Horsemanship: Objectivity

Relationship Based Horsemanship

Subjective: Dependent on or taking place in a person's mind rather than the external world; based on a given person's experience, understanding, and feelings; personal or individual.

Objective: Uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices; actual or real; based on facts.

In this article, I’m going to focus on objectivity.

The more time I spend with my horses, the more I realize that how I interact with them depends on how I filter what is happening from moment to moment.

This is nowhere more true than when things don’t go as I’d imagined it would, or I’d planned. Negative emotions like anger often threaten to rise, which is never helpful.

Objectivity has been my watch word when deciding what to do when horses resist, fuss, or in anyway react negatively to me or my requests.

Objectivity requires me to think, not react, which is what I want my horses to do as well.

“Set it up and wait” is one piece of advice that sets my mind into an objective perspective. This involves logically creating the steps needed to teach your horse what you want, then waiting for the wanted response(s).

Backing up is a great task that can illustrate the power of setting it up and waiting. Backing up should be smooth and light, not a tug-of-war with your 1000 pound partner. I have seen many people get into a wrestling match with their horse when asking them to back up, something no one wants do, but somehow ends up happening.

Backing up is such a valuable tool to horse training, that doing it smoothly and lightly is critical to other tasks as a horse progresses in its skill set and understanding.

Steve recently watched me riding my 4 year-old Half-Arabian/Andalusian mare, Flash, who backed up softly and easily at the end of our session. It didn’tstart that way!

This is first a result of time spent on the ground teaching her to move away from pressure, both steady pressure when I’m touching her directly with my hands or through a halter and/or rope, and indirect pressure at a distance with my body or a tool like a rope or stick.

Steady pressure is the preeminent way we communicate with horses when we ride, so teaching this fundamental concept on the ground sets me up for success in the saddle.

There are 4 ways that I’ve used to get an appropriate response from my horse:

• Apply pressure lightly then slowly and precisely add to the pressure

• Change the kind of pressure

• Combine different forms of pressure

• Combine pressure with predictable steps that the horse can follow to achieve the response desired

You’ve probably guessed when reading that list, the last way has been the most successful for me.

THE BACKUP

In the saddle, I sit lightly, I evenly shorten my reins holding them between my thumbs and first fingers, then think backwards. If my horse has not responded, I begin sequentially closing my fingers until all five fingers are closed on the reins at once. If my horse has still not responded, I draw my elbows backwards towards my waist. If my horse still hasn’t responded, I squeeze both legs on my horse and wait. I wait for any backward movement, then release the pressure and pet and praise my horse.

Eventually, l release to more effort, a rounded back, fluidity, distance, and a combination of those, to name a few. In this video, watch HAAP HAZARD backing up for the 3rd time under saddle. We had practiced many times from the ground.

The objective, consistent, and persistent pattern of this teaching technique creates predictability and reward for horses and humans both.

Horses will respond in all kinds of ways to being taught a new task. They might get stiff in mind and body, they might toss their heads, they might spin around, they might have to think first. But at some point, they will take a backward step which I can build upon. It requires patience and focus.

I don’t know everything that goes on in a horse’s mind when they are working out what they should do, but I do know they want to figure out what we want if we approach them properly. I also know what the eventual results are: horses learn to back up and look beautiful in the process.

The process is based on objective expectations and objective procedures, making the learning experience more predictable, safe, and enjoyable.

If you have questions for me about any of my posts, please feel free to contact me at isabellefarmer@gmail.com or click here: HAAP Farm Facebook page.

For more information about the amazing horses that have been and are being bred on the HAAP Farm, click here: HAAP farm web page.

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Purchasing a Horse: The Value of Tameness and Training

Relationship Based Horsemanship

Perhaps the most important question that should be answered when purchasing a horse is, “How was this horse raised and trained?”

We’ve seen many a horse dream crushed and horses in kill pens because the horse bought was fearful/distrustful of humans, never fully tamed, and/or improperly trained, rendering it dangerous to be around or ride with problems insurmountable for most people to overcome. Is that a risk worth taking?

Whenever a foal is born or a new horse is added to our farm, the first goal of our interactions with that horse is tameness (relaxation). Tameness followed by basic ground training is the foundation that leads to future success.

Our horses go through the process of taming and training, and at whatever level they’ve attained with us, are ready for the next step.

These aren’t chance events, they reflect the commitment, dedication and skill that I, Isabelle Farmer and my husband Steve Hugus, bring to the HAAP farm horses.

It is the essence of our prey/predator world that foals (and many horses) instinctually see us as an existential threat to their well-being. All foals are variably skeptical of our intentions. The first goal of taming is convincing each of these young prey animals that we, as predators, have no intention of eating them.

For older horses, there can be layers of negative interactions that make relaxation even more difficult to achieve.

As simple as that goal sounds, it has many moving parts. Here are but a few.

• How good are we at communicating in the horse’s language, which is primarily body language?

• What is each horse’s level of skepticism and fear?

• How persistent and committed are we to getting the horse to see us as a positive influence in their lives?

• Can we commit to the time this takes, understanding that each horses’s taming timeline will be different?

Foals are a clean slate. Not only do we want them relaxed in our presence, we don’t want to create worries they don’t already have. Too many horse buyers bring their horse home only to discover it has objections or concerns that only humans could have created or worsened.

There is a potentially endless list of these, but some of the most common ones are:

• Picking up their feet

• Head/ear shyness

• Cinchiness

• Fear of trailer loading

• Dullness to aids

• Reactivity to aids

• Difficulty getting haltered or “caught”.

Logically, why wouldn’t we want these issues dealt with when horses are small and young? By extension, this should be what prospective horse buyers want to buy. The initial price of a horse should reflect how much training won’t be needed post purchase.

If you have questions for me about any of my posts, please feel free to contact me at isabellefarmer@gmail.com or click here: HAAP Farm Facebook page.

For more information about the amazing horses that have been and are being bred on the HAAP Farm, click here: HAAP farm web page.

Circles: A powerful training tool.

Relationship based horsemanship

HAAP A CUT ABOVE (Zazzi) after a successful session learning to relax with circles. She is an energetic/vigilant horse with a big engine and a very sweet disposition.

I’ve recently seen comments on social media that “lounging” or using circles to train horses will physically break them down, or that circling is just boring, so horses don’t want to do them. Generalized statements like that can encourage people to abandon a valuable horse training tool and create roadblocks to success.

Circling horses can be one of the best ways for humans to recognize and respond appropriately when horses are stressed emotionally, mentally, and physically.

It’s how circles are used that breaks horses down and creates boredom, not the circles themselves. The goal should be learning how to use circles, not abandon them.

When using circles for training, especially on the ground, horses can feel trapped and claustrophobic when too much pressure is applied to a horse to get them to do what we would like. This is true for a round pen especially, but also on a line outside a round pen, because the rope is just a portable round pen of varying widths.

Choosing the size of a circle is critical to success.

Small circles are much more difficult for horses than larger circles, physically.

Larger circles can be challenging for horses, mentally and emotionally. Ground training with large circles can cause a horse to feel disconnected from the human, and in the saddle, horses can lose focus as the circles get larger.

These two facts conflict. If the trainer focuses solely on the physical aspect of training, the horse’s emotional connection and mental stability can be compromised, and vice versa.

This is Zazzi at the beginning of our session. Thanks to the strong winds, cows in the pasture across the road, and pheasants flying out of their nearby nesting area, she was pretty worked up. Note the high head, flagged tail, and her attention on something happening away from where we are. I have to keep my rope next to my leg to provide a steady place from which she can get both correction and relief when she strays too far away or comes back closer to me. The rope has a lot of tension in it as she does this.

The need to balance the horse’s physical, emotional, and mental well-being presents horsemen with a great challenge. This extends to all aspects of training.

Focusing on the emotional stability of a horse is my priority as I feel this is where our relationship can be strained and relaxation is most likely to be lost. This is especially true for young horses.

With that in mind, the size of the circle that maintains the horse’s connection to me comes first. Once I’ve found a circle size that holds the connection to me most of the time, I can fold in the physical and or mental goal on which I want to work.

I can also use their need to get relief from physical discomfort to build on our relationship. Horses are wise enough to figure out that their human notices when their inside hind leg is getting tired while doing circles. Sometimes I think I hear horses tell me, “Gee, this human isn’t so hard to train, after all.”

Physical stress can derail a training session

One reason horses don’t learn quickly or easily, spook, or lose their focus on our goals is because of physical discomfort. Horses experience many kinds of physical distress. In this article, I’m referring to the fatigue horses feel when performing certain tasks. If they trust that you know when they become fatigued (especially in the hindquarters), and you respond appropriately, horses will get used to staying emotionally relaxed during training.

After about 15 minutes, observe Zazzi now: lowered head, ear on me indicating she is more connected to me, walking now as I would like, tail relaxed. She isn’t making perfect circles, but relaxation is where we can start to make that happen. Note also that the rope is now on the ground, indicating she has learned to stay with me without constant correction or pressure.

Common signs to recognize:

• The horse becomes high-headed

• The horse exhibits resistance to the task

• The horse wants to change direction

• The horse has increasing difficulty or resistance to stepping laterally with the inside hind leg

• The reserved horse will break gait to the walk. If they break gait to a stop, they may in addition be troubled emotionally/mentally. The energetic horse will break gait to the canter or gallop. If it’s a gallop, they may in addition be troubled emotionally/mentally.

This is Maverick, my very talented and well-schooled 15-year-old AQHA gelding. Here he is performing liberty circles (no rope, no halter) with me on the same afternoon. I’m neutral, he’s doing everything on his own. Note his relaxed head posture, calm tail (although the wind was blowing it around), and the beautiful bend he maintains by stepping underneath himself with the inside hind leg. He has his inside ear on me waiting for any indication that I would like him to change what he’s doing.

Recognizing these signs and learning how to deal with them builds a foundation of trust between horses and humans.

If you have questions for me about any of my posts, please feel free to contact me at isabellefarmer@gmail.com or click here: HAAP Farm Facebook page.

For more information about the amazing horses that have been and are being bred on the HAAP Farm, click here: HAAP farm web page.

The Power of Video

Relationship Based Horsemanship

I love taking videos of our time with our horses. It’s like getting a free lesson without the pressure. It’s a great way to relive joyful moments. It’s a wonderful way to chronicle the progress my horses and I have made.

I have trained myself to be as objective as possible when watching my performance on video. I know the only way to improve is by being honest with myself and what I’m looking at.

Being videoed can feel very intimidating, although people are getting a bit more accustomed to it now that the majority of phones have photo/video capability. If you consider the cost is just a matter of time and set-up, it’s a bargain.

Think about the pressure that horses feel when interacting with people. I imagine that my eyeballs can feel like that camera lens: following, staring, judging, assessing. The difference between predatory human eyeballs and a camera is that humans have a brain. We do follow, stare, judge, and assess our horses all the time. The only thing the camera does is follow us.

I think if we ask our horses to interact with us with all of our predatory characteristics, it’s a small thing to allow ourselves to be videoed, by comparison. Feeling the stare of the camera has taught me to be more empathetic with my horses when we interact, and it’s helped teach me to soften my instinctually predatory eyes.

Here is a bonus you may not have considered when contemplating turning on that camera. You’re going to watch yourself and, surprise! In many ways, you’re going to like what you see. Before I get too critical of myself, my first goal in watching myself on video is to catch myself doing something well, or at least better than I’ve done before.

When I have an interaction with my horses that I think people will enjoy watching, or from which people can learn, videoing allows me to share it.

Our new arena is up and being used. Steve has been working diligently to get lighting up, and right now he’s working on sound as well as stations where I can set up a camera. You can bet I will take every chance to video the horses and me as we train together in there. See a couple of examples below.

If you aren’t already doing so, I encourage you to get yourself on video with your horses. The rewards will be well worth the effort.

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/AVpmVJtpWjPgCbDo/?mibextid=14AR8G

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/hW3D41kuq5twW7n5/?mibextid=WC7FNe

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/eHPsprHt574tWSew/?mibextid=14AR8G

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/GTaPSZWF6begY1Ea/?mibextid=14AR8G

For more information about the amazing horses that have been and are being bred on the HAAP farm, go to www.arabpinto.com

If you have questions for me about any of my posts, please feel free to contact me at isabellefarmer@gmail.com or visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/arabpintos

The Magic and Pitfalls of the Round Corral

Relationship Based Horsemanship

Lucia (DAKOTA LUZ DE CIELO) and I work on relaxation and response as she circles me.

When I watch round corral videos, I’m always reminded of the pitfalls and magic of the round corral.

The Pitfalls

The major pitfall of a round corral is that it is a trap for horses from which they can’t escape. As great a place as it can be for training, it can also be a claustrophobic, terrifying place for a horse to be. Learning our horses’ thresholds of reaction vs. response so we know when our body language suggests rather than screams at them is an important part of relationship based horsemanship. Some other pitfalls related to the round corral are:

• It limits a horse’s choices. This can make the horse feel even more claustrophobic.

• It’s easy to get overly repetitive inside the round corral leading horses to feel that what happens in the round corral is drudgery.

• Overdoing tasks, especially circles. Young and old horses can be physically damaged by doing this. Your relationship with your horse can be damaged by doing this.

Some things that we can look for that indicate that a horse is not connected to us, and is uncomfortable in the round corral:

• The horse’s neck is bent to the outside of the round corral.

• The horse is snorting.

• The horse’s head is held high in the air, regardless of gait.

• The horse’s body is stiff and tight.

• The horse is focused on things outside the corral.

• The horse is reactive vs. responsive.

• When asking for the canter (lope), the horse crossfires (the front and hind legs are not in sync).

It’s important to remember that the round corral amplifies our cues, like a bell rung inside vs. outside a theater. It’s extremely important to assess your horse’s state of mind because the round corral can allow humans to be overly forceful in pressuring horses. We must be observant and aware of how a horse is responding to our cues.

Learning to use your imagination when training your horse is no where as important as when you’re in the round corral. The goal is to keep your horse relaxed and engaged.

Take plenty of quick breaks, especially early on in a horse’s training. Come with a plan, but be flexible enough to change the plan if needed. When you get improvement with any given task, move on to something else and come back to the original task if you’re looking for more.

The round corral can bring out the best and the worst of a horse’s personality. You can accelerate your horse learning by designing your round corral sessions to maximize your horses strengths and whittle away at their weaknesses. See my articles about this here, here, and here.

The Magic

When a horse is calm and in a learning frame of mind, they can behave from willingness instead of instinct. They then can pay attention to our body language and move down the path of learning to be a partner. When we put our horse’s positive frame of mind at the top of our training priorities, we can utilize the round corral’s usefulness and its magic.

Beau (HAAP BEAU JANGLES) and I refine our communication in a small (40-foot wide) round corral.

Here are some advantages to a round corral:

• It helps the horse to teach itself to shape its body in a properly biomechanical way.

• It limits a horse’s choices. If the horse is relaxed, this helps them focus on you and that for which you’re asking.

• It limits distractions.

• The horse can come to know it’s time to focus when they are there with you.

• When used at liberty, the round corral is a great test of communication, willingness, focus, and response.

All of these attributes can lead to some pretty magical interactions.

Maverick and I in a 60-foot round corral refining liberty flying changes. Here, I’m lifting my stick slightly to indicate to him to slow down and use his hindquarters to get balanced and ready to do the flying changes.

I was recently reviewing a video that was taken by my friend, Wendy Carpenter, many years ago with Maverick, when we were refining our liberty flying lead changes in a round corral.

One of the things I was most pleased about in that session was my very discreet use of cues and Maverick’s keen observation of my body language. Maverick also put a huge effort into doing what I asked. I was also impressed by Maverick’s ability to slow down, relax, and get more on his hindquarters exactly when I asked him to do so. Weighting his hindquarters made it easier for him to do the flying changes.

On the downside, Maverick was still more reactive than I would have liked in that video, and this was a big part of our future sessions. Eventually, he was able to get his flying changes in an even bigger space, which you can watch here: Maverick liberty flying changes - YouTube

I have been amazed on many occasions when one of my horses responded to what I believed was only a thought in my mind. Often, I realize I had cued them with my body language without realizing it, but sometimes I know they responded to my thought alone. Many of these magical moments have occurred in the round corral.

Think of the round corral as a tool. As with all tools, it can be used skillfully or inartfully, depending on the person using it. Round corral training is yet another important skill horsemen can use to build willingness, understanding, relationships, and skills in horses.

For more information about the amazing horses that have been and are being bred on the HAAP Farm, click here: HAAP farm web page.

If you have questions for me about any of my posts, please feel free to contact me at isabellefarmer@gmail.com or click here: HAAP Farm Facebook page.