Companionship, Forage, Exercise

At Imagine A Horse we have worked diligently for years to stress that Trick Training is not about teaching tricks but rather about teaching horses to be willing and compliant partners with skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives. Many aspects of Trick Training or Equine Agility promotes and maximizes the development of each horse’s physical, mental and emotional growth. Personal best performance and meaningful companionship are the goals, not the clock and not the winning of ribbons or even financial reward.

If we look at what horses need most, it is forage, exercise, and companionship (not necessarily human). Forage is self-explanatory.

Exercise is a different story. Does being driven in endless circles in a round pen equate to proper exercise? What about dozens of repetitions of flexions and under saddle exercises of walk, trot and canter? Think about the typical exercise routines that horses go through at human request, do they make sense to the horse? We propose that horses need meaningful exercise—exercise they can make sense of. One of the major reasons that horses resist in giving free flowing forward movement is that they don’t understand or are tired of or bored with mundane exercises. Equine Agility offers variations on a basic theme and variations are often accepted and praised by the astute handler. This is part of molding desired behaviors in our equine companions.

Being herd animals, horses need companionship and appreciate both human and equine companionship. Horses do express affection to each other and often to their handlers as well. When a horse is allowed a measure of self-expression as is acceptable in Trick Training, he will begin to look forward to human companionship as something he sees as fun, not just pointless (to them) work. Agility training really helps to bring out the individuality of each horse. Continue part III