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 This exploration can be fun and innovative for everyone. I have been exploring a way of developing a mutually consenting relationship with my horses which is workable and viable. I wanted to explore a peer based relationship instead of a traditional dominant based, hierarchichal one. By doing this, I have discovered a way of training with the horses that is dynamic and fun and a source of real 'soul food' for both of us!
My traditional horse training background has meant that there has been much to learn and much to unlearn! Old habits of pressure and coercion die hard and discovering new ideas about behaviour, learning and reinforcements opens up a whole new world of understanding and experimentation.
Motivated by a personal wish to have the capacity to explore an 'energetic dialogue through movement' I realised that this must be as two beings exercising their choice to engage with one another in play.
Trust and communication are key, along with creating a language whereby we can both understand each other's wants. For me, this has forged a whole new way of being around horses, changed daily expectations and shaped future aspirations! I thereby include and revel in the 'spirit' of the horse into each training session of mind and body and encourage the horse to shape the training.
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 Working with this approach requires a complete paradigm shift of thinking about, understanding, perceiving and way of working with, horses.
I do not say that light-heartedly! When working in this way we have to take into account the individual horse and how they live in their 'family' or herd group on a daily basis, recognise and appreciate equine behaviour, the individual behaviour, their social culture and instinctual behaviour and accomodate that into our daily training.
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Gymnasticising & Rehabilitation |
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One of the major benefits of working with a horse at liberty within a choice based paradigm of training is that the horse is free to stop the training session, not engage with a particular activity it is not comfortable performing today and that the horse can be self-regulating in how he uses his body.
One of the major disadvantages of working a horse with restrictions (i.e. side reins or other training devices) is that the horse can not tell you when he has simply had enough, for whatever reason, which both predisposes him to injury and removes valuable information you might otherwise gain about strengths and weaknesses of the horse's posture and balance.
Of course, this type of training means that the trainer must inspire the horse to learn and that a whole new set of communication principles must be developed between the horse and the trainer, which is time consuming and challenging. However..
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