#68 Small Stuff to Big CHANGE

#68 Small Stuff to Big Changes

The other day I worked with a woman and her horse who had characteristics of  somewhat being high-strong, nervous, pushy, dominating, disrespectful and just a tad scary  (the horse, not the lady !).
      
  1.)   I reminded her that "he who moves his feet first, loses" when it comes to the dominance and respect game.  This is so easy to forget and so incredibly important to remember.  It is the lead horse (should be you) who stands his ground, and the other darlings move away- this is on ground or under saddle (horse decides to go left when you want to go right and you allow it - not good;  horse moves into your space and you move over - not cool).  

Your little darlings figures, in his horse mind, that he cannot depend on you for safety since you can't even stand your ground - translated, you are not a good, strong, confident leader.

Walk Stop  Corinne & Dakota

Walk/stop exercise  Henry & Dennis

      2.)   A simple "walk-stop" exercise - one of the greatest exercises in the whole world, I think.  Walk alongside your horse 3 steps, then a complete stop,  Then start again.  Over and over again.  They begin to listen to you and focus on you and be in tune with you.  They become very calm when they do this.  This is great for calming down, and also for slowing down your horse and/or speeding him up - it works great both ways.  Great under saddle too!


    3.)   If your darling pushes or crosses over in front of you when you are leading or walking with her, just stop and YOU push him AWAY from you - in other words, you move his feet.

Pretty much that is all we did and the result and change were quite amazing to see - so simple but we just don't think about it.
Your darlings love nothing better than to know 'THE RULES' and learn easily and quickly that as long as I try and listen to my horse partner I don't have to be nervous or pushy or domineering and I can trust - WHY? - because she quietly and politely taught me the rules and I now know the rules.  So I always, always get the right answer.

These simple little steps create huge changes.  Give them a try.
 

Adventure Horse Riding in NYS            Smilla13@gmail.com  (Mary Dixon)         www.RideNYS.com

  #67   The Church-goers !

This is a video of two horses and the church steps.  It is about gaining confidence and having trust in the rider.  The method is approach and retreat.

The value of the video is not just showing approach/retreat and confidence and trust, but the importance of FUN and RELAXATION in trying to get your little darling to do something.  Turn the volume up a bit and listen to us laughing and our comments - this is what horse riding is about - good times for you and for the darlings.

It is not about the church steps, it is not about crossing a creek, it is not about going across a bridge, it is not about getting into the trailer - it is about the PARTNERSHIP you have between you and your horse - if he gets up the steps today - great - if not, that is just fine too - he will get there eventually.  It is about fun, trust, confidence, and joy.

Adventure Horse Riding in NYS            Smilla13@gmail.com  (Mary Dixon)         www.RideNYS.com

#66 Mounting

#66 Mounting 

It is somewhat important that your little darling stands still when you go to climb up on her/him.  If they are moving around, they are talking to you and telling you that they are not paying attention or they just are not ready for you to get up there.  So LISTEN.

  There are TONS of ways to get them to stand still - the video shows just a few.  I slap (flop) the stirrups a lot while they are moving and then stop slapping the stirrups as soon as they stop moving, then go to get on, if they start moving, I start slapping the stirrups, when they stop, I stop and then try to get on.  This usually will only take a few minutes but consistency is the key here.  Just don't get on when they are moving.  

 

The 'slapping" or "flopping" of the stirrups - it is simply aggravating them and they stand still because they end up disliking the aggravation.

And, once your body is up there, have them stand still, NOT immediately walk off.  If they go to walk off without your permission, do a whoa, or a backup,  Wait,  Keep doing this until they stand still and YOU ask them to move out.

Adventure Horse Riding in NYS            Smilla13@gmail.com  (Mary Dixon)         www.RideNYS.com

#65 Trick or Treat

#65  Trick or Treat

Tricks are just a great way with communicating with your little darling.  What tricks do for the both of you is to teach each of you how to understand and talk with your horse and figure out what speed the two of you can go to learn something new.

  What is so fascinating is that once you start doing dinky little tricks you'll notice how much faster he learns as you continue your trick training and how much more you improve in your skills in teaching and making things clear..  He will begin to catch on really quick - and that is simply because with each trick you and he have learned to understand each other more and more and more.

But a huge hint here - if you haven't done tricks before - you need to be in a good mood and have lots of patience - and I mean patience - because in the beginning the little darling is going to be absolutely clueless and you are going to get frustrated - which you do not want.

So, you need to reward the "smallest try" as in "shaping" - an earlier blog and finish on a good note.  He doesn't have to learn the whole trick in one session.  For example, a simple trick is to get him just to move each of his front feet forward.  So you need to get one foot forward first.  If that is all you have time for that day, and you are getting cranky, then leave it at that and start again another day.  Even if he just lifts that foot which you are asking him to move, that is fine.

As you do more and more of this stuff, he will really catch on - it is not about learning tricks, it is about the partnership that is going to develop from doing this.  It is really cool.

Adventure Horse Riding in NYS            Smilla13@gmail.com  (Mary Dixon)         www.RideNYS.com

#64 Horseplay - & we ride these darlings ???

    #54 Horseplay -and we ride these darlings ???

Adventure Horse Riding in NYS            Smilla13@gmail.com  (Mary Dixon)         www.RideNYS.com