Hi it's Josie and I'm here today
to show you one thing that you
need to teach your horse to get him to
do anything for you
and by the end of this video
I'm going to give you 3 exercises to put this into place
that will help you have a
horse that is a lot more responsive
and a lot more respectful
when you are handling him.
After starting nearly 200 horses under saddle
I can tell you that this is the one thing that I start every horse with
be it a young foal
or an old horse or a problem horse coming here
and it's something I use
if I get horses coming for re-education
just to check to see
I where I can start and are they responsive.
So if you like my advice please
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Let's get on with it
So The first thing I teach a horse
is how to give to pressure
now stay with me here
no eye-rolling there
it really is the one thing that you need
and you can get your horse
to do absolutely anything for you
if he understands that.
Horses in the very beginning will often push into pressure not move away from pressure
that is just nature and in the very beginning working with a horse that I'm starting under
saddle in the round yard the pressure is just my body pressure on the horse in the round
yard but that moves on to be rope pressure as the training progresses and that's where
I want to start today so you need to get yourself a good rope halter, webbing halters will not
cut it here I'm sorry it's like trying to knot with crowbars ok the horse learns, and
this is the other thing and I will repeat this through it, the horse actually learns
from the release of the pressure it's not what you put it on that you are putting it
on it's when you release it that your horse learns OK so webbing halters are just, they
don't have the finesse that a rope halter does so if you would like to have a look up
here I will link you with my rope halter demo so you can get in and make sure that that's
ok I want this horse to give to pressure it's the first thing I'm going to teach him (laughing)
sorry, Spider! is to drop his head so the horse has a very soft spot up here on the
poll ok and that is where the pressure of the top of the halter here is going to go
and all you need to do with your horse is get some get your rope and just put some downward
pressure and he should follow the feel of the pressure.
I'm sorry he wants to play with my hand Spider stop it Spider you are not the best model
for this because you keep playing with my hand so downward, Stop Kabooby, so downward
pressure and he will just drop his head My horses have all been trained to do this, OK So I
want you to think about being like fence post I was talking to a girl I was teaching today
If I tied this rope onto a fence post and Spider pulled back on it the second he let
go the rope is given, the pressure is given.
If he put, If I tied him onto a fence post that could pull, he was pulling and the fence
was pulling when he gives the see the rope isn't given when if it's a fence post the
rope is given so they talk about timing and feel and that's all good but you can just
remember not to pull but to be a fence post you won't have to worry about timing and feel
the horses have it.
If you have a difficult horse your horse is pulling back against the pressure when you
are trying to put downward pressure just try and hold I lock my elbow into myself and set
my core and I just hold until the horse gives OK even if he lifts you up try and keep the
pressure on until the split second he gives some horses that are stubborn not so much
pulling back but that they won't give you actually can rock your hand a bit and the
horse will give as you use a bit of rhythm.
So that's just, you can use that to get your horses head down here when I'm plaiting Spiders
mane, if I want to trim his ears up a bit, if I want to put my bridle on my halter on
ok so that is one way that you can use the horse to give to pressure another way is to
get him to walk backwards so I'm just going to put my hand on here and he he's actually
pretty good at going backwards yes there's hardly, there is a slight feel on the but
you can see that there is hardly any Spider is a sensitive soul anyway so he is one of
those horses that I have to be a little bit gentle with.
You can also use pressure as I said in the round yard on a young horse for me I teach
them with myself in the round yard I can just use my pressure of my body and because he
stepped backward I stopped and released the pressure Ok so it's the release of the pressure
that lets the horse learn he has done the right thing so so I will just use this and
if he doesn't get out of my way I will increase the pressure and the minute he is out of the
way I relax and I will just ask him to go back and because he did I release the pressure
I hope you can actually see that in the video.
One other way that you can use this is to teach your horse to follow the feel of the
rope OK or to give to pressure in because you will see in a minute I will take the rope
and be pulling forward, he needs to follow it this is a way I can teach young horses
to lunge when you don't have a round yard actually.
I take this rope and take the feel of it this way he needs to follow the feel I"m going
to go out of view here for a minute but that's ok So I want him to give to pressure so the
pressure is coming forward and he's just giving and staying in front of it This is absolutely
how you can teach a horse to start your horse under saddle.
So my horses are all trained in this so it is quite difficult to show you one that doesn't
want to do it but see just a tiny bit of pressure and my and he drops his head but I will just
go through the same work because there are some things going back with Rebel see there
already I've got pressure on and he hasn't given at all he is just leaning on that so
I hold the pressure there because he has to go back if I want to teach him I might use
a bit of that and then release so that was just a bit of a thumb into the chest.
He needs to yeah that's better he just needs a gentle reminder sometimes, he's like that
naughty kid that just goes " I don't want to do it" but now yeah there's just pressure release, pressure
release, pressure release and I watch their feet I don't watch the horse OK I don't care
what he is doing with his head I want him to move his feet cause this is going backwards
so we will try again pressure release ok so I didn't release that until he picked up this
right front and left hind pressure release pressure release Ok so it's all remember the
release is what teaches the horse he's not as he couldn't care about my body language
so and I just did a naughty thing then I stepped back after he didn't move so I cause I want
my rope cause I'm going to ask him to go back because I would like him to go back from a
bit of body pressure. good boy.
That feels to me personally too much pressure like I want him to be softer than that.
Following the feel of the rope he should be, I was going to say he should be quite good
because I do lunge him so he's just following a light feel there Woah there you go two different
horses OK I will pop under this video a link to a short guide I've written with three principles
that I keep in mind whenever I'm training a horse (horse snorts) Thank you, and it doesn't
matter if it's a young horse old horse well trained or a beginner horse they are
very good basic principles and I would love to share it with you.
It's free just click on the link, download it and I'd love for you to let me know in
the comments what you think of what we've done today.
Don't forget if you like my video give us a thumbs up hit the subscribe button and hit
the bell so that you get notified every Friday when I put out a new video See you next week