Size Matters

Butch sez, whinnyCoughschneirble. Ploop. Oh, Butch.. Poor old guy. Send money, please? He needs a new nose!

Here's his glorious conformation shot, again.You know you missed him.


That's a picture taken in 1928, of my Mom on the left, my Gams, and my newborn Auntie. Kids were cute back then, too, huh?

Do you think size matters? Or attitude? Does a mini-horse ever think to himself, damm, I wish I was justa couple hands taller? Where did my legs Go? Does a chihuahua ever think, Okay, this is TOTALLY unfair. I think some of them do:)

"Preying On" versus "Prey".
The prey and predator language is our biggest stumbling block, when initially working with horses. When we stare at them immediately, directly, challengingly. When we "face" them. It's what we do, when we love them. It's interestingly, almost the same reaction in dogs.

Completely different, yet animal language seems pretty similar, globally.
It's the "which one am I?" question, that you have to answer, before you work with your horse. The question the horse answers for himself, when he meets you.
Who are you? Is all over you. Predator? Prey? This matters to the horse, a lot.

Both species will respond to direction, through our posture and temper and okay, "aura", for want of a better word. We smell, a LOT, to animals. Fine, I'll speak for myself here. Mrs. Small and I shared similar beliefs on water wastage.

Whatever the chemical heck it is. Each animal's response is determined by his/her current set of rules.

Rules and Prey Etiquette.
Gently show him your rules, when you first start to longe him. Your inside hand, (longe-line hand) points forward, opening places for the horse to move. Your whip hand is your leg substitute. Your voice is your gift. Name the behaviour you want, reward it with your voice. Ignore anything else. He'll be surprised that you're asking him to move away from you, but you just keep pointing and opening your posture the way you want him to go. Don't look at him. He'll think you want him. Look where you want him to go. You want to remain parallel to his motion, with your body posture.

Just like when you're riding him.. Ever noticed how a loving dog will go the way your body points? Same thing. At least, that's the idea. Look where you want the horse to go. He will.
:)
You don't want him looking at you when you're riding, do you?
Bit narcissistic, ya ask me. Oh, no-one did? oooops.

Here's a doggie example, because it's fresher in my mind. When my Flip dog first met my cousins at their place of business, she immediately went and glued herself to the President, the oldest of my Uncle's children. Amazing guy. Musician, scientist, successful businessman, wonderful father. Not an animal owner. Flip wanted HIM in her life. I hadn't owned her for long, she was still kinda "wow, BIG city" at this point. My cousin knows where he's going. Flip Loved that.

Working on the ground, the horse should be following beside you, loose lead, ready for your next request. He should move forward on command. Name everything. In hand work is the beginning, longe line work is the next building block.

With the triangle created by your (hands and whip) and horse's front and back, credit to FernValley for mentioning the triangle, the key is to keep the shape of the triangle, and the length of the three "lines" consistent. And calm. Start with small circles, and use the corner of your pasture for longeing. Spelling police, Alert! The circle's diameter doesn't have to be great at first. Big steps, and little 'uns:)

It's a bit of a ballet, the initial stages of longeing/lunging, whatever. You are starting to show him you are a kind, benevolent leader, and you won't eat him. He will naturally be wondering if that's what you want. He is prey. Often being driven forward means being driven by a predator. But another horse? Or another human who moves like a horse? Going forward, that's the key.

I always found I could teach the horse to stop straight, in a square corner. I think, I don't know, that a round pen has no "stop" in it. A corner does. I've never had the pleasure of using a round pen. The corner is how I explained whoa to my horse, initially. And further explaining the straightness part of the riding program. Circling will never be as important as going straight. Even when longeing, you can teach the horse to go straight.

Too much emphasis is placed on the bend of the circle, at first, imo. A proper circle is hard to do, especially for a green horse. He's just learning to go where you point him, on the longe, at first.

A horse should always stop, and wait, facing the same direction he was asked to whoa from. He'd supposed to be waiting on going forward. Why would a horse be told to whoa and then automatically turn from the whoa? No sense in thaT. Whoa means whoa.

Start small, and work your way up, with everything. Get it? Size matters? Never MinD!!
:)

To Horses, maybe someday owned Only by those who actually deserve them. Wouldn't it be loverly.

ach, post still doesn't feel done.
I have to work, maybe I'll make more sense of this later. Or, not:)