DOES YOUR HORSE MAKE YOU ANGRY?

Contact Jeanette for free help with your schooling problem

Have you let your temper overflow and taken it out on your horse?

It happens - riders do this. Actions we see at competitions (so we know even worse happens at home) hitting horses immediately followed by pulling on the mouth causing pain, brutally kicking the horse in the ribs or stomach, galloping the horse, (which is often not fit), until it is confused and exhausted, chasing him around a roundpen in hot conditions, lunging the horse and thrashing him with the lunge whip and much more.

WOW! WHATS REALLY GOING ON HERE!

It is so much easier to accuse your horse than look at your own actions.
After the outburst we either regret our actions or justify them with the statement that the horse was deliberately being unco-operative.

It is said if you can not control yourself you will never control or effectively control/ride your horse.

Have you thought he’s being difficult and deliberately not wanting to co-operate?
Or
Did you start to pick on him making him confused and unable to understand what it was you wanted?

The special thing about the horse is that it will still be there for you the next day waiting for you and accepting what ever comes to them.

BEFORE ACCIDENT AND INJURY IS CAUSED Here Are Some Solutions

The next time you get your moods and emotions tangled up with frustration and want to take it out on your horse how can you deal with it differently?

Try these key ‘tools’ to help avoid and reduce stress and create a great horse human relationship: -
• Look at YOU, not the horse, ask yourself did I give a clear ‘aid’/signal did I get the horses attention before I asked. Did I build up to the movement/ height of fence or just go straight for the full movement or height? Did I get tense and stiff when I could not get what I wanted?
• Focus on encouragement – praise your horse for small things when he tries so that he wants and knows how to please you. Even the smallest improvements need to be appreciated to enable the horse to understand what you want. Constant correction and disapproval confuses him and then he lacks confidence to even try for you.
• Mentally steady yourself – this could be just allowing the horse to walk on a long rein for a few moments while you shrug your shoulders, relax your arms, hands, neck and body. Take some slow deep breaths and reflect on some other ways to approach the subject with logic. Physically SMILE knowing that things will be better before taking up the reins and going back to the topic you were working on.
• If you feel yourself getting frustrated get off your horse - take your mental pot off the boil - get back your composure, pat your horse make a fuss of him, apologise ( if you can) to him before you mount up and continue
• Make a bigger effort to understand the mechanics of what you are asking your horse to do - read about it, ask about it, ‘feel’ and visualise what you want. We all know he is not a machine so don’t treat him like one. Is the movement or jump exercise in context – within a progressive logical plan or just thought up on the day as something to do. Do you have a plan at all
• Stop the session – go for a ride instead, enjoy each other and take the time to think things through
• Ride to music – music you like and can relate to, use an I-pod, head set or speaker system – set the mood and go with the flow – riding through resistances instead of unintentionally blocking better work from happening
• Your mission is to build TRUST in the relationship. It needs to be ENJOYABLE for both
• Ask yourself if you are driving from a sound base or just ‘driven by the ribbon’ you want to win at the competition the next week. If so change your focus and ride for the best possible result/feel you and your horse can achieve at this stage of training. Stop burning your energy and frustration on the other competitors and how resentful you are that they beat you. Changing your internal motivator will ultimately give you pride in your horse and the competitive rewards you desire
• Avoid rushed and flustered sessions as they never give the result you want. If you have had a bad day at work or school do not inflict this on your horse as he has no idea why you are so uptight today but he does know and he does feel it

More Key ‘Tools’:-

Is he uncomfortable or in pain, if so what can I do to discover what it is and how to deal with it?
• Ask yourself honestly why did I hit him or violate the horse’s mouth, threaten or exhaust him. The answer is ‘because you are an idiot or just plain cruel’! Sorry these are the facts
• If you have not worked him regularly how can you expect him to understand and relate to you
• Change your focus – think it through. I am not suggesting that every time you have a bad session you give up and ‘give in’, horses are smart enough to understand how that works and respect is lost between you, but violating him will never earn respect only fear and tension. Ride to work through the resistance not blow the whole thing out of proportion
• Change the exercise or lower the fence or make the striding easier. Take the time to step back down to something the horse knows well. This
will get you both back ‘in sync’ with each other again


The above approaches will enable you to become a ‘thinking’, caring, logical and effective rider and a great advocate for all the horses you will ride.

Horses are now used for ‘At Risk’ children’s programmes and adult and teenage drug and criminal rehab courses around the world. This is because the horse is an excellent feedback mechanism for human emotions and helps people to gain an understanding of themselves.
Remember horses live in the moment –and they are a reflection of their owners/riders.

Stay cool with your horse -- use the key points in this article to help you.

For free confidential advice on how to help you deal with not losing your cool with your horse contact Jeanette

Click here to book a session with Jeanette and discover a better relationship and make training progress with your horse

Some helpful reading – try these publications

Centred Riding by Sally Swift. Pub. Heinemann

That winning Feeling! By Jane Savoie. Pub. J.A. Allen

Focused Riding by Robert and Beverley Schinke. Pub. Compass Equestrian


Go well with your horse

Cheers

Jeanette