People attributed this ability to “whispering” after the sensational 19th century “horse tamer,” John Rarey. Among other things (primarily immobilizing the horse with a leg strap), Rarey would gently blow into a horses nostrils or ears. With this, a myth was born that grew along with the development of natural horsemanship as we know it.

But ask the successful modern day “horse whisperer” her or his secret. The key to success with horses (just as with people) begins with LISTENING.

The effective horse trainer “listens” with every sense available. The more acute the trainer’s awareness, the more accurate the understanding of the horse which emerges. Natural horsemanship is based on using the horse’s nature to make the right thing easy. To understand the horse’s nature, we need to listen.

I once read an insightful forum post by a backyard horseman. In convincing a novice to send a young horse to a professional horse trainer, she pointed out that the pros can see a wreck coming well in advance. They perceive the signs of the impending explosion and can prevent it from happening.

The horse trainer in this scenario is listening to the horse more sensitively and more completely than the novice. The pro can see the look of concern growing in the horses eyes, can hear the speed of the hoofbeats slightly increase, can feel the horse’s tension mounting. The pro can immediately redirect the horse to defuse the situation before it gets worse.

The novice, whose “listening” is still rudimentary, doesn’t notice these details. She continues on. As the horse’s tension and confusion increases, so does the “volume” of his nonverbal communication. If the novice still doesn’t “hear” the horse’s concern, the horse starts “yelling:” bucking, rearing, bolting, kicking. The horse’s training backtracks and someone could get hurt, simply because the human wouldn’t, or couldn’t, listen.

Natural horsemanship and classical dressage training share the tenet of starting in lightness. When you apply an aid, begin with the lightest suggestion, increasing in strength until the horse responds. The horse learns to listen for the whisper of communication, knowing that it will increase to a “shout” if ignored. No one likes to get yelled at.

The effective horse trainer “listens” the same way she “speaks.” Listen for the horse’s lightest whisper.

Horses are generally happy to listen back.

A bridge signal is the foundation of clicker training. In a nutshell, the horse learns to associate an external cue, in this case a “cluck” with my tongue, with getting a treat. Most horses, of course, figure out what we want when they hear “good boy!” or get a rub. Adding a treat is not a bribe, it is essentially an increase in salary–who would not perform better for a bigger paycheck?

The bridge signal allows time to lapse between the desired behavior and the reward. Any good horse trainer knows horses have a very short window of time in which they associate a reaction to their behavior. That is why any reward or correction must be immediate, or else the meaning is lost. The horse’s behavior is marked as a “yes” without the need for instant affirmation. This is just a quickie explanation. For a more detailed explanation, including ways to feed treats safely, please puruse our clicker training articles.

Facing twice-daily epsom salt soaks, I was grateful for the time I had invested teaching Gideon the clicker training bridge signal. The pony was still nervous about having his hooves handled. Clicker training was going to my secret weapon to hasten his healing. As an added benefit, Gideon would learn to love having his hooves handled. His newfound confidence would spill over into other areas of our human-horse relationship and his ongoing natural training.

Thank God it was just an abcess– it’s always disconcerting to see a pony in such pain! (Click here for a free article on equine abcess).

An abcess always means epsom salt soaks, and I knew I was in for a challenge. When Gideon first arrived on the farm he was pretty well behaved…except for his feet. He was petrified of “giving up” his hooves, particularly on his right side. This normally quiet pony would fight like a tiger when you tried to handle his hooves.

Naturally, he had improved immensely with consistent training on the issue. I still did not relish asking him to stand still with his foot in a rubber tub for 20 minutes on end!

I had a choice. I could view the soaking the abcess as drudergy, or I could frame it as a valuable, “real-life” training experience.

What did you achieve that you hadn’t even set out to? Krista, your goal was to expose Ebony to the shows and together you ended up with an armful of year end awards–even after a last minute change from western to English. You even learned to jump and showed in jumping classes as well!

What did you notice the others achieving? (I’ll make those teenage sisters find good things in each other, no matter what it takes!)

Now, what goals do you want to achieve this winter towards next horse show season? What new skills do you need to master before you move up a division? Laura, you’ll need to learn to lope. Krista, you’ll need to make flying lead changes second nature, and jump harder courses. Kathy, maybe you want to take Tommy in a class in the show.

Now, what do you want to accomplish over the winter that has nothing to do with shows? This is my favorite question! I’ll give you some examples. Laura, you might want to try riding English. Learn to play polocrosse (a personal passion). Ride bareback. Learn to bandage a leg. Play mounted games. Take a family trail ride. Understand basic emergency first aid.

As I rattle a list off the top of my head, Kathy is nodding. “Yes, yes, yes! Keep going, they all sound good!”

So break out your brains and set some goals. Where do you want to be with your horse in the spring? What goals are specific to you? We’d love to hear from you! And if you send us your email address (we never, ever would sell it), we’ll be happy to send you periodic reminders–and help keep you motivated as well!