Photo above. Boots in a moment of worry when her hind end touched the pipe. We were practicing backing into a dead-end space.

Horse-Human disfunction

Most horse-human dysfunction is due to lack of clarity from the human side of the relationship due to one or more of the following reasons.

1. Our behavior around the horse is inconsistent.
2. We are not able to read the horse’s body language well enough to understand what he is communicating to us about his physical, emotional and mental state.
3. We have not set up the environment to make it easy for the horse to understand what we want him to do.
4. Our signals to ask the horse to do something are inconsistent, poorly thought out or poorly taught.
5. The task is not thin-sliced enough.
6. Prerequisites are missing.
7. We expect too much too soon.
8. Human emotions get in the way.

Most horses are happy to comply with our requests if:

• We teach what we want thoughtfully and carefully in a way that the horse can understand.
• We ensure our signals are clear and consistent.
• We have well-timed release of signal pressure/click followed by the treat.
• We teach at a pace that the horse can absorb; not too fast.
• We teach at a pace that maintains the horse’s interest; not too slowly.

As the handler gets better and better at thin-slicing* a large task into its smallest teachable parts, it becomes easier and easier for the horse to learn by being continually successful. It’s this aspect of learning that makes a horse look forward to his sessions.