Exercises for
Relationship Training
The following exercises can help you build a stronger relationship with your horse. All are intended to be done (and are most beneficial when done) while riding bare-back. A few of these exercises have been modified, but most of them remain as they were taught from generation to generation by Native American horsemen.
Time is a critical element in this, the first and most important exercise. Relationship Training is all about getting to know your horse so you can communicate with him. If your communication is to be two way, you’ll need to know how to receive messages from your horse, and to do that, you’ll need to understand your horse.
At one point, I faced a training stalemate with one of my horses who had become erratic in his responses to my requests. The horse seemed moody and inconsistent. I consulted an elderly Native American gentleman to help me identify and solve the problem. Understand that Native American elders frequently answer a question with a question, hoping that you will find your own answer. He asked me, “Which grass in the pasture is your horse’s favorite? Which foot does he lead with when traveling downhill? How many times does he nap during the day? Does your horse enjoy the company of any certain birds during the day?”
As you can guess, my answer to all of his questions was, “I don’t know,” to which he answered, “Spend a day with your horse.” I did.
I observed that my horse shied away whenever other horses approached him on his right side. It was clear he was protecting something on that side of his body. Later, after examining him more closely back in his stall, I confirmed that something was the matter with his hip. If I hadn’t observed him in pasture, in the company of other horses, his hip condition would not have made itself apparent until it became severe. Even the veterinarian hadn’t detected the problem.
I have since spent many days following my horse around the pasture, observing his daily habits, becoming familiar with who he is.
EXERCISE ONE
Spend a Day with Your Horse
SPENDING A DAY WITH YOUR HORSE MAY BE THE MOST IMPORTANT learning tool in this or any other book concerning horses. It can be performed by a novice or an expert and requires no special talents or skills to achieve dramatic results.
This is one of the most profoundly simple exercises in this book, yet it can be the most rewarding. When you do this exercise, free your schedule and your mind of other pressures, plans, and problems. Get up just before dawn and go to see your horse. If he’s in a stall at night, enter the barn and find a comfortable place to observe him quietly. If he’s kept in a pasture all night, enter the pasture and position yourself so that you don’t draw too much attention. The horses in the barn and pasture will likely notice a human in their quarters and may expect you to feed them. But remain quiet and unobtrusive. Do not talk to or pat your horse or the others. You are there to observe. Feed your horse at his regular time, or if someone else feeds the horses, allow him or her to do so without help or interference from you. Become an element of your horse’s surroundings as best you can.
Pay attention to what your horse is doing and why. Take notes on your horse’s actions and motivations. There are thousands of questions to which you can find answers simply by passively observing your horse. Who in your horse’s herd is he closest to? Are there any members of the herd that he has petty grievances with? How does he resolve them—does he get in squabbles or does he normally back down? Does he initiate physical contact, either positive or negative? Is he patient with the intrusive behavior of his herdmates? How does he respond to a herd member’s request for mutual grooming or fly-swatting?
Is he a picky eater, choosing only the best grass from each section of the pasture, or does he “sweep” an entire area? Where is his favorite place to nap? Does he stay with the herd, or does he venture off by himself (or with a friend)? Does he vocalize more or less than his herdmates? When and why does he vocalize? Does he watch as the others get a good gallop going? Does he initiate a herd gallop? Does he participate at all or simply watch? Is he more sensitive to his surroundings than his pasturemates, swiveling his ears, stopping his grazing to look around, and continuing to look at disturbances long after the rest of the horses have returned to grazing?
What is his reaction to people who come up to the fence or enter the pasture, to horses on the other side of the fence, or to dogs? Does he ignore them? For how long? Does he approach them in a friendly way? Does he approach them in a territorial way? When other people remove horses from the pasture, does your horse tag along? Try to follow? Harass the horse who’s being led? Harass the person for treats or attention? Does your horse play in the water trough, chew on tree branches or fence boards, paw the dirt, shake his head a lot, or scratch himself on fence posts?
Do his eyes run when he’s either inside or outside? Does his nose run? Does the consistency of his manure change? How much does he drink? What sweating or shedding patterns can you observe? How many times in a day does he roll? Where and how does he roll? Does he roll only when other horses are far away from him?
This is only a sampling of the questions you could answer by spending a single day observing your horse. If you did this exercise regularly, you’d see that some of the answers even change with your horse’s moods, hormonal cycles, physical condition, and the seasons.
Get to know your horse as well as you possibly can. By learning what motivates your horse’s actions, you can begin to understand the best way to communicate your requests. Horses are individuals, and unless we understand the individual we cannot expect the individual to understand us.
Introducing Tools
IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOUR HORSE BE 100 PERCENT COMFORTABLE WITH the tools you use to communicate with him. A tool is anything used during training or riding that your horse does not usually encounter when he is at liberty. Tools include you, along with your voice, weight, movements, and hands.
This exercise should be used any time a new tool is introduced to your horse. The goal is to have your horse view these objects as part of his everyday existence. It is also important that your horse understand that these tools are used when there is a particular task to be completed. The training process is virtually the same, no matter which tool is being introduced.
The first tool to introduce to your horse is your hands. You need to be able to touch and manipulate every part of your horse’s body with your hands. Run your hands all over your horse’s body as if you were brushing him. Pay close attention to your horse’s reactions. You may find several areas that make your horse uncomfortable. These sensitive or ticklish spots are the areas in which you must gain his confidence. The cause of these sensitive areas can vary from chiropractic problems to scars to bad or good experiences that have conditioned your horse to identify certain areas of his body with certain reactions. For example, a horse who’s been handled roughly or hit on the face and head may be defensive when your hands approach his head; and a horse who has enjoyed close physical interaction with his pasturemates may display affection and enjoyment when your hands pass over his withers and mane or crest. Some horses are exceedingly sensitive. Many are ticklish around their bellies and flanks.
Once these sensitive areas have been identified, focus on them. If you discover that your horse is not comfortable with his ears being touched, use slow, deliberate, firm movements to gain his trust in this matter. Rub his ears firmly, but do not grab or squeeze them. Watch his reaction. When he seems to be saying, “I don’t like this” (by increasing his aversion to your hands), move immediately down his neck and continue stroking. Go back up to his ears several times and stop immediately when his tolerance level tops out again. Keep your actions quiet and supportive. The object is not to subdue your horse. Keep your touches soft and firm so you don’t tickle him. Don’t squeeze or press hard; just make and keep contact. Each time you do this, your horse’s tolerance will increase.
There is an important moment in this exercise that you should watch for carefully. At some point, your horse will act as if to say, “That’s enough of the ear thing!” It may be a throw of the head or a step backward. These acts of retreat usually mean, “I get your point, but I still don’t feel wholly comfortable with my ears being touched.” At this point, give the ears one more stroke, then move down your horse’s neck. You will usually find that each time you do the “ear thing,” your horse’s tolerance will grow greater until there is no longer a problem with you touching his ears.
Once your horse is totally comfortable with your hands on all parts of his body, you can do the same with all the tools you will be using. The switch should be the next tool you familiarize your horse with. Use this exercise even if you’ve been riding with a crop for years. Touch or brush your horse all over with the switch, watching again for sensitive areas and making adjustments to his comfort level. If the areas sensitive to the switch are the same that were sensitive to your hands, go back over these areas with your hands. If you discover new areas of discomfort—usually the rump or neck because this may be where a crop was used as punishment in the past—work on them in the same way that you did with your hands, watching all the while for feedback from your horse. Holding the switch with the popper, or “business end,” pointing down works best. This point-down position eliminates the possibility of your horse thinking that you are raising it as if to strike him.
After your horse has shown you he is comfortable with the switch, move on to the headstall, bit, blanket, and every other tool you ask your horse to accept. Allow your horse to smell, lick, or even chew on any of the tools. Horses are tactile animals and investigate things and situations with their muzzles and mouths.
When your horse has become almost bored with all the tools and accepts them as commonplace, you are ready to move on. This exercise is not an ongoing process for the life of your relationship—once the horse is comfortable and trusts you, there should be no reason to go over it again. However, this exercise can and should be reinforced if ever your horse appears to be intimidated or scared of a particular tool. The most convenient time to reinforce this exercise is at feeding time. Give your horse a physical once-over with any of the tools you will be using, or even with your hands if he is exhibiting signs of insecurity in the relationship.
Come, Follow Closely
WHEN DOING THIS EXERCISE, NATIVE AMERICANS USUALLY HELD A PIECE of cloth or leather in one hand. The cloth served as a focal point for the horse and defined where he should devote his attention. As you work on this exercise, hold a cloth in one hand. Don’t wave it around or touch your horse with it—simply have it with you. The role played by the cloth in this exercise is simply to get the horse to associate it with opportunities to communicate with you, learn, and receive praise. It serves the same purpose as a uniform or a desk. Your horse will become accustomed to seeing it in his field of vision and will associate it with a lesson. He will come to attention when he sees it. This is not to say that you will never have his attention and cooperation unless you have the training cloth—your relationship with your horse is what develops the cooperation and connection you’re seeking. But the cloth, and your horse’s association with it, will help put your horse in the right frame of mind because he will know that you and he are about to work on something that requires his focus.
Start this exercise by leading your horse. An eight-foot lead works best. Face your horse, holding the lead by the end. Position your hand about a foot from your horse’s nose and level with where the lead connects to the halter. This position gives you room for three to four backward steps before the lead becomes taut. It gives the horse a chance to understand what you want him to do before you get to the point that you would be pulling on the halter. Your mind-set should not be that of pulling (asking or telling) but of leading (by example).
As you walk backward, make soft eye contact with your horse, encouraging him without words, and watch his movements. Praise him the instant he takes a step toward you to follow. Give him a moment to make the connection between what just transpired and the reward, then do the exercise again. Most horses will begin following you with your first step after only a few tries.
The next step in this exercise is to teach your horse to stop after he has begun following you. Take the lead rope, face your horse, and begin walking backward as before. As your horse follows, walk a few more steps and then stop abruptly. As soon as your horse hesitates or begins to stop, walk forward and reward him with a pat or kind word. Do this several times, each time rewarding him for following your lead. Do the same exercises again, this time asking your horse to sidestep. Follow the same reward sequence.
After your horse seems to get the hang of following—when his responses are immediate and consistent—do the exercise from a walk rather than a halt. Rewarding your horse’s responses immediately helps him understand which part of the exercise he is being rewarded for. In the beginning, it is important to maintain eye contact with your horse, but after a short while, you will be able to do this exercise walking forward at your horse’s side, rather than backward and positioned in front of him.
Now that your horse is shadowing your movements, teach him when to shadow and when not to. He will learn primarily by your body language. From a halt, back away from your horse slowly. Change your focus from coaxing body language and attitude to a distancing manner, as if you were mentally holding your horse at arm’s length. Concentrate on the horse’s front feet and imagine the feet and legs as cement pillars set in the ground. Do not make eye contact. Clench the cloth in an unmoving fist. When your horse begins to follow, take a step toward him to ask him to stop, but do not reward him with the usual praise. If he begins to follow but then hesitates, step forward and reward him. Each time you step away from your horse, count how many seconds go by before your horse moves forward. The object is to increase the time that your horse will stand without moving until told to do otherwise.
Avoid vocal commands at this point; they will confuse matters later when you begin mounted work. Your horse will soon learn by your physical cues, or body language, what it is you are trying to communicate. By focusing on certain images such as movement or standing still, you are conveying certain messages that come naturally. Horses can read this body language even though you are probably unaware of all the cues you are giving. For example, when you are asking your horse to stand until told to do otherwise, you avoid eye contact, clench the cloth, and focus—envision that the horse has cement legs. But there are other signals you give. You are probably standing with your feet together, your teeth are probably slightly clenched, your shoulders are squared, and you are frowning. This body language occurs naturally when humans nonverbally communicate the thought, “don’t move.” These signals will happen automatically, however, don’t try to act them out.
Although this exercise is not physically demanding, it requires a lot of concentration on the part of both participants, the two-and the four-legged. Be reasonable in your expectations. Do not ask your horse to stand and stare at you for forty-five minutes, although after three or four years of work together, you should be able to do this. Work on this exercise only as long as your horse’s attention span allows. The attention span of your horse will increase every time you do this exercise. Once your horse understands how to follow your lead, take your horse through a number of fun, follow-the-leader sessions. It’s a good idea to start with this exercise as a refresher course when teaching your horse something new.
EXERCISE FOUR
Getting On
GETTING ON A HORSE SHOULD BE AN EASY, FLUID MOTION THAT DOES not compromise the balance of the horse or rider. Without the aid of stirrups, mounting becomes somewhat of a gymnastic exercise but with the proper technique can be a swift and graceful task. Jumping up and resting your belly on the horse, then swinging your legs over the horse is not an ideal way of mounting your horse. The movement is not fluid, and it includes a moment of vulnerability and loss of balance for both you and the horse. Here’s a better way.
Stand next to your horse facing the opposite direction. Your shoulder should be six to eight inches from your horse’s withers, and if you’re mounting from the left, position your left foot about four inches from your horse’s front left hoof. Support all your weight on your left leg and swing your right leg once or twice without it touching the ground. Place your left hand on the back of your horse’s withers in a tent shape—your fingers on your horse’s right side and your thumb on his left. Hold your reins in your left hand.
Swing your right leg back about three feet away from your left foot, then bring it forward and up toward the horse’s back. Keep your left leg planted until the momentum of your right leg brings it up off the ground. The goal is to swing your right leg up and over your horse’s back so that the back of your right knee lands on the right-hand side of the horse’s back, at about the middle of his back. Keep your right leg fairly straight as you swing it up—too much bend in your knee will cause your foot to get hung up on the left side of your horse. When your right knee has reached its target on the horse’s back, to the right of his spine, extend your right leg downward, shifting your weight to an imaginary right stirrup. This will turn your body so that you are facing the same direction as your horse and your left leg will be lifted by your momentum.
Keep your left hand stationary during mounting. It is not used to pull you up, but rather to steady your efforts. To illustrate the role of your left hand, try this exercise. Stand about arm’s length from a wall and raise one foot without touching the wall. See how long you can stand on one foot without losing your balance. Now try it again, this time with one finger touching the wall. You will be able to stand on one foot without falling out of balance until your supporting leg gets tired. That one finger is all it takes to help you maintain your balance because it gives you a steady frame of reference from which the rest of your body can balance itself. During mounting, your left hand serves the same purpose—to give you a solid reference point.
At the same time that your right knee makes contact with your horse, your right forearm should be placed on the right side of the horse’s withers. Because you have planted your right knee and right forearm simultaneously, you will be lying on your belly facing forward. Your head should end up on the right side of the horse’s neck. Bend your right arm at a ninety-degree angle and sweep it from right to left as you extend your right leg toward your imaginary stirrup, and sit up straight. This will put you in the riding position.
Practice this exercise a few times on a quiet mount, with a friend holding the horse’s lead. Accustom your horse to this exercise in stages. Place your forearm over his withers and over his back. Swing your right leg so that he gets used to your movements. Make several starts and praise him when he stands still for you. Ask a friend to hold his lead when you mount completely for the first time.
EXERCISE FIVE
Using Focus in the Saddle
NOW THAT YOUR HORSE IS COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE WITH YOU AND your tools and can follow your lead to your satisfaction, it’s time to climb aboard and put your focal cues to use in the saddle. In this exercise, you’ll wean yourself from your reliance on physical aids and learn to trust your focal form of communication by using only focus to direct your horse. Inexperienced Native American riders were required to do this exercise without the aid of reins or a cinch (mouthpiece) and were not permitted to speak to their horses. This is much more challenging to the rider than it is to the horse.
This is the point at which most riders begin to break down the lines of communication that were established in the previous exercises because they are now in an uncomfortable situation. Humans are most at ease on their own two feet. No matter how experienced we may be as riders, we will never be as comfortable on the back of a horse as we are when standing on the ground. We cannot devote the same amount of energy to communication with our horses while riding as we do during ground exercises because a certain amount of energy is being used to stay balanced and secure.
You’ll have to establish your bareback seat, the position while mounted bareback in which you are comfortable, confident, balanced, and effective. When at a walk, your shoulders should be square over your hips, your back relaxed and straight, and your chest open (not slouching with a rounded back). Your hips should absorb and follow the motion of the horse, your midsection—between your hips and ribcage—should be fluid in motion, and your shoulders relaxed and relatively still so that your upper body is not rocking around as your horse walks. You will find a slot behind your horse’s shoulder blades in which your leg fits as though it were meant to be there. If your leg doesn’t fall immediately into this slot, position yourself more toward the horse’s withers. The best way to get a feel for this leg slot is to walk your horse down a steep slope while riding bareback. Lean back and stand up in your imaginary stirrups while pointing your toes down. Your legs will fit behind a natural set of “knee rolls” formed by your horse’s shoulder muscles. This slot is where your legs should be for most maneuvers while riding bareback. After you can recognize and use this slot, you will find it easy to post while trotting.
Once on your horse’s back, relax and watch signs that your horse is focusing on you: one or both ears swivel back toward you, he stands quietly, waiting for communication from you, and he is not calling to or giving all his attention to his herdmates or wandering around the ring, paddock, or arena in a distracted way. Be quiet and balanced on his back and communicate using the same signals you used when you were on the ground. Focus on a specific spot in the ring where you would like to go. Rely solely on the focal commands that you gave your horse while on the ground. If you notice that you tend to lean forward slightly when trying to direct your horse to move forward, that’s okay; when you focus, your natural tendency to shift your center in the direction in which you want to go is a reaction to concentrating on moving forward. Do not overemphasize the physical command of leaning, making it the primary method by which you communicate with your horse. If your horse should take half a step in the direction that you are focusing on without responding to any previously learned physical cues, reward him immediately and generously. This is definitely a moment in which treats are in order, so keep them on hand.
There are times when you may have to stray from Relationship Training in the beginning stages, but do not stray for long.
My other horse Mihunka is a gem. He is a three-year-old gelding who has not yet learned bad habits or behaviors. The fact that he has been trained in the way I consider to be correct from the beginning makes him very delicate. I don’t want to teach him things that I consider to be wrong out of my own haste or irresponsibility.
When I felt he was ready, I took him on a short trail ride with some friends. About an hour into the ride, we encountered a deep stream. Mihunka clearly did not like the idea of cold water up to his chest. After ten minutes of dancing around, Mihunka decided to jump from one bank to the other. He did not clear the water, banged his right front hoof on a sizable rock, and spooked. At first, I couldn’t get him to stop. Even though he had begun learning to stop with light pressure applied to a rope halter, I had no choice but to pull back as hard as I could on the left rein to spin him around. This was clearly not part of any of our previous training sessions, and after he settled down a bit, I had a decision to make. Should I continue the ride and possibly face more spooky situations, hoping that he would become numb to them, or should I cut my losses and work with something he was more familiar with? Because I value the relationship between us more than immediate results, I chose the latter. I removed the training cloth from my pocket, replaced his bridle with a rope halter, and used a four-mile version of the leading exercise. During those four miles, we successfully crossed two more streams and did it in a much more constructive fashion than before.
The point is that if Mihunka lives a full life, and Creator permits, I will be riding him until I am fifty to sixty years old, and we will have a close relationship based on trust and communication.
This exercise can be extremely frustrating if done incorrectly. It is difficult to lead a horse while seated behind his head and out of his field of vision. People today are taught to ride in a linear way, with specific directions for what to do with each part of their body. Focal riding requires that we use the intangibles of instinct, concentration, and intuition. You must sharpen your intangible skills in Relationship Training, and the results will be well worth the effort to realign your whole approach.
Practice by leading your horse while on the ground just as you did in the previous exercise. Focus on where you want to go, not the place that you want your horse to go. It is your job to lead—not to tell—your horse to follow. If you get on your horse’s back and can’t remember what you were thinking when you were leading the horse on the ground, return to the ground and pay extra attention to the mental and focal cues that you are giving. The most important part of this exercise is that you not return to training by telling—do everything possible to avoid falling back into old habits.
When you achieve success with the exercise, do it several more times to reinforce it. You will notice that your horse’s responses get quicker and more consistent when a successful exercise is repeated. Do not overdo it, however. Some riders get so elated by their success with this exercise of using nonverbal, nonphysical communication that they do it over and over and quickly teach their horses that this chore of focal communication is boring. Keep in mind that the reward being offered is given for your horse’s ability to decipher your focal communications, not for doing what he was told. This feeling of gratitude will be reflected in your tone and body language if it is sincere.
The ability to communicate focally does not come quickly or easily and requires constant attention. It will become easier and more natural as time goes on, but remember, all it takes is one two-hour trail ride using old habits and techniques to destroy the lines of communication that you have established. There will be exceptions—for instance, when your horse spooks or tries to turn for home. If you need to use the old ways to regain control momentarily, do so. Once you have regained control, however, go back to the methods of Relationship Training.
Once your horse can decipher your focal cues, try to lead him through some basic maneuvers—halt, walk, turn—then move on to more refined maneuvers, such as asking for only a few steps at a time. If you are paying attention to your horse’s communications, you will know when he is ready to move on to more challenging tasks.
If a physical cue, such as a shift in balance, starts to emerge in any one of the basic directions, use it; but do not rely on it to communicate. Your body will act on its own to follow what you are focusing on. If you focus on turning left, for instance, you will turn your head to the left. Don’t expect your horse to turn left because you turned your head to the left, though. These physical reinforcements are merely secondary actions that occur naturally. Don’t analyze them, memorize them, or try to replicate them as aids.
Physical cues should be used only to reinforce focal cues. For example, when you ask your horse to move forward, you might assume that he does so because you sat up a little on the inside of your thighs and leaned forward a bit. Once your horse understands this exercise, however, his front foot will be on the move before you ever had the chance to change your center. If you focus on moving forward and do not reinforce the communication by changing your center, your horse will hesitate and raise his eyebrows, indicating confusion. He has learned to take cues from your focus, reinforced by your physical cues.
After mastering focal communication, you can bask in the fact that the five or six years of riding lessons usually needed to achieve this stage of communication will not be necessary. Mastering focal communication tends to happen after years of lessons, but it happens by accident. If you are taking lessons to learn to ride a horse, focal communication between you and the lesson horse happens inadvertently. However, if you plan to ride a certain horse—your horse—for any length of time, you will find much greater success by learning the basic elements of communication before attempting to have a conversation.
Incidentally, do not take the achievements of this exercise lightly. If successful, you are well on your way to developing a strong working relationship with your horse and perhaps will look at Dr. Dolittle in a different light from this point forward.
I learned about physical cues one hot summer in Oklahoma. My teacher was an elderly Kiowa gentleman who was a husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, singer (traditional southern drum), veteran, and part-time stand-up comedian at powwows. My usual response to his teachings was to laugh and scratch my head. The message in all his teachings was that if I wanted to learn how to communicate with a horse, the best place to start was by consulting my horse, not by asking a two-legged.
EXERCISE SIX
Reinforcing with Physical Cues
PHYSICAL CUES ARE MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN USED AS REINFORCEMENT tools. There is a place for all three types of communication, verbal, physical, and focal, when riding your horse. The most effective use of the physical cue is to back up any focal cues that you may be giving your horse. The most blatant misuse of the physical cue is kicking a horse to get him to move or to move faster. Kicking is a classic telling communication: “Move forward or I will kick you again” is the message. If you have made any headway with focal communication, you can begin to understand that kicking is not necessary.
Many trainers have a philosophy that horses move away from a heel or leg aid. It is common to hear instructors telling riders that if they want their horses to stay on the rail, they should apply pressure with the inside leg and the horse will move away from it. The problem with this approach is that you are not focusing on where you want to go. Rather, you are focusing on where you don’t want your horse to go. Always direct or lead your horse toward something, rather than away from it.
If your horse does not respond to your focal cues or physical reinforcements, take the month or two necessary to implement and firmly establish the methods and exercises preceding this step.
When riding bareback, your lower leg naturally falls six to eight inches behind your horse’s front leg. Your horse’s center of gravity while on the move is located about halfway up your shin, four to six inches behind your calf. Your center of gravity while seated on your horse is just below your navel, about midway between your navel and your spine. When you ride, you create a combined center located approximately six inches below your horse’s withers, depending on your weight. This combined center provides a sensitive steering mechanism. By leaning, you shift the combined center, which encourages your horse to realign and reestablish natural balance by moving under it. Even with the slightest movements, you can communicate to your horse where you would like to go.
The best way I know to understand the concept of a combined center is to put yourself in your horse’s position. Enlist the help of a forty-to eighty-pound child and carry him or her on your shoulders. This creates a combined center located somewhere near your sternum. Close your eyes and walk around, asking the child to steer you by leaning slightly in any direction. (I hesitate to use the word “lean” because this is not like leaning into a turn on horseback. When on your horse’s back, it takes a movement of only a couple of inches to get a response). You should understand almost immediately how easy it is for your horse to decipher subtle cues of shifting the combined center. When the child leans to the right, it is impossible not to understand in which direction your “rider” would like you to go. The same is true for your horse. The shift in combined center not only sends a clear message to your horse, but it also makes it very difficult for your horse to do anything but go in the direction you would like him to.
NOTE: Even though you grasped within a few seconds the communication that your horse receives from his rider, repeat this exercise often—it is good for the kid.
If your horse does not respond at first to focal cues reinforced by subtle physical cues, it is usually because he has been conditioned to move when kicked. You’ll have to do a bit of retraining.
Begin at a halt. Focus on the point where you would like to go and reinforce your focal cue by moving the combined center in that direction. When starting this exercise focus on a point somewhere about three miles ahead of you. In this way, there can be no mistake that the direction you want to go is forward. As soon as your horse responds—with a step, half-step, or even by shifting his weight in the right direction—reward him. If he walks in the direction you desire to go, let him take a few steps to reinforce the lesson, then ask him to stop.
After you and your horse can do a few successful stop and go sequences, do the exercise again, this time turning from a stop. Focus, change your combined center, and when your horse makes any move in the right direction, reward him immediately and generously. When he is confident enough to respond by turning from the halt, repeat the exercise once or twice more (don’t drill the horse) and then reward him to reinforce the lesson.
The next step is to ask your horse to back up. This comes hardest to riders attempting to establish focal communication with their horses. Focusing on moving backward while facing forward can seem impossible in the beginning. All that is necessary to provide a good strong focal cue to move backward is to turn your head. It doesn’t matter which way you turn it—right or left. Do whatever is most natural to you. Your body will adjust to maintain your balance. Focus on a point about three miles behind your horse and alter your combined center appropriately. When your horse makes any attempt to move backward—lifting a foot or shifting his weight by lowering his haunches and bringing his head toward his chest—reward him immediately and generously.
If you find that your horse is having a hard time getting used to these subtle cues, emphasize your physical cues to help him understand in a way he has become accustomed to. As your horse becomes more familiar with your commands, make them more and more subtle.
Once your horse grasps the concept of focal cues supported by subtle physical cues, start combining messages to your horse by doing this exercise on the move. From a halt, ask your horse for a turning walk. As he walks, praise him, then center yourself and focus on another turn. As he executes the turn, praise him again and ask for another. Ask for a halt, then back up a few steps. Walk again around the perimeter of the ring or arena (this asks him to wait for your cues), then ask for a few more turns. See if he’ll do a circle for you, a figure eight, a change of direction on the rail, and step over a ground pole. Halt and back up again. By now, the communication between the two of you should be coming fairly easily, and your horse will gain confidence about how to do what you’re asking.
When work in the walk is established, meaning that your horse responds correctly and consistently to your cues, you are ready to try it at the faster gaits. To ask for a trot, sit more firmly on your inner thighs, as if standing in stirrups. It may help to point your toes down.
A word of caution: Many riders undo much of the work done in these sessions without even realizing it. Say you and your horse can finally perform figure eights without any kicking or mouth-pulling from you, and in your delight, you yank your horse to a halt, dismount, and reward him. The reward is great, but your horse is probably thinking two things—one, “We’re going back to the old tell-me-what-to-do-by-yanking-on-my-mouth routine,” and two, “If I do something right, my rider will get off my back and I can go eat.” Hugs, pats, and treats can be given while on your horse’s back, and in this way, you will not send mixed messages.
Remember, when you are the itancan of your two-member herd, you can do only one of two things at any given time. You can either enhance your relationship or diminish it. Take care to enhance it twice as much as you are inadvertently destroying it.
Falling Off
THE FIRST THING TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT LEARNING TO FALL CORRECTLY is when to bail out and when to ride out the storm. If you have ever fallen off a horse, you are probably able to recognize the point at which your efforts to stay on became moot and falling was inevitable. This is the point of no return. Prior to the point of no return is when you must decide whether or not to bail. If you decide to bail out in a situation where you could have recovered, there is probably no harm done. If you wait too long in a dangerous situation, however, eventually the decision will no longer be yours.
As with mounting, the falling procedure is one fluid movement. Please practice this exercise with the help of a trainer or spotter. Although that person will not be around to help when you take a real fall, it is important to have someone there to help you in the beginning and evaluate your progress. The techniques for falling off are effective whether you ride with a saddle or not.
While still holding the reins, plant your forearms on either side of your horse’s withers, which will bring your torso forward and over the withers. Release the reins. Lower your torso so that your belly is in contact with the horse, and kick both feet out of your stirrups and over the left side of the horse. If you are practicing this exercise bareback, imagine that you have stirrups; this will give you the proper feel of the exercise. In a single movement, after your feet are free of the stirrups, let the momentum of that backward kick send your legs over the horse’s rump, supporting most of your weight on your forearms. When your legs are clear of your horse, push away from him with your arms by extending them, as if you were pushing someone away from you. Throw your body as far away from your horse and to the left as possible. This will make you airborne, facing your horse’s hind end.
Do not try to break your fall by extending your arms or legs. Your momentum will carry you backward in the direction your horse is traveling. You will now do a backward roll, your body meeting the ground in the following order: left foot, left knee, left hand, left buttock, right hand and buttock, both elbows. At this point, your legs should be crossed at the ankles and your knees bent at a ninety-degree angle. Stay as relaxed as possible as the momentum rolls you back.
It’s very important that you release the reins before kicking your legs back. Your momentum will send your body in a clockwise direction, and most riders instinctively hang onto the reins with their left hand and try to break their fall with their right. This not only makes for a dangerous landing, but by pulling on the left rein, you could steer your horse right on top of you.
Practice landing before you mount by using this technique while falling backward from a standing position. Do this on a soft surface so you don’t injure your spine, and wear safety equipment. Before practicing, whether on or off your horse, do some simple stretching exercises. The most important thing to remember about falling off is to relax. Rigid muscles prevent you from having full use of your body, and they get injured far more easily than relaxed ones.
The type of verbal cue you use is important when conveying either stop or go. You can use any word you like, but here are some pointers for deciding on which words to use.
Be sure the words you use as verbal cues are natural to you, ones you use already. In a situation where you have to make a quick stop, you don’t want to have to rack your brain to remember your “stop” word. In fact, these cues do not have to be real words but can be mere vocables, such as the commands used by mule or draft horse drivers. The verbal cues will flow from you more naturally if they’re already a comfortable fixture in your speech.
Make sure the words are different enough that your horse can decipher them. Horses are widely thought to perceive syllables and vowel sounds more clearly than anything else. With this in mind, do not make your stop and go cues “whoa” and “go.” I use a word pronounced whee-chja for my “go” verbal command. This is a Comanche word that usually conveys celebration or excitement. For “stop,” I use a word pronounced schkee, a Cherokee slang word that roughly translates to “thank you.”
EXERCISE EIGHT
Using Verbal Cues
VERBAL COMMANDS ARE MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN DEFINING THE BEGINNING or end of a work session, or to communicate stop and go. Riders who use a lot of verbal commands in their riding are communicating with their horses as if they were humans. Limiting your verbal cues requires that you think like a horse. Humans think and communicate in verbal terms, whereas horses are physical and perceptive creatures. Trying to attach a verbal cue to every focal and physical communication only complicates things. When you focus on a direction and reinforce the focal cue by changing the combined center, there are more than enough communications being sent to convey your message. If you want to achieve a sliding stop or an out-of-the-gate start, however, verbal cues can be of great assistance. Both can be accomplished without the aid of verbal cues, but when starting out, make these nonverbal messages clear and concise.
When practicing your stop and go exercises with verbal cues, your switch can be especially helpful. It’s also effective to have a bit of a pep talk with your horse before attempting a rapid start. Get your horse psyched up about the fact that you are about to jettison down the runway. This is sort of like revving up a dragster before you head down the quarter-mile. Your horse will hear the excitement in your voice, which is more meaningful to him than your words, and that will heighten his readiness for the next command. Perhaps you will give him a few pats on the neck, followed by some words in a higher pitch of voice. Why would you want to rev up your quiet, trustworthy horse? There are many situations, especially trail riding, when you want your horse to be prepared to move immediately to avoid a dangerous situation. If your ride requires you to deal with roads, railroad tracks, falling trees, rocks, or other riders, the ability to get your horse to respond quickly to your cues becomes a safety imperative.
Establish this response and cue recognition at home in the safety of the ring. When your horse can feel your excitement from the pep talk and is ready to take off, place the switch flat against the side of your horse’s neck. In one gesture, give your verbal cue and sweep the switch from front to back until it hits your thigh. The switch should be on the right side of your horse’s neck. Be careful not to catch the switch in your horse’s mane. If your horse moves forward even the slightest bit, reward him and do the exercise again. With practice, you will be able to take off without the switch. Your horse will begin to associate your verbal cue with your focal cue.
Stopping abruptly uses cues nearly opposite to those of taking off quickly. The primary difference is your focus. While trotting or cantering, pick a spot on the ground ahead and focus on it. Place the switch flat against your horse’s rump, and in one movement change your combined center rearward by sitting up straighter, sweep the switch from back to front until it hits the back of your thigh, and give your verbal cue. If your horse hesitates in the slightest, reward him immediately. Don’t be too concerned with stopping precisely at the spot you picked. You will soon discover how long it takes for your horse to stop, and therefore when you need to put on the brakes, so to speak.
Remember the rule of inertia: a body at rest tends to stay at rest. If you don’t adjust your center forward before moving forward, especially at an energetic pace, you will slide off the back of your horse. By the same token, a body in motion tends to stay in motion, so if you do not adjust your center backward when stopping, especially when you stop abruptly, you will be thrust forward onto your horse’s neck or over one shoulder.
If you are trying to achieve a sliding stop as seen in Western reining patterns, use leg wraps on your horse’s legs. It takes only one good arena burn on your horse’s fetlocks to convince him that sliding to a stop should not be attempted again.
Jumping
IF YOU RIDE ON TRAILS, JUMPING IS NECESSARY FROM TIME TO TIME. Jumping bareback can be a rewarding experience, but it can also be dangerous. If you have not jumped with a saddle or if you don’t have any previous jumping training, do not attempt to jump bareback. If, on the other hand, you feel comfortable enough to try a few low jumps, wear a helmet and the other appropriate safety gear, and have someone present when you begin jumping bareback. Be sure you can perform all the preceding exercises at all gaits consistently and comfortably without a saddle before you attempt to jump bareback.
Modern riding instruction includes some good, sound, commonsense riding techniques in the area of jumping. Focus, center, and inertia are always addressed by a good jump coach. Whether using a saddle or not, the focal cues and physical reinforcements are the same.
Start by laying a single rail flat on the ground. From the ground, lead your horse over the rail several times. Next, get on your horse and walk, trot, and canter over the ground rail. In the canter, and possibly in the trot, your horse may give a little jump over the rail so grab a handful of mane as you approach the rail. Practice a few times with the rail on the ground before raising it.
Raise the rail no more than six inches, and lead your horse over it several times at the walk, from the ground as before, then mount and walk, trot, and canter over the rail several times. Your horse may continue stepping over the rail more often than jumping it, but these exercises will give him a sense of comfort about jumping. When you raise the rail the next time (just one notch), he will have to jump it, but by then, he will regard the rail without suspicion.
There are several important concepts to understand at this point. The first is confidence. As the itancan, you must be confident that what you are leading your horse to do is within his capabilities, and you must show no focal or physical signs of doubt. Some riders approach jumps in a very defensive position, clamping their legs, bracing themselves, or moving their feet forward in front of the girth in case of a stop or runout. The horse feels this hesitation or expectation of trouble and begins to worry. The old saying “hope for the best and prepare for the worst” has no place in Relationship Training. Remember, you are leading your horse. You must know before you make the request that your horse will do what you’re asking, and if your relationship with your horse has been cultivated carefully based on clear communication and previous successes, he should not hesitate.
The focus required for jumping is different from that required for any other maneuver. To go over a jump, visualize the arc you will be taking. If you focus on the rail in front of you, so will your horse. If you focus on your line of travel, your horse will seek a straight line through the rail rather than over it, and simply incorporate it as a stride in his line of travel. Envision an arc going from your takeoff point over the rail to your landing point. If your focal cues say “over the jump” but you’re hanging on for dear life, you are not ready to jump. Doing so will create a lack of trust between you and your horse.
Many people are amazed that my horse Kola climbs stairs and rides in elevators. These are not tricks that I’ve taught him. He does all these things because I never gave any reason for him to believe that he couldn’t. The first set of stairs that we ever encountered was treated no differently than a grassy hill. I held his lead, did not change my pace, did not look back to see if he could make it, and simply walked up. I knew that these stairs provided good footing before I approached them with Kola. Because the itancan did not hesitate, neither did the rest of the “herd.”Walking into our first elevator was like walking into a box stall. He has also developed, on his own, a fondness for jumping onto stages, some as high as four feet. I think it’s because he’s the biggest ham I know!
The point is that if there is hesitation in the mind or body language of the itancan, the herd will act accordingly.
Horses do a lot of communicating with their bodies. After interacting with a horse for a short amount of time, you can learn to understand his subtle body movements and language. Some basic body cues to watch for can be found in a horse’s ears, eyes, and head.
Ears point to whatever the horse is focusing on, although a horse may devote only one ear to something that does not require his complete attention. Eyes convey moods or attitudes, much the same way that human eyes do. Raised eyebrows are a sign of apprehension or surprise, but creased, raised eyebrows signal fear or pain. Soft, relaxed eyes mean the horse understands or is content. Head level usually conveys the horse’s readiness to get out of a situation (flee) or fight. For example, a raised head with sharply creased eyebrows is what you see just before a horse rears or turns to get away from his handler. A low head with straight neck is a warning (also ears are pinned).
Horses manifest their personalities during training. Kola’s cycle of learning goes like this. At first, he’s playful, not really concerned with training, he’s just enjoying the change of scenery. Then comes apprehension. He acts as if to say, “Oh, I get it. This is one of those training sessions.” After training for a while, he may deliberately begin to ignore me in hopes of quitting early. He may even “pout” a little by stomping. But if I insist quietly, he submits, much like a child who realizes that no matter how much he kicks and screams, he must clean his room before he goes out to play. After a while, Kola exhibits boredom by adopting a blank stare, hanging his lower lip, beginning to lower his head, and maybe drooling.
The better you know your horse, the more easily you will be able to tell the difference between a legitimate problem and an equine tantrum or manipulation. For example, if your horse tries to move toward something in particular when he’s balking during a lesson—such as a field, pasturemates, the barn, or a gate—the behavior probably is manipulative. He’s testing you to see if he really has to do the exercise, or if he can get you to give up so he can go back to grazing. On the other hand, if he is merely moving away from something with no apparent agenda, it is usually because of confusion or fear. Knowing your horse well will give you the skills to interpret his behavior.
EXERCISE TEN
The Obstacle Course
ONCE YOU ARE PERFORMING MOUNTED EXERCISES CONFIDENTLY AND consistently with your horse, it’s helpful to close your training sessions with a mini obstacle course. Set up a course of varied maneuvers—turns, stops, jumps or ground rails, circles, changes of direction, cone slaloms, etc. Establish the order of the course before mounting your horse; if you don’t know the order of the maneuvers, your horse will not receive the confidence he needs from the itancan. Outdoor courses can be much more challenging than ring courses (although any type of course is helpful). Mother Earth provides more interesting props than barrels, PVC rails, and orange cones, so from time to time, go through this exercise on a trail to keep it fun and interesting.
Keep in mind that this exercise is supposed to be fun and creative. This is not a we-have-to-learn-this situation, so do not place the same demands on your horse as you would in intense training. Do not change the techniques for each maneuver, but approach this exercise with a lighter attitude.
Take your horse to the outside edge of the course and back to the start. Do not walk him through the middle of the course area, as he may become confused by this. Go through the course, allowing your horse to make decisions and figure things out as he relies on your cues to guide him. Have fun, and when you feel that your goal has been accomplished, your session is done. This exercise is a good way to end every training session on a fun note, giving your horse some practical application for the lessons he’s learned. Creativity and imagination are what keeps your horse from getting bored while training.
Now that your horse has learned to understand your language, and you can better understand his, it is important not to fall into routines or ruts. Just as you pay attention to moments when your horse moves even the slightest bit forward, you must also be aware of the point where your horse says, “I’ve had enough.” Most horses become bored very easily—ask any horse who cribs or paces. Be sensitive to signs that your horse finds a particular exercise boring: he may not execute the exercise completely, may become easily distracted, his head may hang. When you recognize your horse’s signs of boredom, move on to something more challenging. Your horse will show you the amount of time you should spend on any one exercise. Do not, however, mistake a good bluff as a sign of exhaustion. Horses are not beyond manipulating their riders to get what they want, especially young horses. If your horse should try to manipulate you by balking, disobeying, or holding his breath—the equine equivalent of whining and pouting—ignore it. These bluffs will pass providing you do not acknowledge them in any fashion. Don’t punish your horse for them, just quietly insist by continuing to ask your horse to perform the exercise.
EXERCISE ELEVEN
Leksi! Leksi! [leh-K’SHEE leh-K’SHEE]—Uncle! Uncle!
THE LAKOTA LEGEND LEKSI! LEKSI! WAS TOLD TO YOUNG RIDERS BEFORE THEY practiced their focal abilities with horses. Young riders were told to take their horses out at night and maneuver them using only their focal cues. If at any time they felt frightened or confused, they could call out, “Leksi! Leksi!” and Walking Crow and Laughing Beaver would guide them home safely.
Training at night is a good activity for anyone who wants to strengthen a bond with a horse. A moonlit night can make this experience extra special. If you do not feel comfortable riding in the dark, however, don’t do it. For you to ride your horse in the dark with a feeling of fear and confusion will damage rather than strengthen your trust-bond with him.
Practicing your focal abilities at night works best in open fields or pastures. Choose your riding area carefully and survey it during the daytime for gopher holes, rocks, wire or boards on the ground, debris, broken fences, and other hazards.
When you first attempt this exercise, choose a night with a full or near-full moon, low wind, and no cloud cover to obstruct the moon. Mount your horse in the field and allow a few moments for both of you to get accustomed to training at night. Horses are more comfortable in the dark than most humans, so most of the work to get comfort levels up will be focused on yourself. You may think that your horse will not respond as quickly as he did in the ring during the day, but you may be surprised at how consistently your riding cues are interpreted by him. After all, your cues thus far have not been visual, so why should nighttime compromise their clarity? However, the darkness does intensify the need for a strong focal connection between you and your horse, and that’s why this exercise is a good one for building bonds.
The object of this exercise is to zigzag across and up and down the field, all the while reinforcing your horse’s ability to decipher your focal cues. Focus on a spot somewhere in the field and adjust your combined center accordingly, exactly as you would when training in a ring or arena during the day. You may need to reinforce your focus with subtle physical commands, but your horse should not have trouble grasping your focal cues if you have properly executed the exercises prior to this one. When you have come within ten to twenty yards of your original focal point, choose another. This exercise is a lot of fun and can be great when the heat of summer limits daytime riding.
Lakota
ONE MORNING IN WINTER, THE SUN FAILED TO APPEAR on the eastern horizon. A council meeting was held and the elders decided that a scouting party of four should ride to the east to find out what had happened and to evaluate the situation. One of the scouts, Walking Crow, thought that because the sun had last been seen on the western horizon, it must still be hiding there, so he rode west. The other three scouts returned ten days later, having found no answers. Walking Crow did not return after ten days. He did not return after twenty days, and he did not return after thirty days. Still, the sky was dark.
Laughing Beaver, Walking Crow’s nephew, became concerned about his Uncle. Laughing Beaver’s father had been killed in a skirmish, and Walking Crow had taken him in as his own son. After thirty days of darkness, Laughing Beaver decided he would look for his uncle. He gathered his things, mounted his pony, and rode to the west.
The rest of the village held daily prayer councils and sweats in hopes of bringing back the sun. After a while, Walking Crow and Laughing Beaver were counted among the dead. They were not spoken of in the village. Then, after three years of darkness, the sun returned in the east as it had always done. The people were happy and the elders held a special ceremony thanking Creator. The ceremony was held at the eastern-most part of the people’s range in honor of the sun’s return to the east. During the prayers, a young boy pointed out two strange creatures grazing in the valley below. They appeared to be ponies with scouts on their backs, but the scouts had no legs. They seemed to be attached to the ponies’ backs. The medicine man, Big Tree, said that those two strange creatures were Walking Crow and Laughing Beaver and their ponies, and that because the two scouts had spent three years on their ponies’ backs in the darkness, they and their ponies had become one. Big Tree also said that Walking Crow and Laughing Beaver must have chased the sun all the way from the west to the east, and that their names should remain in the people’s hearts always.
Kaonspe [kah-OON-spay]
TEACHING WITH FORCE
There will be times in your training when your horse tests your status as itancan. It is only natural for your horse to do this and there is only one correct way to regain your status, assuming that your horse is an adult. Disobedience and aggression should be dealt with by a clear, abrupt message that says, “This behavior will not be tolerated!”
In a herd, the itancan continually reasserts his position in order to retain it. This is done with a swift kick or a sharp bite. Once is usually enough to thwart a challenger’s efforts, then life in the herd returns to normal. Too often, horse owners yell and scream, kicking and hitting their horses, and throw fits when their horses follow a natural instinct to challenge the itancan and move up in status within the herd. You must deal with disobedience and challenges in the same way that the itancan horse would deal with them.
It’s important to recognize the difference between a horse’s attempts to move up the hierarchy within a two-member herd and a sign of aggression with intent to harm. A slow, steady pull of the head as a sign of resistance by your horse should be reprimanded with a correction in the opposite direction, either with a slow steady pull or a series of quick tugs.
A bite is a sign of aggression and dominance and should be dealt with by matching or exceeding the amount and type of aggression displayed by your horse. A sharp slap to the chest, accompanied by a short, loud yell, is usually enough to reestablish dominance. Kicking is also a sign of aggression, but is not as severe as one might think; a good kick can be very painful to two-leggeds, but in the herd situation, it is usually nothing more than a mild reprimand. Although you should not tolerate kicking, do not treat kicking in the same way as you would biting, because it might provoke another kick from your horse. Try raising the offending leg in the same manner you would use to pick up the hoof and hold for a few minutes. This mildly uncomfortable position is usually enough to get the message across.
Bucking is more often than not a response to fear or pain. One of the worst things you can do to a horse who bucks is jump off and yell at or physically reprimand him. Either of these responses only reinforces the fear or pain that caused the behavior.
Experienced trainers should handle the task of correcting or adjusting a horse’s attitude, but in many cases if you understand your horse’s motivations, you can correct these problems before they become dangerous. Nine out of ten times, these behaviors can be changed by returning to basic, relationship-building exercises.
Longeing Alternatives
The art of longeing, in its purest form, is an excellent method for training horses to respond to our communications. Done correctly, longeing is nothing less than beautiful. It is truly an art form and can take many years to master. Originally, longeing was used as a way of training a horse to respond to verbal and physical cues while on the ground. Unfortunately, in many cases longeing has deteriorated into a mindless exercise wherein a horse who is tied to a rope runs in a circle around a whip-wielding trainer. The following are alternatives to mindless longeing and will strengthen, rather than weaken, the relationship that you are developing with your horse.
Warming Up
In the limited spaces found at most horse shows, ride your horse in that circle you might otherwise have longed him in. This provides you with ability to exercise your horse, exercise yourself, reinforce your relationship, and stretch and warm up tight muscles.
Bit Training
Teaching a young horse to respond to the bit can be done using a tool developed by the Nez Percé called akita mani yo (ah-KEE-tah MAH-nee yo) by the Lakota. Fit the akita mani yo, or surcingle, behind your horse’s withers and tighten the girth just enough to keep it in place. Tie a fourteen foot length of rope to each side of the bit and run the ropes through the rings on either side of the akita mani yo. Make sure the rope is not so thick that it cannot slide through the rings freely.
From the ground, face your horse with one rein of rope in each hand. If you are holding the ends of the reins, you should be about seven or eight feet in front of your horse. Lead your horse by walking backward, using the reins to reinforce your movements. Remember that pulling on the reins in this position will pull back on the horse’s mouth. Focus your eyes on your horse’s eyes and begin to walk through some simple maneuvers, all the while reinforcing your movements with slight pressure on the appropriate side of his mouth. As soon as you get a response from your horse, release the tension and reward your horse immediately.
By starting a young horse with the hakamya upo (come, follow closely) shadowing exercises, this exercise should be quite easy for your horse to accept and comprehend. When both you and your horse are comfortable with this exercise, you can turn around and walk forward rather than backward. I have found that horses are much more responsive to this method than they are to hooking a longe line to one side of the bit and using a longe whip to make them run around in a circle.
Cavaletti Work
Many trainers longe horses over cavaletti (a series of poles placed in the ground) to teach the horse to change leads, learn balance, gather himself, and engage his hind end. But it is usually much more effective to have some weight on the horse’s back when doing cavaletti work. Not only can you communicate, build the relationship, and reinforce focal cues from your horse’s back, but the added weight causes the horse to place his feet more carefully. If the horse should balk at first, do not tell him to disregard his apprehension and run through it anyway. Dismount and lead him through the cavaletti at a walk, trot, and canter. You’ll be surprised at how easy he then goes over them with you remounted. Remember, lead by example.
Jumping
Longeing a horse over jumps frequently causes serious accidents. The combination of an airborne horse, a thirty-foot longe line, and lightweight wooden poles and jump standards does not make for a safe training environment. If you are trying to teach your horse to take off and land correctly, ride your horse over mock jumps—poles on the ground. If you are trying to teach your horse to become comfortable with jumps, lead him through them. Remember, if you think you’re teaching your horse to jump, you’re mistaken; he already knows how.
Reprimand
It is common to see a rider attempting to bore his horse to death by running the horse around in a circle at the end of a longe line. This method of reprimand goes against everything in this book and 99 percent of the time ends up with nothing more than a tired, bored horse. If a horse misbehaves during a training session, deal with the infraction then. If he shows aggression toward you, respond immediately and unmistakably. Your horse will not connect longeing with his misbehavior by the time you’ve dismounted, fetched your longe line and whip, perhaps untacked him, and led him to the longeing area.
Submission
Unruly horses are sometimes put on the end of a longe line and made to run around in circles until they grow tired and are forced to submit to the trainer. The stud chain is usually affixed over the nose so that the trainer can tug on it for the purposes of reprimand. This exercise does not a relationship make. I think that those who employ this practice should be given the opportunity to train lions or tigers once or twice.
Time, Patience, and Consistency
There is no substitute for spending time with an animal when trying to build a relationship. It is not necessary to spend a lot of time with your horse, but the time spent must be time devoted to just you and your horse. None of us is able to spend as much time with our horses as we would like, but it is not the quantity of time that builds healthy working relationships, but rather the quality of that time. Remember, if you are not teaching your horse good habits at any given time, then he is learning bad ones. If you have a sincere desire to build a relationship with your horse, your actions will reflect it. If, on the other hand, a better relationship sounds like a good idea, but you are content with what works now, the time will elude you. Many of the exercises in this book require no more than thirty minutes, but they must be thirty minutes of undivided attention and commitment to building the relationship.
Put simply, you will reap what you sow. If you are in a boarding situation, set aside one or two times a week when you can give your horse a half hour of your undivided attention. Even the most basic exercises in this book are designed to build relationships, and a half hour of solid concentration and commitment can be just as strenuous as a three-or four-hour trail ride. If you can spend only ten minutes a week working on an exercise that strengthens your relationship with your horse, make that ten minutes prosperous by dedicating your efforts entirely. The results you reap from ten minutes of a focused relationship exercise equals or exceeds the results gained in a month by the majority of horse owners using modern horse training methods. Remember, quality not quantity.
Waonspekiye, (wah-OON-spay-KEE-yay), or teaching with patience, means treating your horse the same way that you would a child who has difficulty learning or grasping new concepts. If you afford your horse the same understanding, concern, and patience, you will reap amazing results. Many of the same techniques and exercises that Relationship Training incorporates for use with horses are used in special education classes to teach learning-disabled students. These are methods such as giving immediate rewards, taking many small steps rather than a few large ones to teach a concept, and basing each lesson on the achievement of the previous lesson. Patience is what determines whether a particular horse will become a champion or a horse for sale.
The object of any exercise is not to teach a horse how to do something; most of what a rider needs a horse to do are things the horse already knows how to do. The object is to teach a horse how to understand your form of communication so he will respond appropriately to your requests. This can be laborious. Your horse will grasp certain concepts faster than others. Can you remember learning an entirely new concept in high school, perhaps a physics formula or algebra? For most of us, there was a point at which we said, “Oh, I get it.” It is much the same for horses.
I remember one horse in particular who seemed as dumb as a bag of doorknobs when it came to switching leads. I worked with this animal for six weeks, and still the horse would go blank anytime we tried the lead changing exercises. At liberty, however, she changed leads just as naturally as she drank water.
Then, one day it happened. While working on strengthening her ability to interpret physical commands in a figure eight pattern, she changed her leads correctly over and over again. I rewarded her immediately and generously and got successful lead changes thereafter. When I got off her back and gave her a big hug, she gave me a look as if to say, “If that was all you wanted me to do, why didn’t you say so?” As usual, it was the human’s inability to communicate—not the horse’s inability to perform a task—that had this particular trainer pulling his hair out. Although for some trainers it is very hard to develop, when it comes to interacting with horses, patience is not only a virtue, but a necessary quality.
No encyclopedia of horsemanship ever existed among this continent’s first great horsemen. Because of the great diversity found among the tribes that inhabited North America, it would not have been possible two hundred years ago to collect and organize their methods and approaches.
The ideas and exercises in this book are the things that I have learned from the elders of different Nations. I have had the wonderful opportunity of traveling around this country, speaking and performing on weekends at powwows and cultural festivals. During the week, I learned as much as the elders of that local tribe could teach me about horsemanship. I was raised alongside horses, and while on the road (if I did not have my horse with me), found it hard to stay away from them. I discovered that no matter what part of the country I was in, a stable owner or friend on the reservation could always direct me to the local “Indian authority on horses.”
We have reason to glory in the achievements of our ancestors.
—O NO’SA
It is to these authorities that I owe much of my knowledge of the old ways concerning horses. It is for them that I attempt to record their methods here. I do not claim to know all of the answers, but I do claim to know a few. Most of the answers I know are to the questions concerning relationships. It is extremely important to establish a healthy working relationship with your horse before attempting to produce results.
You must first establish yourself as itancan. When your horse accepts you as itancan you must then reinforce your position on a regular, or routine, basis. You must be consistent with every new exercise. Do not attempt any exercise in which your ability to lead is inferior to your horse’s. If you lack the confidence to do something, do not ask your horse to follow.
I hope that this book has planted a few seeds of awareness and inspiration, and that the exercises contained herein are helpful to you. I will continue to learn from the elders for as long as Creator sees fit and will pass on to you the knowledge of this nation’s first great horsemen.
The exercises in this book are fairly simple and focus on basics because it is difficult to learn consistency when working on exercises that you are not very comfortable with. It is much easier to consistently work on stop and go than it is to consistently work on spin around and lie down. Don’t move on from the basics until your training techniques are consistent enough to warrant more complicated exercises. If you do things differently every time you work with your horse, even on very small things, you will send mixed messages to him and communication will become ineffective. Consistency is paramount when working with your horse. Without it, you will get nowhere.
I feel glad as the ponies do when the fresh green grass starts in the beginning of the year.
—TEN BEARS
