Mark Goss Horsemanship (2024)

11/08/2024

BIT POSITION

I am a fan of the snaffle for early education of the horse and even for riding past early education. In fact, there is nothing wrong with riding your horse in the snaffle all their life.

I would like to talk about the position of the snaffle or any bit in the mouth of the horse. I have been told by a few people that the bit should be placed such as to create a wrinkle in the corner of the mouth, as many as three wrinkles actually. The reasoning being that it puts the horse "on the bit".

In my observations this more often than not creates a horse that gapes the mouth or has a busy head. The horse is trying to deal with the piece of steel in his mouth that is causing him anxiety. I believe a couple things are happening. First, the horse can't move the bit to a comfortable spot in his mouth. Second, the riders hands are quick to cause pain or at least concern for pain.

Since every horse's mouth is different placing the bit in the same place may not be best. If we consider the horse's comfort we can see that placing the bit against the corner of the mouth but not creating a wrinkle will allow the horse to pick the bit up with their tongue and move it to its most comfortable position. The horse's tongue is much longer than most of us realize. It is also a great big thick muscle. The horse will put a"wave" in their tongue to carry the bit in its most comfortable position.

Try this bit position next time you ride.

There is less anxiety in the horse and they will be able to give the rider more of their attention when they can move the bit around.

07/08/2024

THE FIRST THING WE NEED TO KNOW

The first thing we need to know will be the last thing we'll find out.

When we start on our journey to great horsemanship we don't know much, if anything. As we proceed we keep finding these little and big things that make our relationship with our horse better. And we build on these things as we go along finding that we get more aware of what the horse wants and how they respond to different situations.

The trip is similar to the search for Nirvana. We won't know it all until we get there and then find out that we could have shortened the trip if we had only known at the beginning what we know at the end.

But, with the horse we most likely may never know it all. When I asked Ray Hunt how he had gotten to be a great horseman, he said "I'm not a horseman yet, I hope to be, but not yet. Maybe you will be and you can come back and teach me." There was never a chance of that for I wasn't then and probably never will be worthy or carrying Ray Hunt's halters much less teaching him.

For me it's the search for answers, the little "why didn't I know that" moments that occur along the road. When I am working with a horse and something just works without drama and the horse seems to feel my question before I ask it, well, that is special. That's what I find so fulfilling about this trip.

The more we learn the more we realize that these things are things we should have known first. Or as Ray said, "the last thing you learn will be the first thing you should have known."

25/06/2024

WE DO TOO MUCH TOO SOON WHEN WE SHOULD BE DOING LESS SOONER.

As you may know I am a great believer in "start where you want to finish so that we finish where we started".

Well, let's think about how we teach our horse. How much pressure do we use to ask a question when we first start to teach? If we go straight to enough pressure to get a quick response we probably used too much. We need to use as little as possible and wait for a change or try. This is a difficult concept to describe but it is essential to developing a smooth, elegant, responsive horse.

We have to set it up for the horse to learn on his own. To allow him to think through the possible responses to our question. How we do that is very critical. We need to be precise and consistent in how we ask. That is we use the same ask every time. We also must break down what we are asking for to its smallest components.

For example to ask our horse to step left in the saddle we must remember that the horse has to be prepared to position for the transition. If we want the horse to step left he has to start by looking left. So, we might think about making our first ask to be a look to the left. Now we should break down that look to the left into its components. The horse will most likely look with his eye and then follow with his nose. Therefore, we might reward that eye movement, if we can catch it.

It is imperative that the horse get a quick and big release any time he gives us what we are looking for. If he looks left with his eye, we quickly slack the reins and pet and praise him. After he figures that he gets a release for the eye movement that will come quickly. We can go on to the next component, the nose. The progression should not move to the next component until the one we are asking for becomes smooth.

Everything we ask our horse has multiple components. If when we are teaching these things we take our time and get every aspect of the movement solid in the order that the horse needs to do them we will create a very smooth and elegant movement that requires very little pressure. The movement will just flow through all the little components to the ultimate movement we are asking for.

The most important part of this deal is the timing of the release. We need to recognize that smallest try and reward that try quickly with an obvious release. Timing is critical as the horse has to know that what he just did is what we wanted. 2 seconds too late and it doesn't mean as much to the horse.

We also must be very precise and very consistent in how we ask for a movement. If we give a slightly different ask each time we confuse the horse. As if we were switching from english to german during our ask.

We also don't want to even think of corrective pressure during this time. If we get upset because it's not working out we need to stop and go back to doing something the horse knows. Something like a little slow walk around. Then try again. It's not the horse's fault he isn't getting what we are asking, it's our fault because we are inaccurate in how we ask.

This will show very quickly in how we work with our horse. If the horse is sticky or braces during our asks we know we have skipped some part of the teaching. We have gone too fast. We did not get every component down pat before we went on to the next. It shows out in how smooth our horse feels and looks.

Set it up for the horse to learn the quickest way he can. The horse can't reason the next step, we have to teach him the next step. Use less sooner. Go slow, it pays.

21/06/2024

THE HORSEMANSHIP FLAG...GOOD OR BAD??

The horsemanship flag is used by a lot of people. It is a fixture in the hands of some of the best horsemen in the world. It is also used by those who don't know how or when to use the flag.

The horsemanship flag is a great tool if used correctly and a detriment to good horsemanship used improperly.

So, when do we use a flag? I like to think the flag is an extension of my arm. It allows me to extend my energy about 3 feet further than I can with just my arm. It can be a bullhorn or a quiet whistle. But, it is always much louder than my body alone.

I advise students to learn from an experienced teacher how to use the flag correctly. It is not a tool for chasing a horse around. It is not to be used to scare the horse into doing something. It is to be used as an escalation tool. One that becomes necessary when our other tools fail to get a response.

We don't want to use the flag in a way that causes the horse to flee the flag, to be afraid of the flag. We should bring the flag into our ask as an escalation of our energy. The way to do that is to bring the flag into our ask gently and slowly. I am not saying take a minute to get it effective. I am saying that we don't just start waving it with all our strength suddenly. After all, we have to remember that our ask has to have a steady rise in energy to the point of efficacy and no further. The only way to that point is a steady rise that the horse understands. How long that takes is dependent on the skill of the teacher. It could take 5 seconds or 1 minute depending on who is asking.

So, I think that the flag is an effective tool, however, I limit my use of the flag to horses who have become a bit numb to my other efforts. When using the flag I get a response and then try to reduce my use of the flag quickly to avoid the horse possibly becoming fearful of the flag.

The flag is a tool that in relation to using a small tack hammer is equivalent to an 8 pound sledgehammer. Use when we must but avoid it becoming a crutch.

21/06/2024

OK, IT'S TIME TO GRAB THE HALTER ROPE

In the last few posts I have talked about things that relate to how horses view and react to us and what we can do and use to improve our relationship with our horse. Those were things I thought we should consider before we even pick up a halter rope or work with our horse.

Now I would like to talk about some things that directly influence how effective we are with our teaching aids Those include the halter, the lead rope, the horsemanship flag, and our body.

First, let's talk about the halter and lead rope. I don't care to use the flat nylon halters. I believe they aren't as subtle and precise I prefer. My halter of choice is a rope halter made of paracord. Mine are Double Diamond brand out of Gallatin Gateway, Montana. They are made in a lot of colors and come in sizes for every horse.

I prefer a 12 foot lead rope made of yacht braid. These are also made by Double Diamond and come in various colors and thicknesses. I prefer a 1/2 inch. I have this halter and rope combination that have been in almost daily use for over 15 years.

I attach the lead rope to the halter with a knot. I am not a fan of the metal snap for a couple reasons. They can break and they can hit the horse in his jaw and cause him to get a bit head shy.

There is a video somewhere on my page here that shows my gear. Perhaps I can figure out how to get it into the post.

I also have a video on haltering the horse using this halter and lead rope combination. So, I won't go over that here. It is much easier to see it done then read how to do it.

Let me say that everything I do on the ground relates to what I do in the saddle. For instance, when I am on the lead rope I always position my hand as if I were holding my reins. That is I hold the rope in such a manner that the part of the rope that goes to the halter is coming out of my hand at my little finger.

This is how I hold my reins, with the part going to the bit or bosal coming out at my little finger. This gives me the ability to use less pressure initially but also apply more pressure if needed. My hand can manipulate the rope without using my arm.

Now is a good time to say that I believe we should not lead the horse, but we should drive the horse. There is a big difference. The main thing is you can't lead the horse from the saddle. You can only drive the horse from the saddle. So, we should be driving the horse on the ground in a way that makes sense to the horse.

So how can we drive the horse when we are in front of the horse with a lead rope? Well, we have to teach the horse to follow the lead rope, not us. This is where I run out of adequate vocabulary so I will try to talk us through it.

If I am standing in front of the horse and asking him to go to his right, am I leading him or driving him? Depends on how you manage the rope. If you pull on the rope you are leading. If you have slack or drape in the rope and you are using energy in your your right hand and arm to ask him to move you are driving him. does that make sense?

And how does that translate to work in the saddle? Well, consider this. If I am in the saddle and ask him to go to his right (in initial teaching) I would apply my left leg, turn my shoulders to the right, sit on my left back pocket, and then push my right rein out to the right at about 2 o'clock with some drape in the rein. I do not pull with the right rein ever, always have a drape in the rein.

Now if we envision what I just described how does it match up with what I asked on the ground? Well, my left leg is equivalent to my right arm and hand providing pressure and energy. The right rein is as my lead rope was in my left hand giving direction, but no energy.

So, let's stop there and consider what I was saying. We need to teach the horse to follow the rope on the ground and it will translate to following the rein in the saddle. We just have to remember that the directing rope or rein must have drape or slack and no energy at all and the off side arm or leg must provide the energy or pressure to drive the horse.

I hope this makes sense. Drive don't lead.

21/06/2024

For my friends who insist on having a ramp on their trailer to facilitate loading their horse. I am not savvy enough to know how to put a reel in my posts so I have in my "reels" tab under saved reels a video of some fellas loading their horses into a stock truck. It just goes to illustrate how the horse can load without a ramp.

10/06/2024

#7 OF I THINK I KNOW BUT I DON'T

The horse knows you better than you know yourself.

Here is something to think about. Your horse knows who you are. Not who you think you are, not what others think you are, but what you really are. Because he (in his mind, a prey animal's mind) has to know if you are a threat. He is seeing through your ego, your pretend image, your role playing, right into who you truly are.

You see, the horse is the truth. He is the most honest creature you will deal with. The horse knows us for exactly what we are.

It is pretty easy to tell what a person truly is by watching their horse. The horse knows the human and acts appropriately.

So, all the cool cowboy accoutrements, dressage clothes, fancy silver, expensive trucks and trailers, or most dollars spent on clinics can't hide a d**k, can't make a better horseman and can't make our horse feel any better about us.

Now that brings me to a matter that required a little thinking on my part.

We can't take from the horse without first giving to the horse.

Think about that for a while. Because of the horse's innate fear of humans the horse has to gain trust that the human is not going to hurt or kill them. So, we have to make the first move. We have to give the horse respect for the horse to give us respect. We have to make the horse comfortable around us to have the horse let us be comfortable around him.

What we put in is what we get out. Let's put good things in.

10/06/2024

#6 OF I THINK I KNOW BUT I DON'T

When do we start working with our horse? When does the horse think we are working with him.

Because the horse is a prey animal they have to make a constant evaluation of their environment. That includes us. When the horse first sees us he is going to be able to tell whether we are a threat. The horse is 1000s of times more sensitive to his surroundings then the human. He has to be to survive. So, he can tell what mood you are in as soon as he sees you.

We should be thinking about this before we are in sight of our horse. We need to think about being softer in our body and calmer in our actions and softer in our tone of voice as we come within sight of our horse. Now I am not suggesting that we be slump-shouldered and gooey. I am suggesting that we not be harsh, but a bit softer in our approach.

I tell this story as an example. I was called by a young lady who said she needed help catching her horse and asked could I help. When I got to her house she greeted me nicely and we discussed her problem. I asked for her to show me what she had going on. She immediately changed tone and her body got ready for battle. She fetched her halter and we went to the gate. As we approached the gate she told me that "The bitch will walk away just enough so I can't catch her." When she went in that is exactly what the mare did. For about five minutes. During that time the young lady got more irritated and vocal. I am sure it was embarrassing for her. I stopped her after a while and told her I knew what the problem was and it is easy to fix. She came out and I said I would try to catch her horse. When I went in the horse was grazing and put her head up to check me out. When she did I stopped and leaned back and smiled. She went back to eating. I did this several times until I was standing at her shoulder. I asked the young lady if she thought I could halter her horse now. I didn't halter the horse, but I rubbed all over the mare, scratched on her and told her she was special. Of course she didn't understand my words but she understood my approach. I turned and walked to the gait and the horse followed. The young lady's mother had come out and watched me and asked if I was one of those horse whisperers she had heard about. I laughed and said there is no such thing. I just showed the horse I could be her friend and wasn't a threat. I gave the young lady instructions on how to better catch her mare, collected my check and left. I thought I won't hear from her again. But I did about wo weeks later she called and told me that I had changed her life with her horse. That the mare would come to the gate when she came out to see her. I told her that she had done the changing not me. This story perfectly illustrates how our body language and tone of voice effect how our horses see us.

We need to think about how we react to people and how the way people initially treat us effects how we feel about them. Treat your horse like you want to be treated.

09/06/2024

#5 OF I THINK I KNOW BUT I DON'T

Vocabulary change, attitude change

A really important part of working with our horse is our vocabulary and our attitude. We should quit using "make" and start using "ask". Think about that for a second. If you hear make, there is an assumption of force. Make happens when something doesn't want to do something but we force it. Consider this, if you are married and your spouse tells their sister they are going to "make" you do something. Well, I don't know about you but that doesn't sit well with me. However, if they say they will "ask" then it has a far less forceful connotation.

"Make" has too much force in it, even when it is applied to a horse. We can't make a horse do something they don't want to do without trouble and escalating force. And if it is something that scares the horse there is little we can do to get it done. Force is often seen by the horse as punishment that they do not understand.

But, if we think about "ask" we see that the horse has the chance to make a decision to do it or not. Far less force, in fact, no force. When we ask the horse and need to add some energy then we are adding encouragement and not punishment.

Asking with encouragement can look like punishment to some but if our attitude is correct the horse will not see it that way.

We need to always approach teaching our horse as a pleasant thing. We should be trying to make learning pleasant for the horse. To do that we need to use terms and voice volume and tone that are not threatening.

I always approach a horse that I am not familiar with by first telling them that I am lucky to have them as a friend. That everyone in the world would love to have a horse like him. By using those words my voice is going to be non-threatening and hopefully tells the horse I am not going to be a problem. I tell every horse this, even the ones that are spoiled and hard to be around. It is a means of establishing the fact that I am not going to hurt them.

If we call our horse inappropriate names in tones that are disrespectful we are not setting up for success. If we talked like that to our spouse we sure wouldn't expect respect and loving in return.

I am sure that changing the vocabulary we use and the tone and volume of our voice significantly impacts how our horse feels about us. Think about how you talk to your horse. Is it the way you would want to be talked to or would you be looking for a hard object to use on your head.

09/06/2024

#4 OF I THINK I KNOW BUT I DON'T

Horses have no concept of time.

A horse doesn't know there is a tomorrow. They live in the right now. Their attention span is less than 10 seconds.

When we are working with our horses we have a time frame in mind to get things done. We have something to do in a while so we only have so long to get this new movement down. Trouble with that is the horse has al the time in world. Check that front right leg. No watch there. No clock in the pasture.

Working with our horse requires us to forget a specific time frame and focus on the movement we want to accomplish. And because we usually only have so much time we have to work in a way that makes sense to the horse.

By rushing to get something done we cheat the horse and ourselves. We have to reach our goal or we have failed. Well, we need to think about it differently. Because the horse has no time frame to get something done we can only progress as fast as the horse allows. So, if our goal is a specific movement then we need to break down the movement to it's component parts.

If you want to teach the horse to step to the right maybe we start with asking him to look right. How long does that take? Ask the horse. There are many components to every movement so it gives us a chance to teach every little step as fast as he lets us. This is a good thing because if we go slow with each step the horse is more likely to understand what we are asking. And if we want him to step right and it takes all of our time to ask him to look right then he won't forget that movement before we start back and if we only teach one element every 2 days he will still get the whole movement in the end.

We have to go slow to go fast. That fits right in with the horse's lack of time concept. Give yourself and your horse adequate time to learn.

And about that short attention span. If your horse needs to be corrected for something, you have about 5 seconds to get it done. For instance, our horse pushes you with his head. If you are going to correct that it has to happen right now, not in a couple seconds. The horse will forget what he did if you don't immediately respond.

I have a friend whose horse walked off on him and went about 25 feet before he caught up and grabbed the lead rope. He brought the horses back to the trailer and smacked him for leaving. By then the horse forgot he took off in the first place. The time to correct was when the horse shifted his weight to leave. After that the correction doesn't work and is counter-productive because the horse thinks he is punished for standing at the trailer.

Ray Hunt was asked by a lady what she should do after her horse bit her. Ray said, "Grin and bear it. It's too late to do anything about it." That pretty well sums it up. Any correction that happens after 5 seconds is seen by the horse as indiscriminate abuse. Hit yourself for being so slow and unaware that you missed the beginning of the transgression, don't punish the horse for your inadequacy.

This brings me to another time related item...dwell time, think time, soak time. All those describe the time we should allow the horse to soak up what he has just learned. When we get the correct answer to our question then we should allow the horse a little while to think and soak on what he just did. The amount of soak time kind of depends on what he just learned and how long it took him to accomplish the task. Say you were asking him to back and he went through a series of answers that were incorrect to you and then finally he backs (actually if he just shifts his weight back), then he needs a great amount of time, even overnight, to think about that. If we ask him some less involved question or we are asking him to repeat something he learned earlier but has not gotten it down just right, well we might let him soak for a few minutes.

The point is that the horse has no concept of time and when he is given time to soak on an accomplishment he will be better at it the next time you ask.

Horses and time. They just don't go together well. It take the time it takes and no less.

09/06/2024

#3 OF I THINK I KNOW BUT I DON'T

Before we start to work with our horse we need to understand how we will communicate effectively with the horse. Horses do not recognize language. They can't be told what to do and expect them to do it. I have tried. Sat on Frank and said "Frank let's go back." Nothing happened, of course.

Nope, I can only talk to my horse effectively with my body. That's how the horse communicates with other horses. I know, they holler at each other when apart but that is not the kind of communication we are talking about. If you watch horses together they communicate constantly. They use all parts of their bodies.

And they are constantly talking to us. Of course, we are too cool to see it or too focused on ourselves to see it, but they are talking to us.

So, when we communicate with our horse we need to use our body to talk to them. We need to learn "horse". It's that simple. By using our body to ask questions we are using the language that the horse understands.

So, before we start working with our horse maybe we should watch a couple horses together to see how they talk. It can be very very subtle (an ear twitch) and it can be very very loud (a double barrel kick). We need to understand how sensitive the horse is to our presence and how easily we can communicate with the proper movements.

I hate to use this term but you can whisper with a move of your finger or yell with a waving of your arms. I can't emphasize this aspect enough. All the yelling and talk is unnecessary. We only have to understand how our body movement can effect the horse.

09/06/2024

OF I THINK I KNOW BUT DON'T

In the last post I talked about the wrong answers to our asks. But, the most troubling of the "he's doing the wrong thing" is when we are around and handling our horse on the ground.

The horse won't stand still, pulls away, bumps us with his head, can't be caught in the pasture.

Those things are wrong to us and rightfully so, however, again the horse is right in what he is doing. Here is another indicator of our horsemanship skills, a spoiled horse who is not easy to handle or be around.

The horse acts like this for several reasons. Sometimes it is the result of what we feed. A horse that dances around and is twitchy may be getting too much stored energy. Read that as processed feed. Too much sugar. That is why horses fed COB and feeds with high molasses content get nervous. It's like a child drinking a large Mountain Dew and eating a Krispy Kreme donut. They can't stand still. So, that is usually the first thing I try to correct.

However, there is the true spoiled horse that just seems to be hard to be around. This horse is a problem and can be dangerous. But, that horse is not doing this to be bad, he's doing this because he doesn't trust the handler or out of fear of what the handler is going to as experienced in the past.

Spoiled horses need to be addressed individually to determine the problem. My experience is the handler is either afraid or is too quick to punish. Spoiled horses can be hard to fix if this has been let go for some time.

If you have a spoiled horse that you can't handle please seek professional help.

09/06/2024

THE 2ND I THINK I KNOW, BUT I DON'T

This one is going to cause some comments but it has to be said and understood.

THE HORSE IS ALWAYS RIGHT. What? No way. He's always doing the wrong thing, you're crazy.

Well, it's true. the horse is always right.....in HIS mind he is always right. And quite frankly that is the only place that counts. We have to think about that. Remember the horse has a tiny frontal lobe and no ego or ability to plot such actions as "I'll do this wrong just to make you mad, Hee Hee" They just don't have the ability.

What we are seeing is the horse giving us the answer he thinks we want. And if our ask was confusing and inaccurate he is giving us the best guess he has. So, when we experience the wrong answer it is an opportunity to see that our ask is not quite right and we need to work on it. Or, we have not taught the horse the correct answer in an effective manner.

The wrong answer from the horse is an insight to what we need to work on. It is a teaching tool the horse unwittingly gives us. So when we get a wrong answer we shouldn't call him names and smack him with a stick, we should apologize to him for confusing him and praise him for giving us something. After all if he did have the ability to think and plan to do wrong he would most likely do that horse thing where he kicks us in the head and walks away.

Give the horse credit for trying to figure out our inadequate and inaccurate asks. Refine our asks with precision, consistency, and persistence and the wrong answer will become a beautiful and pleasing right answer.

09/06/2024

WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW BEFORE WE START

I don't know, but I think I know. That is a problem most of us face in the beginning. And it is a situation many never move on from. There are things about horses and horsemanship that take years to experience. Things that we needed to know at the beginning. Things that make a huge difference to how we progress and how our horses feel about us.

So, thought that I would start a series on things we need to know before we even pick up a lead rope. Things that it took me a while to learn and a bunch of good horsemen and horses to teach me. The way to think about how your horse operates and why. So, here goes.

I have written about anthropomorphism and most have read it. If not, it is at the top of the page. This is a very important deal. Your horse is not a human, don't expect him to act as one.

Horses have a very small frontal lobe in their brain. Humans have a very large frontal lobe. It is what gives us our language ability, our ego, our concept of time and allows us to plan and plot. Since horses do not have this ability the way we handle our horse should take this into consideration. For example, our horse doesn't have the ability to plan a future action. They have no ego. They have no language and don't understand language. Sure, they learn words, but only by association with actions they experience along with the words. Don't believe me? Go out and say "Do you like Ice cream?" and see what the response is.

Next, maybe the most important thing to remember about the horse is that they are prey animals. As prey they think there is death around every corner. Horses are fearful creatures. We often think of them as big 1200 lb fearsome fire-breathers, but they are afraid all the time. We are predators. We kill and eat things. How do we differentiate prey animals from predators? The best way is eye placement. Prey animals eyes are usually situated on the side of the head which gives them a large field of vision. Predators have eye on the front of their heads. Look at the difference in sparrows and owls or horses and humans. We have to operate around our horses in a way that doesn't escalate their fear into the fight or flight stage. A horse that is afraid and very wary can be a great learner. A horse that goes into a panic can be very dangerous to us and themselves.

I know there are going to be people who will have exceptions to these things but those are anomalies.

Mark Goss Horsemanship

11/08/2024

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