“Don’t Be Like A Lobster With Your Horse Training”
I read an interesting thing about lobsters a couple days ago.
Now, maybe you know all about this, but being from Nebraska,
well – we just don’t see that many lobsters in the wild!
Here’s what I learned:
Did you know that if a lobster is left on the rocks when
the tide goes out he’ll just sit there? Quite often he’ll
only be a few short feet from getting back into the water
but he just waits for the water to come to him.
The problem is, though, that it may be hours before the
tide comes back in and he’ll probably die instead.
In many cases he could save himself with just a little
bit of effort. Crawl a few steps and be back in the
safety of the water. But he doesn’t. He waits for
the world to come to him and suffers.
Here’s what I got from this…..
So much of life is like that for all of us. Many, many
things only take a few small steps – just a little bit
of effort – and our whole environment or outlook could
improve drastically.
And that’s the way it is with horse training. So many
of the little things that we need to work on with our
horses would only take a little bit of effort – yet
we don’t take the time or effort to work on them.
What’s holding you back from taking those small steps
today? I think we all would have to admit that the
small bit of effort required would make it well worth it
when we realize the safety and enjoyment we could have with
our horses.
Don’t just sit there and bake in the sun.
Take those small steps and push just
a smidgin’ to free yourself – and your horse – from
those problems you have.
P.S. We only have a handful of the current pulley bridles
in stock and will be introducing a new model on Aug. 6th.
The new model will be a bit more expensive. We have
addressed a couple issues some folks gave us feedback on
and made it easier to use. More info coming on that soon!
If you order by tonight you can still save a few dollars
on the current model. After tonight the current model
will not be available any more.
Professional horse trainer Sam Burrell was interviewed
by Andy Curry when he was filming him for his DVD.
Well, a little later Andy had a significant computer
problem and made the analogy to what Sam had taught…
read on:
Has your computer ever totally locked
up and crashed?
I mean it doesn’t matter if you turn
it on or off…it won’t budge.
Then your computer repair guy asks
the dreaded question,
“Did you back
up your data?”
Last time I was asked that question
I answered saying,
“My what…?”
He knew I hadn’t.
Worse, he had totally striped my computer of every
bit of software and started over as if it was from scratch.
The computer guy said,
“We have to reinstall the Operating System.”
Turns out the Operating System is the
software that is the brains of everything.
It tells the other softwares what to
do and how to do it.
Without it, all those fancy schmancy
programs wouldn’t work – they’d do nothing whatsoever.
Interestingly, that’s dang near how
Sam Burrell’s Operating System is for horses.
Without an Operating System, your
horse won’t do what you want.
Like a locked up computer, so will your horse be locked up.
Yesterday, I promised to give a little
insight to Sam’s Operating System.
So, here goes…
You need good ground work done in your horse already.
(See our Diana Quinatana DVD’s if you need ground work info)
He should be halter broke too.
Next, picture your horse as divided up into four parts.
1. The Head ‘n Neck.
2. Shoulders.
3. Barrel (Rib cage).
4. And Hindquarters.
Each of those areas are a zone.
Now the trick is to communicate to your horse how you’d like him to move those zones.
Thus begins the installation of the
“Operating System”
Bur first, try this little experiment.
Put your hand out in front of you and
rest it on a table.
Now look at your thumb.
Now move your thumb.
You just communicated to yourself to
move your thumb.
Now look at your pinky.
Do the same.
Now move your thumb and pinky one after the other.
As you do, look at each one as you ask
yourself to move them.
Now…
Look straight ahead and move your thumb and pinky – no looking at them.
In a sense, this is what it will be like installing
an Operating System in your horse.
Your horse will be THAT responsive if you do it.
Before you start installing the Operating System, you
must understand the 4 Rein Effects with a snaffle bit.
For instance, there’s the Direct Rein.
(Also known as the Leading Rein)
The name “Direct” implies exactly that.
It’s a “direct” connection to your horse.
This is the rein that teaches lateral flexion.
When you’re teaching a green horse or re- training
a horse it’s very important you do this correctly.
You take the Direct Rein halfway between your hip
and the horse’s eye so that…
“Your horse can see it”
Soon, he’ll get to where he knows what it means when he
sees your hand coming up there to get the rein.
It’s a “Pre-Cue”.
It’s like letting your horse know you’re going to ask
him to stop before you ask him to stop.
It’s the yellow light before the Red light.
Makes sense?
Good.
Other Rein Effects are the Indirect Rein also known as the
“Neck Rein”, the “Direct Rein of Opposition”,
and the “Indirect Rein of Opposition”.
I know they sound confusing but when you hear Sam’s
explanation, you’ll understand it immediately.
Then Sam goes over the leg positions and how they must be done.
One of the biggest keys to using legs correctly is
using them in a consistent manner.
Then there are the Zone Exercises.
Remember the “Zone” I said a minute ago?
Zone exercises work the horse’s zones.
Zones being the head ‘n neck, shoulders, barrel and hindquarters.
Zone One exercise is the easiest because it’s walking a circle.
For a brief explanation, you walk a 15 foot circle.
Be able to see your horse’s eye.
Not the whole eye, just be able to see a part of it.
That way you’ll know you have his head tilted in far enough.
Your inside leg is full of life.
By that I mean you do touches and releases to keep your
horse bent in the arc.
The outside leg is off.
As Sam says, you want your horse going around in a circle
like a train does on the track.
You know those model trains kids (and adults) have that
go in a circle? Remember how the entire train is arc’d
from the engine back to the caboose?
Picture your horse as the entire train and his body is arc’d.
This is high caliber information Sam reveals and if you
haven’t see it yet, then take a look. Click on the following:
Well.. that’s if for today. Enjoy your horses but do it safely.
Charlie
P.S. There’s nothing like holding the book in your hand.
The Jesse Beery course in horse training comes in all forms.
Besides the PDF downloads and the Audio book versions, we
also sell a hard copy (printed book) that includes not only
the Entire 8 volumes of the “Jesse Beery Course on Horsemanship”
but includes the “Arabian Art of Taming And Training Wild Horses”
AND “Breaking And Training Colts” books as well.
You can buy lots of other horse training books but none that
have been more successful over the years than this one.
