Horse-man-ship Mentality - The Origin of Stiffness in a Horse By Dennis Cappel

Horse-man-ship Mentality - The Origin of Stiffness in a Horse

Cappel Cowboy Wisdom

Horsemanship Body Part Value -

When horseback riding, why is body part control of the horse important or is it?

To have the horse easily perform the task at hand, you need to be able to adjust the horse’s body alignment as needed for them to be comfortable which positions them to have free flowing movement.

Where does stiffness hide out in your horse?

Resistance to body part movement is usually not in the body part itself.

Often, when we experience stiffness from the horse’s body, it is the horse’s mind that holds the block. This stems from a lack of understanding of the horse handler’s role, not feeling for the horse before they feel of the horse and asking too much too quickly!

This way of directing a horse will almost always create a negative reaction. The horse will respond in one of these ways.

*Rooting out on the bit (taking more rein out of rider’s hands)

* Lifting the head extremely high

* Pushing down on the bit

* Getting behind the bit

It always comes back to the perception of the horse.

If the horse perceives that they are being asked to quickly, sternly, or harshly, it often causes them to become defensive, by pushing into pressure instead of yielding to it.

Solution

The fix lies in the hands of the handler.

If we increase our awareness of how we are presenting our feel to the horse, then we can appropriately adjust our contact as needed to match our desired outcome. It is not just about being soft, but about being soft when the horse responds properly in thought, attitude, and mind.

Gold Nugget horse training tip!

The most important thing that we can do is to know exactly what we are always wanting the horse to do, then let the horse do it and offer appropriate resistance to what we do not want.

Mindful Riding,

Dennis Cappel - Master Horseman

www.cappeltrainingandshoeng.com