by Ron Meredith, President
Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre
WAVERLY, WV - - We use aids to teach things to horses. In teaching
horses to heed, we define an aid as a methodically applied directional pressure used to
create a shape. Aids need to be horse logical. That means they must make sense to the
horse in terms of what his natural instincts tell him to do.
The horse has two lines of influence. So does the trainer. Heeding
uses these lines of influence to create horse logical pressures that indicate the shapes
we want the horse to take. By changing the relationship of these lines of influence, we
can ask the horse to walk, trot, stop, back or turn and to do those things in a particular
direction at a particular speed.
The PRIMARY LINE OF INFLUENCE runs the length of the horse along its
backbone, straight out the front between its eyes and straight out the back. We're not
talking about an actual line but about the horse's perception of things in his
environment. Your primary line of influence runs the same direction from your nose through
the back of your head. The SECONDARY LINE OF INFLUENCE runs through the horse's shoulders
or yours from side to side. These primary and secondary lines are natural areas of
attention for the horse.
Let's say its the first time you are meeting a particular horse. The
horse is loose in an arena and you start walking quietly behind the horse, lining up your
primary lines. You follow the horse like a pesty little sister or brother, trailing along
behind but not trying to catch up. If you move left, the horse will turn its head to keep
on eye on you. If you move right, the horse will turn its head that direction to keep an
eye on what's going on. If the horse looks away from you, make a little fuss to get his
attention back on you. If the horse has an eye on you, the fuss can be a some little
change in motion, either faster or slower or in a new direction. If the horse isn't
looking at you at all, the fuss can be a little sound like a click or a cluck or a
whistle.
When the horse gets bothered enough by the fuss and the following,
he'll turn and face you to put both eyes on you. The exact reaction you get will depend
somewhat on the temperament of the horse, its age and experience, even its gender. For
example, a young colt will turn to put his primary line in line with yours and he'll
raises his head to grow taller and get a good look. His ears might flicker back just to
check to be sure nothing is coming up behind him but generally they'll be pointed at you.
A young filly wants to be safe and she'll be more flighty and reactive. An older alpha
mare may turn her head to put both eyes on you but she'll tell you she still thinks she's
the boss by keeping her hindquarters pointed in your direction and cranking her ears back.
This turning to face you is the first understanding. Horse
logically, is says that even though you're following like a predator, the horse is
beginning to think you're safe. The next step is to walk directly toward the horse keeping
your primary line aligned with his. If the horse says not to come any closer by starting
to turn away or showing any sign of nervousness, stop and step back. The horse shows how
much he trusts you by how close he allows you to approach. If you go only to the point
where his trust ends and back off, he'll trust you more. Go back to a sequence of
following and fussing and approaching to continue building trust.
After 2 or 3 days of this, the horse will start coming right up to
you. When he does, move to the side and face the horse's shoulder So you put your primary
line on the horse's secondary line. You're going to use this position as a shape that
tells him he's in a safe spot and he can relax. Scratch and groom him like another horse
would greet and groom him to reinforce this feeling. As the lessons progress, you want to
work both sides and continue building the feeling that whenever you're at his shoulder
facing him, he's safe.
The shape of the arena has nothing to do with the feeling that's
created between you and the horse. You can teach a horse to heed in a round pen or a
square pen or an oblong pen. You can even work with him in his stall if that's all you've
got. It's the relationship between your primary and secondary lines and his lines that
creates a feeling or a shape in the horse' mind, not the shape of the training area.
Now that the horse is beginning to understand there is a
relationship between his lines of influence and yours, you can methodically start using
those lines to create corridors of pressures that horse logically indicate a direction and
create the shape that you want the horse to move--forward or left or right or not moving
at all, straight or curved, etc. In the starting position for an action such as leading,
for example, your primary line of influence is parallel to the horse's primary line. Your
secondary lines are aligned together running through your shoulders and the horse's at the
same point.
When you are working on the ground, the horse can see how as well as
feel how the relationship between your lines of influence is changing. Your eventual goal
is to create a feeling that the horse can associate with the changing relationship of your
lines of influence even when he can't see you because you're up on his back.
