Weekly Words from Gail: (or when she gets a chance) ---} Thursday, January 20, 2011 The more I learn, the more I realize there are no short cuts when learning about horse behavior. Teaching and guiding a horse to join in a relationship with us as humans and riders takes time and there is an awesome time true system for this called the Training Scale.  There are many people that want to "dance" around a horse using games, getting overly thinking and "humanizing " horses to fit our comforts. HELLLOOOO horses are NOT human! They don't want to be HUMAN! Horses should not be HUMAN! No more then humans should be horses!!!!!  I hear of teachers backing off from our respect of the horse world and trying to either make them more human (Bad, Bad) or us submitting to horses and letting them control the relationship (also not healthy, unless you want /can watch a horse in a field with out any interaction!) If you ride your horse and the horse thinks "Nah, I don't think so" and the rider backs off because they don't know the horse language to get the horse to submit and have a happy willing obedience, there is much frustration and confusion that lead the rider to seek guidance. The guidance the rider seeks can lead them down a road of frustration, discontent and feeling disconnection from their horse. If the instructor doesn't recognize and respect the rider AND the horse.   So you want to have a horse, ride it and have the horse trust you, accept you, and want the horse to feel comfortable and ACCEPT and willingly let you and your horse communicate.   There is a system for this... The TRAINING SCALE!  IF any one tells you that Dressage is bad or the training scale is detrimental then they don't understand the concept and organization to have a happy accepting horse. USEF, USDF strongly support this thought process of training and communicating with a horse in a positive nature. These are the ABCs of riding. If an instructor doesn't know of the training scale or poo-poos it, then beware! Remember, The Training scale was developed from horse people that have trained thousands of horses, interacted with thousands of riders and above all are respected internationally and vow that the Horses safety and integrity is MOST important above and beyond all.   The training scale is an accepted method WORLD WIDE that insists on taking the horses NATURAL tendencies in consideration first, and then builds the partnership between horse and rider with century old methods that make so much sense! So if you think for yourself and have the urge and REALLY want to know how to interact with your horse on the same level, seek the knowledge of how the training scale works. We at the farm guide all our riders and their horses to this system. It's organized and teaches the rider and how to support the horse to learn positively. This works on a Walk trot ride up through all the levels! Gail * * * For other enteries in Gails Journal: Current || 2010 || 2009 || 2008 || 2007 || 2006 || Call 207.564.7046 for more information or email gail@InfinityFarm.US