Natural Horsemanship Patience: The 4th of 6 Keys To Developing A Partnership With Your Horse

Natural Horsemanship Patientis: The 4th Of 6 Keys To Developing A Partnership With Your Horse

The 4th Of 6 Keys To Building A Life Long Partnership With Your

Horse.

In Natural Horsemanship, being patient/tolerant means taking

the time do it right so you won't have to go back and do it

again and again.

Why do I call the fourth key patients when we are really

talking about time, because, if we loose patients we will

not spend the time it takes to get our horse through the

stages necessary for building a life long partnership.

Being patient is very important because it's going to

take time to build that partnership.

Let's talk a little about your horse and the time it's going

to take to get him from where he is at now to being a green

broke horse. Let's assume your horse has never been ridden

or ridden very little in terms of proper training or natural

horsemanship.

For a horse to feel comfortable having a person on his back

will take approximately 300 hours of riding. If you rode

your horse 1 hour a day five days a week then it would take

a little over a year to get 300 hours of riding time or a

little over a year for your horse to feel comfortable

having you on his back.

Let's say your not consistent with your riding time, maybe

you rode your horse 20 hours and then for what ever reason

you turned him out, then 6 months later you rode him 40

hours and turned him out again for another six months, then

started riding him again and put another 75 hours on him and

this continues until you have 300 hours, how old would he

be? If you started him as a 2 year old, he may be 4 or 5

years old or older before you had the 300 hours. The point

here is that the quicker you put the 300 hours on him the

quicker he will feel comfortable with you on his back. Being

patient is important and being persistent and consistent

will shorten the time it takes to accomplish your goals.

To take your horse from being a green broke horse to the

next level, and by that, I mean getting your horse from the

green broke phase to being a solid, safe and dependable

partner requires that you gain the necessary skills by going

through the different phases of natural horsemanship.

The time it takes to get your horse from the green broke

stage to being a solid, safe and dependable partner is

around 1,100 hours. I want you to keep in mind that you

will never really finish your horse because you will

continue to refine your horse for a lifetime.

We have talked about how long it takes a horse to go through

the different phases now we need to spend a little time on

the individual horseman.

So, how long does it take a person to be considered a good

rider? We will approach this question form the thought that

the rider is a green novice. It generally takes a green

novice about 1000 hours before being comfortable in a

saddle. You need to remember it's going to take time

for the rider to get used to the horse and how he moves,

thinks, acts and feels. The only way to get the feel of a

horse is through riding experience. The more riding a

novice does the better rider they will become.

Have you ever wondered how much time you should spend

working with your horse (Instead of working with your horse

why not think in terms of playing with your horse)?

Consider this, when it stops being fun for you or your

horse you're not playing anymore, it's become work and

probably time to stop. When you're playing with your horse,

you should think of it as working on yourself and playing

with your horse.

One other top I would like to discuss with you is timing. We

spent a few minutes discussing playing with your horse and

when it's time to quit, equally important is your timing

when playing with your horse. Timing will probably be most

important to your horse. In your relationship with your

horse, it's very important to know when you should quit

doing what you are doing. It's not what you do with your

horse that counts; it's when you quit doing something that

counts.

An example, lets say you have asked your hose to do

something through a cue you have given him and he gives you

the slightest try, you should instantly quit giving him the

cue. You need to recognize that the horse tried no matter

how slight. It's your responsibility to have perfect timing

and stop what your doing when your horse tries.

When you are learning this skill, remember it's going to

take time to get perfect timing and you shouldn't get

discouraged, you will learn. At first, it will be

difficult, but as you learn to read your horse's body

language you will begin to perfect this skill. Natural

Horsemanship is about learning this skill, to be able to

recognize if your horse is trying to do what it is you are

asking him to do. Be careful not to reward the wrong

response or reward the horse for doing it with an attitude.

If your horse is attempting to do it correctly with the

right attitude and you are slow in rewarding him he will be

confused because he thought he tried. If your horse gets

no reward (relief) after trying, soon he will quit trying.

How long you do something with your horse is not as

important as to know when to quit doing it. Know when to

take away the pressure (to quit) is as important to the

technique as the technique itself.

Have fun with your horse(s)!

Mike

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In the next article, we will discuss Creativeness?

Creating challenges for you and your horse. Learning what

the two of you can accomplish together. Why settle for

mediocrity?

Copyright © 2005 Mike Gorzalka All Rights Reserved Worldwide

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