Zuma You
Honoring the horse
If you approach your horse as if you were in his or her situation, would you change your ways?
From everything to retrieving your horses from his paddock, to grooming and riding how would you like to be treated if you were the horse?
I believe that horses have personalities, feelings and mood swings much as we do, knowing your horse will prevent you from overstepping on one of their off days. Horses are not machines or tools that must be on 100% of the time, they must be honored for individuals and worked with as a partner not an object.
So when you go to retrieve your horse and he or she walks away, were you aggressive in your approach, were you rushed, did you bring something from other parts of your life to his or her pen? The easiest thing to change is ourselves ,so consider where your head is at when you arrive at the barn and most certainly when you approach a horse.
Next you will be leading your horse, are you leading or just blindly walking with your horse? A horse will only willing follow a true leader, a fair and compassionate partner if you will. If you are not present and truly leading ,your horse may refuse, may become distracted and attempt to leave or possibly spook and you miss the opportunity to be ahead of the situation.
Any horse that is present for you to lean from should be properly groomed prior to any sort of work/education/therapy session. During your grooming session are you aware of tender spots, areas where you horse may flinch when you touch her or she? Observing your horses reception to touch in all area is a great way to assess soundless or injuries. Does your horse allow you to pick up all 4 legs, do you notice a resistance to one leg in particular or strain in the angle of the moment with one or more of the legs? This can indicate a stiffness that needs to be addressed prior to you lesson or session with the horse.
Now you will be tacking your horse, imagine putting on something that isn't properly fit to your body and then asked to work in that garments. This is why saddle fit, pads, risers are so important to the willingness and comfort of you horse. Know your horse size, girth size and back and shoulder structures so you can ensure proper saddle fit. If you are applying support boots , hoof boots or leg wraps to your horse it is imperative that you understand the leg /hoof structures and never apply too much pressure across the leg tendons as well as have proper fitting boots to avoid rubs on the bulb of the hoof.
Mounting your horse can cause damage to the spine, ribs and shoulder if done improperly. Just think about another human getting on you back, slamming your weight into the saddle can hurt and in some cases cause permanent damage. Ensure that your horse stands for the mounting block so you don't have to leap from block to back. If you need a second hand, ask for assistance and then begin lessons in standing so your can get on your horse without assistance.
The cues you give your horse must be fair and accurate, sending mixed signals with leg on and heavy hand are the
fastest ways to confuse your horse and eventually shut them down all together. Leg is to be used only when the horse is pushing from behind and at the same instance you are to flex forward from he elbow to allow movement from the head and neck. If there is no connection from you hand to the rein you horse is left on auto pilot with no instruction they do as the wish. This is called connection and if you can not connect at the walk, you have no business trotting or cantering. Develop your best forward walk with connection before moving into the trot gate and up to the canter/lope gate. Imagine someone kicking you forward from behind and yanking you backwards from the neck, this is what unconnected riding feels like for the horse, honor them and learn connected riding.
Upon completion of our session with your horse once again comes the grooming, picking hooves, brushing out sweat marks and in some seasons bathing the horse. In some instances a bucket bath will surface to conserve the all previous water here in the high desert climate. Now that your horse is groomed, you leave them back to their pen, it is your duty to ensure the pen is safe and has running water, so go ahead and check the fence lines and make sure the automatic after is working. If you like to give you horse a reward for his or her efforts with you, this is the time where you can give them a treat, from a bucket, never from hands. Giving treats from a hand only confuses the horse about what hands are for.
Keeping a riding journal is a great way to track your progress and your horses disposition on that given day. As a rider you can tack your own progress and have concert information as to why you are or possibly are not progressing in your riding. It also allows you to track cycles for your horse such as mares heat cycles and how it affects them, or moon cycles affect on you horses temperament. You may find interesting patterns to your riding journey if you track things. Are you a "moody mare" and have issues wither horse during your cycle or did you not get enough sleep the night before and you had a terrible session?
Lastly discuss things with your trainer whether in person or via email, communication is key to a truly successful session with your equine partner and your trainer has inside into all things that can make or break your ability to thrive in the equestrian industry.
To register for lessons please visit our
website and pre purchase you package, then contact your instructor to schedule
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