Turning youngsters away to 'Think'?

Forget_Me_Not

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*I could be being very thick!*

Quite a few people talk about backing youngsters and then turning them about to think about it....Don't get me wrong I can totaly understand turning away to grow and mature but to think?!
Now horses are clever animals but I really cannot see a horse thinking about what he has just been taught....
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I think the term is more 'letting a horse be a horse'. You don't want them to be pushed too much, letting them 'think' means they can chill out without the ridden stress and return to ridden work without a sour attitude.
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Just because a horse is physically mature doesn't mean they are mentally mature enough to be doing serious work.
 
it's just an expression!
i have done this with my 5yo, i bought him unbroken back in july, he has been backed and hacked around and is now out to chill out a little bit, ideal time of year as i don't want to just ride him in the school every night and have him get bored, also he has had alot to deal with in the last 4 months and although physically mature, mentally he is like a 3yo.
 
there is a recognised method of learning called latent learning - Ie learning that is absorbed away from the class room. It's why we can solve problems in our sleep and remember when we wake up. It's why you can spend an hour teaching a horses something which it just doesn't seem to 'get' and then come back to it a couple of days later and it's there.

So turning the young horse away to think is probably effectively a way of saying latent learning
 
[ QUOTE ]
there is a recognised method of learning called latent learning - Ie learning that is absorbed away from the class room. It's why we can solve problems in our sleep and remember when we wake up. It's why you can spend an hour teaching a horses something which it just doesn't seem to 'get' and then come back to it a couple of days later and it's there.

So turning the young horse away to think is probably effectively a way of saying latent learning

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure...I don't believe horses think like we do to start with. I know I can't sleep if I can't work something out however I very much doubt Parker looses sleep over flatwork...
 
I've turned Moon away to 'think'
I felt she needed a break as I could feel her brain was at saturation point at her last event.
I'm expecting her to come back into work and having schooled herself up to medium level dressage and all psyched up for 1.30 tracks
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When Ru ( my 4yr old) got difficult to the verge of dangerous, I turned her away " to think about the error of her ways", but in reality it was to let her be a horse, chill out and relax and forget if possible any traumas she had before I got her. Seemed to work ok, as dispite her little moments she is a total sweetheart.
 
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