Jac at 1 hour 50 minutes of training.
How does a horse ask the question ‘who is in control’? We all saw Episode 3 when Jac was blatantly declaring that he was in control. In this episode, Jac is still asking the question…but in a much more subtle way.
In my experience many people miss the fact that their horses are asking these questions. If the horse asks a question and doesn’t receive a clear answer it is like the question was ignored.
Imagine a teenager asking if they could drive the car. Unanswered, many would decide that the decision must be up to them….so they take it. And the more often the teen asks and then makes their own decision while the distracted parent doesn’t notice or care….the less often they ask the question. Whats the point? They are making the decision alone anyway.
With horses, many people are unaware the question is being asked; maybe they misread the body language or maybe they are distracted. Be careful that this isn’t happening with your horse.
Your horse is allowed to ask questions. I LOVE horses asking questions! But they aren’t allowed to call the shots unless we have decided ahead of time when he can. An example of that would be a cutting horse. He is trained to cut without assistance…but also required to respond to the rider at a moments notice.
My goal with Jac is to have a willing partner, who is confident in our relationship and our boundaries. Watch as that develops.
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About 8:17 he moved toward you and then you took a step back, is that considered he moved your feet and won?
Lol, I was wondering if someone would bring it up! Yes and no. Yes, it could be considered that…and maybe not, because haven’t I been giving a little to him (letting him turn and face). It is something I wouldn’t want to do regularly. The reason it happened was that…I wasn’t paying attention:)
I was talking to the camera (to you Peggy) and I made a mistake. Good news, I don’t make too many…but I do count them. Nice catch!
Some might call it ‘win or lose’, some a mistake, some a compromise…or we could call it ‘compromising to keep the communication open’, which I talk about in Episode 8.
I’m loving your lessons Stacy. So sensible and makes just plain sense. I love your references towards children. Its one thing that everyone can relate to as if we don’t have children of our own we were all children once. My father and I have trained many horses and though my father had a very rough and tumble out look and procedure being an aussie cowboy this type of training has changed that. Dad has always told me that “Dogs, kids and horses are all the same.” and I truly believe this. This type of training is so much more pleasurable where your creating a partnership with the horse rather than dominating them to do as asked.
Hi Stacy, do you know a man named Jack Hunter? Lives in Beulah CO. He ones another one of Shinning Sparks descendents!
Sent from my iPad
Stacy, do you work him twice as much on his off side as his on side because he is worse with it? I’ve been told in the past that you need to work the bad side more than the good one to balance the horse out. Thanks for these great videos!
What a wonderful lesson. Even though my mares are trained, I’m going to use what I learned today in this lesson about asking questions. I’m sure I’ll find questions being asked that I didn’t even know were asked before, lol.