I recently took my three year old filly to a local show to hang out. While I was watching a class, a woman approached me to ask me the question: What should I do with…? In this case, her horse would fly backwards every time she came close to bridle him. And so, the questions, what should I do? Why are you doing that? As always, difficult questions to answer. First, the horse tells me when to do, how to do, what to do in any given situation. There is no formula for “If he does this, then I do this.” Then what the horse is physically doing may not be the problem, it could be the byproduct of the problem. What you do know is that what he is doing is not acceptable behavior. The real problem brings us back to the mentality: the mentality of the horse and, even more so, the mentality of the person. In other words, it’s not necessarily what you’re actually doing that the horse has a problem with, it’s the pressure created by what you’re doing, which in turn triggers a response; in this case, raising its head and flying backwards. The horse is using what Nature’s View calls the bully mentality: in other words, to freeze, run, or fight is his natural instinct. When he’s in this mode, the horse is actually saying “I want to do what I want to do.” Sounds familiar? There is nothing wrong with this mentality; in fact, in the wild, in Nature’s World, the horse would depend on him for his own survival. The problem is that in our world, that mentality is not beneficial to him and if he continues down that path, someone is likely to get hurt.

So, going back to the first question, what should I do? The first thing you need to do is introduce the horse to a new mindset: a so-called alpha mindset. This is not necessarily the same alpha that you may have heard of in other riding methods. With Nature’s View, the alpha simply uses the “How can I help you?” With the tyrant mentality that we mentioned before about “I want to do what I want to do.” the horse decides what to do or the person decides how much pressure to apply (usually evoked from past situations, so he may overreact or underreact). The alpha mentality, the other side of the pendulum, is defined as the horse’s stamina in a given situation determines how much pressure is applied, and then some. This mindset calls for dealing with the moment, riding the horse below you, not the one four steps ahead or back. Remember, we teach and learn by example, so which mindset would you prefer your horse to use: alpha or tyrant?

In any case, there are four basic things we use to accomplish a task or goal: movement, direction, pacing, and tracking. These are actually the things you can see – at Nature’s View we use these things to work on the underlying things (things like problem solving, timing, listening, etc.). This is also true for us. Think about it: to get ready for work in the morning, you first have to get moving; then you must move in the direction of the kitchen to have breakfast; But let’s go back to the situation with the horse. As an example, within a working segment, if we are asking a horse to go in a particular direction and the horse decides on its own to change direction, the amount of pressure you apply is equal to its resistance, plus a little more. If you pay attention to the horse and let it tell you what to do to apply that pressure, the horse will most likely return to the original direction. Every time you apply pressure you are raising what we call its negative pole. The internal poles (both negative and positive) are those feelings that let you know when a situation is beneficial or not for your well-being. If the resistance continues and you keep increasing the pressure (remember, using the alpha mindset), eventually, what they feel from you will be greater than they imagine (the pressure to change direction). As soon as you feel that they have switched to the new mindset, you should release the pressure. Don’t get caught up in watching an action. Remember, as soon as you feel the horse switch to the new mindset, that’s when you release the pressure.

So back to the questions; we use the bridle (the target) as the reason for the ride (creating a relationship with your horse) to practice the invisible (timing, feeling, anger management, listening skills) which allows you to develop a whole new alpha mindset, or way of thinking; Lots to think about, right?! Just like jumping the jump, crossing the creek or loading into the trailer, putting on or taking off the bridle is one of the many seen things we do with our horses; but the icing on the cake is having a willing partner in whatever task we attempt. It is not about achieving the goal, not even about the trip; it’s about the necessary mindset for both of you. The goal is simply the reason for the trip. Within the ride, we are allowed to practice the mindset, and the more proficient we are in the mindset, the more we can follow our passion, whatever it may be (dressage, hunter/jumper, trail riders, western pleasure). So instead of putting the cart before the horse and focusing on the goal or even the journey, we need the alpha mindset first.

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