Training Troubles? This May Help….
Trainer Andy Curry interviewed and filmed professional trainer Jim Rea and talks about it all here… see what he has to say:
Ever been frustrated and asked yourself, ‘Why does that dang horse do that!?’
Or have you ever wondered why your horse should pay attention to you with ‘both’ eyes?
I’ll give you a hint. It’s because of the way his brain is wired.
You see, when you train your horse, you want his attention. If he’s lookin’ around and twiddlin’ his thumbs (figuratively speaking), you can’t teach him anything.
Think about this.
A prey animal (ie. a horse) has their eyes on the sides of their head.
Why?
Because a prey animal is prey’d upon and they need a good warning system so they know when to escape.
Having an eye on each side of their head allows them to see a very wide open area including much of what’s behind them…all at the same time.
Us predators mostly see what’s in front of us. Then we have peripheral vision to see to the sides some – but not like horses can see on the sides.
Anyway, while the horse stands there he can see through each eye independently.
Whatever is going on to his left he can see with his left eye.
And here’s the kicker.
While his left eye is watching all this stuff happening on the left, his right eye is watching what’s going on to the right.
Frankly, I find that remarkable.
Anyway, it’s fair to say that one eye feeds half the brain. The other eye feeds the other half.
Thus, when working with your horse and you only get one eye…you only have half his brain.
That’s why you want to engage his attention so you can affect his entire brain.
You won’t always get both his eyes.
There are times he can only give you one eye-like when he’s running in the round pen for instance.
But!…you can command his attention.
Now let’s go back to my original question.
‘Training troubles?’
If you have them, you might consider learning more about your horse and his nature such as what I just described about his eyes and how they work with his brain.
If you have some kind of training trouble, it could well be you’re having trouble because there’s something about your horse you don’t understand.
It is that very reason we had Jim Rea as our featured trainer.
In it, he reveals his famous ‘Nature of The Beast’ oration.
And if you think you might need to bone up on understanding how your horse thinks, why he does what he does, and so on…I urge you to get Jim’s Video.
It’s located at:
http://www.horsetrainingresources.com/dvd-rea.html
He also shows a powerful 7-Step Safety Check system you should do with your horse every time you ride.
Stay safe around your horses,
Charlie
