This sound like so much fun! Can't wait for the rain to stop so I can play it with Astro and Scottie!
Horse Training Game - Carolyn Resnick
by HorseConscious - The New Horsemanship and Horse Training on Monday, February 21, 2011 at 9:47am
I’d like to start off with an interesting game I thought up. When you are training your horse, you shouldn’t be too interested in his performance. Instead of developing the bond to be able to train your horse, you should use the training to deepen the bond you have with him.
The horse will direct your leadership and you offer the program. This kind of leadership is comforting and nurturing to a horse. When a horse does not live in a harmonious herd environment, he needs us to provide socialization and leadership for his emotional well-being.
In developing a method for horses, we need to allow the horse the ability to figure out how to fit in and work within our system in the moments he is called to participate without him feeling pressured.
Not approaching him and waiting for him to come to us will develop his desire to learn how to fit in with us. Allowing a horse to become interested builds his self esteem and increases his ability to partner up with us from a willing heart. Here’s the game I came up with, hope you like it
Start your horse out a liberty in an arena or large round pen. This exercise takes two or three people and in fact it works with as many as you like. Sit in chairs about 20 feet apart and have some carrots with you under your chair. When your horse goes up to a person, they give him one carrot and no more. If the horse becomes a nuisance, begging for another carrot, shoo him away like a kindly mare would shoo a foal way when she does not want him to nurse. The horse will eventually leave and go to someone else and when he does, this person gives him a carrot and no more. Keep repeating one carrot per visit, per person. Do not try to guide him to go see someone else, just shoo him away. He can go where he likes and all we want to do is to challenge him to figure out how to work the system. If three people are playing this game and the horse just goes between two people that is alright because we are just teaching him that one carrot is all that he gets per visit and learns being driven away is a prelude to another carrot. He leans that to be driven away has a great reward and meaning. You want him to figure this out on his own.
Your role is to say no more carrots and leave me alone with any miming gestures, voice and body language that work. After he learns this, you will increase the difficulty for him by choosing the person that will offer him the next carrot. If he is begging from a person that is not chosen, that person will point to the person that is chosen and say to the horse go to… and say the persons name. This way the horse will learn names. The person that the horse is being sent to will call the horse as well. Both people encourage the horse to go to the person of choice. Continue this exercise. Once the horse has this down, place your chairs far apart and encourage the horse to trot and walk to the person who has the carrot, then eventually ask the horse to canter from person to person as directed. You can make your own variation as you wish to advance the horses schooling. The horse will show great enthusiasm for the freedom he experiences and the direction he receives and being the center of attention like a child.
Imagine what it might feel like if the roles were reversed. We are minding our own business, we come across a horse and walk up to get a closer look and in our closeness we receive from the horse a thousand dollar bill and we find that every horse we encounter will give up money and as the relationship grows they direct us to were the next honey (or should that be money) pot is.
Good luck and remember if you have problems doing this lesson, drop the exercise. I do not want horses and humans frustrated. I am sure I will have other exercises later on that may work better for you and your horse.
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