up and over to lift the shoulder and widen your circle.

10.  It is much easier long term to correct a bad behavior the moment it happens (yes this applies to a horse who normally doesn't do that) than to allow it to get out of hand.  Even the most well trained horse will try and push their boundaries at some time or the other.

11.  If they do it once they will do it again.  This applies to warping circles, dropping shoulders, walking off while mounting, and everything in between.  It is your job as the rider to recognize patterns in your horses behavior and work to fix them.

12.  All of a sudden does not exist in the horse world.  Your horse told you he was upset (high head, braced neck, distracted, tense) and you did not listen.  99% of all spooks can be avoided by paying attention to your horse.

13.  When in doubt move his feet.  It very hard to spook, buck, and or rear when all four feet are already moving.

14.  It is not the pressure that teaches but the release of pressure.

15.  When the going gets tough break everything down into tiny little steps and reward any progress in the right direction.

16.  If you want your horse to always do something you must always be willing to make them do it.

17.  Always make the right behaviors easy and the wrong behaviors hard.

18.  When you teach your horse to move forward without constant kicking, kissing, and general encouragement you are then able to use your legs to cue other maneuvers, you will also be a lot less tired after riding.

19.  If you want your horse to learn to do something for themselves (moving forward, traveling with up right shoulders, etc) you must be willing to let go.  You must be willing to let them try and mess up over and over again.

20.  Riding a horse is a lot like driving a car.  You are very likely to crash and burn when you take your hands off the wheel and stop paying attention.  

Reclaiming your horse life

They say horses are like potato chips, you can't have just one. Given their social and accident prone nature it makes since to keep a few good horses. I personally have two and one in the “oven” and I can't imagine my life without them. Since childhood my horse life has been about doing stuff. Trail rides, shows, clinics, parades, and numerous other events, I have horses because I like doing stuff with them. I love the thrill of galloping alone down a long dirt road, and riding in the surf. I love what I experience while riding, and I am not the only one. How many riding dreams have been you lucky enough to experience? How many goals still remain on your “riding bucket list”, and what is holding you back? If your answer is the training level of the horses in your barn you also are not alone. Hundreds of horse owners have several horses who are not trained enough to do anything. These owners dream of trail rides, shows, and other events and yet years go by and they still remain dreams. Friends it is possible to reclaim your horse life but you must be willing to start somewhere.

If you are truly committed to reclaiming your horse life and fulling your dreams you must first be willing to put in the work long term to reach your goals. This means setting aside time on a regular basis to work with your horse. Can you imagine what the school system would be like if we only sent our children to school 1-2 days a month? The horses learning curve works the same way, the more consecutive days (or close to it) you spend training the faster you will progress. You would be amazed at what you can accomplish with a few months of steady riding.

You must be willing to prioritize. This is where it gets hard. If you really want to change your horse life you are going to have to focus on just one horse. I know that they all need work, but it is nearly impossible to bring along several horses equally in a timely manner unless you are doing it for a living. If you decide to spend 6 months but better a whole year with 1 horse out of 4 at the end of the year you will have one horse you can do something with instead of 4 horses a ¼ of the way there. When you have a horse you can reliably ride you can then start to do things with them and build your confidence and skills for your other horses. But most importantly you will be able to start living your dreams horse back and will be on the road to sharing those dreams with each and everyone of your horses.

You must be willing to be scared, repeatedly. Fear is a completely natural part of riding, and after years in the saddle I still still get nervous the moment I do something new with my horses. John Wayne said it best, “Courage is being scared to death- but saddling up anyway.” In my experience with horses the more scary something seems to be the more fun it is when you finally do it.    

Modern times, modern training problems

"It's my money and I need it now!"

Many of us have heard this annoying advertisement and yet many of us use the same philosophy in our horse life.

 "It's my horse and I need him to ___________ now!"

How did we get here?  When did we trade horsemanship for showmanship?

It happened when we put horsemanship on a deadline.  We need our horse to do ___________ because we have a show, trail ride, etc.  We have a date on the calendar which we can not ignore.

Now deadlines are not absolutely evil.  They can prompt us to ride, train, and can offer a gauge to our progress.  But they more often lead to short cuts in training which may pay off in the short term, but will eventually create major issues in the long run.  

I had a child horsehood without deadlines, yes I still had major horse events but I was taught as a small child that a horse will always show you what he needs, and that if he is not doing it he is not ready for it.  Knowing this I rode until things got better, I rode until things clicked and my horse was ready, and then I rode even more.

I was taught that good horses are born but great horses are made and that every great horse had someone in their life willing to ride through it all to find the wonderful horse inside.

As I've gotten older I have realized that what I learned as a kid is the right way.  There is no magic trick to fix your problems except to go back to the basics.  It takes me 4-5 years to "finish" (for lack of a better term, because you can always improve, horses are never finished in my book) a horse. How long does it take you?

Just ride, things will get better. Eventually everything will come together.  I promise.