very wise words for living and working with horses

Progress in very small increments. Make smart choices in the sequence of exercises. Never ambush your horse. Never skip a step. First establish trust. 

-Faverot de Kerbrech

I read this quote this morning on Thomas Ritter's Facebook page and immediately copied it to print and put in the tack room on my bulletin board. 

I absolutely love the line "Never ambush your horse."  I think much of what we do to horses in the name of training them and dominating them could easily be considered ambush - not so much the what we do but the HOW we go about doing it. 

Usually because we get in a hurry, expect too much, and then blame the horse for being rude or not responsive or stubborn. 

When I get impatient and demanding with my horses, I try to think about what it feels like to them. They know me. They trust me. And yet, it's still rude if I march up and suddenly demand that they do something without engaging with them first - letting them smell my hands, blowing softly into their nostrils (and then breathing in THEIR breath that they are giving back to me), allowing them to smell the halter or the brush or the bridle or the saddle pad or the whatever it is I've decided they need me to do to them in the name of "good horse care." 

What would I do if someone, even someone I love and trust, marched up and said "Get in this box. I'm taking you to a show. Sorry you have to leave your friends. We'll be back soon." I assure you it wouldn't be a very pretty sight.   

Long-time readers here will know that I have a needle phobia, and that one of the things that helped me overcome it to the degree I have was when Keil Bay needed Adequan injections. 

(note: he no longer needs them - I discovered that human grade glucosamine and chondroitin given together at tx doses for his weight works even better and costs MUCH less) 

What most readers won't know is how I got the needle phobia. When I was very young, I was afraid of the shots I needed to get, and at that time it was considered okay to simply hold the child down and administer the injection. They did that to me until I was old enough that I have a very clear memory of two nurses (it took TWO) holding me so the doctor could stick me with the needle.

By gosh, I got those vaccinations! But I also got a lifelong phobia that really needn't have been the result had they only stopped to think:

Progress in very small increments. Make smart choices in the sequence of exercises. Never ambush your horse. Never skip a step. First establish trust.

Funny how the words apply to all of us. And that NOT following them can have similar results whether we're dealing with a child OR a horse. 

How many times in a day of working with our horses do we simply demand that they submit to our will? It makes about as much sense to them when we demand and insist as it made to me when those two nurses held me down. And you can bet I never did cooperate. I fought harder the next time.

Some of us fight harder, others give up and comply - but in some ways that is worse. A little bit of our spirit dies when we have to submit to something we are not sure about. 

Find your own example of a time you were ambushed. And then think about that the next time you do it to your horse. You might be surprised - I always am - at how that impatient, demanding person you've become in the moment simply melts away. And even more surprising - your horse will feel the melt happening and what was difficult will likely become that much easier to accomplish.