{"id":1217,"date":"2018-11-25T12:32:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T19:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2019-02-21T13:07:43","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T20:07:43","slug":"introducing-horses-to-obstacles-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/25\/introducing-horses-to-obstacles-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Horses to Obstacles – Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’d like to\u00a0introduce five of our Strategies for Success<\/i> that we follow when we start working with horses on obstacles or anything new and unknown.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We build it in the groundwork, then ride it in the saddle.<\/li>\n
  2. We never force a horse to go on, over or though something they’re scared of. We\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0go forward when the horse is in release and following our focus.<\/li>\n
  3. Find ground zero.\u00a0 This is the position, proximity to an obstacle, or a maneuver that we\u00a0know<\/em>\u00a0the horse can achieve.\u00a0 We can always start successfully from our ground zero point.<\/strong><\/li>\n
  4. We define success as, \u201canytime the horse tries for us,<\/em>\u201d and reward and encourage our horse when he tries.<\/li>\n
  5. We allow the horse the time he needs to investigate the obstacle before we continue to ask him forward.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In this article, we’re going to focus on #3.\u00a0 You’ll need\u00a0to\u00a0read Part 1<\/a>\u00a0and Part 2<\/a> first.<\/p>\n

    When a horse is fearful of something, there will be a certain distance he will be comfortable standing away from it.\u00a0 It likely won’t matter what direction you approach it from, that distance will be the same.<\/p>\n

    In the groundwork or riding, you’ll notice that the closer you get to the fearful object – we’ll call it an obstacle – the slower your horse will go until he stops.\u00a0 This is entirely natural.\u00a0 Consider that, in the prey animal’s mind, anything unknown is potentially lethal.<\/p>\n

    There will always be an invisible line<\/em> beyond which the horse may attempt to leave.\u00a0 He might back up or move sideways.\u00a0 If you’re on the safe<\/em> side of the line, or on the line itself, your horse will be able to stop.\u00a0 At this point you’ll be able to ask him to release.\u00a0\u00a0When he does, you can ask for another step forward.\u00a0 You’ll work through this until you’re up to the obstacle.\u00a0 This might take several sessions over several days.\u00a0 That’s the best way to do it – don’t force it or you’ll compromise trust.\u00a0 We touched on that in Part 2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Until the horse has released to the pressure of the obstacle at the point he can stop<\/em>, do not ask him to go further.\u00a0 Ask him forward only once he’s in release at that point.\u00a0 This is tough for many folks because we get greedy.\u00a0 We want our horse to do it now<\/em>.\u00a0 Be patient though, if you stay in a supportive role, the horse will come to depend on you as the answer to stress and pressure for all<\/em> obstacles, not just this one.<\/p>\n

    Let’s dig into this a bit deeper, referencing the image.\u00a0 A horse will stop at the point\u00a0where his ability to handle the pressure presented to him hits a limit.\u00a0 If we push him past this limit, then he’ll resort to instinctive behaviors: flee, freeze or fight.\"horse<\/p>\n

    There are 2 things that will get the horse beyond this point:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. You asking him to release <\/a>and go forward with you (you’ll see that in this video<\/a>).<\/li>\n
    2. His own curiosity.\u00a0 This will eventually happen and he’ll go forward on his own.\u00a0 I see this often on items like stuffed animals or hides.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      In the image, the horse on the left is comfortable stopping 10m away from the scary rock.\u00a0 The horse on the right has hit the limit of what he considers safe, and is taking action to save his life.<\/p>\n

      I like to call any point on the green circle our Ground Zero Point.\u00a0 This is the distance from the obstacle that the horse can always stand and not try to escape.\u00a0 Our job then, is to make that green circle smaller and smaller, until it’s gone…without hitting the red circle.<\/p>\n

      Our first job then, is to find where that green circle is.\u00a0 Let’s use trailer loading as an example.\u00a0 The obstacle: standing quietly in the trailer.\u00a0 We lead our horse up to the trailer.\u00a0 At some point he pulls back and turns away.\u00a0 This is the indicator that we’ve crossed the red line.\u00a0 So we start again.\u00a0 This time, we’re more attentive and notice when our horse starts to become tense.\u00a0 His head might go up, his jaw tighten, etc.\u00a0 At this point, we stop.<\/p>\n

      If our horse can stand with us, we’re on the green line.\u00a0 If not, back up a bit.\u00a0 We find where that spot is that our horse can stand without moving or trying to leave.<\/p>\n

      Once we’ve found that, we ask the horse to release (again, this is letting go of tension and following your focus).\u00a0 Then, we clearly focus forward and ask the horse to come with us.\u00a0 Once he takes a step or two, stop.\u00a0 You’ll likely notice that he becomes tense again.\u00a0 Now, we’re in the space between the red and green circles – this is where we need to play.\u00a0 This is the zone – as with all pressure – where your horse is not comfortable but still willing to trust you.<\/p>\n

      Stay in that spot for a bit and ask your horse to release.\u00a0 When he does you might try another step forward OR you might leave.\u00a0 We don’t want to push things beyond his ability, however we do need to make that green circle smaller.\u00a0 When you use this tactic, you’ll notice that the next time you lead your horse up to the trailer, he can stand quietly, closer to it.<\/p>\n

      Thus, you’ve established a new Ground Zero Point.\u00a0 To see an example of this as it pertains to the trailer, watch this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      You will be able to get your horse up to any scary thing in a quiet supportive way by following these steps.\u00a0 The great thing is that the horse will learn to depend on you for anything scary, because you’ve kept the experience entirely positive.<\/p>\n

      And, each time he tries, we praise him for it…which takes us to our next article!<\/p>\n

      Scott Phillips<\/p>\n

      November, 2018<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Finding our Ground Zero – the place we can always start successfully from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/articles.amazinghorsecountry.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}