TRAVELING to an
in
EVENTwith our HORSE Evaluate your horse’s individual
TRAINING & Showing
perceptions and needs in a new
and changing environment.
Part of the process of preparing a horse
for an event is enabling him physically and
mentally to face the circumstance ... but
sometimes things do not go as we would
like. Along with the possibility of being
trained to face a certain situation, the horse
has a good ability to naturally adapt to
what surrounds him, but adaptation can
take time. An immediate resource to assist
a horse when we are together, and he faces
something new is the social relationship we
can establish between us. It is an instinctive
behavioral characteristic of the equine
species, but also of the human one.
ing time to familiarize with the new environment. If time is
not available, the help the horse needs is to have close to
him an individual whom he recognizes as a leader. Having
the role of leader in the eyes of the horse is something that
can be assumed through a relationship with him, whether it
lasts a few moments, or it lasted for years.
Learning about Human Horse Sensing and adopting it as a
system to communicate with the horse allows us to acquire
or refine riding practice regardless of the discipline chosen.
This approach is for all those who have an interest in
horses and allows to establishing an immediate connection
with any subject. Here we cannot illustrate our system in a
comprehensive way, but we would still like to provide you
with some elements that are an aid to facilitate the horse
during trips.
Apart from all the details and rules for traveling, which must
absolutely be respected and vary according to where we
are and where we go, let’s see how we can help the horse
spontaneously and immediately. The behavior of each
horse is different, what can be stressful for one person is not
for another. The success of our actions is linked to our ability
to observe and honestly evaluate the behavior of each
subject
• Upon his arrival, we should stay with the horse as he
enters the new environment and help by leading him to
the area where he is going to be, and that we will have
prepared appropriately before leading the horse. Whether
it is next to the trailer, in an enclosure or in a stall, we should
stay with him as he explores it, and until we have the feeling
that he feels at ease. The best way to see when this
happens is to stay in sight of the horse and watch if he eats,
or drinks quietly or even tries to roll. Bringing the hay that
he usually eats can help the horse find something familiar
to him. Sometimes we travel with more than one horse and
keeping them together, for the time when they are away
from home, helps their confidence.
• Pay attention to other individuals in the new environment,
be they horses or humans and try to make sure that our
66 www.EliteEquestrianMagazine.com
OOne of the benefits of establishing a social relationship with
the horse is being able to immediately influence his behavior
with ours. The feeling you get when you notice that
your horse is following you voluntarily while going through
a new and difficult experience, is something that everyone
would like to experience and it is even more so when you
can make it happen knowingly and at appropriate times.
Human Horse Sensing has developed a method to establish
and manage the relationship with the horse through
behavior that can support us in every situation and does
not require preexisting conditioning of the horse. Instead
of relying traditionally only on communication based on
conditioned responses that the horse learns through training,
human and equine learn to interact spontaneously
in a non-random way. To adopt this method we need
to change our perspective on communication with the
horse and learn how to interact in a socially correct way
in the equine parameters, which will allow us to help them
in the various circumstances in which we place them, on
the ground or in the saddle, whether be it everyday life,
whether it is travel for sporting events.
In real life, individuals collect information about their surroundings
and what they are interested in through their
senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell), whose perceptive
activity is always ongoing. At the brain level, individuals
process the information received and then display their interpretation
through behavior. Social interaction between
individuals is always closely related to the quality of communication
and how they perceive the situation they are
experiencing at the time. In a group situation they often
tend to adopt the behavior of an individual who responds
in the most appropriate manner to the circumstances.
Human Horse Sensing has identified parameters that have
the same social significance for man and horse and formulated
a way to modulate them by movement that can
always support us in the interaction with the horse.
The mental state of a horse that has just faced a journey
to a new place, after having been closed in a very limited
space and being surrounded by an unknown environment,
may not be ideal to face a test though easy without hav
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