Developing forward motion in a young horse.
Helping Miriam Orschel develop forward in a young horse she is starting.
Amanda with her mare Maya working on collection in hand.
Initially round penning should be about getting the horse to turn loose of its sense of self preservation. This is done by watching for the signs of relaxation.
The bit is used to manipulate the muscles in the torso and then moves into the neck.
Ciel Schofield
School walk in hand at a recent clinic in Polson Montana.
Ciel Schofield teaching her horse school walk, in hand.
I feel this is a real interesting video and one that I hope will get many of you to re-think some things about what you think is going on inside a horse and begin to study what is really taking place.
This happened at a recent clinic in Sherwood Oregon. Maya Williams is round penning a mature gelding who carries a lot of anxiety. At the start of this video, the gelding has just come off the rail to face her. This is the first time Maya has done this while mounted and the first time the mare she is riding has had a flag used around her while ridden. As you can see, the gelding stands facing Maya and her mare while deciding his next course of action. After a few moments he decides to approach them, which is what most people think should be the desired result. However, if one understands what we are trying to develop as this happens you can understand that the horse facing you and then approaching you really has no value. It’s about how the horse turns to face and approach you, and why he did. The whole reason to do the round pen work is to help the horse turn loose of his self preservation which can then promote the thinking, problem solving part of the brain to engage; to take them out of reactivity into responsiveness. A response has feel and thought in it before the action takes place. Where as a reaction takes place from their natural sense of self preservation. When the gelding approaches, most people would think that they have just accomplished something very important and that the horse is coming in to connect with them. So they would reward and praise him for it. But, if you can observe and read what’s really going on inside of this horse as he approaches, you can see he is still in self preservation and therefore you won’t be surprised as to what happens at the end of the video. Regardless of what you think is going on inside of him, Maya’s mare knows what’s really going on and as he tries to make contact with her, you can see her telling him to b
Horsemanship schools, training, sales. Classical Dressage, Western Horsemanship
