Ep 208: Understanding the “Why” - Part 2
On this episode, we are covering part two of our series on the introduction talk at our clinics talking about foundation horsemanship. In case you missed the last episode, Episode 207: Understanding the “Why” – Part 1, here is a quick recap:
At our events, we always begin with an introductory meeting before we even get on our horses the first day of a clinic. This is to set the foundation for us, as trainers, to understand the program we are about to learn. In the last episode, we talked about:
My definition of horsemanship, which is simply communication and leadership.
The five body parts of a horse: the head, neck, shoulders, rib, cage, hindquarters
The two thought processes that a horse has – thinking and reacting
Feel, timing and balance
Creating signals or “triggers”
In this episode, we are going to be picking up where we left off on the topic of creating triggers.
Establishing Triggers
“Triggers” are the signals that we send with our body before we ever pick up on the bridle reins. These subtle cues that we send with our legs, hips, and even our weight distribution in the saddle help send a signal to that horse to let them know that a change in speed or direction is coming. That change in your body doesn’t have to be dramatic–it just has to be a strong enough signal that it gives your horse a warning. When we can communicate with the horse’s mind through our body, we create a situation where we can control that mental switch between the thinking side of the brain and the reacting side of their brain.
Getting Your Horse in a Trainable Mindset
When a horse is using the thinking side of their brain, they're “trainable” – meaning, they will look for the response you are after based on the signals that you are sending. They can process the signal that we sent them through our body to create the desired result. Triggers are what help us flip that switch back from the reacting side to the thinking side so that they can process that signal and find the response that we're looking for.
Flipping the Mental Switch
Not only are triggers useful in helping us switch from the reacting to the thinking side of a horse’s brain, but it also enables us to control that switch going the other direction. Especially in performance events like barrel racing or roping, there are times during a run where we will need to engage the horse’s reactive side to help them achieve maximum speed. In these situations, our horse has to be able to read the signals from our body that are flipping that switch from the thinking side to the reacting side. You have to be able to control the switch going both directions.
Why Triggers Are Important
Triggers are “the signal before the signal.” And when I say the signal before the signal, I'm talking about what happens with the change in your body before your hands pick up the bridle reins. When your hands pick up the bridle reins and tighten your rein and send a signal to that horse's mouth, if that's the first signal they get and they don't read the signal prior to that, you're more than likely just going to accelerate or stimulate the reactive side of that horse's mind even more. In other words, you may stimulate the “flight” response.
For example, if you are performing any discipline at a higher rate of speed and get ahold of the bridle reins, this is the response that will happen: Instead of slowing down, you may feel like your horse went faster, your horse's head went in the air, or they got stiff and braced against you. That's an example of stimulating that reactive response.
I always use this example to explain the concept of triggers:
Just picture yourself in front of the roping chute or in front of the roping box.
When I say go, you're gonna run down the arena as fast as you can go.
And when I say stop, you're going to stop. Or if I say turn, you're going to turn.
Now, I don't care how fast you are or how slow you are when you're running down the arena as fast as you can go and then I just say stop.
Do you think you can stop just in that instant or is it gonna take you a step or two to slow down and then stop?
See, you have no warning, right?
Well, so whether I said stop or turn, you're still going to have that difficulty because you had no warning.
Now think about it like this:
If I put you in front of that roping chute and I say go, you're going to run down towards the end of the arena as fast as you can go.
And then I'm going to say, “okay, stop” or “okay, turn.”
The word, “okay” is your warning.
That's your signal–that's your trigger.
That's the signal before the signal.
While you're running down the arena and you hear me say, “okay,” immediately, there's going to be a change in your body. You're going to get ready.
You've had the warning and then when I say stop or turn, you're going to be able to complete that so much easier because of that change in your body.
Well, you think about it with a horse, if we don't give them some kind of warning like that, how in the world do we expect them to get to go into a big stop or a nice smooth balance turn?
Building Consistency Through Repetition
If you do an exercise twice, and you feel your horse change, are you done and you never have to do it again? No. You continually have to reinforce those signals. When I'm working with trainers at our clinics, the biggest mindset weakness I see is the mindset that, “yep, I did that.” If you only do 4-5 repetitions and your horse responds at, let’s say, 2 miles per hour and you think, “yep, I got it…” well, put a little speed with it, and you'll find out how good you’ve got it.
I get it–none of us want to spend a lot of time on the boring basics. We want to get through that as fast as possible and get to the fun stuff. Well, I learned real quickly that if you want to control speed and direction, you better be great at understanding the horse’s thought processes. You better be great at understanding, “is my horse in flight mode or is my horse in thinking mode?” You better be great at handling that switch.
Understanding the Horse You Are Training
The next horse that I train, the next horse that I start, the next horse that I ride…I don't get to bring all of those repetitions that I've done before to that horse. The only thing that matters to that horse until the horse I step on today or horses that I step on today are the repetitions that I have with them.
Helping Your Horse Travel with Confidence
I'm a huge believer that your horse doesn't need to know exactly what you're gonna ask him to do. They just need to know that something's gonna change so that they have a warning so that they can get ready. And when a horse knows they're going to get a warning, I think they travel with so much more confidence.
Establishing Muscle Memory
If you're gonna have great signals with your body, you gotta have great muscle memory. The way you get great muscle memory is through lots and lots and lots of correct repetitions. Well, the correct repetitions that I use to develop muscle memory are just foundation horsemanship exercises. Your muscle memory has to be so good so that the signal you're sending to your horse is so clear.
Sending Clear Signals
You'll hear me say that soft hands don't make soft horses. Clear signals make soft horses. If your hands are too soft, a lot of times, your signals aren't very clear. Your horse is wondering, “is that the signal?” There are times when I'm trying to be so soft that really I'm too vague for my horses to really understand what I'm asking for.
Talents v. Skills
Another key component of our introductory chats is understanding talents and skills. Talents and gifts are just God-given. We didn't earn them. We don't deserve them. But, everybody gets them. You can use your talents and gifts to benefit you in a lot of different ways, and everybody does. But, the one thing that everybody needs to understand about horsemanship is everything we do out in the arena–those are skills. The repetitions, the foundational exercises, asking for the responses–those are skills. The thing is about skills, what we do out in the arena, training horses, those are skills that anybody can learn.
Stay tuned for the next part of this multi-episode series on Understanding the “Why.”
“Be Your Best Horsemanship” is brought to you by Silver Lining Herbs, Classic Equine, Martin Saddlery, Better Horses Network, Purina, Healthycoat, CINCH, Starbar, and Clarifly. These brands have been part of the Phil Haugen Horsemanship team for many years, and their products continue to play an integral role in the success of our performance horse training program. To support these brands, visit our Sponsors tab.
