Ep 81: Taking Time to Provide a Release Point
Every horse owner, rider, and trainer goes through a similar process on their journey to better horsemanship. Some may be in a season where they are just looking for that one thing to add to their toolbox to maintain the high level that they are at, where others may be looking for a few tools to get their toolkit started.
Regardless of where you’re at along this journey, many of us have the same struggle--finding enough time.
As you go through life, there are going to be a lot of things that pull at your time. Your family, your career, your health, your social life...
As human beings, we are always thinking about the next thing that is going to be pulling at our time. When this carries over into our horsemanship, we can subconsciously encourage anxiety in our horses because we don’t pause long enough for them to find that release point.
In a stop, for example, I see many trainers who stop their horses and immediately take them into the next maneuver without allowing that horse time to enjoy the release of stopping. If we never give our horses a chance to stop moving their feet and relax for a moment, our horses will begin to associate that stop with anxiety, wondering, “what will I have to do next?”
We have to provide a release point that signals the horse, “this is what I wanted you to do.” When the horse finds that release point, that is when it begins to learn and understand what you are asking for.
As trainers, we can do many things to develop our horse’s physical ability. But mentally, the development process has to be on your horse’s own time. We can present the exercises and fundamentals all we want, but it has to be in a way that the horse understands. And, we have to keep presenting it in a consistent way until they understand what we are asking.
When you approach your training today, I encourage you to be patient and take your time. As I always say--you don’t have to get 100% better overnight. Focus on 1% improvement each day, and over time, this will compound into great results.
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