Posts Tagged ‘Consistency’

If you watch a herd of horses turned out you will notice that there are pretty set behavioral patterns. Everyone knows his or her place in the pecking order. There are usually no big surprises for anybody involved. This is how horses live.

Now we enter the picture – and that is where things can get complicated. The horse pretty much expects that our behavior is as consistent as the behavior of the herd members. And this is not always the case – and can potentially confuse the horse.

They say, if you have a dog long enough, you look like your dog and your dog looks like you. I hope this is true – my dogs are pretty good looking.

The morale behind that applies to horses, too. I have seen many times that the behavior of the horse and the owner are very similar. The easy going relaxed guy has a easy going relaxed horse. And the hyped up flaky guy has a hyped up flaky horse.

There is a very important point to this. If our behavior is not consistent we can have a very negative impact on the behavior of our horse.

You go out there one nice day pretty relaxed, call your horse and halter it, walk to the hitch rail and saddle the horse. If your horse does something not quite right, you quietly but firmly correct it – and things are just fine. You will have a nice ride.

Another day you are stressed out – but the horse has not been ridden for a while, so you got to do it. It will not work! Your horse will feel your tension – but does not know the reason. This will now make your horse nervous – and it usually ends up in some kind of a mess.

This is many times more important when you are training a horse. If you are very patient on time and very pushy the next time, your training will not progress very well. Actually it would probably work better, if you are pushy all the time – the horse will adjust to that.

I have found that people that are very balanced in their own behavior very often have the best results in training horses. There are no surprises for the horse and the horse will concentrate on the training itself. Wild swings in our behavior will confuse the horse. The horse will pay more attention to our behavior than the actual training.

There is no easy solution to this problem. As far as training goes – if you cannot be consistent in your behavior you will have problems.

My advice for trained horses always is: If you are stressed out for some reason, and think you “have to ride” the horse – don’t do it. Just spend some time with the horse, give it some brushing or scratching – and that is it. You will not confuse your horse with inconsistent behavior – and it might just get you settled down. Horses are pretty good at that!

After about 30 years as a professional trainer and consultant I have decided to make this know how available for horse training. I am committed to the fine art of riding. For more thoughts about horse training please go to my website http://realhorsetraining.wordpress.com/ Thank you for your time.

Author: Wolfgang Maass
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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If you are interested in Tennessee walking horse for pleasure riding you need to acquire knowledge in two types of horse riding. One is defined as a western style of riding and the other is completely the riding with the English style. The western and the English style of riding are just the opposite of each other. You can have different gear and different set of rules for riding in both the styles. Western riding is nothing more but just anything with western tack. Such a pleasure riding on a Tennessee walking horse in the western style can be perfect for the beginners. The beginners can really enjoy the trial riding through such a pleasurable style providing the experience and organize over themselves in a show or trail scenario. If you are really interested in some governing competitive associations then it is very important to accomplish with your mount just to have the success. You need to judge the breed of every horse before doing anything. You need to judge the ability of any specific horse to distribute a pleasurable ride through his responsiveness, attitude, and method of moving. While you are on the ride you are in the control to move your horse and you are the responsible person to provide the appropriate pleasure riding training for your horse. It is better to keep this in mind that for the events like reining, western riding, trail, and others your gaited pleasure Tennessee walking horse is not the only one in the ring. The competitors will definitely be judged individually and that is a tough job to win.

You should follow some essential tips being the owner of the Tennessee walking gaited pleasure horse. For any kind of pleasure riding the behavior of the horse is very important and essential. It is necessary to show the consistency of your horse just through its behavior and nature. It is very common and natural that some horses change the attitude very instantaneously and you can never judge their behavior from the beginning. You need to keep its attitude within your rues while entering into the arena so that it can never go too much excited and unruly with other animals or other competitors. It is your responsibility to train and control your horse’s behavior. You need to prepare it making sure that nothing will irritate the animal once the competitor start. You must prepare the animal from the very beginning. You need to process through the simulation through your training. A horse should be trained with similar stimuli can never bother or be bothered by the unknown simply because nothing is scary anymore.

Undoubtedly riding is not a very physical for just the most part of your animal if the attitude and the behavior go well with the nature of the animal. Smooth riding Tennessee walking horses capture the techniques very well if you give them proper training and knowledge about such riding. It is very important to make and display the good communication between you and your animal. Flawless communication can really help a lot to win a competition. You must show that you are having the full control over the animal while riding it and your horse is also willing to win. Time in the saddle and mixed with knowledge can bring success for your end. It is very important to give an intense notice on the trail, enjoyment and safety of both the mount and rider. You can never lose the confidence while riding that is very important. This can give you enough marks and the judges will judge this factor to determine if you are having complications with the activity.

http://www.walking-after-midnight.com/ and its team have brought this post for you so that you can gather enough knowledge about the perfection of horse riding and can arrange everything as per your requirement.

Author: Jasmine Smith
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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One of my favorite commercials is the one of Fred the Baker, the face of Dunkin’ Donuts for many years, trudging around saying,

“It’s time to make the donuts, it’s time to make the donuts…”

I know a horse who is just like the donut man because he needs to do the same thing day in and day out. In fact, he went lame and had to be taken out of training. During his period of prolonged stall rest, he got so agitated that he couldn’t “make the donuts,” or do his daily routine, that he developed an ulcer and become seriously ill.

Once he healed up from his illness, ulcer, and lameness, all his humans needed to do to keep him from getting sick again was to let him “make the donuts” everyday. As long as this horse got to do some kind of routine every day, he was healthy and happy.

Sound familiar? If you have a horse like this, who craves routine like a drug, then you have a Metal horse personality type. (Read more about horse personality types on the Horse Harmony website.)

Horse Training and the Metal Horse Personality Type

The Metal horse is the reliable ranch horse who does his job as consistently as the Dunkin’ Donuts man makes donuts. In fact, the Metal horse so craves consistency and routine that he can actually become ill if he doesn’t get. The mental and emotional stress of “something different every day” can literally cause a Metal horse physical illness, especially when they first begin training.

Now this might sound arduous and more than a little crazy, since many people don’t have time to train their horses every single day of the week. However, horse training with a Metal horse is not as difficult as you might think.

The key to horse training with a Metal type is to pick one thing and do it consistently. The Metal horse just needs one factor of reliability in his life. It might be as simple as a feeding schedule that functions like clockwork. If you horse lives at home with you, perhaps all you have to do is go out and brush your horse once a day. You can keep the routine simple. You just have to follow it very carefully.

A Horse Training Example

When I first began training my mustang mare Reyacita, she would develop COPD or heave-like symptoms whenever we did something different or new. She would also buck. These were all signals she was trying to send me that the varied training schedule, which worked so well on my playful Wood mare Valentine, was much too stressful for her Metal horse personality type.

I called a friend who had dealt with several Metal horses and asked what I should do. Her answer was simple. She told me that I had to do one consistent “thing” with Reyacita every day, and that would form the bulk of my horse training with her, at least until she came to trust me fully. Mustangs are notoriously wary of humans, and Metal horses in particular have difficulty giving their trust.

She suggested that I pull Reyacita out of pasture every day and simply tie her to the trailer for an hour. That seemed simple enough, so I just that for 14 days in a row. This simple training exercise satisfied Reyacita’s craving for routine, and she learned, after 14 days, that she could trust me not to hurt her, and to provide the a consistently safe environment for her.

At the time, I was also feeding the mare 2 capsules of an herbal supplement per day, which helped her stay out of her “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system, and stay in her parasympathetic nervous system, which is a horse’s normal, relaxed state of being.

Today, when I want to introduce something new to Reyacita’s horse training program, I try to follow the same principle of routine. I do the same exercise over and over for several days in a row and give her herbal supplement during those days. This principle has worked well with our new roping training.

However, if she ever starts to get panicked, as evidenced by her COPD symptoms, I simply go back to the trailer-tying exercise and give her 2 capsules of herbs. By doing this for several days in a row, Reyacita relaxes and “realizes” that all is well again.

If you have a young Metal horse (and you can test your horse here for free online), you may want to employ some deliberately routine exercises to help them stay calm and focused during their horse training regimen. It’s a case where going slow helps you go fast later.

Older Metal horses who know their job don’t need nearly as much consistency as younger Metal horses just learning their job. Older Metal horses are the ones you can leave in the pasture for months at a time, then pull them up for a weekend penning or roping. So long as they know their job, they don’t need any extra help with routine or consistency.

Metal horses are wonderful, tough, hard-working horses, and as long as you treat young Metal horses with careful consistency, they will repay your efforts with a long career of hard work and consistent performance.

Stephanie Yeh is a zen cowgirl obsessed about horses, healing, natural remedies, herbs, magic, MLM, and more. Check out natural horse care tips, ways to fund your horse obsession, natural health products, and more on her blog ( http://zencowgirl.blogspot.com ) and order XanGo mangosteen products (including the herbal product mentioned in this article) on her website ( http://www.mangosteengood.com ).

Author: Stephanie H. Yeh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Horses don’t lie. A horse is not going to put his ears forward and pretend he is happy if he is not. If those ears are plastered flat back, and his tail is wringing a vicious circle, you can be certain he is not happy. What you see is what you get.

Training and attitude are two different things. Training teaches the horse to react to cues; attitude is how the horse responds. A negative horse resents and resists. He may go through all the motions, but his performance will be tense and sullen.

The apathetic horse drags himself around dull and oblivious, saying, “I’m bored; I’m brain dead; I don’t care.” But a horse with a positive attitude shows powerful, focused action.

The Beginning

Let’s look at where attitude starts. First of all, if we were to place the horse on a Freudian couch, we would find that he likes to be comfortable. A comfortable horse is content. He is confident in his rider and in his role in the partnership. At the core of this relationship is trust.

Trust is an expectation. When the horse trusts you, he has learned from consistency what will happen if. In other words, if he refuses to stop, he will feel the pressure until he does. If he refuses to turn, he will feel the pressure until he does. If he responds correctly, he will be rewarded.

When the horse knows where he stands, his actions develop power because his confidence increases. If you can plug into the horse’s confidence, you can channel that energy into a powerful performance. He becomes a horse who knows his business.

Trust is understood through communication. Communication is a system that sends and receives messages. In order for this system to work, it must be a language that can be exchanged between the two communicating. It means we must do more than tell the horse what to do; we must also listen. Refinement in horsemanship is in direct proportion to the ability to read and react appropriately to what the horse is saying.

Lack of communication is a frustrating thing. If the horse cannot make sense of what you are saying he will be confused, and in reaction to this confusion, he will either tune you out or get hostile. This attitude will manifest itself in apathetic or negative action.

Through communication and attention to his reactions, we teach the horse to accept his role in the partnership, even when he’d rather be out under a shade tree with the breeze blowing his mane.

The Key Element

In order to work, all language must adhere to consistency. Imagine what would happen if you said “Pass the salt,” when you really meant, “Where is the milk?” Salt is salt; milk is milk; and whoa is whoa.

Based on your consistency the horse learns the language. He learns to trust his actions. This gives him the courage to be bold and to show his athletic power. To clarify, trust is an expectation, and consistency is how those expectations are established.

Horsemanship’s language is called the aids. It is a body language that uses a consistent pressure and release from pressure to express what is being said. If you do not understand the aids, the horse will not be capable of trusting you.

The horse may not want to do what you ask, but his attitude will improve as he learns to expect follow-through from you. Follow-through is a pattern of cue and enforcement that teaches the horse to expect your pressure and release from pressure when he responds to your cues.

The cue always remains the same. The enforcement gets increasingly stronger until the demanded response is given. It looks like this:

cue > enforcement > wrong action

cue > ENforcement > wrong action

cue > ENFORCEMENT > correct action > reward (release from pressure)

The cue doesn’t change. It remains consistent and present with every escalation of enforcement. Eventually the horse will respond to the first cue because he seeks the release from pressure. In other words, his obedience and confidence will increase as his expectations are reinforced.

His nature can make him happy in a world of obedience as long as you are fair and he knows what the rules are.

Inconsistencies are mental surprises that make the horse uncomfortable and destroys his ability to trust you. He does not want to be shocked, nor is he delighted by surprises. Shocks and surprises will damage his attitude, especially in the area of communication.

Another element of trust is respect. A respectful horse will pay attention. I’m not talking about a horse walking on eggshells, afraid of every move you make, but the respectful horse who is just aware of you and what you are doing. This a a calm and comfortable kind of respect based on the equine custom of pecking order.

The Natural Order

The horse is a herd animal and pecking order is a natural part of his life. He knows it. He understands it. He is comfortable with it. The horse may occasionally challenge his position, and some horses are spoiled and rebellious because they have been allowed to maintain a superior attitude. But if it is made clear, through consistent use of the aids, that you are his leader, he will accept it as normal and be happy about it.

Respect has a natural awareness for space. Both animals and humans have what is called “their space,” and as the dominant steps into the space of the submissive, the submissive moves out of the way.

If the horse moves into your space he is challenging you. When I’m talking about space, I’m talking about that area where we protect ourselves, that place when we feel pressured to move. The horse’s attitude toward you will improve when he is not allowed to enter your space and push you around.

This respect for space will carry over from the ground into the saddle as the horse learns to stop challenging your authority. He can enjoy your affection or you may push him around; if the pecking order is intact, it will be comfortable for both of you.

Healthy respect also tunes up the horse’s level of responsiveness because the horse’s natural desire is to keep track of what is happening up the pecking order. He will be paying attention to you.

Attitude is absolute. It is there in one form or another, and as we teach the horse to trust us we encourage his positive side.

It is your responsibility to establish communication on the horse’s level and to understand his needs. You must be fair in your expectations and encourage him toward his potential at a reasonable pace and also take into account that his personality, level of training, and physical condition should match the work he asked to do.

With trust, his performance will gain power from the confidence he has. Good attitude shows. It gives the horse that sparkle that takes him over the line from average to exceptional.

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Author: Kathy Bennett
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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