What is the first step towards riding your young horse? It is actually teaching him to stand still in a certain spot. Without him standing still, how can I even think of mounting? Of course, I could force him to stand still by having another person holding him, but I have long stopped using force while training my horses. I also stopped using deceit or trying to hide from my horse what I am going to do, if I know he does not like it. This might work in the short run. In the long run it will keep your horse from ever fully trusting you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, today after doing a bit of transition work with him, I decided to show him my \u201cmounting block\u201d. I do not have a proper one I am using all the time, rather I choose a random log, chair, bench, etc. But near my circle I have a nice big log, which is rather suitable to mount from. So that one was chosen for the beginning. By the end of the day, it does not really matter. It is more a question of teaching you horse to stand still and relax with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first thing is to maneuver him parallel to the log and then ask him to stand still.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is as usual bubbly and skittish but finally, I can put him in the desired position. I climb on the log and he immediately moves forward. I back him a little, his hind swings away from me and he stand with his head towards me. I use my stick to put him back into position. He stands for a second, then again moves a little forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We play this game for about fifteen minutes until he finally is in the position, I want him to be in and I can stand on the log next to him. I have the feeling he is scared that I would suddenly jump on his back. He is generally a bit careful with all the things I place on his back, pad, girth or saddle. He accepted everything but he always feels the need to move his feet which shows me his nervousness and lack of complete trust. He is not yet fully relaxed with me, even though he is much calmer now and does stand still and relaxes for a bit while being with me. But he does not trust me 100% yet. So, when he finally stands still with me being next to him on the log, I run my hands on his neck, giving him gentle but firm strokes. Horses like that much more than pats. It is what the mare does with her newborn foal, she will lick it with her tongue and these movements will be forever imprinted in the foal as soothing and calming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I talk to him and don\u2019t do anything for a few minutes. Just stand there and touch his neck. I don\u2019t lean over his back, I don\u2019t put my hand on him, nothing. All this will come later. At the moment I just enjoy the trust he has given me. He has put himself in a vulnerable position, letting me tower over him. I have already mentioned, that this is where a predator would strike. And by the end of the day, humans are predators, in fact we are the ultimate predator, while the horse is the ultimate prey animal without anything to defend itself except to run away. This is something we often forget about horses, that they are wired to run away. It is their strongest instinct. When in doubt, flee. We do so many unnatural things with horses. We ride them, we put them in confined stables, we separate them from other horses, we load them into dark trailers, and we rarely think about it. We believe that this is easy and natural for horses and for many it is, as they got used to it. But we should always remember, that it is a gift the horse gives us. It gives us their trust. They trust us to take care of them, they give up their chance of survival and they put themselves completely in our hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What gift could be greater? So instead of taking it for granted, we should be thankful and we should be mindful about our horse\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What is the first step towards riding your young horse? It is actually teaching him to stand still in a certain spot. Without him standing still, how can I even think of mounting? Of course, I could force him to stand still by having another person holding him, but I have long stopped using force…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The First Step Towards RidingToday I talk about what I do with Rajmani to prepare him for me to sit on his back for the first time.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,8,10],"tags":[35,24],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-horse-training","category-rajmani","category-young-horses","tag-standing-still","tag-young-horse-training"],"yoast_head":"\n