Science studies are catching up with what we as horse owners have known about our horses. Yes they are intelligent, smart and clever. They are able to learn and cognitively process information. Horses can problem solve too. All this along with a great memory: Especially in relation to events in life, people, other horses and places. However we cannot measure equine intelligence against other species. Horses think differently to us or to any other species. And so they should. Their intelligence is shaped by their evolution as equines and their long history at man’s side. 

The horse is a social animal the relationship with its’ human friends really matters to the horse. A great relationship with another soul is a wonderful thing to experience. And unlike friendships with other humans a friendship with a horse could be one of your most loyal, dependable and enduring if you treat your horse right.  

Now consider this; horses have a great understanding of our emotional state, thoughts and feelings that shape our intent, they read our energy state, body tension or relaxation, body language and breathing patterns too. Recent research has also discovered that horses understand a good number of different words too. Your authentic self really matters to the horse any incongruence from you will rattle the horse. 

What is being noted with scientific studies is the importance of positive reinforcement in interactions with equines. It has been proven that horses learn and memorize better when positive reinforcement or positive association is connected to the learning. Here is something I have discovered with my own horses, they are brilliant at learning words and or noises to indicate a request or meaning in our conversations. So I include with intent, energy, breathing, body language use of vocal cues in my horsemanship. 

So how about thinking about things from your horse’s view point? Do they know if we are knowledgeable or ignorant? Personally I think they know. Personally I think they try really hard to guide us, teach us and show us the lessons we need to learn. Today there is a movement away from the thinking of training a horse based on monologue with the human telling the horse and the horse expected to comply. To one of communication being dialogue, a two way street. To me a horse will be telegraphing out to us, the skill is to learn how to listen to understand and to learn their language. My belief is horses have great minds, they are thinkers and really do try their best to engage with us. Their patience and forgiving nature is humbling.

So next time you are considering what activities you want to enjoy with your horse, stop and reflect on the intelligence of your equine partner. What will be the ignition for joy, fun and mental stimulation for your horse? What is a meaningful accomplishment in your horse’s eyes? What is your horse thinking? Or feeling? How do you want to engage his mind? What memories do you want to create together?

Being an effective horse person is like being a great chairman at a partnership meeting.  We can think of the parallels between the two to learn how to be a great equestrian chairman with all the meetings we have with our horses.

Before Meetings

A great chairman will know who is attending the meeting: know their objectives, view points, strengths, skill sets, motivations, what is in attending for them etc… How about thinking of developing your horsemanship skills along these lines? Below are some questions that may stimulate your thoughts, prompt discussion and debate. Hopefully they will lead you to ask questions and give you focus for finding out answers.    

Questions to prompt thinking, discussion and debate:

• How well do you know your horse?
• Do you know his preferred learning style? How to maximise it in your training sessions?  
• Do you understand the language of the herd? Do you utilise this?  
• Do you relate to your horse with equine compassion?
• Does your horse exhibit behaviour that puzzles you?
• What are your horse’s objectives?
• How does your horse view the world and the sessions you have together?
• What are your horse’s strengths?
• Do you know what your horse is confident and skilled at?
• Can you tap into what motivates your horse?
• Do you know how to make sessions fun and rewarding for your horse?
• What is in it for your horse?
• Do you know if there are gaps in your knowledge? 

Development Opportunities

If you struggle to know the answers to these questions here are some horsemanship development opportunities. Wow how exciting a chance to learn about the passion you feel about your own horse and horsemanship. Not knowing is not a failing, failing to ask the right questions and to then seek out answers is failing. Remember for all of us horsemanship is a journey not a destination, there is always so much to learn, different view points to consider and many different ways to work with our equine partners. Think of it like this if you never considered the above questions how much could you be missing? What opportunities are passing you by?      

Before Meetings

A great chairman will contact each individual invited to attend for their contributions for the meeting agenda. How about thinking of developing your horsemanship skills along these lines? 

Questions to prompt thinking, discussion and debate:

• Do you allow your horse to contribute to the training / schooling agenda?
• How effective are you in listening to your horse?
• On the agenda how high up do you prioritise your horse’s agenda items? 

Before Meetings

A great chairman will carefully consider the information gathered in order to select appropriate topics in relation to the partnership’s development. Plus structure the agenda to have a flow and still allow the agenda flexibility to respond to views expressed during the meeting.

Questions to prompt thinking, discussion and debate:

• Before you start training or schooling with your horse do you have a planned agenda?
• Are you aware of how the partnership with your horse has developed?
• How each session can have flow from one to another?
• Are you flexible enough to allow your horse to change the agenda? 

At the Meeting

A chairman will review and recap with all attending on the previous meeting by recapping on the minutes, encourage feedback, evaluation and check that all is correct before moving forward.    

Questions to prompt thinking, discussion and debate:

• At the start of your training / schooling session do you review with your horse previous progress from the previous sessions?
• Do you look for feedback from your horse?
• Do you check your and your horse’s knowledge is correct before moving onto your planned agenda?  

At the Meeting

A great chairman will guide participation from all at the meeting. By encouraging input, sharing of information, with open communication, expression of view points on agenda items. A chairman will also question, probe, with the aim to stimulate all in discussion and debate. Encourage collective reviewing the collected information to pull together conclusions and for future action. The chairman will guide and steer attendees at the meeting through the agenda items to keep the meeting on track.  

Questions to prompt thinking, discussion and debate:

• Are you able to guide your horse through the agenda items while encouraging your horse to communicate his opinions and views?
• How effectively do you listen to your horse and understand him?
• Do you see agenda items / training sessions as an opportunity to explore with your horse finding answers to questions through open discussion and debate with your horse?
• Do you take on board your horse’s input?
• Are you able to review the session to shape up future action? 
• How do you use your horse’s input to shape future sessions?
• Are you stepping up to the role of a good chairman to keep the meeting on track? Or do you hand this responsibility over to your horse? 

At the Meeting

A great chairman will always make sure actions for the future are listed with who is responsible. They leave space for any other business and note items to be taken forward to the next meeting. A chairman will always appreciate, acknowledge and thank participation. And set the date for the next meeting.  

Questions to prompt thinking, discussion and debate:

• Are you aware of what actions arise out of training / schooling sessions?
• And who is responsible for achievement of these actions? And how?
• Do you leave space for your horse for any other business?
• Do you note any future agenda items that have arisen with your horse?
• Has your horse been appreciated for his contributions?
• Do you acknowledge and thank your horse?
• Do you plan ahead your next schooling / training session? 

After the Meeting

A great chairman will evaluate the minutes, circulate minutes to participants and be open to feedback. Then the cycle begins again, a new agenda can be put together for the next meeting. 

Do you spend time to evaluate your training / schooling sessions?

• After the session do you work with your horse to reflect / practice what you have learnt / achieved? (Go over the minutes together)
• Are you open to feedback from your horse?
• Do you find yourself struggling to move forward?
• Are you open minded and willing to try different approaches? 

We all own horses for different reasons. It doesn’t make one reason right and another wrong. However the equine world is a tricky place to thrive if your equine dream is different to those around you. I often hear how people suffer peer pressure to be doing stuff with their horses that isn’t their bag. They feel uncomfortable and struggle to justify what they want to get out of horse ownership. Some feel guilt for not wanting to engage in traditional equine activities, riding, driving, dressage, jumping, hacking etc…. Others feel judged by the horsey people around them. A few have been led to believe they are letting their horse down by not conforming. As a result of this pressure, more than once, I have had people tell me they have considered selling their horse. This is when I ask them fundamental questions – Why did you decide to get a horse? What do you love about horse ownership? Then they reflect on their very personal reasons for getting a horse and their personal equine dream.

No horse is born with tack. Equestrianism is a human agenda. When I say to clients a horse won’t miss being ridden, some are surprized. What horses may miss is meaningful, rewarding interactions with their humans. For me what matters are permissive, empathetic and ethical interactions; with no compromise on physical and emotional welfare. This topic is vast, and often a hot bed for passionate debate. Some folk’s thinking maybe entrenched in a particular direction which is opposite to your direction. Each of us is on our own personal journey. What should fuel us all is the constant desire to learn and evolve. For me it is the pursuit of finding a better, kinder and gentler way and never losing sight that the only opinion that matters is that of the horse. This opens the door to interactions and activities that mutually you and your horse enjoy. So yes, with this outlook it is ok to own horses for other reasons than mainstream equestrianism. 

The relationship between a horse and human can be magical. For so many of us it is the number one reason we own horses. Horses offer us the opportunity to connect mentally, spiritually and physically. What horses need from us make us better people. Horses need us to listen to understand, be trustworthy, respectful and engage in a relationship that provides safety. Horses are highly attuned to our emotional feelings and energy. To engage in a meaningful relationship with a horse they desire us to be in a calm balanced energy. Being calm and relaxed is the polar opposite to stressed and anxious. Too many people lead fast paced and stressful lives, being with a horse provides opportunities for our emotional wellbeing. They see if we are masking issues and our incongruence rattles them. They reflect to us the issues we need to address from within. Horsemanship is a journey of self-development.  Horses have the ability to influence us in profound life changing ways. Horses are amazing teachers and healers. Importantly we all crave love and affection and horsemanship can provide mutual unconditional love. Horses have the drive to pair bond and form lifelong bonds, as do humans. People will often have lifetime bond with their horse that outlasts those with other people. Horse ownership provides us with stability in an uncertain world, consistency, a routine, something to look forward to each day. Owning a horse can be therapeutic and for some life changing.  

Caring for a horse keeps us physically active. Day to day care of a horse requires you to keep moving and to burn calories. Wheel barrows of muck, lifting hay, filling water buckets, carrying equipment, etc… Exercise is essential for bone and muscle health. Like me if you are getting on, strong bones are the best defence against osteoporosis. Exercise is good for digestion, something as simple as walking with our horse stimulates our internal organs. Being outdoors, when the sun is shining is great way of getting natural vitamin d, something that many of the population is deficient in. Engaging in some fun, physical exercise has been proven scientifically to reduce stress as the feel good as hormones such a serotonin and dopamine are released. 

Horsemanship is a bridge to cross the species divide. True horsemanship is dialogue, a partnership with so many benefits. Listen to your horse, together you can grow in confidence by engaging in fun and rewarding activities. Horses have the ability to shape our character as horses love to pose us questions. You learn about looking at problems from outside your own perspective. You get creative about solutions. They teach us to listen to understand, with patience and commitment. True horsemanship is taking on the full responsibility of care, being prepared to make hard and difficult decisions, putting aside our own selfish wishes and desires. Horses also give us opportunities to practice just being, not doing, to slow down, relax and live more peacefully. Horses provide us with social opportunities, we meet like-minded people with a shared passion and lifelong friendships develop. The benefits list goes on and on….      

I know plenty of people who have chosen not to ride and own horses for lots of other reasons. Non mainstream horse owners have not failed their horses and often peer pressure makes them feel guilty. They are not eccentrics; mavericks maybe. They should not have to justify the value of owning their horse. Their horses are not pasture ornaments that they have little or no interaction with. These horses have rich rewarding lives, with plenty of meaningful and rewarding stimulation, with shared fun adventures. They are part of a family, loved, treasured and cherished. These people deeply connect with their equines. Horses can be soul companions and earth angels that give us so much for so little in return. Horses as pets, friends, companions? Why not?  

I often get asked to solve mounting issues. To cover mounting issues in depth is a book. Here in this interactive article I offer some insights, ideas, practical advice to prompt re-thinking your approach, encourage debate and discussion.   

Firstly ensure your horse is healthy, physically comfortable and emotionally balanced. Regularly run your hands over your horse feeling for changes in heat, muscle texture, lumps and bumps and pain response. Watch how your horse moves and stands. Objection to being groomed and tacked up is another warning. Any health concerns should be checked by a vet. Invest in regular good foot balance and dental care. The saddle and bridle should be professionally fitted and regularly checked.  

With emotional balance, you can’t convince me horses are not emotional. An emotionally unbalanced horse is at least unhappy, at worst emotionally traumatized and dangerous. A horse that is lacking these basic baselines has a right to say no to being ridden. What is easy to read is the horse saying no, listen! For a horse to travel from an emotional no it has to travel through a lot of maybe to get to yes.  

Solving the problem starts with understanding why. Here are some examples:- Fear, anxiety, stress, a memory of pain, confusion, poor training, negative past experiences, nervous rider, lack of trust, poor partnership bond, lack of respectful leadership, no investment in quality time from the human with the horse, the horse sees being ridden as un-enjoyable, boring, drilling, or is ridden badly.…the list goes on…. Resistance is communication, observe and listen carefully.  Ask why the horse objects. Horsemanship is equine empathy and compassion to truly see the horse’s view point. Treat each horse as an individual. Take into account their character and personality, life experiences and levels of training etc. Half the picture is the horse the other half is the human. A huge element is the equine and human partnership and quality of the relationship. The training will depend on how best to help that individual partnership. One size does not fit all.  

Emotionally unbalanced horses are complex. A few of them allow the rider to mount but then shoot forwards or explode. Other horses refuse or object to be mounted. Equine empathy allows you to read and understand fear and emotion. The intent must shift from mounting. Shift the intent to helping the horse to be balanced emotionally. Go at the pace your horse can cope with. Use a graded approach and retreat technique reinforced with targeted rewards. Allow the horse time to learn and reflect that things are ok. He must learn there is nothing to fear. Horsemanship is about building a strong relationship and confidence. An emotional, tense, anxious horse cannot effectively learn. Teach your horse to be calm and relaxed. Focus on slowing your breathing, lower your energy and be the safe still eye in the storm. Take time to show your horse it can relax before introducing relaxing by the mounting block. Reward the horse for being calm. Take each step slowly reading how your horse feels.  

Eliminate discomfort, fear and address emotional balance then you can then start mounting training. Horsemanship ground games using positive reinforcement will enable you to request your horse to move in any direction backwards, sideways, forwards to pick up selected hooves and to place. Master this and you can position your horse easily and happily at the mounting block. This must be done ethically with positive reinforcement and the horse will be highly motivated to present and wait at the mounting block. Positive reinforcement is a very useful tool in ignition of motivation in horsemanship. You can read for FREE my series of published articles on Motivation that appeared in Horsemanship Magazine in the resources section of my website.

Mounting block training I make very easy for horse and human to understand. It is as simple as yes or no. So firstly I teach a horse a noise = yes. Most people know this as clicker training. I don’t use a hand held clicker I use a click noise that I can make = yes. As I use this technique when I ride as well as in groundwork, so I don't want to carry a hand held clicker. How to start teaching your horse a noise = yes is to make a chosen yes noise (click) when you are giving a tasty treat. Do this over a number of days / weeks. Then test out if your horse has learnt the click noise = a reward. Stand minding your own business make the noise and if your horse turns his head expectantly towards you looking for a reward your horse has learnt noise = something good. This is an operant conditioning method you can use the noise to mark the desired behaviour which is then followed with reward. This is one positive reinforcement method, there are many more. The horse must first learn the selected bridge noise equals reward (a tasty treat) before you can use it to mark the sought behaviour. The noise must be prompt and precise to mark exactly the desired behaviour followed by the reward. My own experience of using positive reinforcement in horsemanship is that it encourages speedy learning, motivates horses to learn, makes learning fun and enjoyable. I believe training that focuses on positive interactions leads to lasting positive memories in horses and a happier horse usually leads to a happier human too. Research has shown that positive reinforcement training / clicker training method is highly effective. 

So using positive reinforcement in mounting, I call this game the getting warmer or colder game. Here is how to play. What you need is a moveable mounting block ideally a round one so no sharp corners your horse can injure himself on. Place this in a space big enough so your horse can move around it. Stand on the block and don’t get off it. Ask your horse to move into position using your horsemanship ground games to move his feet. If he moves where you want click and treat and let him enjoy the praise and reward. If he moves away use your spare bit of long rope as if was an annoying fly, gently tickle it doesn’t matter which part you tickle. (This is a negative reinforcement, just like the annoying seat belt bleeper in your car to annoy you enough so you choose to do the right thing.) You are doing it to say you are getting colder. Many people try to correct the horse moving away and then can’t reach the quarters that have swung out. Using my technique it matters not which part you tickle the being like an annoying fly is what matters. As soon as the horse moves towards the desired position he is getting warmer so stop tickling, mark, praise and reward your horse. I want the horse to think how do I train the human to quit tickling and annoying me? How do I get the reward?….I know I stand here. Make it very pleasurable to stand by the mounting block, use the mounting block to access your horse’s sweet spots, massage and engage in partnership pair bond scratching. Once your horse has learnt to stand in the correct position, and knows you will reward, you can then move to the next step, pick up your reins as if you are going to mount. Often at this point the horse will move. Repeat the getting colder part of the game, tickle and annoy until the horse moves back into position then stop tickling and reward the horse. Once you can achieve gathering the reins go to put your foot into the stirrup. Again the horse may choose to move, if so return to annoying tickling and when the horse offers to stand correctly reward generously. Then pick up your reins, and place foot in the stirrup. Once your horse stands for this mount, and positively reinforce by a bridge noise and a treat. The treat is only earned by allowing him to be mounted. Then stroll around for a short while and dismount as the lesson for the day was mounting your horse needs time to reflect and absorb the learning. If you want a horse that is highly motivated in regard to mounting, be prepared to have industrial patience, time to repeat this training regularly and use highly perceived rewards. I invest in this training for my own horses, as you can extend the game to include coming over to collect you to mount.     

Some final thoughts: Your horse has the right to say no to being ridden. Is your riding permissive? What is in it for the horse when we ride? Does the horse think being ridden is meaningful, enjoyable, rewarding and fun? What type of partner are you? Calm, confident, positive, thoughtful and communicating sensitively? Get this right and your horse will look forward to being ridden.    

If you want help with mounting issues or any aspect of horsemanship please get in touch.