When horses come into contact with people they are expected to live in a way which is completely unnatural to them and this can lead to problems. It is the hardest pill for all of us would be horsepeople to swallow, but it is absolutely true, if the horse is not responding properly, we are probably doing something wrong!  To try and explain, imagine you are a working exchange student and you are staying and working with a family who don’t speak your language and you can’t speak their language.  They ask you to carry out a task but you don’t understand, they start to shout the instructions a bit louder but you still don’t understand, you attempt to do something in an attempt to please them but it’s obviously wrong as they start to get angry with you and you start to feel confused and upset…….remember your horse doesn't speak our language and this is why your relationship with your horse can quickly break down.

If we look at things from the horses point of view we start to see what he’s finding difficult and that he’s not just taking the mickey or being stubborn.

Once you understand that the answer to your horse’s problem is probably yourself, you are well on your way to finding solutions in your relationship with your horse.

Horses learn best through the release of pressure.  In the field if a horse wants to move another horse away he will put physical pressure on him by looking at him, if the second horse does not respond to this subtle pressure the first horse will up the pressure until the message gets through eg take a step towards him, pin his ears back, show his teeth (and finally rush forward with teeth or feet flying if they really aren’t taking the hint!) as soon as the second horse moves the first horse drops the pressure.  In the same way we put pressure on the rope, the horse takes a step as asked and we release the pressure so that they know they’ve done the right thing - this is how they communicate with each other - it’s a language they understand.