WHEN IT DOESN’T GO TO PLAN
I don’t like the term ‘resistances’ as I prefer to think of them as the horse experimenting. What is critical is how you respond when your horse experiments, and your timing.
When your horse adopts a behaviour, action or outline you don’t want, you need to challenge your assumptions and ask yourself what has triggered him to do this. There are two probable reasons:
1 A PHYSICAL TRIGGER
This could be the sensation of pressure on the bit via the reins, or the movement or weight of the rider on your horse’s back. Horses will experiment by randomly testing out various positions of their head and neck to find out which action or position results in less rein pressure. So, if you want horses to learn, or remind themselves of these consequences, it’s okay for him to experiment but remember that it’s what you do or don’t do in response that determines whether he will keep repeating it.
2 AN EXTERNAL TRIGGER
This could be something like a horse being turned out in the field next to the arena where you’re riding. This is your horse using his flight instinct — his brain has sent a chemical signal to his muscles to lift his neck to get a better look at what’s concerning him, and to increase his hearing in order to better assess the situation and any potential danger.
With experience you can diagnose the cause when your horse varies his posture. The crucial thing is to figure out if your horse is experiencing reward by your leg, rein or seat pressure reducing. It is all about the actions and consequences. In other words, it’s about what the horse experiences in terms of maintenance or release of pressure when he adopts certain neck positions. It is down to you to be consistent so he discovers a pattern to these and selects actions accordingly.
For example, if you take your leg off or pat him too many times when he adopts an undesired action, then you are increasing the probability of him repeating it. Conversely, if you learn to minimise leg or rein pressure when he selects a desired action, then the memory of that will become embedded and there is more likelihood of him choosing that action or posture. The timing and the reduction of leg, rein and seat pressure increases probability of both desired and undesired posture.
This principle is what we need to be very clear about as it is how horses learn and think, and is fundamental to training and influencing horse posture, biomechanics and behaviour.