Pressure or Release?

Well how about both?

With a young horse, it is important to have a good ground foundation before ever thinking about tacking up and getting on. For a partnership to be created between horse and human, there has to be equal boundaries set, and said boundaries must be consistently maintained. So what do these boundaries look like? Well think about this-- do you want a significant other to constantly smother you and give you absolutely no space/be overly distant and not be very willing to open up to you, or do you want your significant other to find a happy medium of giving you attention but also setting boundaries? Your horse is going to be similar, they will start out either wanting to on top of you, or nowhere near you.

So do you want to give pressure or release?

It will really depend whether you start with a horse that is too much in your space or is wanting to be as far from you as possible.

Let's start with the young horse that has no personal space boundaries.

In this scenario, the go to would be to put pressure on. The horse needs to learn that there is a space bubble that they are not allowed to pop, and the best place to start would be an area you can lunge on a 10-14 foot line which is long enough for said horse to move out, but doesn't give them the opportunity to completely lose focus on who is at the other end of the line. Begin with the pressure of sending them away on the line, integrating voice cues such as "out" and "walk" to have a basis for future exercises and riding time. Then focus on teaching the horse that it is okay to come back in, using the release of outward pressure, but the moment they pop that space bubble, they are going to get sent right back out until they can respect the set boundaries. This will then translate to being in a round pen or arena off the lead/lunge line and having the same manners as when confined to the line.

Moving on, a horse that is very distant and not very personable is going to need more release at first than pressure. Introverted horses are more focused if you let them find their way to you instead of forcing the issue that they must come and behave more like the extroverted horse. Doing so will just set the horse in the mindset that they are confined and there is constant pressure, therefore making them more prone to being claustrophobic and more willing to pull back at the ties and in scary situations. The best place to start would be an enclosed area such as a round pen where said horse can move freely off of a line. This enables the horse to sense the presence of the person in the round pen, but gives them the choice of when they want to be curious and meet new challenges such as being more willing to join up move off of pressure. Give the horse release in this scenario by letting them decide that they have no choice but to be curious, then apply pressure slowly by stepping into their space bubble when they step into your own. It will create a sense of trust on both sides of this partnership, that will then grow with time and doing the same trust exercises more and more.

I'm sure half of what I say makes no sense, but I do find that with these two very different tempered horses, very different approaches need to be taken, and as I am learning, I want to try my best to share what I learn with others.

I hope that at least someone enjoyed this very first blog, and I hope to add more content soon!