When horses feel safe, comfortable and have enough food and water to sustain them, their next need is stimulation. Your horse needs to be stimulated both physically and mentally on a daily basis. As with many other things when working with horses, you need to balance between the mental and the physical. You have to keep things interesting for your horse mentally and provide enough physical activity to keep him satisfied. One of my mentors, Gordon McKinlay, once told me that horses need three things – long rides, wet saddle pads and concentrated training – in even doses. When those three elements are balanced, your horse benefits

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Comment by Geoffrey Pannell on February 14, 2010 at 5:51am
Back again, think about that last sentence. We ask the horse to go forward by leg pressure( sometimes we spit in their ear). When IT RESPONDS AS WE WANT , we EASE THE PRESSURE. To slow a horse we all use prehaps a little different aids (or helps as a far better horseman than me has suggested) but the pressure is released when it responds. So , we ask with the application of some form of pressure, when the horse responds we stop the pressure--- the reward of serenity.

This also means that a precondition to all training sessions is that all the basic needs of the horse are satisfied:

So I think that your comment that the horse NEEDS stimulation is somewhat mis-guided. I do agree that we must balance the mental and physical, but I feel stimulation is the wrong word and sends the wrong message.
It sends the message that we must , for the health and well-being of the animal, be continually amping up the training sessions each day. While this may be OK for some of the less sensitive breeds, it tends to burn-out the more sensitive horses. The old too much too soon syndrome. What is happening to these horses is simply the need for safety not being met. In saying we need to stimulate our horses on a daily basis, we run the real risk of kicking in the flight &or fight response . We all know this is an autonomonic nervous response under the influence of the hormone adrenalin. The horse doesn't really think about what it is doing . Further more , the more people think that they must see that the horse needs stimulation ,the more likely horses are going to be put under more pressure to respond quicker to the aids/helps (eg whips and spurs, to 'sharpen' the response). Therefore creating a more and more impationtant rider, and so starts the viscious cycle.

I do look forward to other people's ideas on this interesting blog, I'm allways eager to listen to differing points of view . Cheers Geoffrey
PS Always good to see a fellow AUSSIE doing well OS
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Comment by Geoffrey Pannell on February 14, 2010 at 5:08am
Hi Clinton, I find it interesting that you would say that a horse NEEDS stimulation. If we look at the psychologist WH Maslow's , the drives of man can be grouped into five different cateogaries

- PHYSIOLOGICAL- based on bodily needs( eg hunger, thirst, sleep , etc.)
- SAFETY- based on the need to feel safe and secure
-SOCIOLOGICAL-based on the need to be accepted by a sotial group and to react with members of that group
-SEXUAL- the need to attract the opposite sex and to procreate( although this need not be the opposite sex!! )
-ACHIEVEMENT- the need to achieve goals, simply for the sake of achieving these goals.

.The drives of man exert their influences in a hierarchical manner .
If more than one need is present at the same time, a more basic need will overpower the higher need(eg the need to eat is stronger than the need to have friends and the need for safety will overpower the need to achieve). Therefore, if a higher need is to influence behaviour then all the more basic needs must be met first.
Applying Maslow to horses
The 'need to achieve' or 'will power' is uniquely human and does not apply to horses. It seems to me that the highest need of horses is 'serenity', the need to be left in peace. In virtually all training situations we appeal to the horses need for serenity.

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