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"Good Now Bad Later," from my FREE monthly newsletter

From the How to Train a Horse Series:

"Every time you teach an exercise, your horse will go through the same learning cycle. He'll go from "Bad" to "Good" to "Worse" to "Not So Bad" to "Learned." That's the typical cycle: Bad. Good. Worse. Not so bad. Learned.

You know "Good." "Good" is where we get excited. It's the part where we want to show off to our friends. We want to show somebody how soft our horse has become, so we walk over to brag to somebody, pick up our reins and the horse sticks his nose straight out, stiff as a board. We're embarrassed and our friends snicker. We've just entered the "worse" stage. It's the part where "he was getting but now he's not."

It's during the "worse" part where we typically second-guess our training. "The horse was good but now he's worse. I must be doing something wrong." You begin to think you need to change what you're doing. "Maybe my hand's in the wrong position" or "I'm using too little pressure." You begin to think you're doing something that's not correct. That's when we're most likely to change what we're doing. But that's the most important time for us to not change, to keep on doing what we're doing. You've got to get through this stage by being consistent. Keep doing the same thing over and over so that the horse realizes all the movements that are "mistakes" and which single movement is correct. It's consistency and time that teach your horse."

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From John Lyons Trainer Keith Hosman

Stop Bucking Study Course
A Downloadable Book

A sample from Day 3:

"Let’s shift gears and discuss today’s exercise: It’s one version of the “Calm Down Cue.” I say “one version” because there are several ways to go about this - I’ll describe what I’ve found works best for me at clinics around the country. The idea here is that God has put sort of an on-off switch into the horse - and to flip it you simply have to bring the horse’s head below the height of his withers.

The exercise is really very simple and can be accomplished quickly (under half an hour, sometimes in minutes) with most horses: Sitting on your horse, take up the reins evenly and smoothly with both hands. Lay your legs against the horse and then drop them back away. Picking up the reins and dropping your legs against his sides are pre-cues that say “Hey, I’m gonna be needing something outta you in just a sec.” (A great habit to get in the habit of if you want to develop self-collection later.) If you were to lay a wet towel over your arm, that’s about the amount of pressure you want to briefly apply against the horse’s sides - which is not much."

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"A Different Way Of Thinking About Things May Help With Your Horse"
By Bonnie Martin

Sometimes just a small change in the way we think about or say something can have a profound effect in the outcome. I have seen this several times recently in my horsemanship journey and am constantly searching now for more of these seemingly subtle words/ideas that have such a major impact on the results of our requests of our horses.

In all of my riding lessons throughout the years, I have heard instructors tell me to "put your heels down". It not only presents a better picture for equitation, but it sits you deeper in the saddle and helps your legs be able to be more efficient. The downside to putting your heels down though is that one often pushes against the stirrup with the ball of the foot in order to force the heel down. This uses the muscles on the back of the thigh and creates a brace in the leg, and braces are never good in dealing with horses. There is another way to achieve the same look that does not create a brace and frees up your legs. Instead of pushing your heels down, try lifting your toes up. A completely different set of muscles are involved in doing this-you use the ones at the front of your leg instead and your foot remains light in the stirrup rather than pushing against it. Then when you use the calf of your leg against the horse's barrel to cue him, your heel doesn't sneak up and out of position and you are not popping yourself up and out of the saddle.

Another example of thinking about something in a way that makes for a different outcome involves use of leg in the back up. There are various ways of backing horses, but the way I had adopted involved using reins to ask the horse to give to the bit and I block forward motion with the reins (not pulling, but merely restricting forward motion), and using seat and leg to ask for movement. The leg movement I was originally taught was to use a light squeeze and release and it worked, but my horses respond even better now to this alternate way of signaling with the legs. Instead of a squeeze, I let my legs come out a few inches and then fall back against the horse's sides. There is no tension, and the horses back up more lightly, rapidly, and freely.

Sometimes our intentions have a profound effect on the results too. In working with a group of people who practice vaquero traditions of training, I have found that they use cattle to help train their horses. There is a big difference in their approach compared to rodeo and cutting training however. Vaquero methods are not simply working cattle, but rather using cattle to work their horses. It might seem like those words mean the same thing, but they do not. In working cattle, the horse has been taught to be in certain positions to rope, cut, or move the cows. The horse learns its job and does it without much rider direction once it is well trained. As the training progresses, there is speed involved to make it more exciting for spectators to watch.

The horses that are worked using cattle, on the other hand, are responding to the rider's cues and directions throughout their workout. The cattle give the horse a purpose for doing certain moves, but the rider and horse are in constant communication throughout. The horse is capable of speed, but that is not the point of the work. The idea is to get the job done with as little dust and worry on the part of the cattle as possible. This is probably not as exciting to the casual observer, but it definitely demands good horsemanship and communication between rider and horse.

In a quest for better and better horsemanship, we need to pay attention to the seemingly small differences in terminology because they will have a profound effect in the total picture and outcome. Consider the following lists and decide which words will work best for creating a good relationship with your horse.

partnership dictatorship

suggest demand

request force

allow make

ask tell

hold pull

quick release slow release

soft hard

slowly closing hands quickly closing hands

communicate boss

show insist

guide push

play drill

focus inattention

discipline spoil

polite rude

leadership passenger

Hopefully, the words in the list on the left will be the ones you choose to apply to your horsemanship. Strive to apply those words to your mindset every time you are with your horse. The change might amaze you. Happy riding!

Bonnie owns Gemara Farm Foxtrotters located in Barnesville, Georgia. The Martins currently have eight fox trotters of their own and practice natural horsemanship with them, and Bonnie coaches others. There are usually some fox trotters available for sale. http://www.gemara.homestead.com

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Next, I'd Read:

Recommended articles featuring the methods of John Lyons:

• Keys To Improvement
• How Do I Get My Horse's Attention?
• An Exercise For When You Can't Ride

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