Friendly talk with your horse produces big results...

Yesterday afternoon I went riding for a few minutes. I
say "a few minutes" because the mosquitoes were out in
enormous numbers - otherwise, I would've rode for at least
an hour. It's always good to put some mileage on your horse
when you can.

We were riding for about 15 minutes when the bugs smelled
us and rang the dinner bell so all the other bugs would come. We
turned right around and headed home.

As we were going back to the house my horse "Blaze"
started to trot and very quickly went into a lope. She was
about ready to go into a gallop but I kept her from it.

I don't want her running home unless "I" say so. But
I didn't mind that she wanted to get home faster 'n normal
because the mosquitoes were thick.

I never want to let my horse hurry home because if they
get it in their mind that they can...then they will. And that
can lead to having a "hard to control" horse.

Anyway, what I wanted to tell you is this.

When I ride my horse I talk to 'em...a lot. Especially when
they're doing just what I want. When I talk to them I talk in a
pleasant tone. I rarely use a sharp tone. I find that speaking
in a sharp tone makes them nervous and they don't perform
as well.

I'll be the first to tell you that some trainers think that's a
bit nuts. "Ya gotta show 'em who's boss!" is what some say.

True, you have to be the boss. But I find people who have
a well-trained, tractable horse are kind-hearted men and women.

Think of it this way.

Remember when you were in school. Did you ever have a
teacher that scared you because he or she was mean? Did you
have trouble learning from that teacher? I did. When you're
scared you can't learn. You only focus on being scared.

Same thing applies here.

When Blaze started to take off I pulled in the reins a little
and simply said "easy". She knows "easy" means to chill out,
take it easy, don't get excited, slow down.

I didn't say it sharply, or angrily, or in any nasty tone. It
was a friendly tone. When you get your horse listening to you
you would be surprised what you can accomplish.

Within in a millisecond she "chilled out" and we loped almost
all the way home. She didn't try to take off on me. She
stopped right when I asked her to. She wasn't disobedient.

No matter how many times I ride, I still get a huge thrill
riding a horse that does just what you want.

If your horse isn't doing just what you want, take a look
at what you're doing it. The horse isn't necessarily being
disobedient. Rather, he's probably confused or just plain
doesn't know what to do.

Well, talk to you later.


Andy
www.horsetrainingandtips.com

P.S. I just put something on my website I think you might
find useful. It's called a "blog". What is it?

It's a place on a website where you can write messages
and notes and such. Every message I send you will be in
the blog in case you can't get my email - or if you accidentally
deleted something you wanted to save.

Take a look at it. Click the link below:

http://www.horsetrainingandtips.com/horse_training_tips.html

If the link doesn't work when you click on it, just copy and paste the link in your browser area - you know, the place where you see http://www.XXXXXXXXXXX

Also, you've probably noticed I'm not real good at returning email
messages. It's just because I have over four thousand subscribers
and I can't get to all of them.

But if you leave messages on the "blog" I'll read it more often and
perhaps I answer your questions quicker.