 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Ask Charles Wilhelm |
Reader: I saw your clinic at the Western States Horse Expo in Sacramento and was surprised because you don’t seem to praise your horses a lot or pet them much. Is there a reason? Charles: I have been asked this question a couple of times as people watch me train horses at clinics or at the ranch. I do care for my horses; I do scratch on them and give them a rub here and there, but I’m not a real warm and fuzzy guy. There is certainly nothing wrong with rewarding a horse with a rub or a scratch but sometimes instead of doing that when a horse has done something right I will say, “Good boy,” in a soothing tone. If a horse is doing something wrong, I may say, “Aw, aw, aw,” in a tough tone. Pretty soon we start setting up a verbal language, as well as body language, which communicates praise or correction. Discipline is not always a spur or a stick. Once we start being consistent with our verbal cues, as well as our physical cues, the horse will start understanding. When I say, “Good boy,” the horse will soften the neck, drop the head and relax. But let’s get back to the praise, meaning, making cooing and loving sounds to a horse. There is nothing wrong with it, but I find that too much distracts from the training. It is a horse’s nature to learn by pressure and release. I ask for a leg yield and the horse gives me something relatively in the direction of a leg yield, even if it is only one step, and I release the pressure. It may not be perfect, but it is something and release is the reward. That is going to be more effective than a pat, but, if at the same time I say, “Good boy,” I am establishing the communication and the horse starts understanding the verbal cue as well. There is another point that is not discussed a lot and I would like to mention it here. Horses need “think time.” Let me tell a story to illustrate what I mean. About 17 years ago I was working with a horse that I had purchased for my son. The horse had real issues with side passing at the gate. For whatever reason, this horse did not want to go up to the gate. I spent about an hour trying to get the horse close to the gate, but even at 10 feet away, he would get very upset. We could ride by the gate with no problem but once the horse knew he was side passing toward the gate, he got upset. Probably, at some point the horse had been punished for doing something wrong around a gate. It might not have had anything to do with side passing but the horse did something a previous owner didn’t like and the punishment was so severe that it really sunk in. To that horse, the gate equaled trouble. After an hour, I finally just quit out of frustration, and because I knew that if I kept going I was going to lose my temper. That would not have done either of us any good. Leave Emotion on the Bench We all learn things as we go along and I’ve always been told to leave the emotions on the bench. Sometimes that is easier said than done. I’ve learned some hard lessons and I have always found that when I got angry, it cost me more time. However, here is something that I really learned that day. When I put the horse away, I put him away in fairly good spirits. In other words, I didn’t let my emotions take over and I didn’t take my frustration out on the horse. The next day, I got the horse out, schooled him and went back to working on the gate. That horse moved off my leg in the direction of the gate like he had been doing it forever. It was not a perfect side pass but it was enough of a side pass that my jaw dropped in amazement. After a couple of similar situations, I have found that, thrown in with the concept of pressure and release, adding in “think time” works very well. The time away was the only thing that happened; I didn’t get angry or frustrated, there was no anxiety involved, no one got hurt, even though my patience was running thin. We are only human and we do get frustrated, but when we do we are no longer effective. The only thing that happened in my story was that I put the horse away. The horse then had time to absorb and process what had happened. While horses don’t have a rational thinking process, like we do, they do process. I find this technique useful in everyday riding. If I have been working on getting a horse to stop and not run through the bit, I tip him into the rail to get him to break his speed and once I get a pretty good stop, I just take the pressure off and let him relax and process. Just for a few minutes, I cross my arms and chat with another trainer or consider something that needs to be done around the ranch. Sometimes when you are working on a problem area and you get just a little bit of success, it is worth it to give the horse a little “think time.” I’ve also heard it called “self time,” but it is the same principle. When you find yourself in a situation where you need to get something done and you are hitting a wall, but you get a little something, just leave the horse alone. Let the horse relax and then ask again. A break is a very useful tool; it is definitely a form of praise, not a treat or a scratch on the withers, but a release of pressure. Use your verbal cue, too. “Good boy” when the horse has done something good. They don’t understand English, but they do understand your tone, and if you stay consistent your “good boy” or “good job” will mean something to your horse. Praise for your horse is good, but if every time the horse does anything you scratch or rub it, it becomes less meaningful. I see riders in class scratching or rubbing their horses for just about everything they do, but they are not getting any work done and I don’t see the horse learning any faster. It may make the owner feel better but in the long run we actually have to speak the horse’s language. I find that if you release the pressure when the horse does something good and use the verbal cue to emphasize it, it is more effective. God Bless, Charles Wilhelm
|
