Follow The Feel

In order to be in control of your horse it’s important for your horse to know how to yield off pressure. This will allow you to communicate to him through feel and have him learn it’s his responsibility to find comfort.  You can teach your horse to trust you and come forward off pressure by following your feel.  He will do this by learning to go to the place of least resistance. 

For example, if you wanted to move your horse’s front end over, you can put steady fingertip pressure on its shoulder and neck.  The horse will find that it is most comfortable if it yields off the fingertip pressure.  By doing this, the horse takes responsibility of finding its own comfort.  Horses love comfort, so once they learn to follow your feel you will have the ability to move its body in any direction you desire. 

It’s good to teach this to your horse early in life and he deserves to know this.  It gives him training on how to safely deal with situations that he might get into such as getting caught up in a fence. 

Rather than panicking, he will know to stand still so he does not get cut up more.  This will prevent further injury and will save you time and possibly money due to a vet bill.  It will also eliminate unnecessary pain and stress in the horse, not to mention the blemishes and scars.

There are different ways that a horse can follow your feel.  Leading on a halter would be having the horse follow the feel towards you whereas fingertip pressure would be having the horse follow the feel away from you.  You can also have the horse follow the feel when you’re riding by having it yield off your leg pressure.

In the process of the horse learning to follow the feel they learn to become braver and they will overcome any fear of having pressure on all body parts.  It is very important for a horse to learn to come off pressure at each gait.  It tends to be mentally harder for them to come off pressure when they are at a faster gait because they are thinking more from instinct. 

This process can be taught in a round corral where you are both safe and the horse can drift to learn.  They learn best when they are moving and you allow them the space to learn. 

Once they are desensitized of being touched and get over their fear of the pressure they learn to come off the pressure willingly and follow the feel.  After a horse learns to follow the feel they will be much easier to lead, guide and ride.  They will pick up their feet better and not have the need to kick, which is extremely helpful for the farrier.  They will know to move off of fingertip pressure and you will be able to move them in any direction you desire.  When the horse learns that it is his responsibility to come off the pressure/follow the feel from every body part and is willing to move in any direction that you put pressure on you will have a much more controllable and safer horse. 

Comments

[Joanna June]

I love horse bliss!!!!!!!! It is so imformative and fun!!!!!Thanks for sharing all your knowledge!!!

[Darren Wetherill]

Hi Joanna
We are so glad you enjoy our blog! We are devoted to helping people and horses and want to make it fun! Let us know if there is anything that you would like to know more about and we could create a post on that. We look forward to hearing from you in the future!!
Take care and Merry Christmas,
Darren & Mary

[Kassie Gunn]

I am breaking a horse for barrel racing. In the past, I have broke them a certain way to move off your leg but I think I could be more effective, faster. I am wanting to know some tips on teaching a horse to move off your leg, especially around a barrel.

[NormaJean Toler]

I have a rescued horse named Sonny. Today I tryed this laying down the reins and used a hackamore. He was scared and almost crazy when I first got him but today he acted like he had done this many times before and walked just as nice as could be. Yes it was good to be able to pick up the reins and correct the direction with a little leg pressure also but then lay them down again and just let him walk. He acted like he also enjoyed this days ride too. thanks. normajean

[Darren Wetherill]

Hi NormaJean,
It's great to hear that you allowed Sonny to walk on a loose rein! You gave him the responsibility of going in the correct direction and only corrected him when he was heading in the wrong direction. He was able to enjoy the ride because you offered him the comfort of having loose reins! You also are teaching him to Follow the Feel by using leg pressure to correct him. Great success NormaJean!!

[Sheri]

Hi, My name is Sheri. I have a horse that is about 22 years old. He is a little overweight, and doesnt like to move aroung more than he needs to. I try to get him to play with me by running around his pen, and trying to get him to move, but he just wants food, and to stay put. I want to be able to play with him, and him actually interact with me.
Should I get some toys for him to play with? And if I should, then what kinds. (He is also not interested in any ball I give him, or the lickable treats. I tried to give him some, but he just didnt like it.) And how should I play with him, or how should I act while he is playing with something. He is lonley because he is an only horse, and I would like to be able to provide him with something to occupy his time while I am at school.

-Thanks for the help
Sheri