Re: RC: I'm having a problem - long!

[sharp penny <penelope_75647@yahoo.com>]

   Whew!...I'm seeing alot of training issues involved
here and all of them being the result of you not
establishing yourself as the boss in the pecking order
of your "herd" of two. It has absoultly nothing to do
with what breed he is or what he's getting for
groceries. You have let yourself become a reactive
rider instead of an active rider. In essence you are
letting your horse choose the steps of your "dance"
with him by following his lead. All of this is
comfirming your horses belief that he is the boss.
Before you can address any training issues you need to
reestablish your rightful place in rank. This is done
by going back to the round pen to establish control by
building on your horse's innate understanding of horse
hierarchy. You will set up a scenario in which your
horse will learn that you out rank him. Horses
dominate other horses by controling their feet, thus
you will use this motivator of moving his feet in the
direction of your choosing,for as long as you choose.
Once motivated your horse will start to look for
options to make you stop and leave him alone. Some of
these will be wrong, as they are not what you are
asking for. Once he accidently hits upon the right
response you will reward him with rest.

      This pattern teaches your horse to look for
"yes" answers to to requests. By doing this, your
horse will get into the habit of wanting to cooperate
with you as it's in his best interest. This is the
basic, solid foundation all training is built upon.
You will be developing an "I want to please" attitude
in your horse that will carry over into other phases
ot your work with him. Once you have successfully
addressed the boss issue then you can start working on
things like fine tuning the breaks and gas pedal!

     I can hear some of you groan when round pen is
mentioned. I do most of my "round pen work" on a
leadline. The only time I actually, physically will
work a horse in the round pen is if the horse is not
halter broke of if I feel my safety will be at risk
while working with just a halter and leadline. By
doing round work exercises on the lead you will also
end up with a horse that will respect you and your
personal space on the ground when haltered. It's also
the springboard for teaching the stop and to stand
still while mounting.

    Another benefit of doing the round pen work is
that it will develop your confidence and trust in your
horse as you regain the role as boss.

   for the specific "how to's", John Lyons has an
excellent video called "round pen reasoning" that goes
into the details of round pen work. I strongly
recomend you rent or buy this and watch it several
times before you start working with your horse. I
would forget the riding for awhile, work on perfecting
the round pen exercises and ground manners, then build
back up to riding in a logical, systematic way.

     Believe me aceing him will not train or teach
your horse anything. Lungeing the snot out of him will
just get you a fitter horse that still thinks he's the
boss and be even harder to control. 

Penny


> 



__________________________________________________
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 
a year!  http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/