Day 6: September 22 - Pressure the Right Spots

Today in class, Brother Twitchell came around and was helping us work with our horses when we had questions. I was doing the squeeze game with Jack when he came over and started talking to me. We talked a lot about how to direct the horse to go where I want him to go, and where I need to put more pressure to get Jack to move in a certain way.

Where we were in the arena, there is a pedestal for the horses to step up on. I hadn't really thought about getting Jack to do that, but when Brother Twitchell started playing with him, he showed the pedestal to Jack, and then got him to step up on it. Something I learned though, is that it wouldn't work if he would have just driven Jack in the direction of the pedestal, he would have just stepped right around it. Instead, what he did was stop him near it, and then put a little bit of pressure on his head so he would turn to it and notice it. Then, after he knew it was there, Brother Twitchell asked him to take a step forward, and he stepped up onto it. The principle that I got out of this is that we can't expect the horse know what we want them to do just because they're in the right spot. We have to give them the right cues, and show them what is supposed to be done.

He's trying, so I reward that by putting my arm down.

He's stepping up, so I probably put my arm down right after that.

Big reward, because he stepped all the way up.

I also asked Brother Twitchell about the Sideways game today, and he showed me how to do it. It's all about putting pressure in the right spot on the horse's body. If the pressure is too far towards the horses head, he will turn his head away from you, but if the pressure is too far towards the horses hip, then he'll move his hip away from you. I practiced that after Brother Twitchell was done showing me. I still haven't found the right spot on Jack, but I do understand what I need to do now. This is a game that I think is good for Jack, because it requires him to think more, so it keeps him more engaged.

Sideways game the right way.