Is Your Horse Listening To You ?

What Does He Have To Say ?

Do You Have Your Horse's Ear

Have you ever been talking with someone and in the middle of your talking he or she looks away?

Pretty rude thing to do. When that happens, you don't have their ear.

It's like, "Hey...moron...don't ignore me when I'm talking!"

And guess what.

I don't like it when horses do it either.

But I can make an exception for horses because they aren't human and they don't know any better.

But...

I don't want them practicing the ignoring part either.

What's wrong with it?

Plenty.

It's disrespectful for one thing.

And any time you're not getting re- spect from your horse then he's being allowed to do what he wants.

The problem with that is this.

When a half-ton animal with lightning fast reflexes and the strength of ten big men does what he wants you're only askin' for trouble. It's a great way to get hurt.

So, keeping the horse's attention on you is a great respect builder and relationship maker.

You can tell when you have your horse's attention because he's looking at you instead of looking away.

Or...as they say...he's got an ear pointed at you. Thus the question, "Is Your Horse Listening To You" ?

If you don't have their attention, how do you get it?

One way is to make 'em move around. Make 'em change directions. Talk to 'em.

Any time you can make a horse move you establish yourself as a leader and you get their attention - which, of course, leads to their re- spect.

So What Does He Have To Say ?

Going too fast.

I don't mean riding too fast.

I mean trying to get a horse to do something when he's not ready.

"You have to be fair".

How true.

I agree that a horse will tell you when he's not ready.

Thus, you simply have to watch for the signals.

About a week ago I saw the movie Dreamer. It was about a racehorse that was doomed from a broken leg.

I won't say more than that because I don't want to give it away if you haven't seen it.

Anyway, in the movie, one of the trainers asks the horse owner, "What is he telling you?"

Meaning, what is the "horse" telling you?

And that's big time important as we work with our horses and ride them. If we're listening, they'll tell us when they're scared, confident, worried, etc.

Then we can help 'em overcome and create a partner for life.

A huge part of horse training is learning to understand what the horse is telling you so you can help him understand.

The best trainers are students.

It is not necessarily from another trainer.

When you become a teacher of lets say children you don't learn what the teachers do but how you react to the children and that is only achieved from studying the children and their unique characters.