Horse Training with Feel
Feel
Feel is a light pressure or connection that both the horse and the trainer are aware of.
This pressure may be physical contact through actually touching the horse with our hands, legs or seat. It may be pressure exerted through equipment such as the lead rope and halter, or the reins and the bit. It may even be the energy between the horse and the human even if they are not physically touching. E.g When working at liberty.
We should feel for the horse before we ask it to do something. This is a brief moment where we get the horses attention, then we direct that attention by asking the horse to do something. E.g We pick up a reins and feel for the horse, then we use a light pressure cue to ask the horse to step back. We release and click, treat when the horse steps back.
If we give a pressure cue, without first feeling for the horse, then it will seem to the horse like the cue came “out of the blue” and may startle the horse a little, especially if the horse is really sensitive.
The horse will be able to respond much more fluently if we first feel for the horse, the horse feels for us and then we give the cue. This sounds like a long process but it really only takes a moment.
“Contact” is a type of feel that is a light level of pressure between the riders hands the reins and the bit. Contact will be explained in more detail in a later chapter.
We should first teach the horse to respond to all basic riding cues before we introduce contact.
We should first teach the horse to respond to all basic riding cues before we introduce contact.
