Approach: The Third of 6 Keys To Building A Life Long Partnership With Your Horse

In horse training or natural horsemanship, Approach is

nothing more than a technique or method used in helping your

horse to understand what it is you want him to do.

I feel it's important to point out at this time that one of

the major reasons people fail to achieve excellence with

their horse is that they are not mentally, emotionally and

physically fit. The way to achieve this is by being

persistent and consistent in learning and practicing your

horse training / natural horsemanship skills. Remember,

It's not your horses fault, it's your responsibility to be

fit if you're to achieve success and excellence with your

horse.

In talking about Approach or techniques, we'll use some

examples to point out some approaches people take in

working with their horses, which are very different from

natural horsemanship.

Let's talk a little about longeing? Most people longe

their horses to exercise them, but let's look at what

happens when you do this. Your horse is going in

mindless circles usually circling to the left and will

certainly get stronger physically, but unfortunately, he

will also get mentally weaker because you are only

exercising his body and not his mind. It's important

to exercise both his body and mind.

Now let's look at lateral longeing. This is where we are

going to exercise both your horse's body and mind. First,

what are the differences between longeing and lateral

longeing?

In normal longeing, the person is only exercising the horse

to take off the edge so the horse will be easier to ride.

I think it's important to note that if your longeing your

horse 15 minutes to take off the edge eventually you will be

exercising him 30 minutes to take off the edge and as you

continue this regime he will become stronger and stronger

until you can no longer handle him.

In lateral longeing, you're looking to develop a

communication system with your horse along with exercising

his body and mind, which will cause your hose to be

emotionally collected. This communication system is built

around 6 yields? Your horse going forward, backward,

left, right, up or down. These 6 yields work into a series

of maneuvers, which will exercise your horses mind and body.

By being persistent and using the 6 yields you will help

your horse to be mentally collected and instead of

increasing the time it takes to get your horse under control

you will decrease the time each day. By using lateral

longeing you can help your horse to become mentally

collected in a shorter period of time.

Remember that horses can do only 6 things, but they can do

them in combination? Move forward, backward, left, right,

up and down. Your goal should be to get your horse to go

forward, backward and sideways whenever you ask him. If you

can do this, you will become the Alpha horse in his

society.

When you teach your horse to go backwards you are also

teaching him to stop. The better he backs up the better he

stops. When you teach him to go sideways, you are also

teaching him to steer left or right. When moving right or

left you are simply moving his hindquarters or front

quarters or moving them both at the same time to move

sideways. Most horsemen will tell you that the better a

horse backs up and goes sideways the better he will do

everything else.

Lateral longeing is different from normal longeing in that

you are exercising your horses mind with his body following

naturally causing your horse to yield to you mentally.

Let' take a quick look at Riding. What do most people do

after saddling and getting on their horse? They kick him to

go, rein him across the neck to turn and pull on him to

stop. Instead, why not get him mentally and emotionally

ready before we go riding? Why not put your horse through

the 6 yields? Yes, I know that takes some time, but is it worth it to you and your horse to be emotionally and mentally fit before you go riding?

After putting you horse through the 6 yields you're now

ready to mount. After you're mounted, it's time to ask your

horse to move forward. Instead of kicking him to go why not

ask him to move by giving him a cue?

For example, if you want to move your horse forward, put 2

or 3 cues together, put them in order and be consistent with

them and your horse will eventually respond to the cues.

An example of this would be to 1. Squeeze both cheeks of

your buttocks tightly. If that won't cause him to move

forward then progress to cue number 2. Genteelly squeeze

with your legs clear to your ankles and use a verbal cue

such as a cluck, kiss or smooch. If this still won't get

him moving forward then progress to cue number 3. Give your

horse a spank, preferably closer to the center of the tail

head. This will start your horse to move straight. If you

spank right or left of center, you will cause your horse to

move off to the left or right.

When using cues remember to start the cue with light

pressure and increasing the pressure, (the pressure should

only be for a few seconds before moving on to the next cue)

and if there is no response move on to the next cue until

you get the desired response. With practice and

consistency, your hose will learn to move off the pressure

(cue) at the slightest squeeze of your buttocks or legs,

whichever you decided to use as your cue.

This article is getting long so I will briefly touch on

stopping your horse. There are two ways to stop your horse,

pulling back on the reins which most people use (the horse

can get wise, tuck his chin and keep running) or you can

bend your horses neck around with one rein and cause him to

stop. If you can bend his neck to the right and stop his

right side then his left side is probably not going to run

off and vise versa.

I do not recommend letting or allowing your horse to stop on

his own; if you allow this behavior, you will eventually

have problems with keeping your horse moving. You only want

your horse to stop after preparing him with a cue to stop

and then giving him the cue to stop. A cue might be, you

bringing down your energy by putting both hands on your

thighs, completely relax and look down at your tummy, to sum

it up, quit riding. Eventually your horse figures out that

you have stopped riding and he will stop. Remember, you

have to be consistent and persistent, it is not going to

happen over night, but eventually your horse will figure out

the cues and you will get the desired response. One other

thing, make sure you keep your horse straight. This will

cause him to stop. Don't worry about him not stopping as

quickly as you like as long as he comes to a stop. As I

said before it takes time to get the desired response.

Good Luck and have fun with your horse!

This article is brought to you by

href="http://www.perfect-horse-gifts.com">Perfect Horse Gifts

If you like this article and would like to learn more

or would like to send it to a friend, please feel free

to do so. You can subscribe at:

href="http://www.perfect-horse-gifts.com">Perfect Horse

Gifts or

href="http://www.perfect-horse-gifts.com/roundup.html">The

Roundup

In the next article, we will discuss Patients? Be

patient/tolerant, take the time do it right and you

won't have to go back and do it again and again.

Helping your horse to understand what it is you want

him to do.

Copyright © Mike Gorzalka All Rights Reserved Worldwide

*You have permission to publish this article*

electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web

site, free of charge, as long as the content of this

article is not changed in any way and the author

bylines are included.

If you choose to publish this article, I would

appreciate a Quick e-mail letting me know where it

will Be published.

href="mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it "> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

*DISCLAIMER*: The information contained in this article

is of my personal opinions and beliefs and should not

be taken as anything more.

About The Author:

Mike Gorzalka has spent the better part of his life

around horses. His dad, Mike Sr., taught him the

importance of understanding the horse and how to use a

firm, but kinder and gentler approach to helping horses

understand what it is we humans are trying to

communicate.