How can it be a good thing when you ask your horse to do something and they say ‘no’?
This resistance can be anything from a lack of response to your cue right up to behaviours such as bolting, rearing and kicking. And that’s always a bad thing, right?
Well, actually, it can be safer, fairer and enable you to achieve your goals when your horse says ‘no’. The key is teaching your horse to say ‘no’ gently and to understand and listen to that resistance.
In this video, I explain how allowing your horse to say ‘no’ brings these benefits:
– Keeps you safer and builds your confidence (hugely)
– Is fairer to your horse as they can communicate fear, pain, confusion etc with you without fear of punishment
– Builds your trust and relationship together as you learn to fully rely on each other in any situation
– You can only get a true ‘yes; from your horse if they’re able to say ‘no’, so you can be confident when your horse is truly relaxed, willing and happy, too.
This all then enables you to do the things that seemed unachievable in the right way, at the right time, with 100% confidence and joy from both you and your horse.
Hear all about my own journey with my warmblood mare, India, and how this process has enabled us to safely do things I once thought impossible, such as cantering calmly along the beach, riding bridleless and jumping confidently. We wouldn’t have achieved any of these without a solid ‘no’ and this process has taught me to love the ‘no’.
➣ If you’d like to find out more about my positive reinforcement horse training approach and learn how to clicker train your horse this way, please check out the Connection Training Club. The CT Club is an online membership site where you can get access to hundreds of step-by-step training videos on training your horse using positive reinforcement. You can learn and see exactly how I train my horses and how to train yours using rewards, from starting off with a fantastic foundation to effective and practical techniques for despooking, loading, riding and more. You can find out more and sign up here. We look forward to seeing you there 🙂
➤ You can also find out more in the #1 bestselling Connection Training BOOK 📖 Get it on Amazon (search for ‘Connection Training’) or download Chapter 1 free here for a preview 👀
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