Weeds in Your Horse Garden
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Weeds - those little things that pop up. Those little things that if the soil is moist and you pull them out when they're tiny... it's easy. But, let the soil get hard and dry and let the weed grow to mammoth size?
Just like the weeds you don't want in your horse garden. If you move or even shift back/sideways when your horse shifts or moves into your space instead of correcting??? A weed. This happens with some of the top riders in the world. They just don't consider it important and to them it isn't, but to the horse it means a lot.
This isn't just one issue either. One step may seem small but it's a matter of respect, it's a power play, it's game playing and it means the horse doesn't think he should stand still where you've asked him to stop.
How about this observation: People who ride English/Dressage/Hunter/Jumper are much less likely to have a horse that stands still than someone who rides Western. Go ahead, do some homework, observe at shows, on trail, whatever. Olympic horses rarely stand still while mounted or even being mounted. They are constantly walking or even trotting off while their person is still throwing their leg over. The person giving them a leg up runs along side hoisting away. While the media is trying to interview the rider, the horse is walking along, the rider constantly 'whoa-ing' him which lasts about a milisecond and off walking again while the interviewer bumbles along side.
Olympic dressage horses frequently blow right through the halt at X, which is a required task twice in each performance. Why is that not important?
I was reading on a forum the other day and this person said that when they lead their horse it bolts off and pulls the line out of their hand. Well, first off, my interpretation of that is that they aren't leading the horse. Once you approach it from that angle and get over your ego, it's easier to get to fixing it. This person is merely trying to go somewhere after having clipped a line on their horse and hoping they get there. But, Leading??????? Pull this weed.
Does your horse swing his body around while in the cross-ties? All over tarnation while you're trying to saddle?? Well, it's because people mistakenly feel that if they keep the head in a certain area it's all good. But, tying the head doesn't keep the feet still. Moreover, it means that the horse does what it wants while the person puts up with it.
Weeds. If you don't pull them out they get bigger. Then it's that excuse, "...and all of a sudden my horse...".
Solving People’s Horse Problems and Horse’s People Problems
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