On my Holistic Horse Help Facebook page, I asked followers what was the most helpful phrase they'd ever heard in relation to working with their horse. Hazel Bird wrote the following, which many readers (including myself) clearly appreciated:
"A lady I used to work for described the principles of training to me in a simple way that has always helped me, as it's easy to visualise. When you want to teach a horse something, she told me to imagine it in terms of a long corridor with lots of open doors leading off it. The corridor represents the training session and the doors each represent an action that the horse could offer in response. When you ask the horse to do something, he sets off with you down the corridor and will go to enter one of the doors. If it's not the right door (i.e. not the action you want) it is your job to gently but quickly close the door before he gets his nose into it. Never slam the door in his face, and don't let him get too far into the door, otherwise he'll think that's the right answer and you may have to start again and get him to un-learn. Close each wrong door that he chooses before he gets his nose in and when he chooses the right door stand back, give him plenty of time and room to go right in and then reward him. Next time you ask him to set off down the corridor, he may well go straight to that door every time. Hope that makes sense. It's not a phrase, I know, but I've always found it really useful."
Others included:
“Go to people for opinions and horses for answers” Alex Kurland (Kate Jackson)
"If you act like you have 30 mins it'll take you all day. If you act like you have all day it might only take 30 mins" (Ellie Taggart)
"Slow down then slow down some more" (Pam Sanderson)
"Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should" Alex Kurland (Teresa Perrin)
"Finish on a good note" (Meryl Oxley)
"Listen to what your horse is trying to tell you" (Sandra Forrester)
"Your horse will only do what you've programmed him to do, so if you don't like the results, don't blame the horse" (Helen Davies)
"Look like a swan whilst paddling like a duck" (Debbie Neale)
"A horse cannot multi-task, which is why he will spook if in pain or uncomfortable. Light bulb moment! I knew it was so, but that just explained it so well" (Lesley Woodward)
"A lady I used to work for described the principles of training to me in a simple way that has always helped me, as it's easy to visualise. When you want to teach a horse something, she told me to imagine it in terms of a long corridor with lots of open doors leading off it. The corridor represents the training session and the doors each represent an action that the horse could offer in response. When you ask the horse to do something, he sets off with you down the corridor and will go to enter one of the doors. If it's not the right door (i.e. not the action you want) it is your job to gently but quickly close the door before he gets his nose into it. Never slam the door in his face, and don't let him get too far into the door, otherwise he'll think that's the right answer and you may have to start again and get him to un-learn. Close each wrong door that he chooses before he gets his nose in and when he chooses the right door stand back, give him plenty of time and room to go right in and then reward him. Next time you ask him to set off down the corridor, he may well go straight to that door every time. Hope that makes sense. It's not a phrase, I know, but I've always found it really useful."
Others included:
“Go to people for opinions and horses for answers” Alex Kurland (Kate Jackson)
"If you act like you have 30 mins it'll take you all day. If you act like you have all day it might only take 30 mins" (Ellie Taggart)
"Slow down then slow down some more" (Pam Sanderson)
"Just because you can, doesn't mean that you should" Alex Kurland (Teresa Perrin)
"Finish on a good note" (Meryl Oxley)
"Listen to what your horse is trying to tell you" (Sandra Forrester)
"Your horse will only do what you've programmed him to do, so if you don't like the results, don't blame the horse" (Helen Davies)
"Look like a swan whilst paddling like a duck" (Debbie Neale)
"A horse cannot multi-task, which is why he will spook if in pain or uncomfortable. Light bulb moment! I knew it was so, but that just explained it so well" (Lesley Woodward)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.