Balance is Everywhere Except in the Hands

Time and time again I have talked of balance — but some might still be confused, so let’s go into some detail at this point.

Let’s Start With the Hands

The hands start with being light and knowing exactly what contact is. Once that you understand contact and have developed the lightness in your hands, which can take quite a bit of time and dedication, the use of it has to become automatic.

Getting Back to Finished Horses

Now getting back to a finished horse and how it starts with the rider – let’s go back over what the rider needs to be  able to accomplish to be able start the process. The only reason that I bring up all of this up is to help you realize what is required of the rider to be able to guide the horse to the next level in their training cycle.

Continuing on the Fear Factor

The next point that you need to understand that the fear that is in the mind of the rider is  transferable to the horse through the use of body language. There are times that the horse shows much more compassion to man than man shows towards the horse, there are also times that the horse will not venture into territory that it does know is unsafe, but mankind has to shows its superiority and venture in and then have to confront the situation that they have created. Now who is the higher species in such a case? This shows that we do help to create a lot of the problems that we have to face when it comes to working with horses.

Eliminate the Fear

Fear can be conquered by leaning what to do and when to do it. What you are taught you then have to practice – practice – practice.

When Fear Wins!

Most riders get into problems with a horse and that single thing then becomes compounded strictly by the body language of the rider. Let’s say that your horse becomes startled by some object, the horse will stop and take a good hard look at it and then determine if it has met this crisis before in their life. Plus, the horse has given you time to react with guidance and how you react in the next few seconds is crucial. Any action that you take at this point will be transferred to body language that will determine how the horse will react to the situation at hand. Here is what most riders of today do;

Knowledge Trumps Fear

Fear is a daily factor for both horse and rider; both the horse and the rider can conquer it, but it has to be done in a manner by the rider taking the initial step and then guiding the horse through the process of calming and then relaxing and then projecting that calmness to allow the horse to relax and feel trust and confidence through your hands.