This photo shows a horse happily & softly focussed into this basic circle that I am riding. A lot of inconsistency in lateral bend is usually due to the horse being focussed elsewhere.
Pick up a rein: pick up a brain.
People often send me horses to re-educate a hard mouth. Most of these horses suffer not from a hard mouth, but a hard mind. They have learnt to think against pressure because people have rewarded them for a half physical response and not waited for a mental change. This makes them become better at holding out on us. So we are just laying another brick in the wall that separates us from them.
A quiet brumby (wild horse) that I once started was very reserved in her energy in the beginning. Even though she seemed an easy horse to train, I could always feel that she was blocking me out through her strong instinctual tendency to be elsewhere (with her friends). By the same token, she had a high level of intelligence. Training was difficult because she wasn’t with me mentally. So before we could advance in any way, I spent weeks of just riding her out & doing basic tasks, till she was able to focus with me.
Once you gain your horses focus, everything else comes together. Your horse will move a lot more freely. They pay attention to the things you are asking so they unlock their softness and body; and are much more helpful and more pliable to train. Get your horse to focus with you in a trusting relationship. Gain that focus through feel and not force. Then you are preparing your horse’s mind for body control. When a horse’s mind is going in the direction of its body, which is our chosen direction, shape will mostly naturally fix itself.
"Get your horse with you: If it is common that your horses mind is elsewhere, your task is to get it back with you"
Mark Langley
Naughty or Confused?
www.everythinghorseuk.co.uk December 2013, Issue 3 53