{"id":30713,"date":"2021-12-03T07:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T07:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teddiezieglerhorsemanship.com\/academy\/course\/marks-journey-1-2\/"},"modified":"2022-10-21T07:22:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T07:22:58","slug":"bo2-03-02","status":"publish","type":"tva_lesson","link":"https:\/\/teddiezieglerhorsemanship.com\/academy\/course\/bo2-03-02\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark\u2019s Journey \u2013 #1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meeting the Horses for the First Time<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is going to be a fun adventure to bring you along to watch the journey of a student named Mark as he goes through the process of learning to be with horses.<\/p>\n

The difference is that Mark is able to get first-hand training with me while he is going through the online programs.<\/p>\n

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Mark is not a horse person and has never owned horses. He has never had any dealings with horses other than seeing them at a fair or maybe petting them at a friend\u2019s yard when he was young. He has never handled, ridden, or had many dealings with horses so this is all foreign to him. However, he loves horses and has always wanted to learn how to be around them.<\/p>\n

Mark is a big guy, 6\u20194\u2033, about 250 lbs, and when he is around horses he feels that they are afraid of him. But when you ask him, he is actually intimidated by their size and power.<\/p>\n

Mark is very excited to be able to learn how to be around and handle horses. His goal is to just be a part of the herd and be accepted by the horses for now. He wants to be their friend and do fun things with them without him being fearful or the horses.<\/p>\n

In this first video, he is meeting the horses for the first time and learning how to introduce himself and basically watch the horses interact with me. The only thing we are trying to do in this first session is to allow the horses to be around him and him around the horses to get Mark more comfortable.<\/p>\n

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Because Mark is uneasy around horses, we are going to start by putting halters on them and just taking them to their favorite spot on the other side of the gate to eat grass.  <\/p>\n

This way they both can relax with each other and not \u201cdo\u201d anything else.<\/p>\n

The horses will be busy eating and enjoying the sun, while Mark is able to hold on to the lead rope and be connected to the horses without any pressures.<\/p>\n

The horses will be able to feel his fear and nervousness and the ability to eat grass without any pressure will help the horses stay calm.<\/p>\n

Having the horses in halters does two things\u2026<\/p>\n

1. It lets the horses know that they are not \u201cfree\u201d to do whatever they want and they know that when they have a halter, they are to behave a certain way and wait for instructions.  This way they will listen to \u201cwhoever\u201d is on the other side of the lead rope.<\/p>\n

2.  It makes Mark feel that there is some sort of control on the horses and if they were to move or do something, that he could control them and therefore he feels safe.  It\u2019s more of a \u201csugar pill\u201d, but it makes Mark feel more comfortable around the horses.<\/p>\n

We discussed his comfort level around horses before even going in to see the horses and he felt that he could stand next to them while they were eating grass easier than being in the same arena with them while they were at liberty.  <\/p>\n

He was more uncomfortable with the horses being in the same area as him and them being free to do whatever they wanted.  So, we chose to just halter them and graze for a few sessions until he felt comfortable enough around them to start working on a connection without the halter.<\/p>\n

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I hope you enjoy watching his journey. This is a new adventure for him as well as the horses.  Fun for everyone!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-30713","tva_lesson","type-tva_lesson","status-publish","hentry","tva_courses-bo2","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teddiezieglerhorsemanship.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tva_lesson\/30713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teddiezieglerhorsemanship.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tva_lesson"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teddiezieglerhorsemanship.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/tva_lesson"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teddiezieglerhorsemanship.com\/academy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}