What if you got in your car tomorrow to find that when you turned the steering wheel, the front wheels failed to follow suit? What if you pressed the gas pedal, expecting the car to travel in its usual predictable fashion, but instead it didn't budge-or worse yet, took off with an out-of-control burst of speed?
You may first holler at your husband or car-savvy teenager to have a look, but if that doesn't render a solution, I am sure you would hustle the car off to a mechanic. You wouldn't put up with erratic behavior like that from your car - it simply isn't safe, much less functional.
And yet too often we do not realize that our horse's components have started to rust and are in need of a tune-up. Putting up with unpredictable and less-than-functional behavior from our horse is no more safe than driving a vehicle in dire need of repair.
We have spent the past weeks learning various desensitization and sensitization exercises that make up the foundation of our horsemanship. Click here to read Controlling Movement (Part IV). In essence, you and your horse have been practicing your ABC's-and without this solid grasp of the alphabet, future spelling and correct word use becomes difficult.
Horsemanship (and life, for that matter) is no different. It is essential to be well versed in the basics before you may find true success with more advanced skills.
Hopefully by now you and your horse have achieved a mutual understanding of the basics of movement: yielding backwards, yielding the hindquarters, and yielding the forequarters; and can do the exercises equally well on both sides to a rhythmic, energetic pressure cue and a steady, physical pressure cue. You will find that being able to move your horse's body independently of other parts (i.e. moving just the hind feet, or just the front feet) will greatly enhance your success in these next skills.
Taking these skills to the next level is simply a matter of putting them together so that they may be of practical use. The ultimate dream is to be able to creatively and purposely play with your horse for hours. But to make sure it is constructive and interesting play (for everyone's sake), it is important to have a mutually understood language and skills. This is what we are building upon each week.
Let's go back to the analogy of your car to better understand how to communicate with various parts of our horse's bodies.
In simplified terms, the horses' nose is like the steering wheel of your car. Where the steering wheel points, the car goes - where the nose points, the horse goes.
The horses' front legs are like the front tires on a car. If your car works, as it should, the front tires are influenced by the direction of the steering wheel and should travel in the according direction. Similarly, the direction of the horses' nose influences the direction of travel of the front legs. (These two principles are altered in certain advanced riding maneuvers where the horse's body is asked to move independently from the direction of the nose, but serve as a sound reference for introductory horsemanship).
But what good is the ability to control direction without the means of movement? A car has an engine to facilitate power. A horse too has a specific part that facilitates power. Any guess? Take a look at the lovely buttocks on your horse. A horse's power comes from their hindquarters. A highly muscled and well-toned rump gives the horse the power and speed necessary to run away from things that intend to eat them (almost makes me want to run from some mountain lions for a while, if it means getting a butt like that).
