Trainer Tip Tuesday! Have you ever noticed that a horses first natural instinct is to push against your added pressure, rather than immediately yield to it? This is why we need to be only releasing or rewarding when they have figured out to yield to the pressure and the timing of this is critical. The horse simply learns from the release of pressure, NOT the actual pressure in itself.
If I walk up to you and poke my finger into your shoulder, do you immediately move away, or do you instinctively brace and hold your ground? Horses are no different than us in this scenario. But if I walk up to you and begin rhythmically poking you, there is nothing to actually brace against, but you may also be annoyed with me. Here's where a thought process starts happening, as you likely are starting to figure out how to get me to stop poking you. Possibly you want to fight me, but eventually when you move away from me and I stop the poking, this will make you start to make a connection as to how to get me to stop!
When we are trying to teach our horses to move off of our legs, this theory still applies. We bump them with our legs and continue bumping until they move their feet, the horse starts exploring how to get us to stop. If as soon as they move even a foot and we stop, they learn the corresponding reaction they get from us. Now since no one, horse or human, likes to be bumped or poked, we are all apt to seek a way for this pressure to stop.
If we stop or give up before the horse has actually yielded to any pressure we are applying, we are actually telling them that is what we want because we have rewarded it.
When pressure is applied in the form of bumping or poking, there isn't a solid force to lean or brace against. This is why it is an effect way of teaching a horse to move forward off of our legs. But it also why we need to build on it slowly and consistently, asking for one step at a time and building on it.
Always start out softly and then increase the pressure until you get your desired result. So "ask" and then "demand". Don't be a bully by starting off demanding! Horse or human alike respond much quicker and better to a gradual increase in any pressure. Wouldn't you the human also want to be in fight mode if I walked up to you and began poking you harshly in your arm?
How we treat our fellow human or our horse should be the same. To get either to yield to pressure should start out gently and then increase as necessary to get our desired result. Rewarding immediately for even a try as to what we are seeking begins the thought process and the journey of them trying to please us rather than fight with us.
Happy Trails! - Dawn
If I walk up to you and poke my finger into your shoulder, do you immediately move away, or do you instinctively brace and hold your ground? Horses are no different than us in this scenario. But if I walk up to you and begin rhythmically poking you, there is nothing to actually brace against, but you may also be annoyed with me. Here's where a thought process starts happening, as you likely are starting to figure out how to get me to stop poking you. Possibly you want to fight me, but eventually when you move away from me and I stop the poking, this will make you start to make a connection as to how to get me to stop!
When we are trying to teach our horses to move off of our legs, this theory still applies. We bump them with our legs and continue bumping until they move their feet, the horse starts exploring how to get us to stop. If as soon as they move even a foot and we stop, they learn the corresponding reaction they get from us. Now since no one, horse or human, likes to be bumped or poked, we are all apt to seek a way for this pressure to stop.
If we stop or give up before the horse has actually yielded to any pressure we are applying, we are actually telling them that is what we want because we have rewarded it.
When pressure is applied in the form of bumping or poking, there isn't a solid force to lean or brace against. This is why it is an effect way of teaching a horse to move forward off of our legs. But it also why we need to build on it slowly and consistently, asking for one step at a time and building on it.
Always start out softly and then increase the pressure until you get your desired result. So "ask" and then "demand". Don't be a bully by starting off demanding! Horse or human alike respond much quicker and better to a gradual increase in any pressure. Wouldn't you the human also want to be in fight mode if I walked up to you and began poking you harshly in your arm?
How we treat our fellow human or our horse should be the same. To get either to yield to pressure should start out gently and then increase as necessary to get our desired result. Rewarding immediately for even a try as to what we are seeking begins the thought process and the journey of them trying to please us rather than fight with us.
Happy Trails! - Dawn
