OBSERVATION AWARENESS

One, which is intention (your determination to act a certain way) alone without much movement at all. Level Two volume adds motion to intention. Level Three adds movement toward the horse and may include touch. Level Four volume is most intense, including the largest of gestures in any given situation. Another way to look at this is to consider the five phases of physical movement or volume as: Calm, Thinking, Asking, Telling and Insisting. Remember, this is not about training---just about language. Different intensities of movement are the adjectives in Horse Speak.

Your goal is to habitually return to Outer Zero no matter what level of intensity has been used for any exercise or conversation. But ceasing intention, motion, gesture or touch (“turning down” the volume) is the hardest thing for any of us to learn. If you practiced nothing but returning to Inner and Outer Zero whenever and wherever it might be necessary, many of your problems with your horse would melt away. Horses let go of stress and effort more easily than humans do. We tend to relive an emotional charge long after the incident is over. Zero can help change this.

AND

A horse communicates by using his entire body. Humans call this “body language.” As already mentioned, we see this kinesthetic language both in the smallest of twitches as well as in grand movements, postures and positions. Some of the body language I’ll discuss in the pages ahead includes an amazing variety of breaths, facial expressions, tail swishes and angles at which a horse holds himself. Everything horses do, even when standing still, means something to other horses.

Becoming aware of Horse Speak is pretty simple, really. You just need to pay attention whenever you are with your horse. Since horse language is predominately visual, horses watch each other closely even when it doesn’t seem like they are doing much of anything. Horses are always watching you closely, as well, when you are with them. So plan to become like horses when you watch them. Simple observation makes your horse more interested in you because you are showing him you are interested in him.

Horses communicate with us all the time in ways so subtle we don’t notice much of it. For example, you may throw hay out at feeding time, then head back to the house to get ready for work. How many of you glance back and notice that one ear of every horse is still on you, even though they are eating and you are walking away? What is so important about a tiny thing like this? It is the kind of thing horses do with each other. All movements in a herd are noticed. Over time and with practice you’ll learn to notice every little thing, too.

Just mucking out stalls? Observe your horse as closely as you can as you work around him. Turning your horse out with buddies? Watch to see when and how the horses interact with each other. Gazing out the window at the herd in the pasture? Notice what they are doing, how they are moving. As you learn more about their language, you’ll realize a lot is going on even