5.

Trusting Geo more, I move closer as I would when giving him a bath. Here I stay near his shoulder and control his nose with a short rein—not tight but short. With my hand on his neck, I can feel the tension in him. If he stays relaxed I keep going. If it feels like tension is building up, then I may move him and start again. By this stage I am insisting he stand quite still. If he needs to move, I would move him back to the spot where I want him to stand.

everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can.” As you watch the horses and people interact, ask yourself, “Does that horse accept and understand what is going on, or is he barely tolerating it?” I’ll bet you’ll find that many more horses are tolerating what’s being asked of them rather than accepting it.

I am happy to report that by helping Geo become confident and to understand and accept what I was asking of him, he has become totally relaxed and cooperative at bath time. By getting past tolerance to acceptance, he has become my trusting partner. Take a look at my lessons with Geo and imagine the many ways you could use this approach, from training a horse to accept the spray from a hose to overcoming other training issues.