Perfect Manners Book - A Few Questions

[kyanya]

Now I'm in possession of the Kelly Marks book 'Perfect Manners', I'm going to start working through the foundation exercises with Gypsy. But before I do start, I want to get a few things straight in my head so I have the best possible chance of getting good results!

Firstly, the very first exercise it sets is the coming-forward exercise, where you get the horse to walk towards you by placing pressure on the long line you are holding (to which the horse's headcollar is attached). It says to work from a 45 degree angle in front of the horse. I'm not completely sure on what this is. Is my diagram below correct on the angles?

http://www.pixparty.com/kyanya/photos/0JNTKEPWQX.bmp

It also says that if the horse resists at 45 degrees, you can take a step to the side to make the angle more acute. Would this mean moving more towards 90 degrees?

Also, it says at 90 degrees the horse can't help but move because you can unbalance him. How does this work? Would the unbalancing be through placing quite a significant amount of pressure on the rope.

Is it OK to do all the exercises in just a normal headcollar? I don't really want to buy any sort of rope/pressure release halter purely because of expense.

[Dales_Lover]

From your drawing I would say that those angles were right. I can't comment on much else (haven't got the book!) but I think you would be able to do all the exerices fine in a headcollar - other 'nh trainers' do.

Good luck!

[Yann]

Yes, yes and yes:D

And you'll be fine in a heacollar, though using a rope halter or dually does make your signals a bit clearer and more subtle.

[Drummers mum]

I have the book too its really good! I have used it alongside the Parelli 7 games and we get on really well!

[Skib]

Mark Rashid explained why the horse would move - it has to do with balance but not with pulling or over balancing.
Mark R said : The horse's head is very heavy. So if you move his head just slightly to one side, either when riding or with a lead rope, the horse has to shift a front foot just to rebalance itself so as to support its head in this new position. So if a horse is standing quite still, and you want him to understand that the little signal you are giving is meant to indicate that you want movement, for instance to back up, you can move his head just an inch or two and he will shift his feet and then you can praise that tiny little movement. And then when you repeat the same signal, the horse realises that what you want is movement.
It has been very useful for me to learn this - as riding school horses tend to stand like statues just waiting and instead of the kicking with the heels to wake them up (which they often ignore anyway) or tugging on the lead rope, you can tell them when it is time to move just by shifting their heads slightly to one side.
This may be why Kelly Marks suggests starting at an angle of 45 degrees, but the exact angle isn't so important.
PS Your diagram is beautiful. I cant do that.

[kyanya]

Thanks for all the advice and reassurance everyone! I'm sure I'll have plenty more daft little questions as I work through the book, but I want to be as set up to succeed as possible! :D

Skib, that's great, thanks! In fact, it's amazing. I didn't have a clue about that but it's a really big thing in the way that horse's can be trained. I wish I'd known that when I was having problems with Gypsy planting herself. There was a time when she would stop dead when I was leading her and had to struggle to get her to move on. Thankfully that stage seems to have passed now but I'm glad I'm more prepared now in case it ever does happen again.

[No_Angel]

Ive got that book, its very good, although we managed to do most of the exercises in 20 mins! We still can't get the backing up through the poles tho, even tho she backs up without a headcollar on command :rolleyes:

[katefarmer]

OK... if a horse's head is so heavy that it has to move its feet to balance it, how come it can knock a fly of its side with its nose without moving a foot and without falling over? How come it can scratch a hock with its teeth without falling over?

Sorry - it's not about physical balance - it's about the ATTENTION - the direction the mind is going. Move the head, even just ever so slightly, and you shift the attention and refocus it. This, in itself, will help the horse move its feet, plus the fact that while the body is curved, it is harder for the horse to pull against you, and is more likely to go with the direction of the pressure - it towards you.

However, why one would start with an exercise that invites the horse to invade your space beats me.... but that's another story! :D

Kate
www.harmony-project.net