Dry Rot
Well-Known Member
No, not anthromorphising, nor even natural horsemanship, but simply interpreting horse body language.
Because I'm old, I get the help of young people to do the energetic stuff like riding. The fun stuff, like training from the ground, I like to get involved in.
I have the help of a very good young rider at the moment who has college qualifications. I suspect she hasn't had a lot to do with starting youngsters which is not a critcism as she is great with the ponies, just misses out on some things that are obvious to me. I suspect this comes from not being very good at reading a horse's body language. Do they even teach this in college?
I have been around livestock all my life and hardly even think about it, as I'm sure will be the case for most reading this. But if you didn't know, how would you learn? Are there any good videos out there? Another blind spot is understanding how a behaviour 'works' -- but that is not uncommon! Surely, if you don't understand the mechanics of pressure-and-release, how do you teach a foal to lead? Most behaviour patterns in a nut shell work on the same principles, something motivates a behaviour, which is then rewarded, so the behaviour gets repeated.
This is a serious question. The poor girl was so frustrated yesterday that she collapsed into tears with the remark, "But you make it look so easy and I just can't do it!" I keep telling her that it IS easy once she understand the nuts and bolts. The trouble is, I can identify with that frustration because I go through the exact same mental blockage filling up some damned government form or trying to use a new piece of software!!!
HELP!!!
Because I'm old, I get the help of young people to do the energetic stuff like riding. The fun stuff, like training from the ground, I like to get involved in.
I have the help of a very good young rider at the moment who has college qualifications. I suspect she hasn't had a lot to do with starting youngsters which is not a critcism as she is great with the ponies, just misses out on some things that are obvious to me. I suspect this comes from not being very good at reading a horse's body language. Do they even teach this in college?
I have been around livestock all my life and hardly even think about it, as I'm sure will be the case for most reading this. But if you didn't know, how would you learn? Are there any good videos out there? Another blind spot is understanding how a behaviour 'works' -- but that is not uncommon! Surely, if you don't understand the mechanics of pressure-and-release, how do you teach a foal to lead? Most behaviour patterns in a nut shell work on the same principles, something motivates a behaviour, which is then rewarded, so the behaviour gets repeated.
This is a serious question. The poor girl was so frustrated yesterday that she collapsed into tears with the remark, "But you make it look so easy and I just can't do it!" I keep telling her that it IS easy once she understand the nuts and bolts. The trouble is, I can identify with that frustration because I go through the exact same mental blockage filling up some damned government form or trying to use a new piece of software!!!
HELP!!!