To be a good leader, a horse ought to remain in control of the situation all the time. In most mammal gatherings, leadership status is lost the day the boss loses control of a situation. Actually, it is exactly the same in our human societies if you take the time to think about it. You are more inclined to follow someone you think capable of handling a government, a company, a team or whatever. But the day this person does not perform correctly, makes mistakes and gets lost, you can not trust him or her anymore, and either you choose a new leader or you become one yourself.
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Horses societies have their own structures and although that is not the subject of this post, some information deserve to be known:
- A herd is not composed of one supreme leader followed by all other members, but horses define their own leadership status depending on their relationship with each and every other horse in the herd.
- Horses of higher rank have the prior right to everything (food, water, other horses, etc.) and other horses are supposed to yield in front them.
- A leading horse, by definition, takes decisions and does not wait for advice.
How to translate this into a better leadership with my horse?
First, you should find out if your horse tends to be a natural leader or follower. A leader will crowd you, push you, will not wait for you, will go before you when lead on a rope, will look all around, etc. On the contrary, a follower will tend to be more spooky, to back up often to avoid pressure, and so on. Once you know to which category your horse belongs, you can start his education. The Groundwork Fundamental exercises are a good start: Desensitizing, Backing up and Lunging.
Yet, education is a non-stop process and you should keep in mind that you horse learns from every situation: if you teach your horse to back up for half an hour in the arena with great results but you let him walk over you when heading back to the stable, then you have lost your time, and your credibility. Three easy principles that you can keep in mind will help you to sustain your established leadership: do not ever back up, direct your horse instead of being dragged, and the first one that moves is a loser.
1 – Do not ever back up.
During the exercises, you have to be consistent with this rule and make sure your horse is the one to back up all the time _ except if your life is endangered but that post is not the most important thing to know if you start a bronco right now. Moreover, it is a very good idea to practice the back up exercise everywhere, all the time: when you walk from the pasture to the arena, in the stables, when you groom your horse, when you saddle it, etc. Every opportunity to back your horse up is good for your establishing leadership on the long run.
2 – Direct your horse instead of being dragged.
You have certainly experienced your horse dragging you to the gate of the arena, or to the place that is the closest to the herd waiting outside or in the stables. When riding, it probably happened that your horse wanted to move to a particular location without your agreement. Those are the situations you want to avoid: wherever you go with a horse, you ought to have chosen the final destination.
On the ground, when lunging for instance, make sure you choose the initial spot in the arena where you work and do the necessary to stay there. Your horse will try to drag you elsewhere first, resist and bring it back to the first location. Under the saddle, if a horse denies you the right to turn in a specific direction, make sure you insist and you do not give up until the said direction is taken. When you are stopped, keep in mind the rectangle: your horse should not walk out of the rectangle without your permission.
3 – The first that moves is a loser.
Remember that big horse that pushed you out of the way? This big guy just had to crowd you a little bit and you yielded to make sure he could walk over you peacefully. Basically, the first in the herd that moves away has lost the game, the last one becomes the leader.
So, just pretend that you are this big horse, and do the necessary for your horse to yield in every situation: When you enter the arena or the stables (be the first without precipitation, be the first because your horse let you in), when you want to switch from one flank to the other (let your horse walk around you, not the contrary), etc. When you ride, the principle is the same: You want your horse to wait for you, he should not go without you, nor stop if not asked by you.
Finally, please remember: being a good leader is not being a tyrant, so be firm and consistent but never hard or violent. That is the way to leadership by respect!