What you need to consider is that the time that you invest into working with your horse will give you far greater benefits than all of the training that you could pay for.
You might have a great trainer that has a fabulous relationship with your horse, but it is a relationship that the trainer and the horse have.
It does not include you anywhere in the picture.
If you want that type of relationship you have to make the effort and invest the time, just as the trainer has.
Believe me there are a great number of real good horse trainers available to the public, but they are good because they are dedicated enough to make the utmost investment in a horse, time.
The trainer will most likely be able to do all the things that you want to do and cannot accomplish until you are ready to make the same commitment that they are willing to make, time.
Trainers can get most horses to do just about anything that is asked of them, but the important point is you can too.
You have to be willing to make the commitment and understand that if you make even a slight effort with your horse the results will be greater than any you ever imagined.
All it takes is your willingness to give the time to your horse on a regular and consistent program.
Starting With the Right Horse Starting with the horse that is right for you is one of the most important points that you can get right.
There are great many people who have a lot of experience and knowledge from working with horses and if you are looking to get a horse for the first time it is in your best interest to take one along and be prepared to listen to their input, even if you have to pay for their time.
Doing this could save you time, money and a lot of heartache.
If you are in a profession and you see others trying to accomplish what you do on a daily basis, waste their time, waste their money and get second class results; all the while knowing that if they would just pay attention to a professional in your own field it would have been better for them in the long run.
What makes the horse business any different? Experience and knowledge are the two factors in any field that allow for the greatest return on investment that endeavor has to offer.
There are people who will help you choose a horse that is of the right frame of mind, physically sound and mentally prepared to help guide you through the initial learning process that will become your foundation of knowledge and experience that will allow you to build the type of relationship that you are looking for with a horse.
Most people decide they want a horse so they go out and get a horse.
There is little concern for the horse other than it looks pretty, or that it moves nice.
People that chose a horse on those or other similar reasons are the ones that usually end up with the horse that they should not have.
There are a lot of horses out there looking for a home, due to many different reasons, make sure that you are not one of those reasons.
There are just as many horse owners that expect the horse to know what is expected of them and how to do it.
Even if the horse has been schooled in the areas that you want to use the horse for, there are certain ground rules that have to be followed.
These are all in the area of "ground control", the building of trust and confidence in your ability, they know what they can do, what they need to know is what can you do? One of the greatest mistakes that horse owners can make when getting any horse is having the lack of a "good touch", this shows the horse a lack of communication skills to the point that they will do what they want or nothing at all.
People that already have horses and are realizing that there are reasons that their horse is not reacting the way that they have seen other horses respond, are people who will greatly benefit from the concept of not riding their horse for a while and starting at the very basic level of communicating with their horse.
In essence they need to start showing the horse that they are willing to start to work with them and are willing to get back to the understanding of relating to them at the ground level.
If you lack communication at the ground level then you will never have communication while on their back.
Many Problems Come From You Horses are herd animals and as that they require guidance from members of the herd that they have learned to trust.
Horses need and want guidance since they do not do very well on their own.
When a herd has no direct leader it has no rules or direction.
The individual members of the herd start to go in their own separate ways and then the herd falls apart and wanders into other areas looking for a leader.
The leaders that are chosen are selected since they have become the type of leaders that the other horses are willing to follow.
Here you have to understand that you may be able to lead a horse anywhere, but it will not follow you unless it feels confident in doing so.
Just as a horse has to suffer the consequences of their choices so must you.
If you choose to not to lead correctly you will never be followed and the horse will be lost and show no form of compliance to your requests.
One of the main points as to why people get into situations in both handling and riding horses is that they are creating their own problems.
It is as if they have never learned to relax or be able to slow down to a pace that will also allow the horse to relax.
Not being able to relax creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and uneasiness; it also puts the horse on guard believing that there may be a reason for all of the uncertainty.
This sense of unrest is felt throughout the herd when danger is near and the members of the herd have to be on guard against attack.
Anything that happens at this point in their life is purely instinctual and reactions are fast and light in nature without thought.
The best way to eliminate this problem is to relax yourself and allow the horse to do so as well.
Just as you have the ability to create a problem, you also have the ability to make sure that most problems can be eliminated before they happen; the choice is yours.
The horse is able to relate to your state of mind, be it very active or very relaxed.
Watch some of the other people who you know to be hyperactive interact with their horses and see how the horse will take on the personality and temperament of the owner.
The watch the same horse when the owner is not around, you will most likely see a horse that is very different horse, very relaxed and calm.
It is very important to analyze any problems that a horse might have and realize where they came from, people are all too willing to put the blame somewhere else and not accept the fact that they may have been responsible for a horse's problem rather than what they have been blaming it on.
Understanding and mastering the first steps that lead to lightness cannot be accomplished by an individual unless they are prepared to slow down to the pace of the horse and allow the time that is necessary to accomplish the various tasks at the rate that the horse needs to take.
Learning To Observe the Horse Once that you have taken the time necessary to get past the very first steps in creating a good touch you need to be able to start to understand that the horse is constantly giving you feedback.
The next step that you have to start to understand is the feedback that is coming from the horse and how to translate it into something that you can understand.
The horse, when relaxed, will be able to relate to new and unfamiliar situations as long as you are willing to give them the guidance that they need and are looking for.
The initial indicator that I teach people is that a horse will start to tense up throughout their entire body, then raise their head in the direction that they feel that is of concern, next they will raise their ears to try to hear if there is need for alarm and their nostrils will start to flair to see if they can smell any need to be concerned.
By the first or even the second action you should be noticing that the horse is becoming uneasy and placing your hand upon their shoulder in a reassuring manner many be all that is needed to allow the horse to become more focused on you and that you are projecting calmness and they should start to pull confidence from your stability.
Another method that the horse might show is a very quick and complete tensing up of muscular tissue throughout their entire body, this horse is getting ready to bolt and is on extreme edge and needs to be calmed down and reassured that things are all right.
Either walking the horse around or in a large circle or even the placing of your hand upon the shoulder area of the horse can accomplish this.
Great care must be taken when a horse gets themselves work into either one of these states of awareness, make sure that you are in a position that will allow for your greatest safety but also close enough that you can relate to the horse.
Moving away from and not being available for the horse to be able to pull confidence from will make the horse even more on edge, since you are not willing to reassure them that all is well.
Progressing to the understanding of body language is an art unto itself.
It takes great horse people many years of study and daily interaction to get to a point that they can think as the horse does and know the reaction and what is causing it.
Do not be discouraged if all does not go as planned at first, very seldom does it happen that way.
There are many different and slight indicators that the horse will transmit and hope that you can pick-up on, but in the beginning it is best to be available, calming and allow them to pull confidence from you.
This will be a great aid in your building of a relationship between you and the horse.
With time and observation you will start to understand the other indicators that the horse will put forth and hope that you learn.
All it takes is the will to learn and some input from someone who is willing to help you along with the translation part.