Does your horse know Murphy?

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Does Murphy's Law apply to horses?

Did this Murphy guy even own a horse?

I don't know if he owned a horse or
not but I DO know his laws often apply to us
horse owners.

Murphy's Law originated by an engineer
named E.A. Murphy, Jr.

He was not an optimist.(As if that
wasn't obvious)

He was the first to grunt the words:

"Anything that can go wrong 'will' go wrong."

Now I'm not a pessimist but I "am" a
guarded optimist.

With me, the cup is always half full.
But when it comes to horses I really prepare
for trail riding because if something can go
wrong you want to nip it in the bud before it
does.

Santapaulina, a great horseman from
a few centuries ago said: The edge of a
precipice is not the place to test the horse's
obedience.

I'd add that the trail is not a place
to test the horse's obedience either.

Trail riding is typically exploding
with obstacles and detriments. And if you're
on a horse whirling out of control the Murphy's
Law is about to be exercised and proven it
still applies.

The trick is to NOT go riding until your
horse is obedient to your requests. That means
you can calm him when he spooks, stop him when
he wants to bolt, and so on.

Obedience is therefore the anti-venom to
Murphy's Law.

How do you get a horse's obedience.

First, it's crucial you understand how
horses think, react, learn, etc.

Then you use those tools to garner his
obedience.

As an example, not all horses act the
same way. Some are far more nervous and excitable
than others.

If you go in the round pen and get your
horse taking a few laps to warm him up, you can
often get him moving with little trouble.

I like to use a coiled rope and slap it
on my leg as I approach the horse at about the
girth area.

As I approach while making the slapping
noise it triggers his prey mindset and he begins
to move.

As he does, the pressure of me approaching
and slapping the rope must be backed off.

The nervous horse will snap to attention and
start running around immediately. His mindset is
that he must move "NOW" in case harm is about to
happen.

There are some horses that don't get as
motivated as fast and it takes more pressure.

It's crucial you decrease the pressure as
soon as they do what you want.

Keeping the pressure intensified confuses
the horse because he can't reason like us humans
and know what you want.

In a way, if the pressure is kept up and
he's moving, he's thinking "What's wrong??!!! What
does he want??!! Why does he want to hurt me?!!"

But if you back off the pressure, he's kind
of thinking, "Oh..ok. He's not scaring me so I must be
doing it right."

Then he gets more relaxed.

A relaxed horse is pretty easily trained.

But imagine if you're training a horse
that won't relax. He keeps feeling that pressure and
can think of little else than fear and wanting to
escape.

Pretty tough to teach a horse anything if
all he thinks about is escaping the trainer because
he's scared.

So when you're running a horse around the
round pen, it's good to stop 'em, have 'em come to
you, and then pet them.

Pet them a lot. The touch helps desensitize
them and communicates that you're not gonna take 'em
to the glue factory.

What I just told you is a tiny piece of knowl-
edge featured in the Horse Owner's Manual. If you own
a copy, be sure to read it several times. Your ability
with horses will amaze you because knowledge is power.

And knowledge will bridge a gap with your horse
most people never fully understand. It's a great feeling.



Andy Curry
www.horsetrainingandtips.com


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