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Self Control Precedes Horse
Control
by Ron Meredith of Meridith Manor
Merely causing a horse to do something does not
mean that you are in control of the horse. Think about the times you
have seen someone put a chain lead shank under a horse's chin or over
its nose. They may have been successful in leading that horse from
Point A to Point B but the use of that shank is a dead giveaway that
they were not really in control. If they were, coercive equipment
would not be necessary.
Trailer loading is another activity where you see a lot of out of
control horses. You may use a longe line or a buggy whip or some form
of bribery to get your horse into that trailer. Most horses eventually
give in to the pressure if you nag them long enough or coerce them
hard enough and they go on that trailer. But that is not training.
Even though you succeeded in causing the horse to do what you wanted
him to do, you were not really in control.
At Meredith Manor, the beginning step for students learning how to
control and teach horses is ground work we call "heeding." We call it
that because, to an observer, it looks like a combination of leading a
horse and getting a dog to heel. The trainer first uses body language
to establish himself or herself as the lead mare in a little herd of
two. Once the horse tunes in to the trainer's body language and
acknowledges the trainer is leading the dance, the trainer then uses
body language to create shapes that the horse can successfully mirror.
The trainer starts by mirroring the horse's natural shapes (such as
the animal's normal walking stride) until the horse learns that
matching shapes is the name of the game. Then the trainer can
gradually take greater control by asking the horse to mirror new
shapes introduced by the trainer.
This is a greatly oversimplified description of basic heeding. But it
is enough to help you understand that as both horse and trainer
progress in this relationship, "advanced heeding" gives the trainer
control to lead that horse wherever the trainer wants it to go, to get
the horse to stand quietly for a farrier or vet, to march on that
trailer without blinking an eye, to stand to be caught in the pasture,
and to respond to cues under saddle. The trainer is in control. Not
guessing, not hoping, not praying, but actually in control without
coercion, without nagging, and without any special gadgets, gimmicks
or drugs.
There's a catch, though (isn't there always a catch?). To succeed at
teaching a horse to heed or anything else for that matter, students
must first be in control of themselves. That's the catch. If you want
to be successful at teaching things to your horse, you must first be
in control of yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally. You must
be calm, mentally focused, and self disciplined before you can to
control any horse.
Being in control mentally means that your entire attention is focused
on your horse at all times. Every moment, every stride, even when you
are just leading your horse. Your attention to your horse must be the
greatest when something startles it or when something goes wrong such
as another horse kicking out as you trot past. When you take your
attention off your horse, even for a second, you have just told your
horse that you won't always be there when something goes wrong.
Your ability to concentrate on what you're doing, to be mentally with
your horse at all times, has to be unquestionable. The horse should be
so used to you always being there that it never surprises him when you
are. A lot of people ride along like they're in the back seat of a
taxi cab and all at once they want to lean forward and beat on the
glass and yell at the driver about where he should have turned.
Working with horses shouldn't be like that.
Being in control physically means that you are always aware that you
are always creating physical shapes that your horse will mirror. Every
stride. On the ground, your horse will walk the way you walk, in the
direction you walk, and at the speed that you walk. That's how you
just walk him onto that trailer. Under saddle, your horse will mirror
your breathing patterns and the shapes you make with your own body.
That's how you get him to speed up, slow down, collect, extend, turn,
and stop.
Being in control physically does not mean physically dominating the
horse. When you look at pictograms of how to apply the aids, you might
get the impression that you are supposed to put one leg back, the
other on the girth and squeeze so hard that you push the horse's
hindquarters over. Give me a break. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not
strong enough to push a horse over. Nothing about horse training or
riding is about physical force.
Finally, to train horses well, you must be in control emotionally. A
real chess master makes his moves calmly without showing any emotion
that might reveal his real motives to his opponent. Good riding, good
training, calls for the same kind of emotional control.
There's a paradox here for riders and amateur trainers. A totally
effective rider or trainer must be so emotionally committed to getting
the job done correctly that they will do almost anything, including
waiting a year or more, to get the job done exactly right. But someone
with that sort of emotional personality, that intensity of commitment,
usually hates waiting. So there is a conflict.
To succeed as a trainer, you have to develop the discipline to control
your emotions and your ego. You cannot get greedy or impatient and
force your horse faster than it is physically and mentally able to
master something. You have to stay calm, stay in control, and not let
anyone influence you to alter a sound training plan.
It does not require strength to train horses to the highest levels.
Horse training is a mental game played in a physical medium. As your
ability to manipulate and control the horse increases, your judgment
about what to do and when to do it has to increase along with that
ability. Otherwise, you may cause the horse to hurt itself and you
don't want to do that. |
