This is a picture of my husband Keith on Ginger, and his sister Kathy from New York on Cisco, it is her very first horse ride.

After teaching the young horse handling class at Chance Ridge this month I realized that there are three basic kinds of horse handlers. There are those who are "too strict", those who are "too lenient", and those with "proper balance", who read horses well.

The two extremes of "too strict or rough" and "too lenient or easy" are both "horse spoilers". They both get in the way of successful communication with the horse because they are reactive, always playing catch-up. Poor communication is one of the main reasons so many horses today develop bad habits. Spoiling your horse with sugary love won't make him love you more. And treating him in an unfair manner with harsh punishments won't make him respect you more.

To be able to handle a horse well, you must first be able to understand his language so you can listen to him and then provide the appropriate response. Everyone can learn to "read a horse", and should if they are serious about becoming a good horseman. With the ability to "read" the horse you will become a proactive horse handler, only then will your aids be timely and effective. A proactive horseman stays alert in order to head the horse off before problems get out of hand. They give the proper aids at the proper time, therefore they get the proper response and then reinforce the horse with the proper reward. This is good communication which can prevent bad habits from developing.

I think we can narrow the kind of horsemen into two catagories, because we can put the "too strict" and the "too lenient" horse handlers into one catagory and call it the "reactive" horse handlers. Then we will call the second catagory the "proactive" horse handlers.

The "reactive" handlers often end up scolding the horse, which means they missed the opportunity to praise him for doing something well. The horse always ends up feeling wrong. Then both the horse and the handler get upset or even resentful, because there is a lot of "No, don't do that" type of communication instead of "Yes, that is what I asked". Even worse they often wind up in high risk situations for both the horse and the human because they simply wait to long to interrupt bad habits or make fair corrections.

Remember it is easier to do less sooner instead of more later. Letting the problem grow and then trying to outmuscle the horse doesn't work no matter what kind of gadgetry you use. If you can learn to recognize the early symptoms of a problem you can save yourself and your horse a lot of misery.

In order to cure a horse's problems one has to back up and retrain him the way it should have been done in the first place. It is a matter of replacing bad habits with good ones for both the horse and the horse handler. The trouble is that retraining a horse and a person is four or five times harder than doing it right the first time. It isn't just a case of finding more ways of forcing or loving the horse into obedience, it's a case of retraining the handler so his horse can respond better.

If a horse does not respond properly, the handler is doing something wrong, unless there are physical problems that prevent the horse from performing the desired task. If a horse is capable of doing what you ask, it is up to you to ask in such a way that he will do it without resistance.

There is a solution to every problem and it is up to the rider to find a solution that works. Once you discover that most of the answers to your horse's problems is in finding your own mistakes, you are on your way to finding the solutions that will work for you and your horse.

One of the biggest reasons people end up with problem horses is pride of ownership and lack of knowledge. "When pride rideth in the saddle, destruction rideth on the crupper."(authour unknown) Most horses don't want to be upset, unruly, or unmanageable.

A ""proactive" horseman emphasizes awareness at all times of the environment, the horse, and their own mental, emotional and physical fitness. They encourage the horse to do what they want before he does something they don't want. They are in the habit of staying alert in order to keep the horse doing the "right thing" instead of waiting to correct mistakes after the fact. In other words you get the horse over the notion of doing the wrong things. This makes it possible to reward him and get good results.

A "proactive" handler also has become the "boss hoss" by staying in control of the horse's basic movments. Without a herd structure, horses are insecure. Control doesn't mean winning physical confrontations. It means knowing how to time our signals in order to avoid them. Respect and trust are a byproduct of this kind of judicial control. By controlling the horse without hurting or bribing him we prove ourselves worthy of trust and respect.

Mutual trust and respect between horse and rider is very important. It is very difficult to establish if you are "too strict" or "too lenient". By developing a "balanced approach" the habit of obedience becomes natural.

Happy Trails,
Sherry Jarvis
www.heartinyourhand.com