Posture, Yielding, Bending, Ground Manners
by Rhett Russell
Natural Horse Supply
Posture applies to both the human and the horse. To the horse, we humans look like a prey animal. We stand upright, tend to walk straight at them, our ears are flat against our heads, and we make direct eye contact like a predator. Horses can overcome these issues with us, but we have to earn their trust. In contrast the horse will carry itself differently when relaxed, stressed, or fearful. You need to be able to carry your posture differently for training situations and read what the horse's body language is telling you.
Human Posture
When you work with the horse are you standing square or are you slouching a bit? Do you walk fast and directly at the horse when you go to catch them in the pasture? Think about how you come across to the horse, switch places with them. If someone came at you the way you go after your horse what would you do? We'll give you a couple of examples where your posture can assist in training:
The backwards yield: When asking the horse to back up by wiggling the rope side to side, and the horse responds correctly by backing up. Lower your shoulders, move towards the horse with you body sideways, offer the back of your hand (see the Senses "Handshake") and reward your horse. You just gave your horse the "good deal" and showed them that correct responses are met by low stress rewards from you. The horse doesn't understand speech, but does read body language better than we ever will. If you did the same exercise and then moved directly and quickly at the horse, how successful would you be?
Stopping when leading a horse. When leading a horse and you want them to stop you can reinforce the stop by getting big. By this I mean squaring up your shoulders, standing tall, even jumping up a little into the air. You make yourself appear bigger than you actually are. The horse is going to notice this and pay attention to your posture. Walk forward with the horse on the lead rope, stop abruptly with a "big" posture. Did your horse stop? If not you may need to reinforce this with an up down movement in the lead rope at the same time. Over time, the horse will watch you to see when you stop and you won't need to get "big". For training purposes, properly using and reading posture can increase the quality of your training.
Another thing you will learn is to draw your horse in to you with posture. You can use this to your advantage too. When round penning your horse you can step back and draw a horse into you.
Posture carries over into the saddle. If you tense up your muscles and get "stiff" you send a message to your horse that something is wrong or you deaden them to the feel of your seat.. If you stay relaxed and don't over react you will teach your horse to be calm.
Horse Posture
When you know what to look for the posture of the horse can tell you whether you are making progress or how the horse feels. Since you can't ask them if they understood something or what they are thinking, this is a valuable tool. Posture can be as subtle as the worried wrinkles around they eye or as obvious as a strike or kick. Experience is the best way to learn to read the horse's posture. Posture is situational, which means that the posture you see in a certain situation may not apply to a different setting. These are some of the easy things to see:
Licking and chewing - submissive behaviors which means that the horse is willing to take direction from you. Head down - licking and chewing "I am a grazing animal, I don't want to challenge your position".
Head down - relaxed, the horse is comfortable with the situation at hand. We call this "turned off".
Yawning - an extremely relaxed posture which means that the horse had "soaked up" what you were working on. Yawns are "gold nuggets" in the training field.
Head up high - "I am resistant" or "I don't want to do this". We call this "turned on".
Teeth showing & ears back - "I want you to yield to me, get out of my way", this is usually a warning.
Turning rear towards you - "I told you to move, now move", this is another warning - soon to be followed by a kick.
Rearing and striking - "You didn't listen, and now I am going to hurt you!"
Yielding is an interesting term. As the definition suggests, there is a pecking order -- the horse is subordinate and you are their leader. You are after yielding from respect not fear. If you punish your horse you don’t have respect, you have fear. Don’t confuse these two concepts. You want the horse to respect you, but why? That’s what’s important. This really goes back to the lead mare analogy that we discussed on the training home page. You need to learn to balance respect with an appropriate correction for a situation when necessary and reward for appropriate behavior.
Put yourself in the horseshoes of the lead mare. If you were standing next to another horse and wanted to get to some nice green grass on the other side of the horse, how would you do it? Would you walk all the way around the other horse’s nose or rear? The lead mare is going to yield either the front or the rear of this horse out of the way and walk right through. If you were to walk through your horse at the head to get to the other side of the horse, what would happen. Would your horse stand still? Would it move into you? Your horse should yield to you and move out of the way. If you don’t have this, then your horse thinks that you are the one who is subordinate.
If you ask a horse to move, they darn well better move. Horses aren’t looking for a fight. The last thing they want is trouble. You may have noticed that a lead mare will flick her head, turn her rear, move her shoulder, or use other postures to yield another horse. If the other horse won’t yield it doesn’t mean that the lead mare will walk off, the stakes are now higher. Eventually, this may get to physical contact. But, once the lead mare gets what she is after, she lets the pressure off. You have to do this too. You need to use caution, everything about them is "industrial strength". A flick of the head or quick kick intended to yield another horse can seriously injure us because we don’t have the size to play these games. This is where you use what the horse already knows and your "superior intelligence" to reinforce your role as the leader.
Most people make this too complicated with their horse. The horsemen at clinics that I have been to all deal with yields, but either go so fast that people can’t see what’s happening or they assume everyone is up to speed and at the same level. Don’t assume that just because your horse is "broke" that whoever trained him made sure that this was put into him, you need to test your horse. These are the yields that you need to have with your horse in order to have a basic level of respect.
One of the great things about a horse that is yielding to you is that they are in a submissive posture. When yielding the shoulder or hindquarters, they are also at a disadvantage with their legs crossed over -- the horse can’t easily strike out or kick without adjusting it’s posture. The horse is vulnerable and knows this too which gives you a big advantage when it comes to building a relationship and respect.
All of these exercises require a rope halter and lead rope. The key to these exercises is that you want the horse to move off of as little pressure as possible. Always start with an ounce of pressure but be prepared to use 100 pounds if that’s what it takes. Offer the good deal first, but be ready to use whatever it takes.
Backward
It’s easiest to teach your horse to move off of the pressure of your hand first and then move to the lead rope. There are a number of ways to teach this:
Pressure on the horse’s chest: Use you thumbs and press into the chest muscle of the horse. Reward immediately when the horse begins to move backward. Lower your posture and reward the horse.
Pressure on the horse’s nose. Place your hand on the bridge of the horse’s nose and apply pressure. Reward immediately when the horse begins to move backward. Lower your posture and reward the horse.
Your horse also needs to move off of pressure from the lead rope and back away from you. To do this, stand about 10 feet in front of the horse. Wiggle the lead rope with a side to side motion. Start by asking with a small side to side motion with the rope, be prepared – It may take some extreme motion with the lead rope in order to get this message to the horse. When your horse starts to move backward off of this pressure, quit moving the rope immediately, lower your posture and reward the horse. You will notice that the more you work with your horse on this exercise the smaller the motion (pressure) with the lead rope you have to use to get the horse to move.
Forward
Your horse needs to move off of pressure from the lead rope and towards you. This is the same concept that you need to use for leading or ponying your horse so you are working on this at the same time.
To do this, stand about 10 feet in front of the horse. Ask with forward pressure on the lead rope. Reward immediately when the horse begins to move forward. Lower your posture and reward the horse. Now ask for two steps forward, apply pressure on the lead rope. When the horse moves forward two steps, move the lead rope with an up/down motion. This motion of the lead rope teaches the horse to stop, which will be useful when longeing and ground driving. Don’t let the horse walk to you unless you ask.
When you can reliably ask the horse to yield forward with little pressure, practice "milking" the lead rope. Milking is light pressure and release with each hand, think of this like lightly reeling in your horse. This exposes the horse to following a feel.
An exercise that you can practice is yielding forward and backwards. Ask the horse to come to you, stop, then move backwards. Try this first with one step forward, and one step back, then two, three etc.
Shoulder yield to the left and right
The horse needs to move the shoulder away from you. Not only does the shoulder need to move, but the feet need to move by stepping over – the outside foot (the one closest to you) will cross over the inside foot. Do not let the horse move forward or backward. Visualize a turn on the haunches, where the front feet pivot around the rear feet.
This can be tricky until you understand what is happening. If you ask your horse to shoulder yield to the right, you would be on the left side of the neck. Ask the horse to bend at the poll. Take up the slack in the lead rope with your right hand. Hold the rope halter at the cheek with your left hand. Place your right hand below the horses shoulder where the leg meets the shoulder. You will notice a crease between the muscles on the shoulder here. This is a pressure point that you can use to assist in applying pressure to the shoulder.
Ask with light pressure from your hand at this pressure point and increase until you get the desired result. When your horse starts to move off of this pressure and crosses the left front leg over the right front leg, immediately stop, lower your posture and reward the horse.
Start small and ask for one step, work you way up to being able to yield your horse in a complete circle over time. This will be easier if you walk through the neck in an arc.
You are going to notice that the horse has an easy side and a hard side. The left side is usually easier to work than the right. This is related to their vision and exposure to stimulus; horses have offset eyes unlike humans, dogs, and cats who can close one eye and still see what’s in front of them. In addition, most people just don’t do much work on the right side of the horse.
Now go work on the right side of the horse to shoulder yield to the left. You must be able to shoulder yield on both sides of the horse.
Hindquarters yield
We saved the easiest for last. Yielding the hindquarters is relatively easy, a balanced horse is already doing this many times a day. You need to show the horse that you know what they know. The horse needs to move the hindquarters away from you. Not only does their rear need to move away from you, but the feet need to move by stepping under – the inside foot (the one closest to you) will cross in front of the outside foot. Do not let the horse move forward or backward. Visualize a turn on the forehand, where the rear feet pivot around the front feet.
Stand on the left side of the horse. Hold the lead rope in your left hand and the tail of the rope in your right hand. Put some pressure on the rear of the horse. Twirling the lead rope at the rear of the horse is safest. When your horse starts to move off of this pressure and crosses the left rear leg across the right rear leg, immediately stop, lower your posture and reward the horse.
Now go work from the left side of the horse to yield the hindquarters to the right. You must be able to yield the hindquarters from both sides of the horse.
Bending is a term to describe the range of motion and resistance in the muscles of the horse. Bending your horse is an easy exercise with huge benefits that you begin to see almost instantly. Bending is one of those things that you could do every day for an hour with your horse and you would never overdo it. There are entire books written on this subject. To get a horse that is soft, supple, and carries itself with collection the horse needs to bend correctly. You need to be able to bend your horse in many different ways, these are the basics:
Bend at the poll (the atlas joint that connects the last vertebrae to the skull).
Bend at the neck to the left and right.
Bend through the body to the left
and right.
A horse is going to bend naturally, but the "average" horse is going to need some help to realize their potential. Horses are athletes, think about world class runners – they stretch before they exercise to loosen muscles and increase range of motion. This concept carries over to the horse too. If you were satisfied with limited range of motion and the resistance in your horse, you wouldn’t be reading this, you’d go to the beach and rent a horse for an hour.
A horse is going to bend better to one side than the other. The left side of the horse is usually the "easy" side. You’ll notice that when you ask for a bend in the horse, it will probably brace itself and resist. Your responsibility is to work through this resistance until the horse bends softly. This may not happen overnight, but with consistent work you will get results.
Before you can begin side passes, leg yielding, or asking you horse to carry itself with collection you need to have a horse that can bend softly without resistance. These exercises can help get you there. Don’t start out by asking your horse too much. Start small and work your way up. Begin with 5 seconds and work your way up to 30 seconds.
Bend at the poll
Bend the neck to the left
Bend the neck to the right
Bend the body to the left
Bend the body to the right.
Horses that have suffered injuries often have difficulty bending. If you suspect an injury, don’t force your horse to bend – it may be resistant due to the injury.
Space - The concept of space is something that you already understand; you just need to relate it to the horse. If you have ever been to a party where someone comes up to you and stands to close, they have violated your personal space. Normally, you are going to take a step back and continue with conversation or whatever you were doing. Every person is different, but with a horse your personal space "bubble" is probably 18"-24" around your body. Personal space is different with a horse, the horse should not be allowed into this space unless you ask the horse to be there. The horse should move out of this space, not you -- it is very important that the horse be the one that moves. In your relationship with the horse, if you move - your horse has taught you to yield to him. Your horse would be telling you that you are lower in the herd pecking order and that's not what we are after in this relationship.
Do not allow a horse into your personal space unless you ask the horse to come into you. When standing near a horse:
NEVER let your horse move into you.
NEVER let your horse swing its head into you.
NEVER let your horse step on you.
NEVER let your horse walk over you.
What you are working for is a relationship where you can ask your horse to stand, lead, and yield to you with respect for your personal space.
How to deal with a horse in your space:
For the beginner, there are two tools that make this a lot easier; a rope halter and a lead rope, both made from high quality kernmantle yacht braid. Assuming that you are able to halter your horse, stand about two feet off your horse's shoulder. Will your horse stand still? Does he move his shoulder into you? Does his head come into your space? Does your horse try to step on you?
Horses spend thousands of hours learning how to yield other horses and move them in a direction they want. It only makes sense that they would try to yield a human too. A horse will test you to see if you will yield almost immediately. If you want to be the leader in this relationship you need to quickly set up the pecking order.
Moving into your space: This is a test to see if you will move (yield) out of the horses way. You can quickly yield the horse off of you by twirling the lead rope at the offending horse body part - shoulder or rear. Be prepared for quick movements from the horse, don't overreact - A horse may be surprised that you are now telling them that they are the one who has to yield.
Swinging its head into you: A horse in the herd uses it's jawbone as a weapon to yield other horses. This is a battle you can never win. You may need to use the palm of your hand to persuade the horse to move it's head out of the way. Don't be afraid of hurting the horse, they aren't afraid of hurting you. You want to the horse to know that this is not acceptable - move into this space and you will run into the palm of my hand. They will learn to respect your space quickly, this is not punishment - it is a correction.
Stepping on you: This is another way that a horse will try to yield you and get you out of their space. You can deal with this the same way that you would with a horse that is moving into your space or you can make this uncomfortable for the horse by stepping on the coronet band of the horse. You are not trying to injure the horse, but make them uncomfortable. Be quick and prepared, the front feet of the horse are lightning fast. Don't attempt this with a horse that you don't know or trust. (c) 1999 Natural Horse Supply, Cloudburst Farm, and Rhett & Marilou Russell. Reposted with permission.
