A Shift in Perspective

Shifting your perspective can help you enjoy your horse time more.

We we’re doing a round table bump in at a recent clinic, and one of the students was talking about a shift in perspective which allowed her to be not only ‘ok’ with a unexpected moment, but to actually consider it beneficial.

She was preparing to head to the clinic, and her horse was being a little difficult catch. She said “I walked out and he kind of ran off, but we have been working on him cantering circles around me, with me doing as little as possible, so I just owned him running off and turned it into a canter circle’. This meant they got to work on canter circles, the shift allowed the horse to switch into training mode on his own, and, when she called him off the circle, he came right in, meaning he didn’t get to practice “running away”. It’s a win for everyone.

When a horse doesn’t want to be caught, it often leads to two outcomes;
We may have chased the horse (oh, you want to run, then run) which uses punishment as a training method. This of course works, but punishment doesn’t really make anyone feel good.

Or

We get annoyed, a start trying to trap or catch the horse, which can make a game out of it - fun for the horse, but not for the owner.
The shift in perspective makes it beneficial for everyone
Tk