August 2018 26 Saddle Up Realty and Property Management MAUREEN SERRANO 623-521-2355 mserranosellsre@gmail.com NEW LISTING Arizona Ranch style home with amazing views on top of a hill in Wickenburg Country Club! There is a pool, spa, small horse set up with large turn out and barn. The home boosts 2 master suites, one with it’s own private entrance! Almost 5 acres. $439,000 MLS 5777913 LAND FOR SALE 3 ACRES with runway privelages; shared well. Bring your horses and airplane! $99,500 MLS 5602101 8 ACRES HORSE PROPERTY flat and usable; private well + 4 shares in a shared well. $160,000 (agent/owner) MLS 5657012 47 ACRES HORSE PROPERTY that adjoins State Trust Land. private, secluded and easy access. $198,500 MLS 5382128 16 ACRES in Congress with water & power. Great views and borders State Trust Land. Horses welcome! Maybe split into two 8-acre parcels. $300,000 or buy 8 acres ($150,000-$160,000) 8 PRISTINE ACRES OF HORSE PROPERTY in the heart of Wickenburg. Great Views! Can be split into two - 4 acre lots (survey available). Build on one and sell the other! $189,500 MLS 5740224 You apply pressure to the horse. After some searching, he makes a tentative, partial effort to yield in the direction you want. Such an attempt is referred to as a “try.” It’s a small fleeting moment. It’s also a pivotal event: If the horse is to learn the yielding movement you want, your correctly timed release – in response to his try – is crucial. Here’s why. STARTING A DIALOG In the pressure/release communication system you use to bring a horse’s movements under your direction, his try is actually a question: “Is this the direction toward a release?” Your instantly timed release provides him with a “yes, that’s right” answer. So it is that, through his “try,” the horse enters into an important dialog with you. Your correctly timed “release” lets him know that the yielding direction he attempts is the way “toward a release.” Since what works gets repeated, the horse is encouraged to yield in that direction the next time he feels the same type of pressure in a similar situation. To better understand how this works, let’s look at teaching your horse to lower his head. While standing beside the horse’s head, place your right hand just behind his poll. Now, with your thumb and the tips of your first two fingers, apply pressure. If your horse is accustomed to yielding in a variety of situations, he’s likely to lower his head instantly. You, of course, would be delivering an instantly timed release. What frequently happens, however, is nothing. No yielding. No searching. No try. In this case, you maintain the pressure and continue to wait. When the horse tires of the pressure, he’s likely to search for relief by raising his head. Since this movement does not match the response you had in mind, you maintain the pressure and wait. Finally, as he “thinks” about lowering his head, through your fingers you sense the horse relaxing. To “reward” or encourage this “thought” (this “smallest try”), you instantly deliver a release. There’s no need to remove your hand, just cease the pressure. It’s a subtle exchange between you and the horse. So subtle, in fact, as to perhaps go unnoticed by anyone watching. Chances are the horse came to this try after searching convinced him that, by pushing against the pressure you set in place, he only puts pressure on himself. After a few seconds pause, apply pressure again. Given that successful behavior gets repeated, this time the horse offers a quicker surer try. You instantly acknowledge (or reward) this try with a release. ON BEING LATE As skilled horsemen know (and behavior research confirms), to “mark” a horse’s try as the “right choice,” you must react instantly with your release. If more than a half-second passes, the fragile cause-and-effect relationship between a try and a release is usually lost. In addition, by the time your late release arrives, the horse will have moved on to another behavior – perhaps resisting. Unfortunately, your release would then end up inadvertently reinforcing a behavior you do not want – resisting. Being late has another downside. It could be awhile before the horse returns to making that “try” again. And if you are frequently late, you risk extinguishing a “try” entirely. UPPING THE ANTE Now, here's another potential sticking point to be aware of. If you consistently reward just the thought or the try, the thought or try is all the horse will deliver. Therefore, once the horse is consistent about offering a try, you then move the finish line, up the ante, ask for more. Let's say, for instance, as part of a young horse's groundwork education, you begin the process of teaching him to back up. Each time you take hold of the fiador knot and put light pressure on the noseband of his rope halter, he tucks his nose and rocks his weight back. Each time, you instantly reward him with a release. Since the horse is consistent with this try, it's time to expect more. Here's how. Now, when you put light pressure on his halter and he tucks his nose and rocks his weight back in response, instead of a release, you hold and wait. Be ready for him to search, that's okay. You continue to hold and wait. As he shifts a front foot back a bit, you instantly deliver a release. When he's consistent about shifting a foot back (in response to pressure), it's time to up the ante again. You expect a step. The next level would be two steps. Then, once the horse backs readily straight back, you'd move on to backing quarter circles, half circles, and full circles—in each direction. And so the process goes. As you bring a wider range of the horse’s movements under your direction, he's learned to yield to pressure in a variety of situations; it's become second nature to him. Through a properly recognized and carefully nurtured "try", a solid horse/human communication routine has evolved. By Buddy Uldrikson Buddy Uldrikson Training at Rancho Rio Bonita: buddyuldrikson horsemanship.com TRY If the horse is to learn the yielding movement you want, your correctly timed release – in response to his try – is crucial.