Wait.
Breathe.
Give yourself time, and your animal a moment to understand what you are trying to communicate to them.
This is a constant journey – learning not to expect immediate results or perfection. Our whole world is built around speed. Phones have become fast, fastest and faster. We have everything we need with the tap of a touch screen.
In other words, we have forgotten how to wait – hovering in a moment before we get a result. Often times, that one minute of “hesitation” can make a huge difference when training animals.
Let them figure it out without pushing them!
You might ask your horse to walk by giving a light squeeze. Before going to your next phase, just wait a second! We don’t want to do all of the work for them – give them a chance to use their brains. So just wait and see if your horse offers a walk before you ask again. Then reward them! It might have taken a second longer than you wanted but… so what? At least they responded to a light suggestion from you.
This makes your overall training softer, lighter, and more effective with better results.
Not rushing things can help us in every aspect of life, right? So let’s make it part of our program!
Photo from www.parelli.com
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