If the horse is spooking one or more of these elements is missing, plain and simple. If the horse is incapable of being ridden in this way then it is time to investigate a pain issue – be it muscle, joint, hoof, saddle fitting, etc.
No one knows ourselves so well as we do – absolutely NO ONE. Not our parents, siblings, best friends. So why would those against us – our enemies – know us any better?
Popularity is a fleeting experience, just as being the enemy is. Our only endeavor of any value is not to gain the high opinion of those horse riders around us and across the globe. The only opinion that has merit is that of the horse we are working with in that very moment. That split second we have a choice – to be popular to the horse, or popular to the crowd. Usually it is the latter that wins out in public forums, unfortunately.
Have you ever worn clothes that were too loose or too snug? Remember that uncomfortable feeling you had the entire time? Or carried a backpack that almost sat on your rear, maybe worse when it was hiked up to your neck and you couldn’t take it off without intense assistance?
It is absolutely, 100%, scientifically certified as fact – certain breeds of horse are too lazy to canter and instead they prefer to run faster and faster at the trot instead.
I believe that it is a natural learning curve we go through, but it is not rank beginners I am talking about. Rather riders who are in turn teaching others how to ride and train, those in an authority position. Their behavior then dictates their students to be stuck in this paradigm even longer; perhaps forever.
This question is raised frequently – how to soften and flex a horse who is stiff in the neck. There is a problem with the question however, because it assumes that addressing the horse’s stiff neck will actually correct the stiffness. In reality, flexing the horse’s neck alone only causes a disconnection between the neck and the hind legs. If you do not understand the implications of this disconnection you can create more problems later on – making it difficult or impossible to get true collection from the horse.
As the years pass and our lives change, I find that so too does our relationship with the horse. Not necessarily our relationship to one particular horse, but rather our association to horses.
Have you ever met anyone who was self taught a foreign language by book alone? Neither have I.
I also have never met anyone who learned how to train their horse and to ride by book lesson alone – and was successful at it. Success.
There is a painful truth – horses are abused every day. Equestrians at every level, in every discipline, at every age level, skill level, and popularity level are involved in some form of abuse. That is not to say that all equestrians period abuse their horses, but rather to say that abuse does not discriminate. They come from every country and not all of them are obvious.
And, we have all witnessed some form of abuse against horses.
What is the purpose of horsemanship? Why do we spend the time and exert such energy, let alone invest such great costs into an animal which rarely returns the monetary value we place upon them? Do we play with horses merely as a show of our great ability to train another being and prove our superiority? I would argue to the contrary.
I’ve received several requests to write about my impressions of Clinton Anderson and his Down Under Horsemanship… but the truth is that if I were asked to give my impression about every clinician out there my blog would be full of the same repetitious posts warning of salesmen. In my mind, not only Clinton Anderson but, almost every clinician out there is little more than a salesman working away to sell a product and turn a buck.
Don’t get me wrong, there are many who are good-hearted and honestly believe in what they are selling, and then there are others who know that what they are selling is a pile of rubbish but continue selling it anyhow.
Commonplace I see horses who mow over their owners’ personal space, who root and push with their heads and faces, who poke their noses in every crack and crevice for a small nibbling of sustinence… not to mention those who simply drag their unwitting handlers half a mile for a mere blade of green grass.
Don’t get me wrong, I have been teaching my horses to perform various tricks since I can last remember… the key difference is whether that is ALL you do. Certainly not all trainers who specialize in trick horse training focus all of their attention on the tricks, and that is particularly what caught my eye in this video.
Outside of naming names this week has been an eventful one already. Just after she first arrived I found some very tender spots along her back and since then I’ve been giving her regular back massages (aren’t you jealous?! I know my boyfriend wishes I’d give him a back massage!), the benefits of which are becoming readily apparent.
Unfailingly I flinch when I hear someone call their horse a jerk, dummy, stupid, or other more offensive words. The horse is our mirror so who is really being called those names?
I know I’ve said before, but this likely will not be the last time I will remark that it is a small world… in more ways than one.