It comes back to whether or not we accept that definition of a good horseman or horsewoman: “A good horseman or horsewoman is someone who, in an educated way, always puts the best interest of the horse first and foremost.”
This is a quote from the book, Begin and Begin Again - The Bright Optimism of Reinventing Life with Horses, by Denny Emerson.
Welcome to the Senior Horsemanship Podcast. Which was the Second Half Horsemanship Podcast. We'll be talking about better horsemanship in the senior part of life. For most of us that means horsemanship for the love of it. That means horsemanship where we always put the best interest of the horse first and foremost.
I'm your host. Paul Sherland.
Denny goes on to say the following:
So any aid applied strongly enough to create nervous tension is an aid applied too strongly. There’s part of my problem, I realized. A kick tells the horse what I want, but it also creates tension, so I have to teach my horse to respond instead to a nudge, a tickle, some pressure that allows him to stay below his anxiety threshold.
Everything I had been doing was based on too much — too much force, too much pressure, too much too soon, too much assumption that my horse knew what I wanted but was simply not doing it right, too much, too much. I wasn’t teaching, I was forcing. And force always escalates, because force creates anxiety in the horse, anxiety creates resistance, resistance elicits more force from the rider to counteract it and down the rabbit hole we go.
It is a fundamental truth that I wish I had learned half a century earlier, and if it can help some riders and trainers — at any age — on their journey, I believe it will help them create stronger bonds with their horses.
I’m working on the website for Senior Horsemanship with the goal of getting it up and running by the new year. If you have comments or feedback about this podcast or any of the podcasts, please visit one of my other websites, SaddleUpAgain.com, and contact me there. I appreciate your comments.
I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope to continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead. Thank you for listening.
It comes back to whether or not we accept that definition of a good horseman or horsewoman. A good horseman or horsewoman is someone who in an educated way always puts the best interest of the horse first and foremost. This is a quote from the book, Begin and Begin Again, The Bright Optimism of Re-inventing Life with Horses, by Denny Emerson. Welcome to the Senior Horsemanship Podcast. Which was the Second Half Horsemanship Podcast. We'll be talking about better horsemanship in the senior part of life. For most of us, that means horsemanship for the love of it. That means horsemanship where we always put the best interest of the horse first and foremost. I'm your host. Paul Sherland. Denny goes on to say the following. So any aid applied strongly enough to create nervous tension. Is an aid applied too strongly. There's part of my problem I realized. A kick tells the horse what I want, but it also creates tension. So I have to teach my horse to respond instead to a nudge, a tickle, some pressure that allows him to stay below his anxiety threshold. Everything I had been doing. Was based on too much. Too much force, too much pressure. Too much too soon. Too much assumption that my horse knew what I wanted but we're simply not doing it right. Too much, too much. I wasn't teaching. I was forcing and force always escalates because force creates anxiety in the horse. Anxiety creates resistance. Resistance elicits more force from the rider to counteract it. And down the rabbit hole, we go. It's a fundamental truth that I wish I had learned half a century earlier. And it can help some riders and trainers at any age on their journey. I believe it will help them create stronger bonds with their horses. For me. I learned this fundamental truth 60 years ago when I got my first horse at age 10. At that age, I don't think I could apply too much force because I wasn't big enough or strong enough. My horse threw me frequently during the first month or so of our partnership. But my determination to keep going with him made me a better rider. My mother remembered my horse returning home without me many times. I would straggle home on foot sometime later. The horse bucked off my father the one time he tried riding him. But I knew that this horse was my one chance of having a horse, and I was determined not to give up. I had a horse for a couple of years and then was forced to give it up by a family move. When I returned to horses 30 years later I did use more force when I felt the situation required, it. I attended clinics where more force was used, sometimes to the point where flooding techniques were used to make the horses more compliant. Other riders at my boarding barn used more force. I sometimes rode by the rules of making them do it and don't let them get away with it. Finally one horse reminded me of what had changed in my horsemanship. He had thrown me three times over eight years and each time I returned with more groundwork and more tension in our relationship. I finally tried a radically different approach in the round pen and he responded in a radically different way. He responded to an absence of pressure in the round pen with an absence of tension. That one remarkable episode changed our relationship and set me off in a different direction with my horses. And I believe it helped me create a stronger bond with my horses. Horse human relationships are as varied as horses and their humans are varied. But if you've used techniques that create nervous tension in your horse perhaps it's a good idea to try less force and less pressure with more patience applied over more time. You may be surprised at the results. I hope so. I'm working on the website for Senior Horsemanship, with the goal of getting it up and running by the new year. If you have comments or feedback about this podcast or any of the podcasts, please visit my other website. Saddle up again. Dot com. And contact me there. I appreciate your comments. I appreciate your interest in the podcast. And I hope I continue to provide information that interests you in the days ahead. Thank you for listening.