5 Ways to Up Your Game FAST

Brenda Coach Author

Aug 03, 2024 |

Simple ways to communicate with your horse during daily routines. Set expectations, use specific cues and reward often.

5 Ways to Up Your Game in a Week

Horse owners often say things to their horses, like “listen up”, “what are ya doin!”, “quit”, “stand” and they smooch, cluck and kiss.

What do they really mean when they say those things? It can mean anything from, “watch out”, “pay attention”, “stop and stand still”, “get moving, now!”. This also gets mixed in with smooch, cluck and kiss to go under saddle. What is the poor horse to do?

I’m proposing that you associate specific sounds and words to a precise outcome. Then allow the horse to think and try giving you a response. It may be incorrect or it could be the correct response. It’s up to you to watch and reward the correct response and stop being frustrated and annoyed with the incorrect one.

When you see the horse moving in a direction towards the result you want, recognize that as “TRY”, and give some release. Give a release, as if the horse did the correct thing. The horse will notice the release or pause and it will probably try more next time.

You may have problems in the areas listed below. This will occur if your horse has become dull. Several reasons for dull or over-reactive responses are:

• the horse as been pulled around by the head all its life

• they don’t know how to respond to sudden movements or loud yelling

• they are well accustomed to behaving and coping certain ways with the humans of their environment.

You can learn to understand how your horse thinks when you slow down and observe. With practice you will see that your horse actually does know how to do many activities without force, loudness or frustrated energy from you. Your communication will become planned and calm.

I suggest five areas where you could apply the idea of giving a specific cue for a specific response and observing the horse for “try” or correct responses so that you can give a release/reward and see amazing results:

1. Respect at feed time. Your horse should not make any expressions of dominance in your direction when you bring the feed. It should go to the bucket or corner, back a few steps and give you space to place the feed and leave the stall. Build on the positioning, then the step back. Also ask for a moment of “wait” as you exit.

2. Haltering. My gosh, every broke horse I know has been haltered a million times in its life! Putting the halter on should be you simply holding it out in a way that makes it easy for them to slip their nose in and ears under the crown. The horse should keep its head low and turn the clip side towards you or if it’s your preference, bend their head towards you with a soft neck.

3. Exit the stall or gate. Impatience to get to the paddock is often a big energy building problem for horse owners. Teaching a simple back up and wait with the stall door wide open is part of the answer. Waiting for the head to drop and being able to stop easily at any time during the exit shows that your horse is respectful of your leadership and is of an energy level that will be easy to lead.

4. Leading to the turnout. Here again horses get excited in anticipation of the field, feed, herd company or just the need to be physically active. Although we understand this, that is no excuse for excessive exuberance while being led. At the first sign of energy escalating is the moment where you must reaffirm the stop and back process until relaxation and connection are established. Ignoring the start and not having a plan of action is where I see many horses end up being led in chains and shanked for bad behavior. They are getting their energy up in anticipation of what they may be facing on turn out everyday.

5. Release at the gate. The commonly recommended practice is to go into the pen, turn the horse and unclip from the halter. Oh yeah, I’ve seen them on their hind legs or spinning and kicking out in the anticipation of the click! At the gate, if you have practised the stop and back to get your horse mentally and emotionally calm, the gate will be a no brainer. Use what you practised and don’t be in a rush to get them through the gate.

If you’ve watched any of the masters in horsemanship you’ll see that the more the horses’ energy escalates, the calmer and more slowly the guy moves. Why does this work? It works because the horse really wants to be in the calmer state. The horses also knows that the one moving their feet the most is not the calm leader. So, you can automatically look like the leader if you simply move less than the horse and are perceived as the centre of calm. Taking your time really pays off in these situations.

Practice applying these suggestion because I know for a fact, after 30 years of horse ownership, boarding and training that every horse that I handle gets calm fast, wants to stay calm while in my handling and often connects so strongly to me that when I release them, they are not sure they want to leave me. That’s a compliment I’ll take any day and am thankful for their respect.

Be encouraged! You can up your game with these simple suggestions in as little as one week. The strong partnership that you develop will open many other doors for you both. Going forward, persist in building two-way communication during your daily routines. It just takes the time it takes so it takes less time!

Categories: : Essential Skills