Activating the Thinking Side of Your Horse's Brain: Part I

When you have a weak link in your foundation, there will come a time where progress becomes incredibly difficult. There will be a point in time when getting to that next level seems nearly impossible. When I was a young trainer, I used to believe that I was only training the horse if I was on its back. This mindset severely limited me from establishing a strong foundation with the horses I worked with. This was because I failed to understand the difference between how a horse thinks and how a horse reacts. Horses have excellent memories for both good and bad situations. When they feel pressure in a situation, they have the choice to either think or react. Every horse has a “fight or flight” mechanism, and each horse is different in how they respond to this instinct. Horses that engage “fight” mode tend to push back and dominate the training session or display other negative reactions, such as pawing, rearing, kicking, or bucking. These reactions are caused by the horse’s failure to activate the thinking side of its brain. As a trainer, you can help stimulate your horse to engage the thinking side of its brain long before you ever step up into the saddle. You use a combination of pressure and release to stimulate thinking and understanding. The key to this combination is that once your horse gives the response you are asking for, you have to immediately release. If you keep asking for more without a release, your horse gets confused. You can apply pressure without ever touching the horse. Our presence in a horse’s stall can be enough to add pressure to some horses, especially young ones. Think about this — if you apply pressure on the ground and your horse doesn’t respond, how is that going to carry over when you are on its back? If your horse pushes back against pressure on the ground, what makes you think that they are going to move away from the pressure of your leg once you get on its back? Your horse has to respect the space you are trying to create. When your horse develops respect, it starts to develop trust and understanding. When your horse feels pressure, it stimulates the horse’s thinking response. You use pressure to help the horse find release. The release is what you teach. The ultimate goal is when you step in that stall, your horse immediately associates you with the thinking side of its brain. If you are working your horse on the ground and you are the one moving your feet, they are training you. The objective is to have your horse move around you. This takes time and patience, but it is essential to developing a horse’s foundation. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the “Activating the Thinking Side of the Horse’s Brain” series, releasing in Episode 10 of the Be Your Best Horsemanship podcast.