Quit Arguing with Me!

Have you ever felt frustrated when your horse resists, braces, pushes, pulls, and fights against you? And what do you do? Probably resist, brace, push, pull and fight against him too!

Some horses, especially more dominant left-brain types are born to argue and if you react by increasing the pressure, they will often fight harder. It’s not so much about the physical as it is a mental battle of wills. While humans are experts at getting mechanical — use a stronger bit, sharper spur, draw reins… let’s look at how to solve this using psychology instead of force.

First, you have to understand the reason the horse is doing this, and in this case, it is a question of dominance: Who is stronger, smarter, or faster? Based on these elements let’s face it, the horse will usually win, even the “smarter” part because they’ve got us embroiled in a physical argument rather than using our intelligence to solve it!

Now you know it is dominance, what do you do?

1. Don’t fight.?You are not going to win and even if you overpower the horse, he’s most likely not going to be better the next day nor have a good opinion of you.
2. Don’t give up.?That’s exactly what your horse wants you to do, submit.
3. Be smarter.?Outsmart him, do something he doesn’t expect such as offer zero brace — give him nothing to brace against… for a moment you go with his idea, and then you do yours.

Here’s how you change it:

The moment you mount and ride off, pay attention to what your horse wants to do. At first, he may be quite amicable and go where you want at the speed you want, but the moment that changes you need to know that he is testing the waters. If he slows down or veers off course, he knows you are going to correct him and that’s all it takes to get the ball rolling for a good arena debate! So… don’t do that. Instead, go with him and encourage his idea for a moment.

When you go with it, you make him the leader, just for a few steps, and then you take back the lead.

Of course, there are various situations where your horse might veer off course, slow down, or speed up, and I show you how to handle all of these scenarios in the full article at?Happy Horse Happy Life.

But what it boils down to is…

If you have a horse like this, learn to do the opposite and prepare to be amazed. I must warn you though, this is VERY hard for us human beings to do, mainly because it’s the opposite of what we feel like doing. This is the secret of horse psychology… it’s the opposite of the thought process natural to humans.

All of these techniques and more can be found in my new Happy Horse Curriculum — How To Talk Horse at?www.howtotalkhorse.com