Most people when they hear the word discipline immediately think punishment. This is not the definition of discipline. According to the Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language the 1st definition of discipline as a verb is: To instruct or educate; to inform the mind; to prepare by instructing in correct principles and habits; as, to discipline youth[or in our case horse] for a profession, or for future usefulness.
I'm warning you, I'll bite!!
While working your horse if they insist on moving backwards when you ask them to step aside from you, simply continue to ask your horse to step aside from you. You may need to tap your horse with the end of your lead or with your stick. If a tap doesn’t work then you need to “bite” them with it.
What I mean by a bite is a quick hard whack with your lead or training stick. It isn’t a series of whacks, but just one. If they still don’t respond, which usually is not the case, go back to one more warning and then “bite” them again until you get a response. If they move, but don’t give you the response you were looking for, keep the pressure of your cue going until they move in the desired direction. Remember, we’re not looking for perfection at this stage, but effort. Reward the effort of moving in the right direction. This is building a foundation and this is discipline.
If your horse is persistently backing away from you in what appears to be fear rathere than move aside laterally, then pull on the lead to encourage your horse to stop moving backwards. It can be difficult to juggle everything at this point and that’s okay. If the horse moving backwards is keeping you from your goal of getting their feet to move in the desired direction then you may need to focus on letting your horse know you don’t want them to leave, but to move aside. If this is the case, keep pressure on the lead until your horse steps towards you and then reward them.
If your horse moves forward when you ask him to step away from you then you need to block them from moving forward. You can block them by pulling on the lead to stop the forward movement. Sometimes you need to get stronger with your block and turn it into a correction of behavior. This may be a strong pull towards you or it could escalate into a yank on the lead several times if they insist on pushing forward.
Don't correct respect, know what your horse is saying.
I want you to understand why I will correct a horse for moving forward but not for moving backwards. Horses move backwards only out of respect or a healthy fear of another. Your horse moving backwards away from you is a sign of respect, I will not correct it, but if the horse keeps moving backwards from me without stepping aside when asked I will “bite” them with my rope until they step aside.
Here is the catch; you have to be very watchful of your horse’s movement because if they are struggling with figuring out to move aside you need to reward their effort, not perfection as mentioned before. So if my horse is continually backing away from me and I have bitten him several times I will release all pressure of my cues as soon as he even shifts his weight to the right side (when working on the left side and vice-versa from the right side) and rub their neck and “sing their praises”.
After that, give your horse a break and do something else that they enjoy and that easily comes to them. It may be as simple as just walking around for a minute or two. I will then revisit moving the feet away from me when asked again and it will usually come much quicker. After they get it the second time I will be done working on the that side and move to the other side repeating everything.
Keep in mind that horses are not able to connect their left side to their right side mentally so when you switch sides you’re training a whole different horse. Be patient with them, it will come. Horses will be stronger on one side than the other, and they are usually stronger on the left for reasons we talked about in Groundwork: The Short and Skinny on it.
If you have a particularly “thick” headed horse their first response might be to just shift weight from the leg near you to the one opposite. This is okay, reward it and build on that until they begin to step over. From there you start with one step and build to two steps.
The Reward
You may be asking what their “reward” for correct response is. It is simply a release of asking or pressure. Just like the alpha horse in the herd will drive and push a horse until it does what it wants it to do the alpha will let it know that by releasing the pressure.
Do our horses like affection? Most do. If you watch a herd of horses they will groom and scratch each other. I have several horses in the barn that have their sweet spots. Those spots that when you rub, scratch or curry they get into it. This works well as an end of training session for these horses.
Then I have some horses in the barn that could care less if you pay any attention to them. These are the horses that thrive most on the simple release of pressure of asking and physical reward can sometimes irritate theses horses. This is where the true horsemen shine because they know their horses. Do you know your horse?
Here, working with this little dun mare, I have the pressure on to move as I step towards her. As a reward for doing the right thing I stop moving, which can be reward enough, but to emphasize it and get her brain engaged in what we just did I stroke her neck. She gave me a nice response with lowering her head and I did get a lick and chew from her.
Do not be stiff-necked...
“Do not be stiff-necked, as your ancestors were; submit to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which He has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that His fierce anger will turn away from you.” 2 Chronicles 30:8
Seem like harsh words being spoken to Israel by their King Hezekiah? Sure, but aren’t these the same words we are speaking to our horses? I think so.
The term “stiff-necked” is not one that Hezekiah came up with himself, God originated this description of His people clear back in Exodus and referred to the people of Israel in this way several times. If you are not familiar with the story of the people of Israel I urge you to read the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy to gain insight into this. I find a blessing every time I do.
This term didn’t stand out to me until this last time I read the books of the Law. I looked up “stiff-necked” and it is actually two words from the original Hebrew with the first meaning: hard, cruel, obstinate, and stubborn; and the second: neck. Why would the loving God of Israel use such a harsh term for his people? Then I thought about it a bit and a certain horse we had in our herd at that time came to mind. He was very stiff-necked, not wanting to bend to the left or the right and he just wanted to go his own way. We have all come across at least one, perhaps it’s the one you have now. This is how God sees us in our hearts.
In Deuteronomy 10:16 Moses tells Israel to “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” We say this same thing to our horses, “put aside your stubbornness”. This is what Moses was saying and it’s a message that is still good for today. The Lord knows I need to remember this daily!
“Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.”
2 Chronicles 30:8b
These are not harsh words, these are words of love. This is what God is calling us to daily just as we are asking our horse daily: “Submit to me, and I will release the pressure”. This is an act of love from both us and our Creator. Have you yielded to Him?
If you have any questions after reading or trying any of the exercises I have described feel free to comment or e-mail me through my contact link at the top of the page. I am happy to help clarify anything. Hearing your success with these exercises and information is always great too!
Blessings, Greta
All photos courtesy of Jolyne Crossett. Please do not use or copy without permission.