Having your horses respect is a key part of training. When your horse respects you, he sees you as the herd leader and is willing and ready to take orders from you anytime, anywhere. In a herd situation, the head mare is the leader. If you watch her, she will walk through the herd with complete confidence and security. If something needs addressed in the herd, she goes right to the problem and fixes it. She does not avoid confrontation, nor does she use her power in a dominant way. Horses know the difference between dominance and respect. Respect takes time and patience to achieve. Dominance may seem to work at first, but only because the horse is afriad of the consequences. When your horse becomes afraid of what you will do to them, your relationship cannot grow. Don’t get me wrong, when your horse is first learning to respect you as the leader, you may need to use a bit of force as a correctional tool. If your horse tries to run you over to avoid stepping in a puddle, you will for a moment need to tell him under no uncertain terms that he is not allowed to respond in this way. If your horse respects you as the leader in your relationship, he should want more to obey you, than to avoid the puddle. When the head mare wants a drink, she walks up beside one of the herd members and they leave so that she can drink. They are not scared to death of her, but they know it is a better idea to let her have a drink.

So the main idea is to get your horse to obey your commands out of respect and a full knowledge of what is a correct response and what is an incorrect response, rather than fear of what will happen to them if they do something wrong. When a horse becomes defensive, they stop listening to what you are actually asking for and start responding out of fear. The fastest way to progress in training is to get your horse focusing solely on you as the handler and exactly what you are asking for. Horses do not know how to respond to a fast moving, angry handler. If you continually lose your temper when handling a young or inexperienced horse, they will start to avoid you and will not want to be involved in what you are asking for. A consistent, purposeful handler will get the most out of a horse in the shortest amount of time. If you correct a disobedience immediately, your horse will have a better chance of knowing what he did wrong and understanding why you don’t want him to do it again. For example, if your horse won’t stand by the mounting block for you to get on, don’t follow him around for ten minutes and then decide to punish him. The first time he goes to step away, get off of the mounting block, place him back on the spot you started and try again. If he stands good, be sure to praise him and let him know that he did a good thing. To a horse, this is a black and white lesson that he should be able to easily understand. Another way to solidify his correct answer is by handing him a sugar cube once you get on and he has stood still for a short while.

Another example would be teaching your horse to stand while being treated by the dentist, vet or farrier. This, just like with mounting, is an invaluable lesson that will not only keep your horse safe and comfortable, but will also insure the safety of those working around him. Again, start off right at the beginning with your correction. If your horse is being treated in his stall, be sure that he stays in the area that he started at.

Tags: Dressage Training

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