Whitesell Wisdom

Connecting With Your Horse

Many riders work hard to learn how to make their horses and themselves better. They watch clinics, read books and study what they need to do to have a better connection with their horse. This is very commendable. So it can be frustrating when you are trying to do all the things you have learned and yet you still don’t feel comfortable out on the trails.

Sometimes you aren’t doing it wrong but you don’t have the correct mindset. Often riders are taught how to mechanically do things, but they fail to understand how the horse interprets what they are doing. If you don’t get the horse to believe that what you are doing is for the horse’s benefit, then the horse is going to defend itself just when you need him.

For example, if you shake a line and hit the horse in the jaw to back him, he will raise his head, hollow his back and push back with his front feet. He will back, but he will lose trust of the rider’s hand and rein. I don’t want him to back to avoid discomfort. I want him to back because it makes him feel better in his body. I want him to rock his weight to the hind legs and lift his chest, which makes him lengthen his top line muscles, releasing tension from his body. He will soften and lower his head and use his hind legs to back, strengthening them.

When we teach a horse to turn left and right, we don’t focus on the turning. We want the horse to turn in balance so he is comfortable turning. If they turn out of balance, they tense their bodies. We use turning to help the horse understand how our hands and reins communicate with his feet, so we never have to pull on his mouth to turn. I would put a soft feel in the rein as I turn my seat and shoulders. In my mind, I believe I reward him when I feel his feet answer my feel.

He may only take a step in the right direction. Most riders reward when the horse turns, whether in balance or not. It may seem the same, but the horse perceives whatever you believe you are rewarding. Are you teaching the horse to turn or understand how you direct his feet? Either way he turns, but is he going to let you control his feet when he gets in trouble?

By Larry Whitesell

Larry teaching a student to have the horse place the left front foot on 9 o’clock. Notice how round the horse is on loose rein. Photo courtesy of Larry Whitesell.

If the horse believes you control his feet without pulling on his mouth or pulling him out of balance, he can relax. If the horse understands your soft aids and is comfortable, he will allow you to direct his feet with no resistance. If your horse resists, then you haven’t earned the right to tell him what to do with his feet.

For example, if we want the horse to understand how our calf directs his hind leg, we might use turn on the forehand, which connects our calf to his hind leg in his brain. We would ride the move as if he knew it and put our right calf on and off. When he steps around using his right hind leg, we release and walk off. He learns if our leg comes on he should step forward with the corresponding hind leg. When I have him doing this on the right and left hind leg, then I could put both legs on and get collection or gait without holding his mouth. We spend a lot of time in early training teaching the horse how the reins direct his front feet and shoulders, and our seat and calf direct his body and hind legs. We use ounces of pressure. His movements become educated and not tricks. Tricks don’t work when the horse becomes energized.

When the horse knows how I move his shoulders and hips, then doing leg yield, shoulder-in, haunches-in, etc. is just combining two basic moves.

I haven’t made him do movements that he sees no value in, I have explained how I direct his feet in a way that makes him comfortable. We have a connection through clear communication.

If I trail ride, and my horse tenses up from something, I can adjust his balance by moving a foot and bringing him back to relaxation. I get to his mind. If I had just focused on getting

a movement, I couldn’t use my aids to adjust his balance and bring him back to a relaxed frame of mind. Because the horse knows I can do this for him, he is mentally connected to me when I ride. His focus is on me, and he doesn’t go down the trail looking for trouble and thinking he may have to save his own life. He believes I am security.

Jennifer Bauer www.Gaitedhorsemanship.com

Larry Whitesell www.whitesellgaitedhorsemanship.com

Jennifer Bauer asks her horse to cross his left hind leg in front of his right hind leg.

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