You will have many opportunities to earn the deep respect of your horse as you train him. A horse’s world is herds, with leaders and followers; and when training your target is to consolidate your position as the well regarded leader in your horse’s world.

Without even pondering it, horses obey their herd instincts. They follow the dominant Alpha presence in the herd and carry over these instincts to their dealings with humans. If you are able to build your predominance from the first day, your horse will follow you eagerly as long as you show the cardinal virtue of giving and earning respect. The esteem that you get will reflect itself in all of your dealings with your horse, beginning with your groundwork coaching. Be certain about one thing: if your horse does not respect you while your feet are on the ground, he won’t respect you with your feet in the stirrups.

And be aware of another thing: ‘He who blinks first loses’

It’s a rather contrary part of the pony nature that he is ever willing to take advantage if given an opening. If he senses any weakness in you at all, he will try to snow ball you. You can’t afford to let the tiniest of his transgressions remain unseen; while it’s not required for you to hurt him in the corporal sense, you definitely have to let your disaffection be known. You can’t teach him effectively unless he’s fully acquainted with and accepts the fact that you are the leader.

Getting into the middle of it

– Make sure you train in an area with heaps of open space. A pen is fine for the purposes. The area should have a completely flat ground surface freed from stumbling blocks, litter and diversions; ensure there’s very little around that may compromise safety.

– Both tutor and trainee should be in a positive mindset, and the rapport between them should have been well established.

– Be aware of the subtleties of ineffective communication with your horse. Your body language, vocal signals and even unconscious minor motions can send across any quantity of signals. You don’t wish to signal that you are nervous or uncertain in any way in any way. Make sure you know where you want to be in relation to your pony, speaking in physical terms. Know where to exert pressure to get the horse to respond. Props like whips or sticks may serve handy purposes, though not for administering bodily punishment. They should be used only as tools for emphasis.

– Reward your horse for everything he does right. Give him all the positive beefing up you can.

– Keep oral cues to the minimum, use body cues as much as possible.

– Learn and gain experience in ‘hooking up’ it is a smart way to make your pony stop and stay rock still at your cue.

– Keep fully connected to your horse’s signals. Be sensitive to whatever he’s attempting to convey, if it is joy, trouble or exhaustion, if he is signalling boredom or fatigue, stop the training. It is always possible to continue another time.

Your horse may consider ground work to be a sort of play with you. Go along with him to the extent it doesn’t negatively affect the efficiency of your coaching. Leading him just a bit in his playfulness will essentially pay off, as long as you don’t allow it to go too far.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers read more