An little essay on horsemanship: One of the common transactions between our kind and their kind is gettin a halter on em. Theres a bunch of different kinds of halters, flat nylon, leather, rope, and all manner and kind of combinations of material and hardware. Some even have chains. I wouldnt have one on the place. Like everything else that has to do with our dealings with these critters, our ability to communicate and their understanding and trust are the critical factors. That halter and all of your strength, up to and including putting your entire body weight into it, will never win if things come down to whos strongest. And, if you get fouled up in the lead, it can get down right dangerous. Getting dragged around with a hand or foot tangled up in a rope is not gonna be fun. Might even get ya dead. Your mind and theirs makes the tie that binds. So, where to start. Well, first of all, you have to be very clear in your mind what you want to have clear in their mind. Being on the lead is more than just following you around. Its a statement that clearly says, Youre not at liberty and you need to focus on me and pay attention. Its a very important part of a critters groundwork and it needs to be done to a high degree of certainty. First things first. Let the critter take all the time it needs to get familiar with the tack. Smell it, taste it, get rubbed all over with it, look at it. Theres no hurry here. When you use the lead to announce to the critter that they are, in fact caught up, move the tag end of the lead under their neck. Reaching up and over can be really threatening and even a well trained animal wont feel totally good about that hand and rope going by their face, eye, and ears. Have the halter all sorted out and ready to slip on over their nose. About the last thing either of you want or need is for you to be messing around with an inside-out halter or a throat latch thats stuck in buckle, or a nose band thats twisted, and all the while what you have going is a lead rope flopping around that youre trying to manage with the crook of your elbow or a tuck under your chin. Its a mess you dont need. I like rope halters. Its what I use. I dont like hardware and I dont like running out of tag ends and trying to buckle up a halter thats too small or so large its droppin off their nose. And flat nylon with a twist in it can just be a pain to sort out and the dang things break, stiching pulls out and the metal buckles break. Trick to getting a rope halter tied off properly in to remember that once that throat latch tag end gets through the loop, it stays below the loop. Pulling it back up above the loop can make it bind and be a son of a gun to get undone. With a youngster, you dont need to be struggling with a tight knot and getting both of you upset. Just down through the loop and an overhand around the cheek of the halter. Thatll do it. With the youngsters or any critter thats working on getting haltered, I like to give em lots of practice. The Karate Kid wax on, wax off deal, only with a halter, halter on, halter off. When they get bored do something else, but keep practicing till its really and truly no big deal. Now, back to leading. Our animals know how to be led with a piece of baling twine around their neck or were not through teaching em how to lead. That does not mean they dont need to be haltered. There are times you are letting the critter know that you mean business and they are to expect to be controlled in their behavior. The halter says that. Standing for the vet or farrier. Loading and unloading into a trailer. Being out from fenced and secure areas. Getting tacked up for work. Standing quietly and waiting. The halter is a symbol of that expectation and your training and work to communicate the expected focus and attention is everything. The rope and halter? Yeah, well I wouldnt count on it meaning very much if you havent put in the time teaching and reteaching what you want. Theyre gonna do the absolute best they can to get it right. Theyre gonna ask questions and check to see if you really mean it. Theyre going to deserve patience and careful thought from you. They will never make mistakes, just point out yours. There are no little unimportant things we teach to these creatures. If we want them to know something wed like them to do, we are 100% responsible to get that exactly right. Looking for shortcuts, and a new quick and easy method? There just arent any that will do the job. Compliance is not enough. You need understanding. Response to a cue is not enough, you need real learning to have occurred. And, pain and discomfort and harshness and anger are totally and always completely wrong. Period! No exceptions, no excuses. Jim
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 23:14:46 +0000
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