42/ JULY 2012 THE RIDER Training With Attitude By Ron Meredith
President, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre
WAVERLY, WV—Heed- ing is an attitude you have whenever you are around your horse as much as it is a technique for communi- cating with him on the
ground. You start heeding your horse from the first moment you connect with him whether that’s walking down the barn aisle to his stall or out in a field to catch him. You maintain that attitude all the while you are grooming, while you are tacking him up, and while you are working him, whether you work him on the ground or under saddle. And it’s not over til it’s over. You maintain the attitude while you take his tack off, cool him out, groom him again and put him away.
Students here at Mered- ith Manor learn techniques for heeding in their Train- ing I class to give them a
method for consistently and clearly communicating with their horses on the ground. But because heed- ing is an attitude as well as a set of techniques, it is ultimately going to apply to every interaction they will have with their horses. When students tell me they don’t see how heeding has any relation to their riding, I know they haven’t really figured out the big picture yet.
I like the word “heed- ing” because it takes a bunch of concepts like leading and heeling and paying attention and rolls them all up together. It’s not a word people hear very often so it makes them
stop and think about what it means. There are several things they need think about if they want to devel- op the attitude of heeding: Be with your horse now, now, and now. When you are with your horse, be with him every moment, every step. You have to put your total attention and focus on the horse if you want him to put his on you. You can’t be grooming him and singing along with the radio or leading him and thinking about tomorrow’s exam or riding him while you are focused on the way he blew his leads yester- day. You have to be with your horse now, at this moment. Not thinking about the last moment or the one that’s coming. You have to be with him stride by stride by stride whether you are leading him or rid- ing him. When you are working with your horse, you always give him your total attention now and now and now.
Be the dominant part- ner without being predato- ry. You need the horse’s respect in order to be safe around him and to get his attention so you can train him to play whatever game it is you want to play. You have to show the horse that you are the alpha mare in your partnership and ask for his respect by being assertive and putting pres- sure on the horse. But you never want to use a pres- sure that surprises the horse or startles him or makes
him “spang.” When you do that, you become a preda- tor, something to be afraid of. You never want the horse to be afraid of you. You want him to think of being with you as a com- fortable, safe place to be. Show the horse what you want one bite at a time. When students come into Training I, I point out to them that if I asked them to swallow a big ball of string, they would find that pretty gross. But if I take that same ball of string and feed it to them a half inch or even a quarter of an inch at a time, they could even- tually swallow that whole ball of string without too much fuss. It’s the same with the horse. It’s our job to break the game we want to play with the horse down into the smallest bites of string we can, then to feed those to him just one at a time. No forcing, no over facing, no fuss. Be horse logical when you show and ask the horse to do something. When you want the horse to learn something new, first you have to show him what you want, then you can ask for it. You show and ask the horse by methodically applying a horse-logical pressure or corridor of pressures that creates a feeling in the horse of the shape you want him to take. A horse-logical pres- sure is just a baby step away from something the horse already knows and it goes away when he does
what you are showing or asking him to do. The horse stays calm and the reward of releasing the pressure teaches him what you want.
Be fair when you tell the horse to do something or enforce that request. A corridor of horse-logical pressures creates a feeling in the horse of a shape that you want him to take. Once the horse understands what shape the corridor of pres- sures is asking him to take, you can start telling him what to do. Telling means that, within the context of what he’s already doing, just starting to create the corridor becomes enough to communicate the new shape you want to the horse to take. It’s not fair to tell a horse to take a shape and expect that he will do it until you are sure he knows what you are asking. But once you are sure he knows, you can enforce your corridor of pressures to remind him if he gets sloppy or contrary or lazy with stronger aids or a crop or a spur. That’s fair as long as your enforcement does not star- tle or surprise him.
Heeding becomes a mindset that applies whether you are working with your horse on the ground or sitting on his back or sitting behind him in a wagon. You do it in your horse’s stall, in an arena, in a field, on the trail, up and down your driveway, in and out of a
horse trailer, or in the barn aisle when you are groom- ing or the farrier’s there or the vet’s come.
As groundwork, heed- ing involves some basic techniques but those tech- niques always have to be tempered by both the tem- perament and experience of the horse and the tempera- ment and the experience of the trainer. Anybody can read a book or watch a video and pick up a few techniques. It’s the attitude of heeding that helps you adapt those techniques to the individual horse and the individual situation.
If you think getting a special halter or rope or stick or pen will make you more successful at training your horse, go right ahead and get them. Those things help some people with their technique but they are not essential to the attitude. The great thing about an attitude is that it’s light and portable. You can just carry it with you wherever you go.
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Instructor and trainer Ron Meredith has refined his “horse logical” methods for communicating with equines over 40 years as president of Meredith Manor International Eques- trian Centre (147 Saddle Lane, Waverly, WV 26184; 800-679-2603;
www.meredithmanor.edu), an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.
Standardbred Showcase Promotes Standardbreds at
Canada’s Outdoor Equine Expo
On June 8th, 9th and 10th, Standardbred Show- case participated in the trade fair at the Outdoor Equine Expo at Iron Horse Equestrian Centre in Mil- ton.
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The Expo features many demonstrations and clinics in multiple disci- plines and horse care with well known presenters as well as a North American Heavy Horse show, the popular and exciting Craig Cameron’s Extreme Cow- boy Race and a trade fair for the equine industry and
horse-related non-profit groups.
Featured in the booth was a slide show and a beautiful photo board of Standardbreds showing at the Showcase- both presen- tations were prepared by SSRC member. Lisa Fos- ter.
We also had several photos on display of Stan- dardbreds competing in international jumping and dressage competitions. In addition we had some impressive photos of Robyn Cuffey (this year’s
Showcase judge and clini- cian) competing with her lovely Standardbreds in Open Dressage and Car- riage Driving competitions. Despite the difficult weather, our booth was very busy for most of the weekend. Many people were truly amazed at what standardbreds can do and, after viewing our display, said” I had no idea that they are such beautiful and versatile horses”. We were even able to refer some potential standardbred owners to the Ontario Stan-
dardbred Adoption Society booth which was located next to us.
One of the most popu- lar features of our booth was a whiteboard titled “Tell Us What YOU do with YOUR Standard- bred”. Visitors to the booth were encouraged to sign the board with one of the multi-coloured markers provided. WOW - the list was truly impressive: Hunter, Trail Riding, West- ern Pleasure, Carriage Driving, Jumper, Dressage, Barrel Race, SideSaddle, even Logging, Television, Therapeutic riding and per- haps, best of all, “I just love them”. +On the Friday and Sat- urday evenings, many of our group came out to cheer on Elaine Reid and her Standardbred, Uncle Hughie as they rose to the challenge in the Extreme Cowboy Race. Again, we heard “ I didn’t know a standardbred could do all that”.
We discovered that there are many folks out there who already know the virtues of this breed and we think that our participation at the Expo made some new converts.
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