Pressure

Use as little pressure as possible; as much pressure as needed.

Recently I've been reading books on horse training and psychology. One if the main concepts is how you view pressure; an interesting thing both physically and mentally.

The books I'm referring to are "Nature in Horsemanship: Discovering Harmony Through Principles of Aikido" by Mark Rashid, and another book written by one of Rashid's apprentices (I can't remember the title; sorry).

We all know what pressure is; either in the form of being dragged across a slippery grass field by a horse, or that mental feeling where you *must* get something done and can't ignore it.

So, let me give you a tip for understanding pressure in relationships and also training. This is: Use as little pressure as possible; as much pressure as needed.

There you go. I've recently re-discovered this after the horse I have decided she would stop lunging by turning towards me; a position you can't drive a horse from. The solution? Watching the horse's hip *very closely* and getting after her with the lunge whip and strong verbal commands.

I didn't really like it. As folks who know me will say, I'm pretty softhearted and not very aggressive. But sometimes it takes aggressiveness to reach the point where both parties are safe and compliant.

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I'm double-posting this on my personal blog, take a look.

Horses Love Country Music

Did you know that horses like listening to country music? Neither had I!

Last month I found an interesting article about horses and what genre of music they most prefer. Even more interesting, horses' taste of music aligns with mine: country. Isn't that awesome?

Note: Throughout this article when I refer to "country", I'm referring to the Hank Williams Jr. kind of music.

The studies were performed by Clare Carter, a student of Hartpury College in Gloucester, and Linda Greening, her supervisor. They used eight Thoroughbred geldings being stabled for three hours, and each genre (country, classical, jazz, and rock) of music was played for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the researchers noted detailed data about the horses. They recorded 120 observed behavior and body language per horse per music genre.

The horses showed the same levels of calmness and alertness with the country and classical music as with no music. However, there was a slight difference between the affects of the country versus the classical: The horses ate much more quietly while listening to the country.

Rock or jazz music, on the other hand? No. Especially not jazz; the horses hated this. They displayed nervous and stressed body language, frequently snorting, stomping, tossing their heads, and neighing. None of these attitudes were shown when classical or country music was playing.

Rock and jazz music also affected their eating, and as Carter stated, they were "snatching at food in short bursts."

Overall, rock and jazz had detrimental affects on the horses, whereas classical and (especially) country music had beneficial affects.

So, head out to your barn, dust off the stereo, and find the country station.