Intention is everything when training horses

I really believe that when it comes to training a horse, its all about the intention behind what we are asking for.

For example, I recently worked with a horse who found going out (leaving the herd and going for a walk on her own) extremely challenging. I had to put quite a bit of driving pressure on her to get her to move forward. She was really stuck and I decided the best course of action would be to put her on the long reins and accomplish the goal that way. There was a lot of rearing and refusal going on.., and I didn’t feel I could be at my most effective by riding her through it.

Whilst having her on the long lines , I could really push her through the resistance and maintain control whilst doing so. As I mentioned, I had to put quite a lot of pressure on her to encourage her to even attempt to move forward, initially she would take only a few steps forward, and then either stop, reverse or try to spin around and head back home.

The thing is that even though I had to use a higher amount of pressure on her to get her to move forward , the relationship remained intact. The intention behind the pressure was of ” come on just try.., you can do it.., try and you will see that its ok to move forward” I used as much pressure as was necessary to get her to “try” and in this case , with this particular horse it was on the higher end of the scale.

Whats important to note is that I was not coming from a place of ” move forward you stupid horse, or move forward or else..!” There were no threats nor aggression in my approach, this  energy of cooperation coming from me, was then transferred into my actions and horses 100%  know the difference! Its the difference between losing trust or gaining trust.

With everything you do with your horse, you always want to be gaining trust. You want to be supporting the relationship every step of the way..