~You have the reins

Take my reins Lord, Your will my command

My body your temple, my life's in your hands.

Please use the spur Lord if ever I fight

And try to do the wrong and not right.

Lord I may balk from things I don't know

But if you're with me, forward I'll go.

One step at a time, I'll walk right beside

Because I'm safe, with you as my guide.

In so many ways, the more I learn about horses, the more it reminds me of my relationship with God. He's the rider and I'm the horse. God isn't a dictator, demanding that we obey or else. He's a loving God who has guidelines and boundaries set up to protect us. We have our horses in a pasture. If we didn't they might get hit on the road. This may sound pretty academic but I think it's so neat!
  Most horses are born with a natural distrust for humans. They will hide behind their moms, just out of your reach. Lets say you work with this baby. You show it that when you pull on the halter it is to move towards you. Most times they will pull against you in the beginning; trying to get away from the pressure. If you do it right they will learn to yield to pressure and follow or come to you.
  In that same way God asks us to draw closer to Him. He puts pressure on certain areas of our lives, asking us to make the right decision and turn to Him. (Are you getting this? Or am I just confusing you!)
  When that baby does decide to trust you and follow, he needs rewarded right away. (So he knows he did the right thing.) How? By releasing the pressure.
  God also takes the pressure away that He was applying when we give our wills up to Him and decide to trust Him completely.

 Have you ever round penned a horse? No I don't mean just sending it around to get out some of that energy, I mean Natural Horsemanship- body language. You normally do this when you don't have a very good relationship and you either want your horse to respect or trust you more.
 First you send them away, and make them keep going. In the beginning his focus isn't on you. Its on the other horses, other distractions, or the gate. He doesn't realize yet why he's doing this He slows down, so you quickly apply (Here it is again!) pressure and make him go faster. Such as swinging a rope, or using a whip with a bag on the end, or for the Parelli people a carrot stick. :) There he found out he needs to keep moving and there is someone in the middle of his circle directing him. So he starts eyeing that person, wondering what's going on. (Ok back to you) As he's circling you start backing up and over and make it evident you want him to turn and go the other way. In essence you are now blocking him. He has two choices: (Well he could actually just run over you!) to turn towards you and the middle, and turn around, or turn towards the fence and turn around. (This is so much harder to explain than I thought. Why don't you just come over and I'll sow you what I mean!) Lets say he turns towards the fence. He either doesn't trust or respect you enough because in doing so he has turned his hindquarters towards you and his face away. So that was wrong. Therefore you apply more pressure, making him work harder. Hopefully then he realizes "That didn't work. I turned away and life got harder." Ok horses don't really rationalize like that but do you see where I'm going? God wants to be the center of your world; your total focus. When you turn away he applies pressure to bring you back to Him.
  The last part of round penning is when you have his attention and focus: he's watching you, has one ear turned towards you, and he also starts chewing or licking his lips. They are are signs of a willing spirit. So you step out and ask him to stop. He does, so you turn around and step away. This is the moment. Does he trust you enough to follow or come in to you?
  God does this too. (No not turn his back on you.) He works with you and when He sees the walls come down and the beginning of a broken and contrite heart He tests you to see if you will step out in faith and follow Him.

So, will you? God never fails, He never goes back on His word. 
Can you trust Him?
Will you trust Him? 

Photos by: Tashia

How I talked about it up there is how I have learned to do it. I actually combined my methods of doing this from Clinton Anderson, Monty Roberts, and the Parellis. 

 I got Dunny out just to take pictures for this post. He was like "I know what this is about." Right off he started licking and chewing and trying to come in! I was like "Just hang on fella I need some pictures. Act like we're doing this for real!"

In the end he decided to show off a bit for the camera!

Oh and if you're wondering about those logs in the middle. Well we had a trail course set up and they just didn't get moved yet. I normally don't use logs for round penning!

Oh and by the way, its one of the BEST feelings in the world when your horse walks towards you for the first time. Even if its only a few steps, or one step. He has decided to trust you! Maybe I'm just an emotional person. You don't feel like that? :)

~Horse sense part 1

How to tell weather your horse needs more work

Please do NOT laugh at your horse if he is doing any of these and say "Oh that's just how he is!" These are problems, vices, hazards, whatever you want to call them, except they are anything BUT good and safe. If you are allowing these things, you are not only putting yourself at risk, but also others around you. I have written here the worst things I could think of at the moment and then later I'll explain how to deal with them.

1.Bucking (Not all the time, but just some.)
2.Rearing (Never let it start and you won't have to deal with it.)
3.Kicking (Worst thing in my opinion. You never know when its coming.)
4.Biting or nipping (Should not be tolerated to any extent.)
5.Knocking you with his head (Terribly disrespectful.)
6.Suddenly takes off with you on trail rides (Obviously you're not the boss.)
7.Walks into you (Teach him to respect your space.) 
8.Runs you into things while riding (Put him in his place.)
9.Freaks out all the time (Contrary to what most people think, you CAN quite easily teach your horse not to be fearful.)
10.Reacts while riding around other horses (Definitely unsafe.)

Please discipline your horse immediately when he behaves wrongly! If you do not, YOU are allowing him to do it. (That's pretty much the same as giving him permission.) 

You say you don't want to hurt him? Well let me tell ya, in the wild when a young colt gets out of line, an older mare will either kick him, bite him, or push him away from the herd (There he is very vulnerable to predators.) until she can see a repentant spirit in him.
Ways to discipline your horse
OK so maybe you don't know how. Well for me I use split reins and wear spurs. (If you are against them I need to tell you one thing. If you use them correctly spurs are a tool and not a weapon.) 

If my horse would say...buck, most times I will grab one rein and spin him in a tight circle while spurring a bit with my outside leg. This is not harsh. I am simply telling him "This is not tolerated and there are consequences for disobeying." Your horse needs to know what is expected of him. So mentally set your rules and boundaries and stick to them consistently. One thing that really confuses animals (and people) is when you are not consistent. If you discipline one time then not the next, you are creating a very unstable relationship. 

Other times a quick swat with the end of my split rein is enough, or maybe just a bang of my legs. (By that I mean using my calves and not my feet.) You will have to judge which method is appropriate for your situation. If it is something really bad, you will need to be more harsh obviously. 

Do NOT yank on the reins as a form of punishment. (Or really ever.) The horse's mouth is very tender and you will most likely just teach it to be hard mouthed, then throw his head up, and maybe even rear. 
If you are on the ground and using a halter then a quick jerk on the lead rope is appropriate.  

Biting or nipping is probably best solved by smacking the nose. Not as if trying to kill him but also not just a little tap. Once your horse knows it is wrong, he will try to find more sneaky ways of doing it. I would start to watch for when he's about to bite and then make a noise or sound that means "No." I usually say "AT!" (I know its kinda different but my dad always did it so I do it too.) It can't be nice and soft. It has to be firm and commanding. 

If you are having trouble with your horse running off with you, you obviously aren't in the front of his mind. Yes, trail rides are to be relaxing but you are still riding so you need to be still guiding. I'd also suggest you go back to the arena and work on being the leader. If he's running off he has too much time thinking on his own. When you ride you need to be directing him. He is not the boss. He is your partner. You ultimately are the leader. Work on keeping his mind busy by directing his every step. If he's thinking about your signals he isn't going to be staging another full charge ahead. So the key: keep his mind busy. 

OK there's way too much to write about in one post so I'll be doing another part sometime soon. I welcome your comments and questions about what I just wrote. Hope you don't mind me being straight forward but this is how I've been taught to ride and I have a pretty good safety record. I have only fallen off a few times in my life, and been bucked off even less. (Most times I fell off I was jumping bareback on a rolly-polly pony!) I've been riding most of my life but have never had any professional training. Except maybe the movies I've watched. I learned a good bit from Clinton Anderson, Pat and Linda Parelli, some from John Lyons, and lots of people along the way who took time to help. Out of the professionals, I would say how I ride comes the closest to Clinton Anderson . Although I really like watching the Parelli's and seeing what they do while applying bits and pieces to my own riding style. And NO I'm not anywhere near a professional!