6/ JUNE/JULY 2011 THE RIDER Natural Horsemanship & Body Control Foundation Reining Training


course of action - and I still don’t. The horse just learns to tune the rider out, creating another whole set of problems. Thefreedictionary.com’s defini- tion for nagging is:


“1. To annoy by constant scolding, complaining, or urging.


2. To torment persistently, as with anxiety or pain.


3. To scold, complain, or find fault constantly: nagging at the children. 4. To be a constant source of anxiety or annoyance: ....”


I just never thought that I would ever write an article about nagging. Really. I don’t like nag- ging. Who does? I do get after riders if they unintentionally nag their horse. If you don’t like it, chances are the horse won’t like it either. Nagging results when a rider keeps asking their horse the same way, over, and over, and over and over... hoping by some miracle that on the 10th time or 20th or 30th or 50th time, the horse will give in and do as the rider asks. NOT! The rider is just pissing the horse off or nagging - bugging them. So of course, I never recommend this


Answers.yahoo.com says that the word nag comes from the Old Dutch word: ‘nagge’, which means a small riding horse. Ha! Well look at that! So, as luck would have it, I’ve been asked to train a difficult horse to ride and nagging was just what I need- ed to do. So this is my story of how I figured out how to train this horse for a customer and make him safe.


the rider or handler and add to his skills. He wrestles with the other hors- es all day long. The bully of the barn yard.


Not the sort of skills we want to enforce of a bully for sure! So I don’t. I won’t go there though the horse makes it very tempting. I would cer- tainly not succeed at wrestling as the horse is an expert at it and I am not. The horse is also much stronger than I am making this an unsafe situation. You could image where this could dan- gerously lead. So I persist. I persevere. This is where the nagging comes in. When the horse starts to give atti- tude and wants to start a fight, I just ignore him. I know better. I just think to myself: ‘WHATEVER!!! Keep going. I’m not giving you the opportu- nity to learn to fight with your rider. I asked you to do something so let’s get going. La la la.’


You see, I found out that this horse loves to argue to get out of what he is asked to do. If he picks a fight or argues with a rider then he can engage in his favorite pastime – to fight. I truly believe this horse loves to spend his day figuring out how to wrestle with


Rick Lamb of thehorseshow.com has an article on EXTINCTION OF BEHAVIOUR - FINDING REWARD. I believe this is similar where the rider doesn’t use punishment (his words. I prefer the word correction though pun- ishment is appropriate in this case), but instead give the horse something posi- tive to do as a replacement.


So I kept repeating my request each time as a correction – being very firm with my ask- ing. It looks like nagging as I just keep going, ride him through it, and keep asking over and over and over and over again. 10 times, 20, 30, 50 times. Whatever. Nag. Nag. Nag.


I won’t fight or argue but I will nag in this case and only in this case! And it works!! I won’t do it often. For if I have to nag a horse to get them to do something, then I don’t want to ride the horse anymore. His attempts did diminish over time though they won’t completely disappear – it’s in his wiring to be like that.


form of training. It makes me very appreciative of the nice minded horses that are easily trainable.


Let’s hope that you don’t ever find yourself thinking about turning into a nag to get your horse to do some- thing. I’d think twice, if I were you. It was exhausting and no fun.


‘Putting my spin on training philosophy – 1 nag at a time.’


I admit too that it’s an unusual


Reinersue


@Copyright KISS Reiners


About the Author: Susan Dahl is a cer- tified professional horse trainer, NCCP coaching theory certified, writer, com- petitor, clinician and owner/operator of Foundation Reining Training Centre, where she specializes in natural horse- manship & body control foundation reining training/Western Dressage for horse & rider. She has trained & won numerous ORHA, NRHA, & Reining Canada Top 10 awards. For more infor- mation on her very innovative & fun approach to training, clinics, lessons, or coaching, please visit her website www.reinersuehorsemanship.com.


Encore Presentation Trick Riders Start Tour


Submitted by Monique Passing- ham


Petrolia, Ontario, April 25, 2011. New to the area, The Encore Presentation Trick Rid- ers are ready to set the pace. They have proudly been brought aboard The Dodge Rodeo Tour for the 2011 sea- son. They are a small group of riders that train every week and perform on the weekends. Rid- ers range in age from 7 to 22 years old and most are from Lambton County.


Margie Love is the head coach of the trick riding, trick roping and drill team along with her daughter Aly Love who has trained under coaches


worldwide. The team members come from areas like Petrolia, Wyoming, Sarnia, Corunna, Brights Grove, Oil Springs, Brigden, and Merlin, and each brings their own skills to the table. Team members embrace all disciplines of horsemanship from dressage, hunter jumper, eventing, vaulting, and all aspects of western riding. Encore Presentation’s his- tory has involved mostly west- ern riding, trick riding, trick roping and drill. Some mem- bers have worked with world renowned clinicians over the past two years while preparing for performances. Some have trained in Florida and Califor- nia at Riata Ranch. Margie and


Aly Love have generously donated their training services as well as providing horses and equipment.


This team operates on the premise that no member is left out for financial reasons. Every person contributes in their own way with their uplifting atti- tude, skills, experience, equip- ment etc. which organizers refuse to put a price on. Many times Margie has been asked why she spends so much time and effort on the group without the possibility of financial gain. Her response is always the same, “Watch a child smile when they accomplish a trick or conquer a fear that they have been working on for weeks, and


Above: The Sr. and Jr. members of “Encore Presentation” who performed at Harrow Rodeo (not all members present).


that smile is pay enough” says Margie.


Islandview Farm Equipment • 633520 Hwy 10, Orangeville, ON 519-941-9098 or 1-866-892-8452 www.islandviewfarmequipment.com


The senior team is current- ly preparing for the second year with The Dodge Rodeo Tour, along with the juniors preparing for some drill and roping perfor- mances at local fairs and events. Their most recent performances were on the long May 20th weekend at the Harrow Rodeo. When asked how it went, Margie beams, “Both perfor- mances went off without a prob- lem. Courtlyn Fiddler and Erika


Cook made their debut - and they both did excellent! We have a hair and makeup crew this year - Mother, Dianne Roe- buck and daughter, Kira (also known from CMT’s Karaoke Star). They did an awesome job. Aly is now training more which lets the girls doing more per- forming. We’re happy to have Meranda Dunn performing with the team for a second season - And our juniors are tagging along this year, demonstrating trick roping at intermissions and


holding the rope during the per- formances.” Encore Presenta- tion would love to perform at more events this season. For more info, find them on Face- book at encorepresentationtrick- riders or email encoretrickrid- ers@gmail.com - and soon there will be a website. Contact Margie Love 519-381-8389 or Monique Passingham 519-281- 3487.


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