BEGINNING THE DANCE

As a teen, I would daydream about riding my horse. We would be one unit, my horse would be light and expressive, we were dancing. I pursued my dreams with the idea that if I tried hard enough and remained dedicated, one day my horse would respond elegantly and effortlessly to my invisible aids. Years went by and I had many successes, but the dream of dancing eluded me.

I still remain committed to my dream. The images of youth are still only in my mind, but there are now hints that the dance has begun. My riding is improving, but a clearer explanation of what I mean by dancing is the work in hand.

Imagine taking your horse’s reins in one hand at the withers and guiding him to walk, trot canter, shoulder in and half pass; all these movements and more created solely through how you place yourself to guide him.

I am rediscovering work in hand with my horses. With two young horses in their training, I am finding work in hand to be an opportunity to learn more about their personalities and their preferences away from their initial under saddle experiences. Working side by side gives you a different perspective of your horse and his movements, much different than that of riding. In hand work provides a “clean slate” in which to explore new approaches to working with your horse resulting in more options for enhanced communication and cooperation and perhaps an exploration on how to begin to dance with your horse.

I recall the beginning process of the work in hand with my horse Irish. Irish definitely had his opinions about when he wanted to go out. He was extremely difficult to hang onto from his stall to his pasture and we parted company many times. At the time, I was unaware that I didn’t need to learn to hang onto him, but instead I had to wait for him to decide to stay with me.

My first attempts at working him with a bridle with the reins in one hand on his wither were extremely frustrating. He wanted to go at whatever speed and I simply hung onto his mouth. After about a week, with an aching arm, I was ready to declare defeat when something happened. I am uncertain what transpired, but Irish suddenly became light, followed my cues to move through turns and stayed next to me at the trot. Being a Thoroughbred, he of course had a wicked sense of humor and thought it was the funniest thing to have his person working right beside him. Turnout time was now a pleasure.

Even days that he absolutely needed to be out ten minutes prior, giving him the option of trotting as high as he liked was all the compromise he needed to hang out with me. Irish became quite good at this work and did all the lateral work at the walk and trot. He even learned canter with me beside him. He would occasionally offer the canter from the trot and I did not want to discourage him. From there he learned to canter on cue.

What I learned from my first experience of working a horse with the restraint of the reins gathered in one hand on the wither and a whip to help guide the horse was profound. It challenged me to seek cooperation from my equine partner.

Presently, my new horse, Dan an OTTB with energy to spare and the baggage from the handling at the track has begun his work in hand. He finds the solution of any perceived challenge to stand on his hind feet and box at the challenge with his front hooves. His playful nature creates a desire to utilize his teeth to grab anything in his environment that strikes his fancy.

Initially I found myself correcting him constantly. I quickly realized I had to turn the situation around to find a way to communicate with positive reinforcement. I carefully began by placing him in situations without too much stimulation thus avoiding behaviors that could quickly get out of hand. I was amazed how quickly he became intrigued with the work in hand.

Starting with a halter and lead, I used my body position to help guide him. Turning left was simple. Developing the communication to turn right provided me a wonderful learning experience. I first began by suggesting a turn when I felt his placement provided a successful opportunity and many times I started a turn only to find that the only way to complete a turn would have required physically pushing him in the desired direction. Instead I followed him where he wanted to go and waited for the next opportunity. At the end of the first day we completed several turns to the right simply by placing my shoulder in the direction of the turn.

Day two was even more successful. Dan quickly realized my attempts to communicate with him and right turns began to happen fairly quickly in the session. Within minutes we were turning in small figure eights.

Now I must bring to your attention that most the time Dan was also extremely interested in playing a game of grab the lead rope and tug. Those attempts to draw me off topic were ignored and I continued on the topic of communicating through my body position. Near the end of our work together I placed the bridle on him and we continued the turning right and left.

The third day Dan was insisting on playing his game of tug and now with a lead and the reins he had lots of lines to help express his desire. He would flex his nose to his chest to get a hold of the lead rope or a rein. If I tried to pull it out, he would keep it clamped in his front teeth and we would be engaged in HIS game of tug-what fun! If I proceeded to ignore his continued attempts to engage in play, he would start to chew on the rein/lead and I was able to thread the line out of his mouth. All the while I remained on task and asked for his cooperation in turning. Many times he chose to forget his lessons learned preiously and I had to go with him, staying to the left. My mind was still attentive for his cooperation and we completed the day with many turns in both directions and with a suspension of the tug game.

My other horse, River, being of the feminine persuasion, is very intelligent and very independent. Her free will often overrides her desire to work with me and I look for any opportunity to help her realize perhaps there can be joy in working with her person. For her, turning right was simple. I had the same strategy, go with the offered pattern and be open to opportunities for turns in the less desired direction. I had to wait through a couple of mini tantrums, her way of expressing there were other more enjoyable equine pursuits on her mind. Eventually she found it wasn’t too much effort to comply with my requests and both directions became simple.

The difference between my first attempts with Irish and other horses and now with Dan and River is my intention. With Dan and River my intention was not to turn both directions, but to create the communication necessary to allow the turn to happen with the lightest of aids. Previously, my focus was to make the turn (or other movement) happen at the cost of allowing my partner the opportunity to learn with slightest aids.

It never ceases to amaze me how the horse will stay with me along side. There are many opportunities to part company and find amusement in having their person running after them. On the third day, Dan shied. He scooted around me when he could have run over me and when he was at the end of the lead, turned and faced me. Typically, this provided the situation where he would chose to go up on his hind legs. Instead he hopped up only ten or so inches and quickly quieted down. We calmly went back to work like nothing happened.