Natural Horsemanship Articles
COMPETITION SAVVY
By Cynthia Cooper.So, you're a natural horseperson and have a desire to get back into competition or enter it for the first time.
I am often asked the best way to go about it so here are my thoughts.
First of all, attend as many different types of horse events as possible to determine which would suit you and your horse. Some horses are naturally suited to specific events such as Thoroughbreds for racing, Quarterhorses for cutting and Warmbloods for dressage. However at the lower levels of the sport, you could just about ride any type of horse to gain some competition experience in your chosen event.
While you're at these events, seek out the officials and ask for the requirements or rules. Then, study what the winners are doing to get a picture of how your horse needs to perform.
Its not always necessary to start with a fully educated horse as young/green horses can learn a lot from just attending competition days without actually competing.
In fact that's an ideal way to desensitise your horse to all the things they will encounter. Take them along to watch and generally learn to relax in a different environment.
Another way of getting 'competition savvy' is offer to help; be a steward, a pencilor or a strapper to gain valuable experience without your horse.
Once you've recognised an event your horse may be suited to, check out the handy reference chart Pat Parelli has developed to "Reach Your Goals with Savvy…"
These are available from your instructor or Horseland stores for free and on the flip side have a 'Problem Solving Guide'.
This chart will tell you which level of savvy is required for the various horse sports, for example, endurance and western pleasure require the Partnership and Harmony levels while polocrosse, western trail, gymkhana and hunting require the Partnership, Harmony and Refinement levels.
Pat says the first three levels are for the human to learn, then we have enough savvy to teach our horse.
So his message is hurry up and achieve the Refinement level so you can choose whichever sport you fancy.
I can hear you all moan and groan - "but it will take me forever…" so in the meantime, if you really want to get exposed to competition, choose some simpler things to do such as halter classes, family fun days or Natural event days such as the Natural Dressage days coming up. By the way, I'm planning to organise more of these on a regular basis with varying themes.
Another recommendation Pat makes is to see as much world class competition as you can. It doesn't matter what type of equestrian event or even sport, if you can see world class you will get an idea of what it takes to be the best. There's a saying that goes something like 'Aim for the stars and you will at least reach the moon'.
So you're now set to take your horse along to a competition. Here's another saying to keep in mind… "When in Rome, do as Romans do".
Play the competition game, don't set out to create a new one or you may be disqualified or at best, looked upon as being weird.
Be normal but with a natural attitude, in other words, if everyone is jumping in a bridle, reach the level of savvy you need to do that, then go out and jump in a bridle, setting the best example of horsemanship possible.
While we'd all love to prove we can jump a course/do a dressage test etc. bridleless, save that for special demonstrations until it is an actual requirement for competition.
I know if Pat has anything to do with it, he'd love to see natural become so normal we could do just that.
One last motto to keep in mind… have fun and 'Keep it Natural'.
FLYING CHANGES FORMULA
Many people seem to have trouble with the flying changes in the Harmony Level and as an instructor, I've observed some patterns and come up with a 'formula' which has helped many students to overcome their frustration's and succeed.
So here's my formula for success.
PRE REQUISITES:
· Completion of the Partnership Level.
· Be able to comfortable canter your horse in a passenger game for at least 60 seconds.
· Be able to ride the rail at the canter.
· Do 'drop to trot' lead changes.
· Ride sideways without a fence easily, and change directions without losing momentum.
· Know your trotting diagonals and which leg your horse is leading with at the canter.SET UP A PATTERN
This can be either a long line of logs (phone pole thickness ideally) joined over a distance of roughly 100' OR 3 cavalletti or small jumps spaced 44' apart (2 lengths of your 22' line) in a straight line.5 STEPS TO TAKE
1. Trot an 'S' pattern along the poles on the correct diagonal for each half circle - swapping your leading hand, diagonal and your focus as you go over the pole.
2. Be able to trot the pattern with the reins over your wrists making sure you change your focus as you approach the log, then your eyes, bellybutton, legs and hands just before take off over the log.
3. Trot to the log/jump and depart into a canter on the correct lead as you go over then drop back to a trot before the next jump so you can practice another canter depart.
4. Canter all the way through the 'S' pattern, changing leads over the jumps then if you're using cavalletti, lower the height gradually until its just a pole on the ground, maintaining the lead change over the jump.
5. Go faster and ride an 'S' pattern between the jumps, changing leads over a pretend pole on the ground (the gaps between jumps).SUCCESS TIPS
- Get all the ingredients right before trying the 'real thing'.
- If your horse misses a change, keep going, increase speed or decrease the size of the circle until he changes to maintain his balance. If you stop to try again, your horse is getting a reward for not changing leads.
- Don't do them slow - be 'on the fly' - a fast canter.
- Focus high, lift your pelvis and arms.
- Have your leading hand and leg higher than the other.
- Get help from an instructor if its not working.
BE PREPARED FOR YOUR LESSON.
Having a lesson or participating in a workshop or course is an investment in your time and money that is not worth wasting.
So, in order to get the most value for money, here's some tips to consider;
- Be organised - have all your PNH equipment on hand + your saddle, helmet etc if you're riding.
- Plan what you would like to achieve from your lesson - think about the questions you would like to ask.
- Have your homework done - for the best progress make sure you've studied and practiced the tasks from your last lesson.
- Have your horse ready to go - if you're looking at riding skills, be warmed up and ready to ride or if it's a liberty session, play online beforehand. For the best results it makes sense to be mentally and emotionally settled before you both start learning.
- Give
yourself plenty of time to get there if you're driving to meet the instructor
at a location - its better to arrive early and have time for a cuppa
than late.
A LITTLE MORE ON LIBERTY
I’ve been asked “When should you use join-up in relation to playing with your horse at liberty”?
The short answer is “whenever your horse chooses to leave you while playing at liberty”.
But many people see join-up as an involved process of sending your horse around a round yard until he/she shows signs of submission such as lowering the head and licking the lips. This could take many laps and be quite tiring for both parties.
I think horses will offer to join-up in many different ways and we should encourage this, rather than just have a blanket answer or one solution.
When a horse is pressured too much, he needs to move and sometimes this can be just moving the feet a little to running away from you completely.
It’s a natural instinct to flee and our relationship with the horse will not develop out of trust if we restrict movement. The horse will continue to feel under pressure and stay emotionally upset, then perhaps explode if the pressure is not reduced or released.
Running is a way of releasing the pressure and join-up is a way of adding pressure to get the horse to want to come back to you.
Other signs of horses wanting to come back to you can be more subtle but should be noticed and acted upon in order to reward the slightest try.
Holding one ear in your direction then giving you two eyes (even for an instant) is the horse asking “Can I come in?” More obvious signs are the horse making smaller circles around you, turning towards you and relaxing the head and neck down.
If we don’t pick up on these signals then we’ve missed an opportunity to gain our horse’s trust and confidence.
In my mind, the whole purpose of liberty is to keep your horse with you and give them comfort with you as often as possible.
This means being aware of when you are pushing the boundaries of your horse’s comfort zone and being friendly and un-demanding for long periods between tasks.
If you prefer to use positive reinforcement, then giving treats (can be paired with a clicker) whenever your horse stays with you, especially after learning something new, will enhance the bond between you.
Liberty tells you the truth about your relationship and how much pressure your horse is ready to handle. If we had to do all our communication and training at liberty, I can guarantee we would all learn to be a lot more polite and subtle with our demands and communication.
Liberty is not a place to start learning with horses though. If a person is learning about timing, focus, position and phases and makes mistakes (as we all do), the horse may then learn to get comfort from running away which then becomes a habit that takes time to change (once you have learned more).
But we can learn about liberty while on-line by pretending to be at liberty with a loose rope and playing a game of seeing what you can do without taking the slack out of the rope, or adding a rubber band between the clip and the halter so it will break under too much pressure.
Then when you are at liberty (starting in an enclosed area like a 20m round yard), pretend you are on line so your signals and positioning are consistent with what the horse already knows.
Once you are experienced and competent at liberty, it will become your first choice for getting to know a horse and starting your communication, trust and respect.
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Disclaimer: The information contained within this website is soley the expressed views and opinions of the author, unless otherwise stated, and the author accepts no responsability for the way this information is used by viewers. The information is provided to help PREVENT problems, not to replace veterinary advice.
Contact:
Cynthia
Cooper -
Natural Horse World
46 Wattle Lea Lane, Golden Valley. Tasmania, 7304. Australia.
Ph.
0419 372279
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