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46 SIDELINES APRIL 2013
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
that doesn’t feel like your normal training session. All you need to
do is go from A to B and stop at B. Yes, it’s that simple! Here’s
how:
1. Ask your horse to walk a short distance, like from one side
to the other. Allow him to walk as slowly as he wants and don’t
push him to be more active.
2. When you get to the other side, melt to a stop and praise
him. You can scratch his favorite itchy spot and even give him
a treat.
3. After stopping there for about two minutes, pick another
destination and ride to it. Same procedure: stop there for a
couple of minutes and praise the horse.
4. After about three to four of these, you should fnd your horse
picking up the pace a little bit. You can then ask him to trot to the
next spot, again not worrying about how good the trot is.
5. Once the trot becomes really active, the canter transition
should be easy. He’s only bucking because he doesn’t want to
go forward.
With repetition, your horse will start to offer more energy and
then you can go a little further, put in a change of direction, some
laterals or a circle here or there, etc. In fact, the more you change
things up, the more interesting the work gets, rather than boring,
repetitive trotting around. But remember this - any time your horse
starts getting dull again, you’ve got to give him a destination to
rest at. This is the way to solve the problem using psychology and
get your horse to enjoy his sessions more.
Question:
My 9-year-old Holsteiner mare has recently started refusing
fences. We’ve done hunters and equitation together, mostly
3’ and under classes, since I’ve owned her for the past two
years; prior to that, she was professionally trained as a
hunter. We had a pretty successful show season last year;
but this year she began refusing jumps, particularly in the
e
By Linda Parelli
Question:
How do you get a horse to be more motivated to work
in an arena? I have a 15-year-old Warmblood gelding
“schoolmaster” who does great out on the trail. But as soon
as we get in an arena he becomes really dull and doesn’t
like to move forward. I’m lucky if I get a trot out of him and
when I ask him to canter, he usually crow hops or bucks. Any
suggestions?
Answer:
This sounds like a lack of motivation and this is not surprising
given that your horse is a schoolmaster. From the horse’s point
of view, he sees no reason to go around and around the arena,
whereas on the trail he feels like he’s going somewhere.
When motivating horses that don’t want to go forward, it’s
important to give them a sense of destination and arrival. It
doesn’t take long; but you have to be prepared to do something
Horse Behavior Decoded:
Motivation
Linda
Parelli
Linda Parelli’s experience with Pat Parelli as co-founder of Parelli Natural Horsemanship, coupled with her time studying with
classical dressage master Walter Zettl, has given her unique insight into horse psychology and development. Linda’s gift for identifying
and interpreting horse behavior and teaching her students to bring out the best in their unique horse makes her one of the most
sought-after natural horsemanship experts in the world today.
Use psychology exercises to cause your horse to want
to jump.
Photos courtesy of Parelli Natural Horsemanship