The Power of Touch~

The Power of Touch......

Whether in humans or animals the power of touch is essential. We know when a foal is first born the very first thing the mother does is starts cleaning and licking. If not born in the wild, we then touch and rub all over it. Taping it's hoofs, rubbing the ears and all over to familiarize the feeling of touch and love.

Not only with newborns, but in everyday associations with your horse touch is a powerful communicator.
It not only shows kindness, it shows respect, corporation and protection.
Recently I watched a segment with Rick Lamb interviewing Linda Tellington from Hawaii. She has written many books of The T-Touch or Tellington T Touch. It is a way of communicating with your horse through the power of touch. As she describes rubbing your horses with the gentle circling of your fingers. This "Effecting the behavior of the horse through learning without force."
As with the Parelli techniques it is so, we want "corporation instead of competition"with our horse, we want to "act instead of react". All these work through the power of touch.

"Corporation instead of competition", Forcefulness in working with horses, is not only inhumane it does not work. Many of you have seen trainers work with force, letting the horse know that they are boss.
This not only sets resentment into your horse as it would a human. It can instill distrust in the horse for a life time. Corporation on the other hand is essential to natural horse training. Knowing how your horse thinks in the herd and how he reacts to learning in nature. This can only make it much easier to train and understand your horse. As with the herd there is always a lead horse that the others follow. In training we are the lead horse, the horse does not lead us. Yes, essentially being the "boss" (if that what you want to call it).  Instead of force we training through corporation and reward. Not only will you be winning the trust of your horse he will be able to learn a lot more then you ever dreamed of.

Knowing a horse can pick up on almost any emotion we have. That is where the concept of "Act instead of react" comes from that Pat Parelli teaches. If we act upon danger instead of react, there will be an entirely different outcome with the horse.  I know it's hard with human emotion to always remember this, but if we can remember that the horse is wanting or hoping we are as aware of danger as is he.
For example if we don't "act" on the danger he will, which almost always turns into fear and fear is where we get into trouble. If we take acton on the danger by not going anywhere near it; we can usually have a safe outcome. On the other hand "reacting" such as screaming or jumping can cause a reaction in the horse to spook and take off.

Remembering movements of touch do communicate a great deal to our horse. The way we react to situations sets the tone of the horse. That is why people say all the time, if you are scared the horse will pick up on it and know.  These are smart and intuitive creatures, I think that is why we become so close to a horses soul and why people are attracted to horses.  As with humans some horses and humans get along beautifully and some just can't get in sink together. Through natural communication we can begin to understand our horse and our horses needs and wants.

When God made horses he definitely knew what he was doing.  Setting a priority in your life of knowing how to communicate with your horse, will ensure a wonderful lifetime of enjoyment.

Remember horses are a gift from God, they are special treasures that some people never get to experience.
Enjoy your time with your horse and most of all.....
ENJOY THE RDE!!~