| If you have ever rode a horse that spooked, you | | | | such as changing gaits, you don't want to rush his |
| know how fast it can happen. Before you can react to | | | | understanding that you want him to go from one gait |
| your horse spooking, your horse has likely finished | | | | to the next in an instant. Instead, you may want him to |
| spooking or he's half way through it. In other words, it | | | | make an easy and calm transition. So while you're |
| can happen so fast, you wouldn't know it until it's over | | | | teaching this, you don't want to rush to hurry and get |
| or it's half done. In the meantime, you could be seriously | | | | him to move from a trot to a lope. |
| hurt. | | | | Rather, you'd want the transition to be deliberate and |
| That so, be especially mindful of how you work to | | | | quickly gradual. Let him learn that it's okay to take his |
| take the spook out of your horse. Doing it wrong could | | | | time understanding what you want him to do because |
| make your horse worse and very dangerous. So | | | | he does NOT know what you want him to do. You |
| what is the worst mistake you could make? Although | | | | must patiently work with him in a way that's not putting |
| opinions vary, I say the worst mistake you could make | | | | so much pressure on him that he can't think through |
| is going too fast. What does this mean? Here are | | | | what you want. The reason he can't think through |
| some examples. | | | | what you want is he's feeling fearful and you can't |
| If you're trying to teach your horse to do something | | | | give him too much to try to figure out. |