Off this afternoon to a client with four horses with different issues to look at. Fortunately she had a clear idea of her priorities. Accordingly, we started off with her four year old mare who has a tendency to invade space, worries about leaving her field and can be awkward about picking up her feet and accepting water on her body. Each one of these things had an initial cause ranging from having an injury to just natural behaviour. All of them have the same simple solution - gentle pressure and release/reward. The hardest bit is working out what is the pressure and what is the release and how can I find the quickest release so that the horse doesn't feel it has to find it's own release?
For standing still the release is to leave the horse alone and not keep invading her space other than to give her a lovely rewarding rub.
For leaving the field it is taking her back again.
For the feet it is giving the horse her foot back and giving that leg a lovely rub.
For the water, since you can't take the water away again, giving the horse a lovely rub when she stands still in order to rub the sensation of the water away.
"I would just like to say 'thank you' again for today. I had a lovely day,
it is a pleasure to watch you work, to learn from you and be inspired by you. It
was amazing to see the the fear and confusion in Jasmine's eye, while she tried
to kneel on you, change in just a minute or two to falling asleep while you held
her foot in the air! You work like magic." TP (assistant and photographer for the afternoon).
"It's really given me the boost I needed..." VD
