Natural Horsemanship Patience: The 4th Of 6 Keys To Developing A Partnership With Your Horse

In Natural Horsemanship, being patient/tolerant means taking the time do it right so you won't have to go back and do it again and again.

Why do I call the fourth key patients when we are really talking about time, because, if we loose patients we will not spend the time it takes to get our horse through the stages necessary for building a life long partnership. Being patient is very important because it's going to take time to build that partnership.

Let's talk a little about your horse and the time it's going to take to get him from where he is at now to being a green broke horse. Let's assume your horse has never been ridden or ridden very little in terms of proper training or natural horsemanship.

For a horse to feel comfortable having a person on his back will take approximately 300 hours of riding. If you rode your horse 1 hour a day five days a week then it would take a little over a year to get 300 hours of riding time or a little over a year for your horse to feel comfortable having you on his back.

Let's say your not consistent with your riding time, maybe you rode your horse 20 hours and then for what ever reason you turned him out, then 6 months later you rode him 40 hours and turned him out again for another six months, then started riding him again and put another 75 hours on him and this continues until you have 300 hours, how old would he be? If you started him as a 2 year old, he may be 4 or 5 years old or older before you had the 300 hours. The point here is that the quicker you put the 300 hours on him the quicker he will feel comfortable with you on his back. Being patient is important and being persistent and consistent will shorten the time it takes to accomplish your goals.

To take your horse from being a green broke horse to the next level, and by that, I mean getting your horse from the green broke phase to being a solid, safe and dependable partner requires that you gain the necessary skills by going through the different phases of natural horsemanship.

The time it takes to get your horse from the green broke stage to being a solid, safe and dependable partner is around 1,100 hours. I want you to keep in mind that you will never really finish your horse because you will continue to refine your horse for a lifetime.

We have talked about how long it takes a horse to go through the different phases now we need to spend a little time on the individual horseman.

So, how long does it take a person to be considered a good rider? We will approach this question form the thought that the rider is a green novice. It generally takes a green novice about 1000 hours before being comfortable in a saddle. You need to remember it's going to take time for the rider to get used to the horse and how he moves, thinks, acts and feels. The only way to get the feel of a horse is through riding experience. The more riding a novice does the better rider they will become.

Have you ever wondered how much time you should spend working with your horse (Instead of working with your horse why not think in terms of playing with your horse)? Consider this, when it stops being fun for you or your horse you're not playing anymore, it's become work and probably time to stop. When you're playing with your horse, you should think of it as working on yourself and playing with your horse.

One other top I would like to discuss with you is timing. We spent a few minutes discussing playing with your horse and when it's time to quit, equally important is your timing when playing with your horse. Timing will probably be most important to your horse. In your relationship with your horse, it's very important to know when you should quit doing what you are doing. It's not what you do with your horse that counts; it's when you quit doing something that counts.

An example, lets say you have asked your hose to do something through a cue you have given him and he gives you the slightest try, you should instantly quit giving him the cue. You need to recognize that the horse tried no matter how slight. It's your responsibility to have perfect timing and stop what your doing when your horse tries.

When you are learning this skill, remember it's going to take time to get perfect timing and you shouldn't get discouraged, you will learn. At first, it will be difficult, but as you learn to read your horse's body language you will begin to perfect this skill. Natural Horsemanship is about learning this skill, to be able to recognize if your horse is trying to do what it is you are asking him to do. Be careful not to reward the wrong response or reward the horse for doing it with an attitude. If your horse is attempting to do it correctly with the right attitude and you are slow in rewarding him he will be confused because he thought he tried. If your horse gets no reward (relief) after trying, soon he will quit trying.

How long you do something with your horse is not as important as to know when to quit doing it. Know when to take away the pressure (to quit) is as important to the technique as the technique itself.

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In the next article, we will discuss Creativeness? Creating challenges for you and your horse. Learning what the two of you can accomplish together. Why settle for mediocrity?

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