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Keeping Control of Your Horse

Keeping control of your horse lays in the hands of the trainer not the equipment is used. When approaching training you need to decide what part of your horse you are trying to control. An example is if you horse is moving fast or crowding you, you would want to slow down your horse and not speed it up. The horse would only move faster if you sped up.

Taking each movement or section of the horse will help your horse succeed faster than trying to teach all at the same time. There are four regions to the horse to train to get and keep control; they are the nose, the shoulder, the hip and the emotions. All the regions move in six directions: up, down, forward, back, left and right. To simplify, when we direct the nose in the six different directions but only move the other regions we try to use fewer directions.

When taking control of your horse you should apply pressure at the nose through the lead, muzzle or rein. The control the horse is learning is when you tighten and release the pull on the lead. They will try any move to get the direction correct. When your horse gets it correct you loosen the lead. When they get the direction wrong you tighten the lead. In this process they learn the proper directions through the region of the nose.

When keeping control of the shoulder region, it is best to start on one side or another. The middle fleshy part of your horses should is where you use to train your horse. As you lead your horse you will find you may have to talk into their space. In the same sense you will need to move away from the horse. Watching and using the shoulder to guide the horse will help you lead the horse to where you need to be.

The hip region is an area high on the hipbone of your horse. Getting control of the hip will leave you with control of all movement, to steer and slow down. We create and keep this control by causing an irritation in that specific spot on the hip. Establishing a consistent irritation pattern and timing of release will help you keep the control.

The horse's emotion is the last region. Although we do not really teach emotions to our horse, we use them in a sense to keep control. We use the emotions to sooth and we watch for fear and other emotions to find a way to negotiate a better approach in teaching our horse.

You must always remember having control and keeping control is not to be taken lightly. The horse has built trust in you the same as you have built trust in your horse; also always remember to watch your horse and your surrounding to keep the both of you safe.

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