What if I told you that the real secret to horsemanship is a tiny fact. Could it really be a simple thing, after all, there is a whole industry trying to help you develop your horsemanship....is there something they are leaving out? To those words, I would reply..yes, horsemanship is a simple thing, so simple in fact, you probably have never really thought about it.
All of us want a great bond with our horses, but many times, we fail to communicate on a horse's level of understanding. We often hear how we want to have our horse, be our partner. Well, that is in error, we don't want a partnership, a partnership would imply that our horse has a 50% part of our relationship. The wisest horsemen/women, instead refer to this relationship as a "team" A team has something a partnership does not. A team has a clear leader. A partnership implies that each member has an equal share in the matter...look at it this way. When you come to a fork in the road, do you let your horse decide which way to go? If he is a partner, then he should have a say in deciding which path to take...but if you are a team, the team leader would decide which path to take....am I making sense yet?
So, My horse and I are a team. How can we advance our relationship? One of my favorite things to help my horse see me as the team leader is to let my horse hand graze. Simple enough, I take them out of their pasture, pen, stall, whatever, and let them eat grass....very simple indeed! but did you know there is a proper way to hand graze, and doing it the wrong way can make your horse think he is in charge of your whole relationship?
Hand grazing is done alot here on our farm. We seem to have lots of spots with good grass, and no access to those spots for the horses..I just enjoy hand grazing my horse, and I like to start my youngsters in this exercise as early as they are weaned. To be a leader and to correctly hand graze, you must lead the team. You must move the horse to you, not let him eat and wander wiley niley all over the place dragging you behind. IF you set the rules for hand grazing ( you must follow me horse, I make the plans here ) hand grazing becomes a bonding tool. If you let the horse decide which area to move to next, with no regard for you, you will find out quickly that all other commands you ask of your horse, will be ignored, or at least argued with.
Hand grazing is a tool we can all use, any horse, any age, any place ( as long as there is grass ;-) Next time you take out your horse, let him/her hand graze and practice being in the team captain role...you will be amazed at the difference it makes in your horsemanship!
Linda, what a great post! This is exactly what I have been thinking recently too. Leadership...we hear it all the time....and it seems so simple and basic, yet everytime we are in contact with our horses we need to be sure we are a leader to them 100% of that time. Not just while on their backs. I even think of feeding time....Just recently I have been working on keeping Reese from mugging me the minute I walk into the corral with hay. And it's made a world of difference. I used to think...'ah..no biggy, he is just hungry." NO, he is disrespectful! =] He can wait and keep his distance like Zig does..but I have to be the one to tell him that behavior is unacceptable..and if I don't, it's my fault. I really appreciated your insight on hand grazing too...I'll put that to practice!!
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