What is going through your head as you approach your horse to teach him something new?
Are you thinking
“Well, I am wondering what he has prepared for me today, will he listen to me?”
or are you thinking
“Today I want to teach you this and this, but if you (the horse) are not going to want to learn it, I am not going to use a whip to make you do it. I would never hit you with a whip!”
Are you dedicated to not using a whip?
I saw many people that were dedicated to never hit use a whip. And I also saw a lot of horses that didn’t really take their “nice” owners seriously.
I also saw a lot of dedicated riders that never hesitated to take the whip and use it as hard as they wanted to always make their horse behave. With them, I also saw a lot of spoiled horses.
There is something more powerful than a whip…
I believe that one of the most important things with horse riding is your determination to make your horse listen.
Your horse can easily tell whether you are determined to make him listen or not.
In a lot of cases, the feel of your determination can do more than a whip.
If your horse can feel your determination, your work becomes immediately half easier.
Or, of course, if he can feel that you would never hit him under any circumstances, your work is about to get really hard.
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How to find a balance?
But now you are maybe thinking “Well didn’t you say that you saw a lot of spoiled horses with owners who are a bit too “whip happy”? What should I do to avoid spoiling my horse?
I always focus on making sure my horse listens to me. However, I also focus on staying as calm as possible while “making sure my horse listens”
In order for you to be able to teach your horse anything, what you need in the first place is your horse’s attention.
You need him to pay attention to you and ignore the surroundings. Your horse also needs to remain calm. A scared and stressed out horse is not going to learn anything.
If never hitting your horse with a whip is the most important thing for you, then you are heading in the wrong direction.
You horse will be able to sense it, and he will perceive it as your weakness.
That means that it is going to be extremely difficult to get respect.
However, with horses, there is often a very thin line between doing things right and doing things wrong.
So if you want your horse to respect you, be fair to him. Not too harsh, not too weak. Maybe what you should go by is “I will never hit my horse for no reason”
