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APPROACH & RETREAT / PRESSURE & RELEASE
Lesley Neuman is a master at "Approach and Retreat" gentling of wild horses
The term "Approach and Retreat" is often used to describe the basic principles of Natural Horsemanship.
And yet, what does it mean? It can easily be misunderstood. As a friend once lamented, "But every time I approach, he retreats!"
Perhaps a better term would be "Pressure and Release," or "Ask and Reward." To teach anything to a horse, you ASK, which the horse experiences as pressure. When the horse does the right thing, you stop asking, which the horse feels as a release from the pressure. In this way, s/he learns what it is you want.
| ASK | = | PRESSURE |
| STOP ASKING/RELEASE | = | REWARD |
- THE HORSE REMEMBERS THE LAST THING THAT HAPPENS IN A SEQUENCE.
- WHAT YOU RELEASE IS WHAT HE LEARNS.
This concept, combined with the horse's natural "hard-wiring" to look for a leader, and his/her recognition that the leader is the one who can move his/her feet, combine to make gentling possible.
The whole key is TIMING:
You have to learn to recognize when the horse tries, and reward it instantly.
How to reward? Simply "release the pressure" - stop asking.
Stop, release the rope if you're using one, step back a step, praise verbally. Some people find that the use of a clicker to accentuate the desired behavior can be helpful. Classical clicker training involves the use of a food treat as a reward, but I personally do not advise using food treats for horses that you do not have a very solid relationship with already - They can turn into piranhas!
Here are a few examples of "Pressure and Release:"
| Reddy Colt, a 2-year-old BLM colt with one failed adoption already under his belt. As BLM Volunteers, we took him to halter train in hopes of getting him a better home. It worked. | |
Step 1: Movement Reddy arrived with LOTS of movement, but it was frantic, explosive, and not safe to be around. 1A. So we started by simply asking him to move |  1B. At some point the horse figures out that we are simply asking him to go in a circle - we are not "after" him or trying to eat him.  1C. POSITIVE SIGNS: He drops his head, licks and chews, and his feet stop pounding the earth. He just trots along in a nice, relaxed fashion. Now we can start asking him to stop and face up toward us - the first step toward catching. |
1D. Basic Trainng Begins At Liberty: While still at liberty, long before even trying to touch him, we started teaching the basics of ground control: various turns both toward and away from the human, shoulders away, hind quarter yield, etc. It's all in knowing what you are asking for, and then releasing anything that resembles that. 1E. Shoulders Away: The foot closest to the human steps in front of the stationary foot, performing the first part of what will eventually become a roll-back (when he is under saddle. But this is where it starts) |  1F. Hind Quarter Yield: Note the right hind foot stepping under the belly in front of the stationary left hind foot. This indicates that the horse is softening and flexing, accepting your leadership. This is called "yielding his hindquarters." It means that the horse is letting you be the leader, so he doesn't have to be braced and ready to flee. |
Step 2: Catching Once we got some ground control, we could start asking Reddy to start to connect with us. We did this by asking for movement, then stopping and offering him a place to stop. ASK & REWARD REWARD: | As soon as he stopped looking, we'd ask for more movement. Then stop and ask for another look.  Then step back to reward.
And finally, he began to take a step or two toward us. |
 At this point, we began to offer him a sniff of our hands. If he didn't accept, we'd just ask for movement again, and then offer again for a look, a step forward, and a sniff. | It was good to have these pictures, to prove to ourselves that there really was progress, because sometimes it seemed so slow that it was hard to recognize the very real progress we were making.  |
 |  Before we knew it, we could attach a lead rope to his halter. Now we could do conventional ground work training. |
| Step 3: Leading | |
 ASK FOR FORWARD STEP: Note the tension on the rope is taut enough to clearly communicate to the horse that movement in one direction is desired. Yet it is not an aggressive tug that the horse might feel threatened by |  REWARD THE TRY: The horse take one step toward the human, so pressure is released. Note the rope is already slack before the step is completed. it is the THOUGHT you are rewarding. As soon as the horse indicates by any ever-so-slight movement that it is processing the thought correctly, release the pressure, wait a second, and start again. Don't be greedy! In the early stages, even leaning in the right direction is enough. Do not demand that the horse perform perfectly at first. |
 ASK AGAIN: This time the horse resists. Don't tug, just hold your ground. |  Release immediately for correct response |
_small.jpg) | It all pays off! |
 Yielding to the pressure of the rope (very LIGHT pressure!) and performing a great shoulder yield |  Trotting circles on a slack lead line |
 | _small.jpg) |
| At this point, Reddy began to really let down and start trusting. And, as luck would have it, at this time someone adopted him. So that is as far as we got with Reddy. But we gave him a good start - hopefully the new adopters will take up where we left off. |
since 10-09-05
