This is an idea I have heard about a fair bit and on occasion have used, but the other evening it had dramatic results so I thought I would make it the subject of a post.
The basic idea is that if you can get a horse to softly lower its' head below the level of its' withers then you can help the horse to relax. I have heard that this position results in a hit of dopamine, the "feel good" hormone, being released into the brain of the horse.
Bonitao is a bit of a right brain horse, though he is generally pretty centred these days. But put in a situation he is not sure about and he very quickly goes very introverted and unconfident.
The exercise was to get him to go sideways over a plastic jump wing. He is unconfident about having something this big under his belly and either resists the pressure to move there, or pushes out over the jump wing to get away from it. We had been working on this for some time and slowly getting results. But Bonitao was stuck on getting the obstacle completely under his belly. We decided that maybe switching from the gentle driving game we had been using and use gentle porcupine pressure with the fingers instead might work.
The main sticking point seemed to be the front feet, so I applied gentle pressure to the shoulder and as soon as he shifted his weight over quit. Then I lowered his head and rubbed on his shoulder. He seemed to relax somewhat. Interesting. I continued with the process, asking for more and more with each try, but in small increments, each time lowering his head as a "reward". Soon he was standing with the jump wing under his belly.
It then appeared that the hind legs were stuck and he could not move them. Porcupine did not work, so I switched tactics. Being James Roberts students our horses are very good at having their feet placed down. We never ever drop a foot when picking out the feet for example. We make sure we can place the tip of the toe on the ground with a completely relaxed leg.
I now used this to make Bonitao think about his hind feet. I picked them up and gently moved them around until I felt him thinking to the leg, then placed them on the ground. With his attention now on the feet I asked again for the hind quarter porcupine, and he took a small step. And again for each good try he got a "reward" of a lowered head.
We did not get him all the way across the jump wing on that session, but subsequently have. For me it really reinforced the idea of this low head position being a place of relaxation and reward and its' cheaper than treats !
The basic idea is that if you can get a horse to softly lower its' head below the level of its' withers then you can help the horse to relax. I have heard that this position results in a hit of dopamine, the "feel good" hormone, being released into the brain of the horse.
Bonitao is a bit of a right brain horse, though he is generally pretty centred these days. But put in a situation he is not sure about and he very quickly goes very introverted and unconfident.
The exercise was to get him to go sideways over a plastic jump wing. He is unconfident about having something this big under his belly and either resists the pressure to move there, or pushes out over the jump wing to get away from it. We had been working on this for some time and slowly getting results. But Bonitao was stuck on getting the obstacle completely under his belly. We decided that maybe switching from the gentle driving game we had been using and use gentle porcupine pressure with the fingers instead might work.
The main sticking point seemed to be the front feet, so I applied gentle pressure to the shoulder and as soon as he shifted his weight over quit. Then I lowered his head and rubbed on his shoulder. He seemed to relax somewhat. Interesting. I continued with the process, asking for more and more with each try, but in small increments, each time lowering his head as a "reward". Soon he was standing with the jump wing under his belly.
It then appeared that the hind legs were stuck and he could not move them. Porcupine did not work, so I switched tactics. Being James Roberts students our horses are very good at having their feet placed down. We never ever drop a foot when picking out the feet for example. We make sure we can place the tip of the toe on the ground with a completely relaxed leg.
I now used this to make Bonitao think about his hind feet. I picked them up and gently moved them around until I felt him thinking to the leg, then placed them on the ground. With his attention now on the feet I asked again for the hind quarter porcupine, and he took a small step. And again for each good try he got a "reward" of a lowered head.
We did not get him all the way across the jump wing on that session, but subsequently have. For me it really reinforced the idea of this low head position being a place of relaxation and reward and its' cheaper than treats !
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