In Whole Heart, Whole Horse , through stories about his days as a kid working for the “Old Man” as well as people he’s met through years of doing clinics, Marks brings the process of building trust between the horse and rider to life. As is typical for Mark’s books, this is not a ‘how-to’ book. Having tried to write something of a how-to book I can appreciate his desire to avoid that. So instead he focuses on our attitude and though processes which I know have a huge impact on our success (or lack thereof) with horses.
Mark sold me [more...]
I’ve been working with a new horse recently. It has been so interesting because it has given me a chance to really think about what I click for in the beginning, especially when the horse isn’t “with me”. I wanted to write it down while it was still fresh.
This mare is 10 years old, and pretty set in her ways of bracing and leaving when she is uncertain.
The first session I spent just getting to know her in the stall and turning her on to c/t. She got it pretty quick.
Next session in the round pen she [more...]
The English language has just 26 letters. And out of those letters we can express an infinite number of ideas once we learn how to string those letters together into words and sentences. We begin that process as children, first learning A-B-C’s. Initially we have no idea what the point of all those shapes and sounds might be. According to my friend, Heather, who did her doctoral thesis on childhood language development, there is an ah-ha moment for the child when he or she realizes that there is a correlation between the shapes, sounds, and words.
I [more...]
Having been to numerous shows and clinics I am often struck by how willing people are to put up with problems (like tension, resistance, taking off, bucking) with their horse as if there is nothing that can be done about them. I really do think that the reason this happens is because people simply aren’t even aware that things could or should be better. I mean if a person knew it was reasonable to expect the horse to be calm and focused wouldn’t they be doing something about it? Sometimes the horse is young and the [more...]
Every day I am reminded again and again how every little thing counts to the horse. Horses want to get along with us. They are watching us closely for signs of meaning behind the things that we do. Right or wrong doesn’t enter into it. In fact, it is safe to go by the assumption that the horse is always Right. When I say that I mean we can be sure that from their point of view their actions make complete sense based on what we did. So, if we want a change in [more...]
