1619: Ah Ha Moment: When Giving Up Control Creates Better Performance with Mary Kitzmiller - Horse Tip Daily

0:00Hello everybody, I'm Justin Long, host of Straight from the Horse Doctors' mouth, and I want to talk to you about something every horse owner dreads, emergencies. In these moments, indecision makes it hard to know what to do, or if you should call your vet. That's why Dr. Latcher and I created the equine emergency vet care guide. This is an app that walks you step-by-step through common equine emergencies, helps you decide when to call, and tells you exactly what information your veterinarian needs. It's not a replacement for your vet, and helps you work with them towards the best outcome for your horse. Search equine emergency app in the App Store or Google Play and be prepared before the emergency happens. You are listening to the Horse Radio Network, part of the equine network family. Greetings everyone, coach Jen here, and thanks for tuning in to Horse Tip Daily, episode 1619. Well, we all spend a lot of time and energy on getting our horses to trust us.

1:02In this episode, we flip the coin, as Mary Kitsmiller and I chat about giving up control and trusting your horse. Want to reach a passionate, engaged audience of horse lovers? The Horse Radio Network, with thousands of listeners worldwide, offers unique sponsorship opportunities to connect your brand with horse owners, riders, and enthusiasts. Over 90% of our listeners have bought a product from a HRN ad in the past year. Partner with HRN and take your brand to the next level. Visit www.horseradionetwork.com slash advertise today. I had a huge aha moment this year that any time I feel like taking up more rain on him because he feels a little amped up and nervous, I just throw the rains away and just trust him. He's totally fine. And so I'll go into a class and he'll start the first couple of strides with his head

2:04up in the air and he's like, I can feel his back tense. And I used to like try to gather him up and calm him. And what I do now is I just keep those rains nice and loose and I'm like, you'll figure it out. And within three strides, he's like, oh, yeah, I'm cool. We're fine. Oh, wow, that's so cool. Well, yeah, that makes it. And then he feels more confident in you. It's reciprocal, I'm sure. Yes, yeah. And it's one of those things where you have to act different than how you feel sometimes. And you know, it's a combination of, this is what's really fun about showing is each horse has different preferences and it's a very much a psychological game. So some horses might want the security of you, you know, taking up the rains and saying, it's okay. You're, you know, I'm here. I got you and you don't learn it until you just go to a million shows and you try out different things. But with Remy, when I ride him at home, I never care about, I know he's not going anywhere.

3:06He's slow as molasses. And so I never really care about where his head is, what's going on here there, because I know he'll get in the frame eventually. So I just ride him loose rains, hit bridalists half the time. And when I would go to shows, I realized I was trying to micromanage him too much. And so even though he would get real nervous, right, he has this thing where he, he's calm and then right before we go in, his head shoots up and he's like, ah, sort of fakes me out a little bit. And if I go opposite to my nature, my nature would be to also go, ah, and then we feed off each other. If I go, no, we're at home, this is just like home. And I throw those rains to him and I sit on him like, you're not going to, you're not going to take off. You're not going to break gate. I know you. He goes, oh, yeah, that's right. I'm not going to do those things. Okay, cool. And so it's been really fun learning that about him. Yeah. And that is an interesting point too because I concur that there are some horses who want

4:09that packaged up feeling. It helps them feel secure and there are other horses that they just need to throw their head up. They need to snort twice and then they're over it and are done. And if you try to micromanage, that tends to bottle them up. How interesting. Had a very similar light bulb moment with James a few weeks back, the young horse that I have. I'm still learning about what his personality, what his innate flight or fright, fight or flight reactions are versus what he's been, how he's been trained to act. I'm still learning those little bits. And he wants a little more freedom that I thought he did. But that's really hard because his flight reflexes are pretty damn quick in that, you know, he can do a 180 and be across the field before I can blink. So it's really hard for me to give him that freedom without giving up so much that we

5:10end up across the field and maybe in a disaster response, a very fine balance in there. Very interesting. I appreciate that. That's supporting. I needed that today. Thank you. Well, there you have it. Horse Radio Network has thousands of engaging podcasts for horse people. And you can have them sent right to your phone. Just subscribe, view your favorite podcast player. This is Coach Jen and I will be back again soon with another tip until then. Go ride your horse. The horse radio network and the horse radio network hosts are not responsible for statements made by guests on the horse tip daily. Please use your own judgment when listening to the tips on this show.