Sorry it has been a while since my last update, but things have been busy around here.
Following on from the audition, I made the resolution to not continue the mistake of being too focussed on the performance, but become more focussed on the rapport.
I believe that many people mistake rapport with just making the horse love you. Having played in my mind with the concept I now realise that rapport is made up of all three of the "Love, Language, Leadership" trio. Think of it as a three legged stool. By improving each element it's leg is made thicker and stronger and less prone to accidental damage. Eventually the legs are strong enough that you can put real pressure on the stool and sit on it without it falling over. Neglect a leg and you wind up breaking the stool and lying flat on your back on the ground ! (I originally put a slightly ruder sentence in but changed my mind :-) )
Sure "Love" is part of it and Filly and I spent a long time with me just cradling and stroking her head this evening, but "Language" is also important.
If you don't have language then you both get frustrated with each other and rapport is damaged. Of course to get Language it is sometimes necessary to use a high level of pressure (phase 4), not often but it happens. I used to worry that this would break the rapport but in fact it enhances it as our ability to communicate gets stronger.
Leadership is also a vital part and this comprises two parts in my opinion.
The most important is to have a plan so that you can act like a leader even if that is just a plan to play hard for the evening and have fun. Having a plan changes your body language and makes you act like a leader. I don't mean "I am going to do friendly game for 3 minutes, followed by two minutes of porcupine, then 3 minutes of driving etc etc". That's not a plan as it doesn't lead anywhere except to a bored horse. A plan is "by the end of the session I want to have my horse left brained, forward thinking and have the rapport intact. We will work on my ability to ask for a good squeeze game and use her play drive to achieve it. I don't even want her to realise we are training, we are just playing and I will use whatever elements of NH I need to to achieve the goal".
The second is to use the "attitude of justice is effective" principle, especially with a left brain dominant horse like Filly. Today for example we were doing squeeze game at liberty. As she came past me in the squeeze she flicked her tail and tapped my jacket with it. That was like giving me the finger in horse language, I was quick enough to respond almost instantly with my "tail", the string on my stick, and tag her with just an ounce more energy than she had me. The look on her face was a picture. Ears pricked she looked at me with new respect and did not flick her tail on subsequent passes. The key here was a) timing and b) I tagged the zone that had offended me.
To achieve these lofty goals I have been playing with way more energy on my part, particularly at liberty. We now turn and burn with quick fire changes in the games. From stick to me at canter over a jump, to direction changes, to circling game, to squeeze game, to YoYo. All the games (except maybe porcupine) are involved, but not as individual games but as part of a whole. Filly gets really excited. Her direction changes are exuberant and expressive. Sure she leaves my side at stick to me for a second or two, but that is just exuberance and I can't canter fast enough to satisfy her play needs ! The slightest nod of my head and she rejoins me. This is not slow precise training, just fun and rapport building and as a result her liberty squeeze game became really really good.
The proof that this attitude helps building rapport is that after all the high energy and adrenaline charged activity she calms down in an instant as I drop my energy and stands with her head in my arms for a long cuddle. No prey animal is going to let a predator wrap their arms around its head unless there is some degree of trust and rapport there are they ?
Following on from the audition, I made the resolution to not continue the mistake of being too focussed on the performance, but become more focussed on the rapport.
I believe that many people mistake rapport with just making the horse love you. Having played in my mind with the concept I now realise that rapport is made up of all three of the "Love, Language, Leadership" trio. Think of it as a three legged stool. By improving each element it's leg is made thicker and stronger and less prone to accidental damage. Eventually the legs are strong enough that you can put real pressure on the stool and sit on it without it falling over. Neglect a leg and you wind up breaking the stool and lying flat on your back on the ground ! (I originally put a slightly ruder sentence in but changed my mind :-) )
Sure "Love" is part of it and Filly and I spent a long time with me just cradling and stroking her head this evening, but "Language" is also important.
If you don't have language then you both get frustrated with each other and rapport is damaged. Of course to get Language it is sometimes necessary to use a high level of pressure (phase 4), not often but it happens. I used to worry that this would break the rapport but in fact it enhances it as our ability to communicate gets stronger.
Leadership is also a vital part and this comprises two parts in my opinion.
The most important is to have a plan so that you can act like a leader even if that is just a plan to play hard for the evening and have fun. Having a plan changes your body language and makes you act like a leader. I don't mean "I am going to do friendly game for 3 minutes, followed by two minutes of porcupine, then 3 minutes of driving etc etc". That's not a plan as it doesn't lead anywhere except to a bored horse. A plan is "by the end of the session I want to have my horse left brained, forward thinking and have the rapport intact. We will work on my ability to ask for a good squeeze game and use her play drive to achieve it. I don't even want her to realise we are training, we are just playing and I will use whatever elements of NH I need to to achieve the goal".
The second is to use the "attitude of justice is effective" principle, especially with a left brain dominant horse like Filly. Today for example we were doing squeeze game at liberty. As she came past me in the squeeze she flicked her tail and tapped my jacket with it. That was like giving me the finger in horse language, I was quick enough to respond almost instantly with my "tail", the string on my stick, and tag her with just an ounce more energy than she had me. The look on her face was a picture. Ears pricked she looked at me with new respect and did not flick her tail on subsequent passes. The key here was a) timing and b) I tagged the zone that had offended me.
To achieve these lofty goals I have been playing with way more energy on my part, particularly at liberty. We now turn and burn with quick fire changes in the games. From stick to me at canter over a jump, to direction changes, to circling game, to squeeze game, to YoYo. All the games (except maybe porcupine) are involved, but not as individual games but as part of a whole. Filly gets really excited. Her direction changes are exuberant and expressive. Sure she leaves my side at stick to me for a second or two, but that is just exuberance and I can't canter fast enough to satisfy her play needs ! The slightest nod of my head and she rejoins me. This is not slow precise training, just fun and rapport building and as a result her liberty squeeze game became really really good.
The proof that this attitude helps building rapport is that after all the high energy and adrenaline charged activity she calms down in an instant as I drop my energy and stands with her head in my arms for a long cuddle. No prey animal is going to let a predator wrap their arms around its head unless there is some degree of trust and rapport there are they ?
No comments:
Post a Comment