Post by Calaminty Jane on Jun 21, 2014 13:06:55 GMT -5
Good Horsemanship - Ross Jacobs
How do you know if your horse leads well? It might surprise you to know that it is not as simple or obvious as you think.
I can’t over emphasize the importance of having a horse lead well. The way your relationship starts, begins with the way you teach your horse to lead. If a horse does not lead well, things are not okay no matter what advanced movements it is capable of in the arena.
In all the years I have been training for people, I have never once had a horse come to me for any type of training that l believe led well enough. I find that surprising. It emphasizes the lack of importance people place on the quality of leading. A lot of people feel that as long as they can get their horse from the paddock to the saddling area without too much trouble, things are okay. But then they wonder why their horse won’t pay attention to them when they ride. It begins with your relationship on the ground and for most of us that means how our horses lead.
I want to stress that the test for leading well is not that a horse does not drag on the end of the lead rope, or that it follows you around with very little pressure on the headstall. That by itself is not an indicator of a horse leading well, because any horse can be taught to do those things on autopilot. Leading well also includes being able to direct a horse anywhere you like without stirring emotional trouble in a horse.
The ability to direct a horse with softness is a much more important indicator than a horse that can follow you around. You should be able to ask a horse to wait for you to go through a gate first, or you should be able to send it first and have it wait for you on the other side. You should be able to adjust a horse’s position at any time with no feelings of trouble. You should be able lead from in front, from the tail, from either side with no trouble. The list goes on and on.
The important thing is that your horse maintains focus and it causes it no emotional worry however you ask it to lead. These things are fundamental to getting the same feeling from a horse when you ride.
Many years ago I was trekking through the bush with a couple of my horses. I had an accident and suffered temporary blindness. My horse, China was able to lead me to the creek twice a day for me to wash my eyes. I couldn’t see where he was taking me. I couldn’t negotiate the thick lantana bush or the log in the path – but he could. He led me. I didn’t lead him. I didn’t teach him to do this. It was possible because he had learned how to feel of me when were together. I could not have relied on China if he didn’t lead brilliantly.
People will come to clinics with a horse that is bouncing around on the end of the lead rope like a helium balloon on a windy day. When I ask them what they’d like to work on they inevitably say something like the canter or side passing or shying or whatever – totally unaware that their problem begins with what is happening on the end of the lead rope while they are talking to me.
How a horse responds and feels on the lead rope tells a person a lot about the relationship they have with that horse. In my view it’s not possible for a horse to be the best it can be to ride and still be mediocre on the lead rope. Some horses are better to ride than they are to handle on the ground, but I am certain that if they were better on the lead rope, they would also be even better to ride. In a horse’s mind, leading and riding are the same thing.
Carol
How you catch, halter and lead
Your horse is where training begins.
How you leave your horse is where
He will be tomorrow.
How do you know if your horse leads well? It might surprise you to know that it is not as simple or obvious as you think.
I can’t over emphasize the importance of having a horse lead well. The way your relationship starts, begins with the way you teach your horse to lead. If a horse does not lead well, things are not okay no matter what advanced movements it is capable of in the arena.
In all the years I have been training for people, I have never once had a horse come to me for any type of training that l believe led well enough. I find that surprising. It emphasizes the lack of importance people place on the quality of leading. A lot of people feel that as long as they can get their horse from the paddock to the saddling area without too much trouble, things are okay. But then they wonder why their horse won’t pay attention to them when they ride. It begins with your relationship on the ground and for most of us that means how our horses lead.
I want to stress that the test for leading well is not that a horse does not drag on the end of the lead rope, or that it follows you around with very little pressure on the headstall. That by itself is not an indicator of a horse leading well, because any horse can be taught to do those things on autopilot. Leading well also includes being able to direct a horse anywhere you like without stirring emotional trouble in a horse.
The ability to direct a horse with softness is a much more important indicator than a horse that can follow you around. You should be able to ask a horse to wait for you to go through a gate first, or you should be able to send it first and have it wait for you on the other side. You should be able to adjust a horse’s position at any time with no feelings of trouble. You should be able lead from in front, from the tail, from either side with no trouble. The list goes on and on.
The important thing is that your horse maintains focus and it causes it no emotional worry however you ask it to lead. These things are fundamental to getting the same feeling from a horse when you ride.
Many years ago I was trekking through the bush with a couple of my horses. I had an accident and suffered temporary blindness. My horse, China was able to lead me to the creek twice a day for me to wash my eyes. I couldn’t see where he was taking me. I couldn’t negotiate the thick lantana bush or the log in the path – but he could. He led me. I didn’t lead him. I didn’t teach him to do this. It was possible because he had learned how to feel of me when were together. I could not have relied on China if he didn’t lead brilliantly.
People will come to clinics with a horse that is bouncing around on the end of the lead rope like a helium balloon on a windy day. When I ask them what they’d like to work on they inevitably say something like the canter or side passing or shying or whatever – totally unaware that their problem begins with what is happening on the end of the lead rope while they are talking to me.
How a horse responds and feels on the lead rope tells a person a lot about the relationship they have with that horse. In my view it’s not possible for a horse to be the best it can be to ride and still be mediocre on the lead rope. Some horses are better to ride than they are to handle on the ground, but I am certain that if they were better on the lead rope, they would also be even better to ride. In a horse’s mind, leading and riding are the same thing.
Carol
How you catch, halter and lead
Your horse is where training begins.
How you leave your horse is where
He will be tomorrow.